Chapter 35: The Flying Head

The moon shone brightly in a sparse starry sky.

On the outskirts of the Itabashi district, a black Mercedes C-Class cruised slowly along the street.

“Hmph hmph hmph, Yukino,” she murmured to herself.

This district was rather obscure within Tokyo’s 23 wards—less known even than the chaotic Kita ward or the impoverished Adachi ward.

If there was anything noteworthy here, it was the factories set up during its peak days.

Yōno Yukinoshita, with shoulder-length hair, was brimming with energy, eagerly anticipating the “touching” moment when her sister would see her. Unfortunately, it was too late now; she would have to get up early tomorrow to stake out the place in advance.

Yōno Yukinoshita was a true sister fanatic, to the extent that she had installed cameras all over her sister’s room. Now, she was on her way to a hotel in Bunkyō ward, where her sister Yukino was staying.

Bunkyō ward was famed for its many schools, and naturally, the student population formed one of the largest consumer groups. Moreover, with Tokyo’s land being so precious, not an inch could be wasted.

There were all sorts of inns, hotels, entertainment venues, cafés, and izakayas, leaving nothing out.

The Yukinoshita family was a powerful landowner and industrial force in Chiba prefecture and had long sought to expand their business into Tokyo.

Yet, as everyone knew, in the eyes of Minato ward residents, only Chūō and Chiyoda wards were truly Tokyo. Even Bunkyō and Shinjuku wards weren’t considered genuine Tokyo in their view.

Bunkyō? Schools ought to be built in remote places.

Shinjuku? Ha, only some young people who didn’t know better went to enjoy so-called “luxury” there.

And everywhere outside Tokyo proper… was just the countryside!

Tokyoites held a uniform, equal disdain for all outsiders.

Thus, the Yukinoshita family’s ambition to develop in Tokyo…

“I don’t want to think about all that annoying stuff. I want to get back to the hotel quickly and see Yukino tomorrow,” she thought, pushing her worries aside. Just the thought of seeing her soft, fragrant little sister made her happy.

Happy, happy… until something strange appeared.

It was a floating object in the air… a sphere?

Yōno Yukinoshita squinted, trying to make out the mysterious object ahead, and gently pressed the brakes.

It was a strange thing, maintaining the exact same distance from her car; when the car moved forward, it followed, and as she slowed down, it stayed the same distance behind.

Suddenly, a night breeze blew outside the car, causing the sphere, which hovered directly ahead, to release long, hair-like strands that floated in the wind.

Wait—that looked like hair?

The tires came to a stop, and she watched the sphere, puzzled, as it continuously shed hair.

In a blink, the hair cascaded down like a waterfall to the ground, yet the sphere itself remained suspended in the air, standing upright like a person, crowned with that flowing hair.

This eerie sight stirred a sense of unease within her.

The next moment, the sphere began to move, slowly turning to face her.

Yōno Yukinoshita fixed her gaze, lightly pressing the accelerator. When the figure fully turned, her pupils suddenly contracted.

It was a girl’s face—a human face! Hidden beneath the mass of hair, only two eyes stared intently at her.

This unsettling image caused her mind to momentarily freeze. Instinctively, she slammed the accelerator.

The stationary car shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, crashing through the bizarre apparition and rushing ahead.

But before she had gone twenty meters, a powerful force tugged at the vehicle from behind. The tires screeched against the pavement, sharp and piercing in the silent night.

“Faster, faster!” she urged herself, pressing the gas pedal harder. Yōno Yukinoshita had never been this nervous before—not even the first time her mother took her to a formal event.

Her sharp mind told her this thing was definitely dangerous, the faces of girls flashing repeatedly before her eyes.

From angles she couldn’t see, the hair strands spread out like a tide, transforming into snake-like tendrils that gripped the tires. The head rose above the car roof and slowly approached the windshield. Its features were obscured by hair, not even the eyes visible, but she knew the monster was watching her.

Clenching her teeth, eyes wide open, she floored the accelerator to the maximum, but could not shake the creature before her.

…It turned out that a car with its rear wheels lifted off the ground simply cannot move.

“Slash!” At this critical moment, a sharp shout broke through the terrifying scene.

Where the blade passed, the hair strands snapped. The head quickly retreated, soaring into the air and gaining distance.

The rear wheels touched down, the car shuddering, jolting Yōno Yukinoshita awake at the wheel.

Wearing a mask, hoodie, and hood pulled low, Miku Nakano glanced at the shaken driver and exhaled in relief.

But soon her tension returned.

“It’s a hair demon,” warned Minamoto no Raikō in her mind. “To defeat such a yokai, you only need to destroy its head.”

“Even so,” Miku gripped her Spider Cutter tightly, extremely nervous.

The black demon was manageable enough—although fierce-looking, it was humanoid and could be subdued, especially in dim light.

But this hair demon was truly just a head!

And beneath it were countless girls’ faces, making it far more grotesque than the black demon.

Especially since this time, she was confronting the yokai alone, without Raikō to control the situation.

“Hm? Is that a government samurai?”

“What! Government… official people are here? Am I going to be exposed, Raikō-san?”

“Don’t worry.”

No sooner had the words fallen than the hair demon launched its assault, hair strands surging like an endless tide, several whipping together like whips cutting through the air.

“Remember this feeling,” Raikō’s gentle voice echoed in Miku’s mind, and she felt her body move on its own.

The blade traced arcs in the night sky, each strike precise and almost beautiful.

Afterward, all the hair demon’s attacks were cut down, hair strands littering the ground.

Having finished, “Miku” lightly stepped off the tip of her toe, standing poised atop a nearby utility pole under the watchful eyes of Yōno Yukinoshita inside the car and the police officers rushing in from either side of the road.

“...An Esper,” someone muttered.

“Keep your eyes on the enemy!” Tsubasa Satō tapped a nearby comrade with his rifle butt.

Yōno Yukinoshita, seeing the uniformed officers, quickly opened her car door and ran out, eager to distance herself from this trouble.

The brief moment of calm didn’t last long; the now targetless hair demon turned on the arriving officers.

“Rat-a-tat-tat!”

Rifles spat fire, their sharp report piercing the quiet night. Bullets struck the hair forming attacks, burning the strands with heat, only to be replaced immediately by new hair.

The scent of singed hair filled the air.

About fifty members of the Esper Division arrived first, each wielding an automatic rifle and firing relentlessly.

Burnt hair fell clattering to the pavement.

The overwhelming firepower nearly forced the newly appeared yokai to lower its head, summoning a massive shield of hair to block the attacks.

Watching this, Yūya Asakawa, directing the battle from the rear, breathed a sigh of relief.

Good. This scene proved that human technology could indeed harm yokai. They were not helpless against these monsters.

This was the first battle since the Esper Division’s formation—he had to make it a spectacular victory.

“Squad A, continue suppressive fire; Squad B, switch to flamethrowers and prepare for incendiary attack!”

As he gave orders, his gaze involuntarily flicked toward the figure on the utility pole—the Esper holding a sword. That sword looked vaguely familiar…