Japan, 1951. Takashiro Shuugo found himself on a train bound for Zushi, a world away from his past life at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The headline on the newspaper in his lap reminded him of the path that had led him here: Ueno Serial Dismemberment Murder Case This bone-chilling case set the wheels in motion for Shuugo's unexpected journey. His former boss had bitten off more than he could chew with the investigation and, knowing their shared history, reached out with a request — "Could you lend me a hand?" For Shuugo, turning a blind eye wasn't an option. He was roped into a case involving the disappearance of a damsel from a high-flying family. At the Kouzuki estate, déjà vu hit him like a ton of bricks when he encountered Kouzuki Kazuna, the spitting image of his former flame, Kouzuki Yura. Kazuna, with fire in her eyes, implored him to unearth the whereabouts of her vanished twin. Yet, a man gravely informs Shuugo, "That girl, in truth, is no longer among the living..." A maze of fiction and reality unravels in Ueno, a town still grappling with the post-war environment. And thus, a new tragedy is set in motion. [Translated and edited from [url=http://www.gungnir.co.jp/innocentgrey/products/pro_cartagra/kal_story.html]the official site[/url]]

In the years before Japan went to war and the world went to hell, amidst the deep snows of the mountainous north, there was a small hamlet known as Hitogata where by ancient custom the residents were prone to worship clay dolls. One night, during their festival, a woman was murdered, and the people came to speak of this as their god’s curse—divine retribution for trying to take the power of their god into their own hands. [b]December 1957.[/b] It’s been nearly two years since the events of [url=/v810]Kara no Shoujo[/url]. Reiji Tokisaka’s little sister Yukari saves a man from suicide—but that man is a victim of the curse’s return… Reiji steps in to sever a cycle of obsession that has persisted since before the war—[i]but still struggles with his own obsession.[/i] Meanwhile, a cult rises from the ashes after six years of silence—but what are they planning? Curses may be the devices of the gods, but it’s always human hands that carry their knives. [Based on [url=https://shiravune.com/archives/5857]Shiravune's description of The Shell Part II: Purgatorio[/url]]