Black Swan Wonderland

Shinra

III: Greed

Halo Nine: Shinra:

-Shinra-

My body laid there in front of my apartment with four bullet holes in the back. I know what you are thinking. How the hell did I get here?

Well, I'm going to tell you.

-Twelve Hours Ago-

Celty and I started with a typical morning. (Typical doesn't really exist anymore, does it?) My love went out to work for the day.

"Take care," I said.

[I'm leaving now,] she typed. My love left for the day. Things started to get weirder from there.

There came a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Sensei!" Mikado shouted. "I need your help." I sighed to myself. I didn't expect to be working already. I turned and walked to the front door. Mikado stood outside.

"Is Celty here?" he asked.

"No," I said. He breathed out in relief.

"Oh good," Mikado said. I looked him up and down.

"What's wrong? What's on your mind?" I asked. Mikado held up his right arm. The skin looked so raw and scratched up. I could see the blood coming up from the broken skin.

"What happened there?" I asked.

"I got bitten by a deity," he said. "And now it looks like this."

"Does it hurt?"

"No. But it itches." Mikado started scratching his wrist again. I grabbed his wrist. A warm surge ran through my body.

"Okay, I get it," I said. "Come inside." He followed me into the apartment. Now, I don't run the experiments on the tadpoles. That's not my field. I just assist my dad and Emilia. I looked at Mikado's wrist when I sat him down.

"How long has it been like this?" I asked.

"Two days now," Mikado said.

"Two days?" I asked. He might as well have taken a grater to his skin. I wanted to say this was an allergic reaction at first.

"No, it's not that," Mikado spoke up. "I think she infected me with something." I must have looked so confused. He rubbed his forehead.

"I don't know how to explain it," Mikado added. "It's just—"

"You want my dad to run a test on it, right?" I asked.

"Yes!" he was quick to say. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Alright," I said. "Wait here." I walked out of the living room and came back with the kit dad issued me with. One blood drawing later and I had what I needed. Mikado didn't even react when the needle went in.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Well," I asked. "I will run the test and get the results to you ASAP. For now..." I led him over to the kitchen sink. I washed and wrapped up Mikado's wrist with a bandage.

"Please don't try to scratch it," I said. "I know you can't feel pain anymore, but still."

"Alright," Mikado said. "Thank you for this." He bowed and walked out of the apartment. I thought I was going to have a quiet day after that.

I couldn't have been more mistaken.

For the rest of the day, I could only think about my Celty. I mean, I usually do. But today, I kept getting lost in my daydreams about her. I kept messing up my chores because of it. The curtain nearly got sucked into the vacuum cleaner. I can't tell you how many calls I missed. Shiki-san must be wondering where I am right now. I kept texting Celty every five seconds. Celty! My mind started to go back to last night. It had been one of those rare nights in. Celty and I stayed up to watch a horror movie. I don't remember what it was called at the moment. I don't think describing the ghost woman would help either.