Nightmare Phase: the Plot
Five girls from an establishment called the Lullaby Institute escape and find them selves living together after having to go through the horror of the Lullaby Institute.
At the Lullaby Institute they were subjects in an experiment called “Project Nightmare”. In this project they are enhanced for the purpose of protecting the human race at the expense of the girls themselves.
They are all programmed for different tasks. Shadow was created to deal with dangerous killers, Ivy was created to apprehend criminals on the street, Imo was created to treat and protect the injured, Teira was created to protect the weak and helpless, and Rin was created to interrogate suspects and retrieve information.
While at the Lullaby Institute they were put through various tests and experiments. They escaped four years ago, but no one except Shadow and Ivy can remember it, and Shadow’s memories of that day only come in flashbacks and nightmares. Ivy remembers the last few moments of that day, and the horrible things that occurred.
As a result of the girls’ time spent in the Lullaby Institute, they each developed different fears, skills, and abnormalities.
The story centers around Shadow Lovely. Shadow’s personality spilt during her training at the Lullaby Institute; splitting her personality between the regular caring Shadow Lovely and the bloodthirsty “Subject 13”. Known as “the Reaper” at the Lullaby Institute, “Subject 13” shows no mercy and will stop at nothing to exterminate her target.
Four years to the day of the escape of the girls from the Lullaby Institute, Shadow starts having flashbacks of the Institute, triggering the surfacing of her personality split and her eyes to set on a new target: the Lullaby Girls themselves. The change in Shadow is so subtle when her personality switches, that the only difference between her and “Subject 13” are the rings in her eyes that multiply from one to two rings when she becomes “Subject 13”.
Shadow’s only family member is her younger sister Teira who wants to see her sister safe. Imo and Ivy were friends with Shadow during their time at the Lullaby Institute, and spent lots of time together during “Project Nightmare”. Not much is known about Rin. She has no memory of her life before “Project Nightmare”, not even her real name. The other girls didn’t even know about her existence until a day before the escape.
Shadow struggles to control her split personality and comes to find that “Subject 13” believes that if she exterminates the other Lullaby Girls, her life will go back to the way it was before the Lullaby Institute, and she can lead a normal existence. The girls do all they can to help Shadow, but are unsure themselves; if Shadow might be trying to kill them, what if they are all trying to kill each other? Skepticism, suspicion, and drama…how will it end? Welcome to the Nightmare.