The Garden of Sinners: A Study in Murder (Part 1) 2007

In 1995, Mikiya Kokutō briefly encounters Shiki Ryōgi while walking home. Later, at his high school, Mikiya spots Shiki in a crowd and introduces himself. Although Shiki seems to have forgotten their prior meeting and behaves quite differently, the two gradually become friends, building a fragile bond under unusual circumstances.

That bond is tested when Shiki slips out at night to roam the streets of Mifune City. She discovers the corpse of a traffic accident victim and, in a trance, applies the victim’s blood to her lips. The following night, a man is brutally killed by an unseen knife-wielder, and during lunchtime the next day, Mikiya discusses the murder with Shiki, a conversation that visibly unsettles her.

As three more victims fall under similarly brutal circumstances, Mikiya remains close to Shiki, even as she is picked up by an associate after school. A cryptic rebuke from Lio Shirazumi—an upperclassman—lands with him: “I know that you are irritated, but four times is a bit too much, isn’t it?” Shiki refuses to answer, and the tension between their ordinary friendship and something darker deepens.

Later, Shiki’s servant Akitaka reveals that she is the heir to the Ryōgi family, carrying a rare condition that gives her multiple independent personalities; in Shiki’s case, her alter-ego SHIKI is male. When Mikiya receives a letter from Shiki asking him out on a date, she appears, but behaves in a boyish way, leaving him puzzled. Over a meal, she explains that SHIKI currently controls her body, representing her rebellious impulses and having fallen out of sync with Shiki herself.

Meanwhile, Mikiya’s detective cousin is investigating the killings. Daisuke explains that the police found Mikiya’s school emblem at the latest crime scene, a clue that makes the situation feel more personal. SHIKI cryptically warns Mikiya that Shiki will kill “anything that opens up her isolation with the world,” even as Mikiya offers to share lunch with her the next day. He notices a bandaged wound on her left arm, and she admits the injury came from the most recent killing. Mikiya is skeptical, but the hint of a link between Shiki’s condition and the murders grows stronger.

Panicking, Mikiya rushes to Shiki’s mansion only to find her drenched in blood beside a freshly beheaded corpse. She spots him and approaches with another cryptic warning, forcing him to confront a reality he’s reluctant to accept. After the police arrive, Mikiya pretends he didn’t see anyone, yet he continues to return to Shiki’s house each night to keep watch.

The tension finally erupts on the road outside when Shiki chases him, holding him at knifepoint. When she demands a response, Mikiya tells her he doesn’t want to die, and she declares her intent to kill him. The scene shifts forward to June 1998, when Mikiya has begun working for the magus Touko Aozaki. He visits a hospitalized, comatose Shiki with flowers, telling her that he has always believed in her.