Karakura Town, Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
Keigo ASANO and Mizuiro KOJIMA are walking outside, heading back home after a Christmas party. Keigo lost a game during the party and got a mohawk hairstyle as punishment. He isn't exactly happy about it, but reminds himself that Robert De Niro looked cool with a mohawk in Taxi Driver — Orihime Inoue had told him this little fact to cheer him up. Mizuiro makes sarcastic comments and they bicker as usual. Keigo is afraid people will think he's some kind of delinquent. He sees a woman with black, shoulder length hair who has a sombre expression on her face. He reassures her: "Ah! It's not what it looks like, miss! I'm De Niro!" But then his smile freezes — covering the right part of her face… is a pure white skull. Cold sweat runs down Keigo's back. He realises she resembles the monsters that Afro-san (KURUMADANI) is always chasing. Chan and Inoue have told him that those are evil spirits (he forgot what they're called). Mizuiro also notices her and tells Keigo not to go near her. Keigo agrees, although he silently thinks that he would've jumped at her anyway if she'd had a larger bust. Then the woman suddenly looks distressed and, as if melting into the air, she disappears. Keigo freaks out and Mizuiro remains calm. However, they're not the only ones who had seen her. They're on a bustling shopping street and many people are pointing to the spot where the woman disappeared ("Did you see that!? She disappeared!?"). Although he didn't really want to admit it, Keigo knew he had recently developed spiritual-sight. But it would be weird for all these people to possess that ability as well, wouldn't it? Why could everyone see her? Zennosuke KURUMADANI arrives on the scene. He came because he had sensed a suspicious spiritual-pressure, but he's too late. She's gone.
Keigo knows KURUMADANI is a soul reaper. He notices that the other people can't see him. Which means that those people don't share Keigo's ability to see spirits. So why could they see that woman earlier? Keigo and Mizuiro exchange a glance and continue their way back home, feeling unsettled. They didn't know this was just the beginning.
Witness reports about a masked woman continued for over a year in Karakura and its surrounding towns. Time and time again, Zennosuke KURUMADANI, soul reaper supervising the other towns and the quincy Uryû ISHIDA would sense her presence, but then she would be gone before they could get to her. Someone eventually managed to film her. They put it on the Internet, and she became a nation-wide sensation. Rumours flew. Was it fake? Was she a ghost? An intruder from another dimension!? Eventually she also caught the eye of a certain spirit program producer. The producer suggested to record a special episode in which "he" will try to find out the truth behind this masked woman. Who will? The charismatic spirit medium: Don KANONJI.