Hezi looked up and saw several familiar faces among the Head Balloons drifting by like a parade of demons.
"Dad and Mom... Even Yangjie's head is up there..."
"When... did they..."
"...show up in such numbers..."
"They must have flown to Kyoto to hang the owners of those heads!"
As she hurried along, Hezi tried to guess why the Head Balloons had come.
Just then, a balloon that looked exactly like Hezi swooped toward her from the crowd of Head Balloons.
"Ah!"
Hezi dodged the balloon's attack and made it home.
On the television, a reporter at the scene delivered the latest news from inside a building:
"Where exactly did these balloons come from?
Right now, these strange flying balloons are filling the skies across the country.
And we can already see quite a few victims hanging from them."
"I just saw my own head outside the window!
It's still lurking around this TV station, waiting for a chance to take my life!"
"Um... and..."
"To everyone watching at home, please do your best to stay indoors."
"It's very dangerous to go outside without good reason. If you absolutely must, please use a vehicle!"
"Also... um... um... the latest reports say that people across the country must not set these unidentified balloons on fire or try to pop them."
"If you pop or burn one, the owner of that head will suffer the same fate."
"Many horrifying incidents like this have already happened across the country!"
"What are we supposed to do now...? Are we really helpless against these monsters...?"
By the end of the broadcast, the reporter had lost his professional composure, overcome by despair.
The family watched the television anxiously.
Yangjie, the youngest, was the angriest of them all.
"Damn it... This is awful!"
"What's going on...?"
The father, head of the household, straightened his tie and spoke with resolve:
"Whatever happens... I'm going to the office now. There's something I have to finish today."
His wife stood up to stop him. "Honey!"
Hezi stood up too. "Dad! Don't go. It's too dangerous outside!"
"It'll be all right, Hezi."
Her father reassured her. "It'll be all right, Hezi."
"I just have to make it from the door to the car without getting hanged.
I thought of a way to protect myself last night. I just need to keep my neck tightly covered."
His wife hesitated. "But..."
As always, her father wore a gentle, confident smile.
"Don't worry. Just watch."
He turned the doorknob.
"Then I'm off. I'll be back at six. Have the bath ready for me."
"Honey!"
Her father opened the door, checked outside, and hurried out.
Bang!
He held one hand over his neck and quickly shut the door with the other.
Here it comes!
A Head Balloon that looked exactly like her father had locked onto him.
Her father crossed his arms in front of his neck and jogged toward the car.
Inside the house, Hezi and her mother watched as Yangjie saw their father, bound around the waist, carried into the sky by the balloon.
"Damn you, you monsters!"
Yangjie's legs gave out, and he dropped to one knee. His teeth clenched, but the pain in his heart forced his head down.
Outside the window, Head Balloons that looked exactly like the three of them stared into the house.
A few days later.
"How long are those monsters going to keep this up?"
Yangjie angrily threw his book onto the table.
"If this goes on, we're all going to die!"
"Yangjie... Calm down," Hezi urged, her voice weak.
Yangjie got to his feet and headed for the front door.
"How can I stay calm?"
"Hey, Mom, I'm going out to find food!"
Hezi grabbed Yangjie's arm and desperately tried to stop him.
Their mother tried to talk him out of it too.
"Yangjie, don't do anything stupid. Come back here."
Hezi tightened her grip.
"Yeah. If you go out, you'll end up like Dad."
"Enough!"
Yangjie pulled free of Hezi's grasp.
"If I don't go, who's going to find food?"
"We have to do this while we still have the strength!"
Yangjie picked up an umbrella. "If I'm going to get hanged either way, I'm not going to make it easy for that thing!"
"I'll use this umbrella to stab it!"
The boy's youthful face took on the same resolute expression as his father's.
He turned back to Hezi and gave her a warm, confident smile.
"Don't worry, Sis. I'll be fine."
"Yangjie!" His mother called out loudly, trying to stop him.
"I'll definitely bring back food. Take good care of Mom until I get back!"
"Yangjie..."
Watching him go, his mother and Hezi burst into tears.
Yangjie took the umbrella and cautiously stepped outside.
A Head Balloon that looked exactly like Yangjie had clearly been waiting for him.
As soon as he left the house, it swooped down.
"Damn it!"
Yangjie threw the umbrella at the Head Balloon.
"Come on, then, if you've got the guts!"
The balloon's string caught the umbrella, buying Yangjie a precious moment to catch his breath.
"Good job!" Hezi shouted encouragement through the window.
The umbrella was quickly torn to shreds by the force of the Head Balloon's string.
"Yangjie, be careful!"
Their mother watched the ruined umbrella anxiously.
"Oh... Hezi, what do we do? The umbrella's been torn apart."
Hezi forced a faint smile. "It's okay, Mom! Yangjie's bought himself plenty of time!"
"So you have to stay strong too!"
A week later.
Hezi's inner thoughts began.
"The sky is still full of Head Balloons... And the number of bodies hanging beneath them keeps growing..."
"My little brother still hasn't come back... Has he been hanged... or is he still alive... somewhere...?"
"Mom broke down three days ago, and became another victim.
Now I'm all alone."
At last, the scene returned to where it had begun: the girl huddled by the table, listening to the voice outside the window.
"...Hezi, open the window..."
"The weather's so nice and cool out here."
"Hezi... Hurry up!"
"You're the only one still being so selfish!"
Fear appeared on Hezi's face as she thought:
"That thing doesn't just look like me...
It even sounds exactly like me."
Memories of the days before she encountered the Head Balloons surfaced in Hezi's mind. She was already close to breaking down.
"Ah... I'm going crazy..."
"Someone... Someone, please save me..."
"Hey, Sis!..."
"...Sis! Are you in there?"
"Sis!"
Yangjie's lively voice came from outside the window.
The adolescent boy still had a cracking voice. Hezi used to find it annoying sometimes, but now it sounded like music to her ears.
Hezi lifted her head.
A figure stood outside the window. "Hey, Sis, are you there? Hurry up and open the window."
"I brought food!"
"If you don't hurry, that thing's going to come after me."
"I've been fighting for my life this whole time."
Tears had somehow appeared on Hezi's face again. With so little food and water, even her tears barely flowed.
"Yangjie! Are you okay?"
Facing a family member she hadn't seen in so long, Hezi's defenses crumbled in an instant.
"Ah, I'm sorry I took so long to come back! Is Mom okay?"
"Mom~"
Hezi hesitated, then opened the window.
"Come inside first."
"Yangjie..."
When she opened the window, Hezi didn't see the mischievous boy who had suddenly grown up when danger came.
She saw a cold, lifeless corpse.
His body was badly mangled, and the umbrella he had taken with him had pierced it.
Above, out of Hezi's sight,
a Head Balloon shaped like Yangjie wore a look of joyful satisfaction.
It was the fulfillment of a wish.
Beside Yangjie's Head Balloon, another Head Balloon shaped like Hezi laughed wildly.
The Yangjie-shaped Head Balloon fixed its emotionless eyes on Hezi.
"Sis... Thank you for opening the window for me..."