7 Billion Needles Series by Nobuaki Tadano

Always sporting her headphones to try to close out the world around her, Hikaru is clearly a reclusive teen aged girl.  And within her body resides another life-form known as Ciel, a hunter in search of an intergalactic murderer intent on wiping out humanity. In 7 Billion Needles, two lives share one heart as they race to protect each other and what they most cherish... moreAlways sporting her headphones to try to close out the world around her, Hikaru is clearly a reclusive teen aged girl.  And within her body resides another life-form known as Ciel, a hunter in search of an intergalactic murderer intent on wiping out humanity. In 7 Billion Needles, two lives share one heart as they race to protect each other and what they most cherish.Modern day Japan is the stage for a new form of hard science-fiction, as author Nobuaki Tadano revisits one of the  genre's Grand Masters, Hal Clement, in his debut work 7 Billion Needles.  Loosely inspired by Clement's golden age title Needle, 7 Billion Needles follows the life of a teenage girl whose quiet boring days are dramatically changed when her body is possessed by an alien life form caught up in an intergalactic manhunt.On a clear calm night, while on a class trip to the beach, Hikaru Takabe decides to go for a walk to escape the shackles of school and peer pressure.  While observing the stars above a calm dark sea in an instant she is disintegrated when struck by a meteor.Flash forward one page, and Hikaru awakes, from what seems like a horrible daydream of sorts, sitting amongst classmates in school without a scratch on her.  The meteor dream seemed so real she cannot believe she's alive, but given her relative aloof nature, she soon shrugs off the events and moves on with life.  However, one thing she cannot shake off is the strange buzzing she hears coming from her new pair of headphones... less

Modern day Japan is the stage for a new form of hard science-fiction, as author Nobuaki Tadano revisits one of the  genre's Grand Masters, Hal Clement, in his debut work 7 Billion Needles.  Loosely inspired by Clement's golden age title Needle, 7 Billion Needles follows the life of a teenage girl whose quiet boring days are dramatically changed when her body is possessed by an alien life form caught up in an intergalactic manhunt... moreModern day Japan is the stage for a new form of hard science-fiction, as author Nobuaki Tadano revisits one of the  genre's Grand Masters, Hal Clement, in his debut work 7 Billion Needles.  Loosely inspired by Clement's golden age title Needle, 7 Billion Needles follows the life of a teenage girl whose quiet boring days are dramatically changed when her body is possessed by an alien life form caught up in an intergalactic manhunt.In this second volume of 7 Billion Needles, Hikaru is briefly lulled into a sense of normalcy.  As strange as "normal" might seem to her now, "happy days" are much more welcomed than the surreal days she experienced with Celistial. Having wasted Maelstrom in a massive battle she has been freed from the voices in her head(-phones) and is now moving on with her life with new found resolve. So when she gets an opportunity to formally exorcise her personal demons, which come in the form of painful memories of her deceased father, Hikaru takes the first ferry to the Izu Islands to pay her final respects. When she and her friends arrive and make their way around Hikaru's ancestral home, they all quickly realize that they were not alone making this trip. Not only is Maelstrom still around and possibly more determined than ever to defeat Celestial, but Celestial was never in Hikaru's headphones at all... He was in her blood all this time! Making her bond to him almost as deep as her connection to her family... less

This work follows the story of a teenage girl whose life is dramatically changed when her body becomes host to an alien life form.

Modern day Japan is the stage for a new form of hard science-fiction, as author Nobuaki Tadano revisits one of the  genre's Grand Masters, Hal Clement, in his debut work 7 Billion Needles.  Loosely inspired by Clement's golden age title Needle, 7 Billion Needles follows the life of a teenage girl whose quiet boring days are dramatically changed when her body is possessed by an alien life form caught up in an intergalactic manhunt.In this final volume, life on Earth is on the brink... moreModern day Japan is the stage for a new form of hard science-fiction, as author Nobuaki Tadano revisits one of the  genre's Grand Masters, Hal Clement, in his debut work 7 Billion Needles.  Loosely inspired by Clement's golden age title Needle, 7 Billion Needles follows the life of a teenage girl whose quiet boring days are dramatically changed when her body is possessed by an alien life form caught up in an intergalactic manhunt.In this final volume, life on Earth is on the brink. Hikaru finds herself in a battle with an organism bent on defining Earth's ideal life-force. By going through the a few million years worth of genetic makeup from Earth's history, this new threat quickly is breaking down the very fabric of life as time and space have developed.With now two aliens residing in her, Hikaru's purpose is clear. She must prove that humanity is at the top. And she must do this on her own. Her future will be forever tied with the two parasites living in her bloodstream, but as a young person capable of expanding the gene pool with her own make up, she alone is at the top of the native food-chain. less