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. December 1957. It's been nearly two years since Toko Kuchiki was kidnapped from her hospital room. 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—but still struggles with his own obsession with Toko. 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.

Detective Reiji Tokisaka is back to face down a mystery that spans decades if not centuries. With the aftermath of his last case weighing on his soul and a long-silent cult resurgent, can he solve the crime—or will it become his curse?