[b]The year is Showa 33—or 1958, by the new calendar.[/b] It is an especially cold January, and amid the dour gray snow, a funeral is being held. A portrait of a girl’s face sits there draped in snow, looking almost embarrassed and a little lonely… The imprisoned painter Shinzo Mamiya died a scant few weeks after the Blessed Congregation’s crimes came to light. Detective Reiji Tokisaka has been recruited by his old friend Maris Stella to help sort through the man’s belongings, but instead they find an unknown work in his studio: a one-winged angel with no arms. The work, which they name Exile Of Paradise, is as beautiful as it is sinister—and it resembles his infamous masterpiece Girl In Shell. A few more days later, a woman’s corpse is found, modified in the manner depicted in Exile. She is identified as having formerly worked with Tomoyuki Masaki. There may be no one left who can cut the chain of obsession that began with Girl In Shell—nobody but one small girl. [i]E quell’ossessione fa girare il sole e tutte le stelle.[/i] [From [url=https://shiravune.com/archives/8293]Shiravune's description of The Shell Part III: Paradiso[/url]].

[b]March 1956.[/b] In a Tokyo that’s slowly returning to its former glory after losing the war ten years prior, Private Detective Reiji Tokisaka takes on the case of a girl he meets in Inokashira Park. “I want you to find something… Me. My true self.” A wave of bizarre and grotesque crimes has been crashing down on the city. The victims, all young women, are being kidnapped and murdered, each corpse only to be discovered with a body part and the uterus removed. Sergeant Uozumi, Tokisaka’s childhood friend and former coworker, asks him to investigate the murders. Meanwhile, sitting off in a corner of the town of Hoya is Oba Girls’ Academy, the school Tokisaka’s younger sister goes to and where two students have recently disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The vice principal of this academy, Tokio Saeki, implores Tokisaka to find them. Having taken on all three of these cases, and with Vice Principal Tokio’s approval, Tokisaka enters Oba Girls’ Academy as a teacher in order to dig up information about the students. It’s there that he meets her again. Toko Kuchiki, the girl who asked him to look for her true self, with a voice as light and as clear as a bell and a casual way of speaking that doesn’t match it. “Heya. Figured I’d be seeing you soon, Detective.” More and more victims turn up as the days pass, and the investigation he thought would be oh-so-easy stalls. For some reason, the number of disappearances and unidentified bodies don’t add up. And the newest victim is— The secrets of a case from six years prior may just be the key to the current unending cycle of tragedy, and the thing that cracks this woeful world’s shell may be one girl’s smile. [From [url=https://shiravune.com/archives/4394]Shiravune's description of The Shell Part I: Inferno[/url]]

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]]

Tokyo, 1936. Kudou Sousuke is a talented pianist who regularly performs at a jazz bar called "CADENZA." One night, out of the blue, he finds himself in a pickle when a frenzied geisha suddenly attacks him on his way home. Despite being battered and bruised, Sousuke manages to weather the storm and makes a hasty exit. The following day at work, Sousuke learns that the geisha has been found murdered, and he is the prime suspect. The news spreads like wildfire, and the bar's owner gives Sousuke the boot, unwilling to risk the bar's reputation by employing a fugitive. Finding himself between a rock and a hard place, Sousuke goes on the lam, unable to return home where his sister Yuzuha anxiously awaits. After wandering aimlessly, he crosses paths with a gorgeous yet haughty woman with a shady background. She offers Sousuke a safe haven, but there's no such thing as a free lunch; he must agree to do some tasks on the wrong side of the law. Fate takes an unexpected turn when, a few days later, Sousuke rescues a young woman named Ayane from a gang of ruffians. He realizes she is the same person who steered him clear of the military police on the night of the geisha's attack. Grateful for the rescue, Ayane vows to help Sousuke get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the geisha's death and clear his name once and for all.