天ノ少女

The year is Showa 33—or 1958, by the new calendar. 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. E quell’ossessione fa girare il sole e tutte le stelle. [From Shiravune's description of The Shell Part III: Paradiso].