[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dawn_tsumetai_te.jpg]]

Nagasawa Takashi was an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, passing his days studying and trying to attract the attention of his classmate Shirai Kyouko, until he was attacked by a strangely deformed rat. He returns to school only to hear about a strange serial killer on the loose, who attacks only at night and beheads his victims.

One night after school, he is attacked by a madman and briefly loses control of himself, killing the other man with his bare hands. Shortly after that, the doctor studying his case, who has been tracking him, tells him he has contracted an entirely new disease known as Nightshift, called this because it is active only between sunset and sunrise. Nightshift somehow affects its host's DNA before killing them; the dead hosts then rise as ravenous zombies.

Now Nagasawa is the only thing standing between the infected and the living. His disease cannot be cured, only slowed. His body is changing slowly into that of a monster. When he fights, he loses control of his mind.

And the zombies appear to be learning how to hide.

A horror manga by Shinsyu Ueda, ''Dawn Tsumetai Te'' ("Dawn Chilly Hands") is run-of-the-mill enough at first glance; but it has a focus on the psychological struggle Nagasawa undergoes as he fights the Nightshift, strong characterization, and a subtle sense of malice and insidiousness throughout the story. The manga ran in ''Comic Zero Sum'' from 2002 to 2007.
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!!This manga provides examples of:

* BadassNormal: Sagami Kou, who’s evidently just a really good kickboxer. Though he’s got to wear long sleeves and gloves to avoid infection.
* BeingGoodSucks: For Nagasawa.
* BlessedWithSuck: Nagasawa is capable of fighting off the Nightshift zombies. Unfortunately, should ''he'' stop taking his meds, he becomes one of them. And in the meantime he’s got all sorts of freaky BodyHorror going on.
* BodyHorror: Nightshift is changing Nagasawa's body. He is definitely not okay with it.
* BodyMotifs: Hands. Doc steeples his constantly; the Nightshift turns Nagasawa’s cold and clawed; Kyouko’s are always warm…
** Additionally, hands and arms are usually the focus of the chapter covers.
* BreakHerHeartToSaveHer: Somewhat subverted in that it's - at this point - pretty one-sided. Nagasawa tries to deny the obviously weird events transpiring around him to Kyouko, so as not to get her involved in his exploits (and so she wouldn't find out the effects Nightshift is doing to his body). [[spoiler: It doesn't work, she finds out anyway, and from this, she and Nagasawa actually become ''closer''.]]
* TheCorruption: Nightshift.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Nagasawa, who on the covers is alternately drawn with brown hair and eyes or [[RedEyesTakeWarning red hair and eyes]].
* DefrostingIceQueen: Kyouko is a mild version, particularly in early chapters.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Nagasawa, PTSD-flavor.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The creepy epidemiologist doctor who’s basically Nagasawa’s handler is known only by the title “Doc.”
* FaceRevealingTurn
* FingerTenting: Doc does a variation of it, often.
* FreudianExcuse: The reason Kyouko doesn't like tall guys: [[spoiler: when her dad divorced her mom, he tried to comfort her by patting her on the head, but he turned his gaze away from her and since she was so young and small at the time, she couldn't see his face fully, leading to a sort of a feeling of distance and separation between the two]].
* GoodEyesEvilEyes: When in school, at home, or even fighting Nightshift, Nagasawa’s eyes are perfectly normal. But once he gets into a bad fight they narrow considerably, as well as turning white.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Nagasawa and Shirai.
* HunterOfHisOwnKind: Which Nagasawa is fully aware of.
* ILied: The Doctor with how he was keeping tabs on Nagasawa, but other than that he has been surprisingly honest.
* JerkAss: Doc, full stop.
* LastNameBasis: ''Nobody'' uses Nagasawa’s first name.
* LawEnforcementInc: Whoever Doc and, by extension, Nagasawa are working for.
* LimitedWardrobe: Nagasawa has never been seen in [[SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack anything other than his school uniform]].
* LovecraftianSuperpower: The Nightshift parasite is hungry. And nocturnal. And mutates its host.
* MadDoctor: Doc definitely channels this vibe. It creeps people out.
* ManipulativeBastard: The Doctor breathes this trope. He shamelessly [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility guilts Nagasawa into the whole “zombie hunter” thing]].
* TheMasquerade: What Doc and his lackeys are keeping up by having Nagasawa eliminate Nightshift infectees and then cleaning up the bodies.
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: [[spoiler: Inverted. When Kyouko discovers the truth, she becomes one of Nagasawa's most trusted allies and best friends]].
* MeaningfulName: In-series; the Nightshift parasite is called that because it’s nocturnal.
* NotUsingTheZedWord: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]; Kyouko uses “zombies” to describe the effects of the Nightshift.
** And Doc, at one point early in the story, compares it to a zombie ''and'' to vampirism.
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Nagasawa in the beginning .
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're a virus animating a dead body, also they are not very infectious.
* {{Protectorate}}: What Nagasawa sees himself as. One of the few things keeping him sane at this point.
* SamaritanSyndrome: What Nagasawa develops as a result of fighting to protect Kyouko: he eventually starts feeling responsible for ''any'' deaths that happen at night, whether or not there’s evidence that they were committed by Nightshift-infected.
%%* ScaryShinyGlasses: Doc, repeatedly.
%%* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack
* SecretIdentity: Averted; Nagasawa doesn’t have one. He doesn’t even change out of his school uniform for fights.
%%* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler: Shirai]]
%%* ShipperOnDeck: Araya, for Nagasawa and Kyouko. Later with support from Emi.
* SpiderSense: Nagasawa can sense other Nightshift hosts when they are close by.
* SuperStrength: Nagasawa gets this, as it's one of Nightshift's symptoms.
* TakeOverTheWorld: What the Nightshift parasites are biologically geared for, by way of optimum infection.
%%* ThousandYardStare: Nagasawa, often. People notice.
%%* TooHappyToLive: Kouno's family
%%* ViralTransformation: Nightshift
* TheVirus: Nightshift, of the [[ViralTransformation “take over your body and slowly eat it from the inside out” variety]].
%%* WasOnceAMan: Yeah, Nightshift were once people.
%%* WhatHaveIBecome: Nagasawa again.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: [[spoiler: Doc hates the Nightshift...but has it himself]].
* ZombieApocalypse: What Nagasawa and Doc (maybe) are trying to prevent.
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