Maemi Keiko, beautiful blessed child. Well, that's what her name means but she was pretty much the opposite of that. She wasn't ugly but nobody would say that she looked stunning. She was pretty unlucky but I guess the word blessed comes in when you think of how lucky she is to have a tinge of cuteness to her features. Keiko is an amazing hair stylists but a total klutz. She can mess up so many times in a day that even a five year old child of a regular customer once said to her, "I wouldn't be surprised if you fell down a cliff one day."

Keiko wouldn't be either. She was a hardworking young girl though. Nothing stopped her from working towards her dream of earning the promotion she has been dying to get for the past 4 years. She loved her job so much, she lost her love life. Not good for a young adult.

"Maemi Keiko, Lewis Jesse, Kaede Hikaru and Aoyama Mei, the four of you stand the chance to be promoted to manager. Work hard and satisfy all the customers as always." their boss, Mr. Jojo said. His name is pretty freaking glamorous.

"I'll do my best sir!" A charming voice said. No doubt it came from the one and only Lewis Jesse who stood tall, and not to mention handsome, next to Keiko. He has always been Keiko's rival at work. They were always on par with each other when it came to satisfying customers as well as advertising. Even though they are childhood friends, their rivalry is so strong that it effects their friendship. So they are well known as the frenemies anywhere.

As they began to disperse from the cramped meeting room, Jesse headed towards Keiko with a smirk on his face. "I'll beat you, so don't get your hopes up too high, or they'll just drop like an air-born plane that hit the brakes." he mocked.

"To hell with you and your cockiness. I won't lose to your sorry ." she yelled.

"I know, no need to shout, man." he said sarcastically with a chuckle.

"Hey, I'm not a man. Although I dress like this, I'm still a girl and I have feelings." Keiko said honestly with a pout.

"So you like men?" he asked and leaned in close.

"Y-yeah! Why?" she said with a light pink gracing her cheeks.

"Do you happen to like me?" he asked again. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or if he was joking.

"Nope. I like everyone. Everyone but you." She giggled and put up a peace sign.

"Ouch. My heart. I think you broke it." Jesse said holding on to his chest like he was in pain.

"What if I told you, I would choose Mr. Jojo's dog, Tiny, over you?" she laughed again.

Jesse gaped. He made a crying face. "My broken heart has now been shattered and ground to dust.

"Meh. Good for you." she said and stuck out her tongue.

"Treat me to lunch and maybe my heart will heal." he said, wriggling his eyebrows.

"Fine." Keiko said and waved him off. She wasn't surprised at how easy it was to make him happy. Ever since he was young, all you had to do was say you would buy him food and he would just brighten up immediately. She was surprised though, at how he didn't get kidnapped. Anyone could just lure him in with food.

At that very moment she could feel dozens of eyes on the two of them. Girls. Jealous, judgemental girls to be exact. They annoyed Keiko. I means seriously. Excuse me, am I not allowed to talk to my best friend? She would think that all the time.

 

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It was finally D-Day. Mr. Jojo had come back to their shop to announce who the new manager was. Her boss was sitting at the waiting area, just watching his workers as they carried out their assigned duties.

As Keiko was arranging all the hair dyes in the cabinets, she heard one of her co-workers call for her.

"Keiko-chan!"

"Hai!" she answered and turned around to go see what it is her colleague needed.

Before she could take a step she knocked her head on the ceiling lamp that they had been meaning to replace. She fell backwards and knocked into the cabinet of hair dye. Bottles of hair dye fell on her and some even opened and spilled out.

"Iteeee!" she groaned and rubbed her arm.

"Ala? Keiko?" Jesse walked into the storage room.

Mr. Jojo followed behind Jesse and gasped.

"You just wasted three hundred dollars worth of product!" Mr. Jojo yelled.

Keiko immediately stood up to her feet and bowed multiple times.

"I'm so sorry!" she said and gave a full bow, keeping her head down.

"Maemi-san, I don't think I can put this store in your hands. You will be excluded from the group that stand the chance to be promoted." Mr. Jojo said.

"I understand." she said with her head still down so that nobody would be able to see the tears that were gathering up in her eyes.

After all the hard work she had put in to reaching her goal of becoming the store manager, all she got was embarrassed and covered in multiple colours of hair dye.

It was the end of the day and Mr. Jojo was finally announcing the new manager of the saloon.

"The new manager of Jo&Jo Hair Saloon is Lewis Jesse." He announced.

"Arigatogozaimasu! Yorushiku onegaitashimasu!" Jesse thanked Mr. Jojo.

As she trudged back home with her heart at the soles of her feet, she saw the man that she lost the promotion to. He was walking towards a girl and he seemed so happy and he actually look nice. Only at that moment though.

 

---

 

The next day at work, she went to the saloon as always but with a heavier heart than usual. "Hey Keiko, sorry you didn't get the job. I'm just awesome and boss knows that too, that's why I got the job." he mocked. Keiko wasn't in the mood for jokes. Especially jokes about her losing the chance to get the promotion of her dreams.

Why of all people did Jesse have to get my job!

 

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