Fictional Book Introductions (50th to 56th)

*All images provided are AI-generated. The text is not AI-generated.

50th: "AI Ghost Story Collection"

A collection of AI-related ghost stories gathered by an author who began to feel that the people in the AI images he was generating were starting to look like him. The latter half turns into a series of failures, such as a man who becomes subservient to AI, a story about a man whose AI-generated comedy routine gets no laughs, and a man whose AI-written novels won't sell. Of course, this was all intended by the AI.

51st: "Reading Muscle Training"

I asked a man who had slaughtered a grizzly bear with his bare hands, "What kind of training do you do?" The man silently handed me the book he had been reading. It was made of iron, not paper, and weighed several dozen kilograms. I couldn't even hold it. "You just naturally end up like this from reading books," the man said with a laugh.

He also appears in the picture book "The Readers".

52nd: "Nessie Farming"

A harrowing record by an author who spent many years working on the Nessie farming industry in Loch Ness and finally succeeded. It covers conflicts with local residents, sabotage by occult enthusiasts, and the battle against the mysterious chair-like creature 'Cossie,' which had become Nessie's natural predator. It has now become a major industry, exporting Nessies to lakes all over the world.

53rd: "Crows That Read Books"

After finishing their scavenging for food scraps, the crows began to open and read the books that had been put out for recycling. At first, it was just one, but gradually the number of crows reading books increased. Crows began to read more than humans. Some crows even appeared performing Shakespeare's "King Lear."

*Click here for the picture book version.

54th: "Sound Husks"

The phenomenon where only the sound remains like a shell, even though the object that made the sound is gone, is called a "Sound Husk." The sound of fireworks, the sound of opening a ramune bottle, the sound of a door slamming shut as someone leaves—they have remained since last summer, yet summer has come again this year. I open a newly bought ramune bottle to match the sound husk.

Click here for the previous work, "Voice Husks."

Click here for the short story version of "Sound Husks."

55th: "Last Train Dash"

A non-fiction look at the runners who stake their lives on the "Last Train Dash," which has been officially adopted as an event for the next Olympic Games. In harsh working environments, they continue to work until the very last minute before the final train. There is no true winner in this competition, which pits the time from punching the time card to boarding the train against others.

*The 'Last Train Dash' comes from a post by Saka-sensei, whose anime adaptation of 'Until a Certain Witch Dies' was recently announced. It refers to the dash made to catch the last train while working until the very last minute.

56th: "Stories"

There once were creatures called children. They are no longer here. There once were creatures called adults. They are no longer here. There once were creatures called animals. They are no longer here. There once were creatures called robots. They are no longer here. There was something called a story. Only stories still continue to this day.

Illustrations have also been added to all early works.