It went only a few dozen feet and bounced harmlessly off the wall of the second floor.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…”
“…”
The beautiful woman’s head hit the ground and rolled.
In the embarrassing silence that followed, Shingen crossed his arms and proudly declared, “It is said that the human head weighs between six and eighteen pounds. Celty’s head was on the lighter side; I’d wager closer to nine. Can you hurl a nine-pound dumbbell up to the top of a building? I certainly cannot!”
Seitarou stared at him, aghast, but Shingen merely hid behind his white gas mask and excuses. “What did I just tell you? Life is a process of trial and error.”
And then a man appeared from behind Shingen and scooped up the head. “Are you certain you’re using that phrase correctly?”
Shingen glanced at him and pointed forcefully to the sky. “Aha! The experiment resumes! Your turn now, Egor!”
Egor smirked uncomfortably at the obnoxiousness of Shingen’s command but proceeded to take off his jacket to use it as a sort of primitive sling into which he placed the head. The next moment, he rotated rapidly and hurled the head high into the air.
“Nooooooo! That belongs to meeeeee!” Seitarou cried, the sound echoing off the walls of the alley like a movie effect.
The head shot upward like a cannonball until it reached the shadow cloud trapped inside the wires.
✦ ✦ ✦
And Shooter, which had been watching this unfold in bicycle form, instantly transformed into a horse.
✦ ✦ ✦
Building under construction, first floor
✦ ✦ ✦
“…”
The women inside the building faced off in silent tension, until Kujiragi suddenly looked up into the corner—in the direction of her wire-form Saika.
“What’s up?” wondered Mikage, without losing any of her battle preparedness. Kujiragi did not answer immediately.
Eventually, she sighed without adjusting her features and said, “I suppose it’s true… Shizuo really is the wild card.”
“?” “?”
Mikage and Vorona merely glanced at her, punctuation marks over their heads. She elaborated sadly, “The final transaction was a failure.
✦ ✦ ✦
“With Saika distracted, I was unable to keep her under control.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Building under construction, top floor
✦ ✦ ✦
Izaya Orihara sat on the lip of the building, watching the scene unfolding below as he waited for the arrival of his archenemy.
He’d already evacuated the Dragon Zombies from the rooftop. He knew that the average motorcycle-gang member would do little more than briefly delay Shizuo Heiwajima. He might pass them on the way up and beat them to a pulp, but that wasn’t Izaya’s concern.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was one odd thing happening under his duly watchful eye. Saika’s wires snapped and broke, falling down to the center of the alley intersection below.
Then the huge mass of shadow contracted all at once and took the form of a human figure. The figure cast out little shadow tendrils like a spiderweb to stand upon, making it look as if it was floating in place.
But that part was not particularly surprising to Izaya.
At first, he believed that Celty had regained her intelligence—but something was wrong.
The figure that emerged from this transformation was not in a motorcycle riding suit, but in heavy, medieval armor. It wasn’t reflecting the light, so it had to be made of that same shadow material.
And this time, most uncharacteristic of all, Celty carried a human woman’s head under her arm.
He recognized the head, of course.
The shadow-born thing looked smoothly all around and detected Izaya’s presence. It then created a set of shadow stairs, still cradling the head, and began to walk toward Izaya.
Once it was within earshot, Izaya called out, “Hi there, Celty. How does it feel to have your head back?”
But there was no response.
After a short pause, the head under the figure’s arm slowly opened its mouth. The voice that emerged spoke to him in an eerie tenor that seemed to register in his eardrums and his mind at the same time.