Chapter 2

The apartment complex was painted in an almost numb type of gray, with the occasional white wall spread along the building's exterior. Meanwhile, the stairs which Izaya was supposed to climb now seemed to slope upwards, almost like a man with a broken back trying to ape a cliff wall, and therefore looked inhumanly hard to climb. Izaya flickered his eyes towards the third floor. One of the doors was slightly open, and let out a weird, yellow light. There was no doubt that that was where the secluded girl would be staying. Izaya started surmounting the spiral yet strangely oval-shaped staircase. Every step of the way, however, he was constantly reminded of the threat that this could be a trap. In fact, it was very likely this was a trap, but that was what interested Izaya: the fact that the two men didn't show any signs of trying to hide it. Soon enough, he came across the half-opened door he had seen from ground level, and he gently pulled it open. The yellow light coming from behind it dimmed, and Izaya peeked inside. Even from just outside the doorway, he could see the figure of a young girl in what seemed to be a black maid outfit. Beside her, there was a candle, with a thin tower of smoke rising from its black tip. The yellow light had been completely erased. Izaya could now see the glimmer of a tear, and he had only just walked through the door.

Meanwhile, Shizuo walked down the same streets with his hands in his trouser pockets and a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. Shizuo's eyes followed the thin tower of smoke that reached for the sky into nothingness, and didn't know what to think of it. It was no real concern of his where that trail of smoke was going. Nevertheless, at least he had time to think of those things, today being his day off. Apparently, Tom wasn't working today, so Shizuo had no reason to either. Shizuo grunted inside. He knew he wasn't going to miss his job one little bit. Suddenly, Shizuo bumped his someone. A bald man, wearing sunglasses and a suit was knocked down by Shizuo like a bowling pin. All Shizuo did after that was look at him.

'Watch it!' the man shouted. Shizuo said nothing.

'Hey, you're Shizuo Heiwajima, aren't you?'. Another man in a suit was right behind the man Shizuo had just knocked down. Shizuo pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and shot a blank stare into the man's eyes.

'What about it? What do you need me for?' he said.

'You see, we would like it if you went into that apartment building over there,' The man signalled towards a grey building, and Shizuo's eyes blankly followed it. 'and beat someone up'

There was a moment's silence, which was interrupted by Shizuo chuckling very lightly for a second. 'You think I'm a thug for hire or something, don't you? I don't give a shit what you've heard about me, but you're wasting my time.' Shizuo started walking away from the two men in suits. 'And I have somewhere to be.'

'Izaya Orihara is in there,' said the man on the floor. Shizuo turned his head around and looked straight at the man. His fingers reached out for the rim of his sunglasses, folded the supports and placed it gently in his coat pocket. The second Shizuo opened his eyes, the man saw an undeniable fury scorch his retinas. It had seemed like the world became enveloped in silence for a few, long seconds. For a second, the man thought he saw the corner of Shizuo's mouth fold into a smile.

'What did you just say?' said Shizuo.

'We're up-and-coming artists!'. Erika did a small, turning dance as she said this.

'Really?' Kida said, smiling enthusiastically.

'Yeah, who knew people like us could be famous like that' said Walker, who had finally caught up to Erika now.

'But what are you guys doing here?' Mikado asked.

'We're here for the art exhibition. And maybe the art contest too.' said Walker.

'What do you mean, "maybe" the art contest too? Of course we're going to be there, and we're going to win!'

'Wow, I had actually forgotten it was today.' said Kida in a jarringly enthusiastic way. 'How could I?'

'I only remembered it because Anri said she wanted to go. She says it's an escape from the troubles of everyday life.' said Mikado.

'But, if that's true, how come so many pieces of art are always so dark and broody?' Kida stated, trying his hardest to sound smart.

'I...can't say I know.'

Kida shrugged this off as Mikado being very much like the Mikado he had known since childhood: an absent-minded child.

'Well, in any case,' Kida continued. 'May we see your art?'

'Sure.' Walker pulled down the cloth. It was a painting of a girl in a black maid outfit sitting against a grey wall, emitting some sort of red aura around her. Meanwhile, two men in suits stood right in front of her, with a red aura being emitted from them too. The two men seemed as if they were about to get into a fight. Both Mikado and Kida tried to figure out what this painting meant, and weren't exactly sure what to tell Erika and Walker about what they thought either. So the two of them stared at the painting for quite a few seconds.

'I like it.' The voice startled Kida. Anri was right behind him, and had probably been looking at the painting all this time.

'Yeah, I think I like it too. It's got that "I don't know what" going for it...' said Mikado. He was never really good at lying.

'We called it Girl in Distress.' said Erika.

'Partly because the girl there is in distress.' Walker said.

'And she has magical powers.' Mikado figured this explained why the two men were about to fight.

'Isn't it like that movie that was on last night?' said Anri.

'Sort of.' Walker and Erika both said this at the same time.

'Woah...you saw it too?' said Mikado.

'No. I knew it would give me nightmares if I watched it at the time it was on. Which was midnight.' Mikado felt really stupid now, and was reminded of his own nightmare that spawned from that small B-movie.

'Ah well, good luck on your art exhibition and all. I haven't had breakfast this morning, so I'm starving. See you later, guys.' Kida rushed off faster than Mikado thought he had ever seen Kida do.

'Good luck with your art exhibition. I hope lots of people like your painting' said Mikado, as sincerely as possible, as he was about to follow Kida to the cafeteria.

'Thanks a lot, Mikado' Erika said cheerfully.

'Hey, isn't that the headless rider in the background?' Anri suddenly pointed out. While Mikado, Erika and Walker were talking, Anri seemed to continue observing the painting really closely. All four of them looked at the painting as soon as Anri spoke.

'Yeah, it kinda is,' Mikado said.

On that dark winter night, Celty Sturluson shot through Ikebukuro's streets on her motorcycle like a torpedo. Every citizen that caught of a glimpse couldn't help but stare in awe at the sight of her, in her cat-eared motorcycle helmet and black, leather suit. The second any citizen heard a neigh in the middle of Ikebukuro district, they recognized Celty's presence and looked around for her. She was a true legend, but, at the same time, she was also a complete mystery. There were so many rumours surrounding her, that it drove paranormal theorists through the roof and back. However, there was a truth than what most people perceived to be hers. She was a dullahan from Ireland and, most importantly, she used to have a head. Celty was still searching for her head, even now when all hope of finding it seemed lost. But now that she was in Japan, she needed a job. Unluckily for her, the only job people seemed to want to offer her were underground jobs, such as taking criminal merchandise from Point A to Point B. She was helping the scum of the Earth, but she had no choice and she probably would never have. Well, at least she had a home with an underground doctor, Shinra, and it helped that he was always really good to her.

Suddenly, a human-like figure crossed the empty road ten metres in front of her. Celty jumped in her seat, and her motorcycle went flying forward into the tarmac. Her right shoulder blade scraped against the road, which tore at her leather suit, but she quickly pulled herself up. However, everyone in the area had stopped what they were doing. They were now looking straight at Celty. She could feel the heat of all the headlamps of the cars scorching her from all angles. It was like the world was shining the spotlight on her now. This was when it hit her: she had dropped her helmet, and her lack of a head was exposed. Celty heard a mixture of shrieks amongst the crowd. Terrified, she scrambled along the road for her helmet. It was as if she were caught naked in the middle of the city, with everyone watching and maybe even taking photos. She needed to find her helmet now.

'Is this yours, miss?'. Someone said this right behind Celty. Her head darted behind her, and she could see a girl in a black, maid outfit holding her cat-eared helmet in both her hands. Celty stared at her headless reflection on the visor of the helmet for what seemed like minutes. She had no doubt that this was the girl that she almost ran over, but how could she have survived?