The Girl with a Different Head / The Head That Lost Its Memories

With that, he pulled Seiji back in one breath and slammed Seiji's forehead against his own head.

With a resounding thud of a headbutt, Seiji collapsed to his knees in despair.

Shizuo left Seiji kneeling there and prepared to leave.

"Ugh, it'll bleed a lot if I pull this out... Looks like I'll have to buy a Band-Aid before I do it. No, wait, maybe I should buy some super glue..."

As Shizuo muttered this to himself, he left the main road and walked into the alley. The crowd parted, everyone avoiding him and keeping their distance. Then, one by one, the onlookers returned to the noisy crowd. Finally, the scene returned to calm as if nothing had happened, leaving only Seiji, who was swaying as he tried to stand up, and a few curious individuals who were secretly observing him from a distance.

"Hateful..."

Enduring the excruciating pain in his head, Seiji slowly took a step:

"I have to find her... I have to save her..."

"Ah, then I'll go with you." Shirou watched Shizuo walk away as if nothing was wrong, dripping blood, then looked at Seiji who was limping, and finally ran to the weaker side.

"No, I'm enough on my own. As long as there's love, I'm sure I can find her," Seiji said, enduring the pain.

"We're friends now, so it's only natural for us to help each other." Shirou lifted Seiji's hand and placed it on his shoulder.

The two arrived at the intersection and saw Celty's black car roaring to life. On the sidewalk at the corner, a boy wearing the same uniform as them was pulling a girl along as they ran.

"What's that? The uniform from the same school." Seiji stared at the boy running ahead. Although he looked delicate and somewhat weak, he was now desperately pulling the scarred girl along as they ran.

"Ah, it's Teito! He's really something, a hero saving a damsel in distress, so cool!" Shirou recognized the boy running ahead; he looked just like the Dinosaur Sentai and Kamen Rider he loved to watch. But if he said that, wouldn't Celty become the villain?

"Teito?" Seiji asked somewhat nervously.

"Ah, you weren't here that day. It was Ryugamine Mikado, one of the two most outstanding people in the class," Shirou introduced.

"Where is he taking my girlfriend?" Seiji asked, frowning, reaching for a ballpoint pen in his backpack.

"It should be near his house. By the way, is the house he rents in that direction? I haven't been there yet," Shirou said.

Chapter 950 The Girl with the Transformed Head

Ryugamine Mikado longed for the exciting and vibrant life in the metropolis, but now he realized that he might not be ready. However, an unusual life was surging towards him like a flood, and he was so overwhelmed that he no longer had the energy to think about what to do before taking action. He could only act on his instincts.

He was being pursued by various groups. On one side were men in cleaning company uniforms who looked menacing and clearly not good people, and on the other side was a female motorcyclist on a black motorcycle who was charging straight towards him without saying a word, but her aura was intimidating.

After parting ways with his classmates Sonohara Anri and Shirou, he took a slightly longer route to familiarize himself with the nearby shops before heading home. However, he hadn't expected to bump into a woman dressed in a patient's pajamas just a few steps after leaving the 100-yen store.

The woman had a very obvious ring of scars around her neck. To be honest, he could only associate such scars with Frankenstein's monster, not with a slender woman.

Before Ryugamine Mikado could apologize, he saw a group of people rushing towards him.

"Don't Run!"

"Grab her quickly!"

The Teito's mind was in chaos, but when he saw the girl's helpless eyes, he acted impulsively, grabbed the girl, and ran away with her. He wanted to escape with her.

"Why are they arresting you?" In desperation, he could only grab a girl in a hospital gown and run away, with a black motorcycle roaring like a beast as it chased after him.

"..." The woman didn't speak. Whether it was because of the scars or the residual medication in her body, she didn't say anything and just ran with Teito.

"That black motorcycle is in the way, what should we do?"

"Stop her!"

"Yes!" Several cleaning staff members tacitly surrounded the black motorcycle behind, and someone took out a stun gun from their clothes and ran to Celty's back.

The electric spark from Bilibili struck Celty squarely in the waist.

Celty ignored the electric shock. Her body was actually just a mass of black energy, or perhaps a shadow, possibly similar to dark matter. In any case, it didn't contain human organs, meridians, or blood. Neither the knife nor the electric current could cause her any harm.

The black motorcycle she was riding leaned forward, the rear wheel lifted high, and then with a swish, like a horse kicking its hind leg, it swept several sanitation workers away. In her agitated state, she didn't hold back; the men who fell all passed out, the worst off crashing into a lamppost and breaking at least a few bones.

Unfortunately, the time wasted resulted in a failed pursuit; the boy and woman disappeared into the alleyway.

At this moment, the police also arrived. Someone had already called the police for the commotion caused by Shizuo, and they happened to witness this scene.

"Stop!"

"Get out of the car! Surrender!"

Left with no other option, Celty drove his black motorcycle and sped away in the other direction.

On the other side, Shirou carried Seiji across the zebra crossing and headed into the alley where Teito had fled.

"Anyway, take me to that Teito's house," Seiji said.

"Yes, I think so too." Shirou nodded. Although Celty was the best to him, Teito was also his friend, and Celty was very irrational and had completely lost her composure. So he wanted to help her find out the reason for the situation before making any plans.

Connecting the scar on her neck, it seemed that the woman was somehow related to Celty's lost head. However, regardless of whether human medical technology had advanced to that point, Shirou still felt something was amiss.

"Anyway... let's find Teito and that girl first," Shirou said.

"Ah, since you're coming along, then I'll do whatever I want with you. But once I find my girlfriend, I won't let you sleep with me," Seiji said matter-of-factly.

Shirou sent a message to Shinra, saying that he was spending the night at a friend's house.

"Granted! I'll give you pocket money another day!" Shinra said happily, seeing that Shirou was so cooperative.

Unfortunately, what he encountered was Celty whose emotions were extremely distressed. Although he had no head, he could still sense the black aura emanating from his body.

[Where's Shirou?]

"He said he's staying at a friend's place tonight. Could it be that he's got a cute girlfriend? We can't lose to him! Look what I've prepared!" Shinra exclaimed excitedly, raising his hands high.

The indoor lighting was changed to dim, atmospheric lamps. A tablecloth was placed on the table, adorned with flowers and candles. A steak was placed under a silver lid, and a glass of decanted red wine sat on the other side. It was exactly the kind of candlelight dinner that girls would love.

"Sorry, this isn't the time to talk about this," Celty said coldly, waving his hand.

"What's wrong?" Shinra asked.

"[I just encountered my head.]" Celty typed.

"Huh? Where is it?" A look of realization flashed across Shinra's eyes, but he quickly concealed it.

"[I walked over, but my head didn't sense anything. Instead, it screamed loudly and ran away,]" Celty said, exasperated.

"Huh? Does that mean we've lost contact with Celty? That head has chosen a new body," Shinra exclaimed.

[How could this be... No matter what, I can't stay so dejected. I finally have a chance to get my head back. Anyway, judging from their uniforms, they should be students from the Raira Academy, maybe even Shirou's classmates. Anyway, I'll contact him to help me look for them. If that doesn't work, I'll go to the school gate and wait for them!] Celty typed quickly and then handed it to Shinra.

Looking at the long string of words on the screen, Shinra asked with an incredulous expression, "What do you plan to do after you find it?"

[Is that even a question? Of course, the answer is to find out where my head is.]

"What do you plan to do after you find out?" Shinra asked.

When Celty was halfway through typing the word "[What to do? When]", she realized what Shinra meant.

"You're planning to dispose of your 'head'? It has a body now, and all it'll do is scream when it sees you," Shinra said, shrugging.

Celty was speechless; her fingers froze on the keyboard. After a while, she pressed the delete key, erasing everything she had typed...

Shinra said seriously, "Your head is probably already a complete person, and you might even have friends in high school. What are you going to do with that 'head'? Are you planning to cut that head off from your body for your own sake? Wouldn't that be too cruel?"

Yes... if that were the case, the kind-hearted Celty would never have made a move.

Chapter 951 The Head Who Lost His Memory

After a moment of silence, Celty found herself trembling. Just as Shinra had said, the "head" seemed completely unaware of her presence, though this could be because she was dressed in knight's attire.

However... the scream indicates that the head itself has developed a self completely different from its current "self".

Furthermore, to fully reclaim their head, the head would have to be severed from the body. But now that the head has been separated from the body and has become a complete living entity, is it really a good idea to separate the two under these circumstances?

Or... if one could persuade that child to be with them, that could be considered a form of "turning back," but achieving the goal in this way would not solve any problems at all.

Furthermore, while Celty himself shows no signs of aging, what about the condition of his head? Will it maintain its youthful appearance decades from now? Even if it didn't age as a head, will things change now that it's attached to his body?

'Huh?' Just then, a question popped into Celty's mind.

Why is my head attached to a body that "is not me"?

Shinra was a little hurt that the candlelight dinner he had prepared all night had gone to waste, but to him it was a reward in a way, so it didn't matter, as long as he could just take away Shirou's allowance.

Looking at his beloved Celty, Shinra's mood immediately improved, and he helped with the thinking. He shifted his gaze slightly, then readily uttered a chilling conclusion:

"They probably just found a girl with a similar build and swapped her head in."

Celty had indeed considered this answer, but her body structure was actually very special. Although it looked similar to a human, its energy and bodily functions were completely different. In modern times, where there were no publicly known successful cases of human-to-human head transplants, finding a body that could match her head was virtually impossible.

Shinra continued, "Otherwise, what if a national-level institution, such as a secret military research institute, obtained your 'head'? After conducting various experiments, they cloned your body based on your cells, planning to create a clone army of 20,000. Then, in order to obtain your memories as the Headless Knight, they would replace your head with that of a clone. What do you think of this possibility?"

Celty ignored Shinra's words. She had experienced things like being studied and dissected. But things like national military secret agencies were something that no one would write about anymore, except for those third-rate online light novels. The only plausible possibility was that it was related to some research unit.

Shinra shrugged and said, "Okay, if you think clones are going too far, maybe they'll just find any corpse and attach it. Or maybe they'll capture a living person, kill them, and immediately attach your still-living head, and then the body comes back to life! Those are all possibilities. Although logically speaking, none of these things make sense, the problem is that your existence and your head are inherently illogical. You might actually be able to possess a dead person's body."

[Disgusting. And anyway, this is too much.] Celty trembled all over, feeling a chill.

"Indeed, a normal person wouldn't do such a thing. But given the right opportunity, humans are capable of anything. For example, with triple the profit, a businessman can abandon all moral boundaries. And when politicians are formulating plans, as long as they can achieve extremely high results, they can sacrifice a small number of people without hesitation." Shinra reasoned in a very relaxed tone.

"For example, if someone is accidentally killed, they might use the person as a subject for experiments to cover it up!"

In some ways, this was far more gruesome than human experimentation. Seeing Shinra's still relaxed tone, Celty felt inexplicably angry. Frustrated and not wanting to listen any longer, she began to rapidly type on the keyboard.

In short, I want to have a good talk with that 'head' first, and then we'll see what happens next.

Before she could finish typing, Shinra preemptively fired a strong question:

Are you planning to continue evading your conclusions?

This time, Shinra's tone was very serious; the joking tone from before was completely gone.

Celty froze once again.

'I understand, I know it myself. Things have come to this point, and I have no choice but to give up my own life.'

Selty slowly began to move her fingers, typing on the keyboard.

[Because I don't want to admit it. I don't want to admit that all my efforts over the past ten years have been in vain.]

Meanwhile, on the other side, Shirou and Seiji arrived at Ryugamine Mikado's rented room.

"I only have water here. Would it be better to go and buy some juice?" Ryugamine Mikado brought over two glasses of cold water and said apologetically.

"It would be even better to drink together at a friend's house; they say it makes it easier to build relationships," Shirou said.

"Shirou! We're still minors, we can't drink alcohol yet," Ryugamine Mikado said.

"Huh? You're being too serious. At this point, building feelings should be the priority," Shirou said.

"Water will do," Seiji said calmly, his gaze fixed on Teito's bed.

It wasn't that I was interested in the male high school student's bed, but rather that the scarred girl was lying there.

After Teito led her to the rented house, the scarred girl fell into a deep sleep before they could exchange more than a few words. She seemed to still have the effects of the medication in her body and appeared very weak.

Teito could only pick her up and lay her on his bed. Just then, Shirou called. So Teito had to go outside again and bring the two of them to his dilapidated little house.

"She seems to have lost her memory," Teito said softly.

"Hmm." Seiji nodded, his gaze still fixed on the girl, not even blinking.

"..." Teito received no response, and the conversation could not continue. He had no choice but to turn to Shirou for help.

Shirou, receiving a harsh look from Teito, suddenly realized what was going on, pulled out his phone, and said, "Ah! I know! Now that everyone's here, it's the perfect time to arrange a marriage, right? Anyway, let's call Anri over first! It would be best if she brought another girl with her!"

"Stop it!" Teito cried out, on the verge of collapse.

Chapter 952 Three Men and One Woman in One Room

At this moment, three men and one woman were in the small rented room, and the atmosphere was a little awkward. Of course, this was the house he was proud of, as proof of his first independence in his sixteen years of life. Moreover, he didn't have much demand for material things; as long as he had a table and a computer, his life would be exciting enough.

However, the somewhat shy Teito couldn't help but feel reserved when facing the naturally charming boy who had just become his friend, and a classmate he had never met before.

Teito started the conversation, gradually recounting how he bumped into the scarred girl and then pulled her along as they ran away.

"I see. Anyway, thank you for saving my girlfriend." Seiji said, formally shaking Teito's hand.

"Ah, so you're someone Yagiri classmate knows. That's great! Do you know her family's contact information?" Teito relaxed and said with a smile.

"No, this is the first time I've met her in this state," Seiji said.

The Teito paused, then asked again, "And what is her name?"

"I don't know," Seiji replied matter-of-factly.

"Eh?! Eh?!!" Teito mentally screamed, "This is a weirdo! In some ways, she's even more dangerous than the group we were chasing before! What am I supposed to do? Who will protect this girl?! And save me too!"

At this moment, the scarred girl on the bed turned over, and her tense expression finally relaxed, indicating that she was no longer seriously injured.

"Um... let's think about how to handle this," Teito suggested.