Japan, summer 1970.

Takashi, a young fisherman in the port town of Shikomi, awakens to his alarm clock in a darkened room. Outside his window, the villagers are in a panic. It's 9 o'clock in the morning… but the sun hasn't come up! To make matters worse, the temperature is plummeting and snow has begun to fall… The situation is tense. If the roads become impassable, Shikomi will be completely isolated.

As volunteers head out to look for help, the other villagers seek refuge in Makiko's bar, where her cheerful demeanor warms their chilled hearts. But their fragile peace is shattered when Kohei, the village drunk, turns up. He claims to have seen a corpse covered in slashing cuts, so deep that the snow is drenched in blood. Takashi decides to go see for himself, and confirms that Kohei is telling the truth. What happened here? Is there a killer among them?

This fantastical graphic novel with a wide range of influences draws the reader into a dark, claustrophobic and intoxicating tale with shades of Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan and John Carpenter's The Thing, in a setting reminiscent of Stephen King's The Mist. This chilling modern take on classic samurai stories, by the artist behind Mezkal, Geronimo and Corps et Âme, also follows in the footsteps of graphic novel series like Le Maître de Jeu and Saint-Elme.