Chapter 3
Shizuo spotted the flash of metal before instinctively drawing back a rolled fist to launch into the attacker's face. He had spun around and his arm was already swinging.
He knew he was a constant target and not just from Izaya. Shizuo recognized the killing aura from endless shady thugs and gangsters, the gleam of bloodlust and fancies of massive profit. The crazed passion was always the same, albeit with some variations in reasons people wanted his person.
The woman's countenance reeked of murderous will as she rushed him with her knife.
As the blade descended, he wryly thought, Yeah, here we go again.
He afforded her one last look before knocking her out, expecting to see the wave of a killer's lust. A part of his routine. Shizuo loved the thrill.
The anger was there, all right. But as Shizuo's fist shotputted toward her face, a split second of unbridled doubt filled her eyes.
The uncertainty ticked something inside him. Her reaction was an odd emotion coming much, much too late in her attacking game. It caught him completely off-guard.
It wasn't part of his game.
Every fiber in his being screamed at him to stop.
He redirected his forward momentum to swing to her side instead of her head. The slice of blade scraped a furrow from his shoulder all the way down to his elbow. Dark red spurted down his arm, instantly dyeing the sleeve wet. He barely felt the pain.
What Shizuo felt was the large mass of human collapse at his feet. The girl stopped, sprawled on her side. Her catatonic state froze her.
"Ooh, another helper of mine?" jeered Izaya, who was happily perched on a fallen neon sign.
"Shut it." Shizuo spared a glance down in case she had a second wind, but she still lay there, blank eyes wide with shock. Her pocketknife loose in her hand.
"Well, I'll let you be. Our fight is supposed to be just that. Ours. Bye byyye!"
Shizuo threw a curse at Izaya's retreating back before he turned his full attention to the second assassin of his afternoon. Her blankness melted to confusion, which in turn, confused the hell out Shizuo.
Miffed at the change in his fighting plans, Shizuo moodily stomped on the flat blade and listened to the metal grate on the pavement. "What do I do with you, huh?" He wanted her input so he could figure her out.
The strange woman left the decision up to him when her eyes rolled up to the back of her head and she stopped altogether.
"I can't believe you did that."
"It's logical."
Arisa groggily felt her eyes open at the sound of two males talking. She shifted to sit up, but found she already was. Arisa lifted her legs and arms and also found they were bound to a chair. And so was the rest of her.
A dream. Was she dreaming? Funny how a mundane living room was where she awoke. Wasn't she outside?
A black blur drifted in front of her. She started at seeing nightmares come true: the Headless Rider! He wasn't an urban legend, after all! Dressed neck-to-toe in fitted black with only a bright yellow helmet to hide the nothingness.
The figure leaned closer to her face and Arisa gasped.
What sort of weird hell had she gotten herself into?
"Wai, she's awake. Hi hi."
A young man with black hair and glasses sauntered over. Dressed in a clinically white lab coat, his informal demeanor didn't match his professional appearance.
Arisa tensed when he neared, shifting against the ropes.
"This is my home. I'm not going to do anything to you."
"I'm tied to a chair." She made sure to point out the obvious.
The man looked sheepish. "Um, it's a precaution." Noticing Arisa's uneasy gaze on the figure dressed in black leather, he added, "Don't worry about Celty. She's a good one."
She? Arisa studied the ebony-dressed body and saw the ample chest and round hips. The Headless Rider was a woman.
"A-Are you really headless?" Arisa blurted out the question before she could hold herself back.
Celty's yellow helmet nodded.
"Can I see?" Arisa had to affirm whether she was really was in the afterlife or not.
There was a pause as Celty considered Arisa's request. Slowly, she grasped the helmet and it slid upwards.
Arisa gaped and took in a quaking breath. No head. Just a furl of ethereal, shadowy smoke.
Shock. What a start to her afterlife.
She was proud that she didn't scream.
A blond head swung down at an angle, almost nose-to-nose with her.
Now Arisa audibly yelped. Why did Shizuo Heiwajima have to be here?
Shizuo glared a few seconds more before backing up.
"How long have I been dead?" she asked nobody in particular.
"You're not dead." The chipper voice of the scientist told her. "I've made sure of that."
[Affirmative.] Celty flashed her phone text.
"Made sure?"
"I'm a doctor of sorts. I'm Shinra Kishitani. And that big lug over there is-"
"We've met," the tall man groused, his arms crossed over his chest. "For your information, I'm the reason you're not mobile right now."
[You don't tie up people like that. She's a girl!] Celty protested.
"She's a potential psychopath," countered Shizuo hotly.
"She has a name which we've yet to find out." Shinra smiled at her. "Besides, her toy is taken away. She's fine."
Arisa wasn't going to use it again if she didn't have it any longer. That was good. The fact wouldn't convince everyone else, though.
"No, keep her tied up," Shizuo growled, but Shinra didn't listen as he unbound the ropes.
"Ooh, Shizu, I didn't know you were into that." Shinra began tee-heeing in an almost perverted manner. A simultaneous jab came from Shizuo and Celty to his stomach.
Arisa stared at a hanging painting on the wall, something with mixed colors that resembled space. "I'm Arisa Shigemitsu."
"I'm Shinra. You've met Celty and Shizuo."
"You are all friends?" How did a destroyer like Shizuo gain any friends? The knowledge and meeting the rampaging Shizuo firsthand puzzled her.
Her wondering made her inadvertently look at Shizuo, though she wasn't directly asking him. Shizuo nodded.
Since she was still alive, her situation remained the same as before. Hotel stay.
She shot a quick glare to Shizuo, who raised a wondering brow at her negative response. Arisa ignored him and stood up from the chair. Her body had numbed from the lack of blood circulation and she stretched. Doing so, a sweep of dizziness overcame her.
Celty looped an arm around her waist before Arisa knew she had stumbled. Physical contact with a supernatural being felt very uncomfortable despite being told Celty was not evil.
In Arisa's haste, she backed up out of Celty's hold and bumped the chair. Her arms flailed to grab purchase as she reeled backwards. From behind, another set of arms seized her shoulders. Arisa winced at the unusually tight squeeze and looked up to find Shizuo.
The awkward feeling of being held again intensified. This man she tried to kill a short while ago. He could have done the same just now, crushed her throat and have been done with her. She pulled away.
[Do you feel ok?] Celty asked.
"I'm fine. I sat for too long." Arisa's stomach took this chance to rumble audibly, adding another point to her statement.
Shinra scrutinized her face. "You didn't eat today, did you? Of course you won't feel good."
Arisa didn't reply. Her empty stomach made it clear.
He studied her, then Shizuo. "Do you two want to eat with us?"
[I can make something fast so you don't wait long,] Celty offered. [Soup and sandwiches?]
Sparkles of enthusiasm lit Shinra's eyes. "Yes, yes! You two must stay. Celty's sandwiches are the cutest. She's really good at them now!"
" 'Now?' " Arisa and Shizuo dubiously said together.
[Human cuisine was a mystery to me at the start,] Celty hesitantly admitted. She perked. [But I'm starting off small and working my way up to real dinners. Shinra approves.]
Unheard of as it was for a dullahan to cook, Arisa sensed Celty had real zest for creating meals. She did it solely for Shinra. "You like cooking for him, don't you?"
Flustered, Celty stammered, [N-Not really.]
Arisa didn't believe her and neither did Shizuo when Arisa took a sidelong glance.
[I'll get started.] Celty abruptly ended her end of the conversation and sped out of the living room.
Shinra used doey eyes after her. "I'll help. You two relax here. Go out on the balcony and soak in some sun."
Arisa paused, uneasy about being around this gangster alone.
