Gunslinger Girl

Set in modern Italy, story follows a group of traumatically-injured young girls taken from hospitals all over the country, who are then cybernetically enhanced, indoctrinated and trained to be assassins by a secret branch of the Public Corporation for Social Welfare, Section 2. Each girl is assigned to a male "handler" who oversees her training, deployments, and general conduct. Each handler is free to "condition" his cybernetic assassin to the extent he sees fit, which increases a girl’s lethality and loyalty at the expense of human individuality and lifespan.

While preparing to return to Italy, Jose and Hilshire go to an antique store in France to pick gifts for their partners, Henrietta and Triela. On the train home, Jose has a flashback to when he was assigned to the Balkans and had to leave his younger sister, Enrica, with his older brother, Jean. Back in Italy, Jose and Henrietta join Jean and his partner Rico, as well as Hilshire and Triela, as they chase a group of bombers after they conduct an attack. With aid from all parties, the bombers are captured. Later at the headquarters, Henrietta goes to Jose's room, and finds inside a kaleidoscope addressed to a "Louise Antoinette Rolle," whom Henrietta suspects is Giuseppe's lover. Heartbroken, Henrietta returns to her room, and voices this suspicion to her roommates, Claes and Triela. Claes recalls that the woman in question is the mistress of a nineteenth century author who commonly used the character "Henrietta" in his novels. Pleased, Henrietta joins Jose stargazing, while Claes remarks that the kaleidoscope is likely fake.