Jiang Xia could not help flapping his wings and drifting around the room, savoring the miraculous sensation of weightlessness.
But after only a few laps, his back suddenly felt empty. The wings vanished, and Conan Logic's buoyancy disappeared with them. Jiang Xia's body grew heavy as he dropped back to the floor—the time limit on that puff of smoke had run out.
In an instant, the wings reverted to Puppet Clay, then transformed into Shikigami one after another and returned to Jiang Xia's Mark Space.
"..." Jiang Xia stood on the ground, feeling the emptiness on his back. After thinking for a moment, he turned to look at the bedside table.
An Ashtray sat there, containing a cigarette that had already burned out.
—After Jiang Xia had been choked by this Feather-flavored Cigarette, he had stubbed it out in the Ashtray.
He had originally intended to put it out, but apparently he had failed—because Jiang Xia remembered that Matsuda Jinpei had later curiously inhaled the Smoke and grown a pair of wings.
After that, Jiang Xia had casually stubbed it out again, yet still failed to extinguish it.
—This seemed to be a cigarette that, once lit, would keep burning until it was completely used up.
However, although it had been quietly burning all along, the Smoke that made people grow wings had not gone to waste.
Jiang Xia leaned closer to inspect the Ashtray.
He saw that above the gradually cooling ash, there was now an illusory clump of White Mist the size of a head.
The mist did not disperse. Instead, it remained quietly gathered in a ball, trembling faintly whenever the air stirred.
"...I've never seen anything like this before, but I have a feeling it can be stored in the Mark Space." Jiang Xia muttered