The bitterly cold wind woke Touko Aozaki.
The benefits of being the world's foremost Puppeteer allowed her to regain control of her body despite injuries that should have left her incapable even of thought.
She first tried opening one eye. Only after finding everything still pitch-black did Touko recover her earlier memories.
In her battle with Aoko, she had suffered another crushing defeat, and this ruined eye was proof.
"Ah..."
Touko Aozaki sighed softly, then exerted herself again to make her brain control her nerves and open her other eye.
Then the blurred neon lights reflected on her retina plunged her into silence again.
Everything around her seemed to be spinning at high speed. Only she remained in place, and not a single piece of the distant scenery was clearly recognizable.
"I am a little nearsighted, but it shouldn't be this bad. Have I ended up in hell?"
"In that man's words, it should be Heaven."
A voice colder than the bleak wind around them suddenly reached Touko's ears.
Touko looked toward the voice, speaking before she even caught sight of the other person.
"Alice? Did he dump this burden on you? You actually didn't help Aoko kill me. Looks like you couldn't escape Roland's clutches either."
"Whose fault do you think that was?"
The Witch's expression darkened. "It seems Aoko went too easy on you. She should have destroyed your vocal cords along with your eye."
"Give me a break. I arranged everything and went to her myself, closed every gap between us, and still got beaten into this state by my stupid little sister. If I couldn't even talk, I'd probably go mad."
"Why not consider staying this way?"
The elegant Witch glanced with some surprise at Touko, whose voice was steeped in dejection, and a little satisfaction