I've collected stories about summer festivals and zombies!

＊There is an urgent announcement regarding the next theme. Check the table of contents!

This is the commemorative 11th edition!
You're doing great!

This time, the theme includes a summer festival.
I once dated someone from the Kanto region and went to a food stall in a different area for the first time, but there were several things that made me think, 'What is this?' and I ended up acting suspicious.

So, even though I chose the summer festival as the theme myself, I ended the story without letting the characters go to the festival.
Now, I wonder how many 'didn't let them go to the festival' types there will be among the challengers.

Bring on this time's theme!

Personally, I didn't have many ideas, so I left my own story as it was and looked forward to reading everyone else's.
I mean, summer festivals are a played-out trope, and conversely, there aren't many opportunities to write zombie novels, and water is just... water.

Below is the introduction to the challengers' articles (in order of entry).
Besides this novel, they are active in various other novels and essays!
It's not mandatory, but please use this as a place to interact with other challengers!
You might find similar hobbies or unexpected commonalities!

Regulars! Welcome! 'Tsuki wa Higashi ni'!

They are also serializing a novel on the novel site TALES on note! If you have a note account, you don't need to re-register, you can just log in, slip in smoothly, and read away!
100charactersBLwriting, serializing novels, and tossing off a tanka poem between housework and childcare. Tsuki-san's house might be the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Or perhaps, like a dolphin, they might be staying awake while letting their right and left brains take turns sleeping. Cheers to such amazing creative drive!

🧟‍♀️

'A Past You Might Regret' It's business!
A colleague who fell in love with (or made?) their boss, invited on a date off-duty—from the movie theater to the summer festival.
From matching yo-yos to... I won't say anything more. The zombie does a good job and spurs on the romance of the two adults.
I concede defeat to Tsuki-san, who packed all the summer romance tropes everyone loves into 5,000 characters.

Regulars! Welcome! 'Kinoyama Kino'!

Kino-san has also started writing novels on TALES and Everystar! Everyone's creative drive is insane; it took me, Nami, a month to grasp it all. That's a lie. I see it here and there in everyone's articles; my hobby is stalking the borderline.

"Lumonde is the taste of love that fades away fragilely"
Excerpt from Kino-san's "Waka Game." Lumonde love songs are nice.
For the second half of the poem, I'd like:
"Melting and crumbling, one more bite" (too many syllables).

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'Goldfish Backstroke' School life/Aoharu boys genre
It's too ephemeral to be called Aoharu boys (I'm adopting that lame temporary name immediately), like a ray of light in the gloom of a Shunji Iwai movie.
Aoharu that starts with the recollection of a goldfish showing its belly in a tank, where you can almost hear the sound of cicadas!
With this two-part structure and this character count, it makes you groan. Kino-san, one more for the whale ghost!

Regulars! Welcome! 'Kashiko'!

Everyone, listen to me.
Kashiko 2025 might finally be saying goodbye to the cardboard box they were using instead of a desk, and the cardbo—ugh... the, the cardboard...!!
I was rooting for them, you know, for Kashiko and the cardboard. Kashiko even wrote an article looking so happy about how the height and compatibility were perfect.
They say they're going to buy a desk of the same height. Oh, what a chaotic world, what a chaotic world!

🧟

It didn't have a title, so I'll call it 'Our Shinobu', Kashiko!
It's a comedy!
Shinobu, excited to be at a festival in a yukata with the person they like, is confronted by the person's father! Learning the person's name for the first time, a sudden parting, wine at the home of a suspicious boy.
Drink, Shinobu. There are nights that suit sad liquor.
Everyone, let them drink tonight. You can just blame everything painful on perfume; that's how adults drink.

Welcome, regular! Welcome, 'Tempp@言ひ散らかしゐ故お返し不要'!

This is super trivial, but while reading the food report for the tweet 'General Food: zone U.F.O flavor', I kept wondering why it was yakisoba flavor. I realized later that I had mistaken U.F.O for UFO because I had seen the text 'New Adamski Complete Works 4 UFO Q&A' listed in the 'Book Miscellany Outline' beforehand.
If a zone Adamski flavor came out, it would probably taste like nostalgia.
And I agree with your thoughts on the 'Rohan Kishibe series'. Maybe they are trying to cater to the fans, but something just feels off, doesn't it?

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'After Becoming a Zombie'
When you write about love using the word 'zombie', both the author and the characters are forced to make ultimate choices. Most choose to stick to their love, and then they are forced into another binary choice beyond that.
A world being eroded by a zombie virus.
The immature choice made by two young boys holding hands feels wrong, but also feels like the right answer.
Anyway, the link between the characters who have no time and the author who also has no time creates a great sense of realism.
Great work!

Welcome, regular! Welcome, 'Yoshida Nareshika'!

My name has been unified! It's Yoshida. Not Shishida, it's Yoshida. I'm not the princess from the Valley of the Wind, it's just me!
For the first time in a while, the 'Parents' Home Diary' that I quietly look forward to has been updated.
This blog about the struggle with a hopeless but lovable father has the charm of being able to peek into the gap between reality and fiction, which is unique to text-based social media.
It's a wonderful article that perfectly captures the phrase 'everything depends on how you look at it'.

🧟

'Beyond the Red Sunset' It's horror, with a bit of gore.
On a Sunday evening, I wake up from a nap feeling a sense of unease, and my family is suddenly gone. But, there are days like that; more importantly, I have to go to the meeting place, because we're going to the summer festival together.
As the pieces of the puzzle fall apart and turn into terror, I think about how ordinary things were happiness—those ordinary nights, nights I can never return to. *This has absolutely nothing to do with Toramaryu.

Welcome, regular! Welcome, 'Ichigo'!

Ichigo-san is also releasing works on TALES!! I heard there's a bit of an erotic feel to it too! But eros is essential to the dark fantasy world that Ichigo-san writes. It's not vulgar erotica, but essential eros.
I'm frustrated that it's not the kind of vulgar erotic comedy that makes me lose friends, which I'm good at, so I'm reading it while biting my handkerchief. It's the perfect dark side, no matter when you read it!

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'The Librarian's Expected Guest' It's horror!
Read through the eyes of ten-year-old Emma, it's about a secret promise with an old man whom everyone in town calls 'the librarian'.
Nostalgia lurking deep within the horror, and the painful, clinging, sliding BL. Sliding BL... well, that's fine, I guess.

Can you withstand these extraordinary emotions?

Welcome, regular! Welcome, 'Amemiya Romi'!

Eating Oreos, eating fried chicken, banning games, playing horror games right after waking up.
When I read Romi-san's daily life on note, I think she has a very healthy brain.
I don't think about wanting to photosynthesize because I want to live on the carbon dioxide exhaled by my favorite character, or that fried chicken should be lightly seasoned with mayonnaise. No, wait, maybe I can't write it even if I think about it? Can't I?
I heard you've been interested in theater and horror lately! Also, I personally really like 'The Story of That Room'; the place you want to return to isn't just your parents' home, is it!

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'Even If I Become a Zombie' School life/Youth story!
It's a grand summer festival youth drama, but why does Dragon Ball keep flickering in halfway through?
Komazawa-kun from the drama club, who hits that exquisite point of a B-movie lover who 'loves sharks and zombies', and Akkun, who fell in love with his strange and pure tearful face.
The stage is the city summer festival, Akkun's faint anxiety about the long-awaited reunion, and Komazawa's unchanging innocent face.
Love in youth is stronger than the king of sharks or the king of zombies.

Welcome, regular! Welcome, 'Shigure'!

You didn't get tickets for Kenshi Yonezu?! You were able to go before, right? That day you were happy because it overlapped with your birthday... was that a long time ago?
I hope you can make it in at the last minute again.
I deeply empathize with the feelings in your essay 'I Wanted to Say Thank You to Someone I Love'; time is limited, and life is genuinely painful, which is why we convey our words. Everyone should read it too. It makes you want to pester the person you love until it's annoying.

🧟‍♂️

'Free-form Haiku, Summer Festival/Zombie/Water'
Even though I set the theme myself, I tilted my head when I read the words 'free-form haiku' from Shigure-san. 'What is a zombie haiku?'
'Summer festival' and 'water' are honestly handled a lot in the world, but zombies?
When you use the feeling of being resurrected or repeating things as a metaphor, zombies surprisingly become an accessory to romance.
Hmm, I learned a lot!

Regulars! Welcome! 'syo⭐︎'!

I'm happy to see our connections growing, like how I've been trying out Tsuki-san's '#100-character BL' project lately.
And there's more exciting news! Everyone is being so active with BL!
The 'BLReverse E-book Distribution' that syo⭐︎ is participating in has started! It's scheduled to be free for a period on BOOK WALKER and Rakuten Kobo, and also free on Kindle! They say the adult conversations are a must-read! If you're interested, let's go

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'I'm not good with horror' It's a school life/youth story!
Everyone. It's not coffee, it's Calpis. This is something you read while drinking strong Calpis with ice clinking in the glass.

A senior who lives under the same roof. Plus, he's the student council president and a tsundere.
This alone is a lethal dose of youth, but then the senior, who is playing the role of the scarer at the school's summer festival test of courage, asks for a 'care package'...
Is this the sign of the formation of the Youth Boys (Kino-san's uncool temporary name), oh God?

Last one! Me!

'Virgin Zombie.' Comedy

It's a super intense, brother-complex love comedy!

To the challengers

Well, the results of the survey on who isn't going to the summer festival (as of now) showed it was just me! Hey! Go already!
And there were two people who were still hung up on the previous theme, Lumonde! You guys are something else, Lumonde!
We had 5 genres (as of now): horror, comedy, business, school life, and free-form haiku!

The number of people has increased recently, and this time there are 10 participants in total.
We've been doing this for a year... oh, wait, no, we haven't yet. It'll be a year next month.
Well, a month is just a time difference. I live my life thinking that a 5-year age gap is just a time difference and that we're contemporaries.

Umm.

It's a hassle to write everything out, so I'll just give you a brief overview first: I'll be hosting a Space on X sometime next week at 10 PM.
For those asking 'What's a Space?', let me explain briefly.

I'll write an article about it later, so if you're interested, check that out.

Since it's scary to talk by myself and no one might listen, I've invited Kashiko-san to be my conversation partner.
The reason I invited her is that Kashiko-san has experience with Spaces, and she was complaining about being bored, so I invited her on a whim yesterday. It was a textbook example of a lighthearted pick-up.

Well, whenever you think of something, there's no time like the present, right!

Eventually, I'd like to use this as a form of audio communication to build connections beyond just text, such as for creative advice or sharing information.

Everyone has their own way of communicating, so participation is not mandatory!
Everyone has their own way of maintaining distance on social media, so please prioritize your own creative work and private life.

Some people just want their creative work read, while others want to communicate actively with everyone.
With that understanding, I hope you'll continue to help make this project exciting together!
Thank you all, truly, always.

To the readers

Thank you for coming to read again this time.
Is it just me, or has the number of writers increased, the content become more varied, and the quality of the reading material improved significantly!

As I wrote in the 'To the Challengers' section above, I am planning a project to hold a space with the project challengers.
If your schedule allows, please come and listen.
The conversation will mainly be about the novels in the project, or it might just be casual talk, but I hope you'll think of it as a radio show with a lot of personal talk... like eavesdropping on someone else's phone call!

I will write about it in detail in an article later, but you can listen if you have an X account.
In that case, you will need to follow either my account or Kashiko-san's account.

If there are people living overseas or working night shifts who can't listen in real-time but want to, I will consider leaving an archive.
Though whether I can actually operate it even if I consider it is an unknown.

It would be best if note itself had an audio service like this, wouldn't it, note-san?

Thank you for reading again this time.
The next post will be a little early, so please be careful!

*Emergency announcement for the next theme!

Since summer vacation is just starting and it seems like it will be difficult for those with children to adjust their writing time, I am announcing the theme early this time only for those who are reading!

Since I'm spoiling it early, I think the regulars have probably already thought about it to some extent, but please consider your plans for returning home, traveling, or a summer fling when thinking about participating.

If you wish to challenge, please comment 'I'll do it!' on the theme announcement article that will be posted one week later on Monday (July 21st) as usual.

Now, for the main theme!
It all started with a tweet from Shikatsu Shishida (hereinafter 'Boku-chin'), who is already a regular participant.

If there is anyone who hasn't yet, please read Boku-chin's novel 'Hachisu no Utena'!
It will speed up your interpretation of ancient poems, and it is a beautiful novel about reincarnation that reflects the Japanese philosophy of Buddhism.

I think 'death' is an equal and gentle providence that visits everyone.
It's something you think about at least once if you're alive, and something you can't escape, so I thought it was a perfect subject for the Obon season.

So there you have it!

The theme this time is.
'Time to Live'.
As in the tweet, it's not a bad thing to write and plan clearly about bereavement, but I thought the word might be too strong for everyone to write together, so I'm hiding it!

So it's fine to write with bereavement as the theme! Rather, please write with the determination to throw your own thoughts on it at Boku-chin!

You can make reincarnation, views on life and death, or the afterlife the theme, or it can be about the time spent living while thinking about death.
Ways of thinking change depending on religion, so please create freely.
It's also interesting to write about immortality from the perspective of quantum mechanics.

I've tried to make sure the posting date doesn't overlap with the actual Obon holidays, but if you have any issues with summer vacation, poor health due to the extreme heat, or the circumstances of a man or woman you like, please consult the comment section.

If you wish to challenge, please comment 'I'll do it!' on the theme announcement article that will be posted one week later on Monday (July 21st) as usual.

Last time, I wrote a novel about love on a rainy day!

In these days when the rainy season doesn't really feel like the rainy season anymore, the novels in our project were pouring down!

The themes are “Love on a Rainy Day,” “Lumonde,” and “Cardboard.”
I think “Love on a Rainy Day” is a relatively easy theme to write about, but relying on that alone leads to a lot of overlapping content.
However, the challengers made their individuality shine through their use of Lumonde, and they achieved differentiation through the versatility of cardboard, resulting in a wonderful piece of work.
Applause!

There is a magazine for this project!

You can read all the works so far, including those by the challengers, all at once here. If you don't want to miss any, please follow it and they will be added automatically.
I have posted an introduction to each noter who participated in the pinned article at the top, so please feel free to jump to your favorite noter from there and interact with them!

✴︎You are absolutely not required to follow the challengers! Feel free to do as you please!

See you later! Dismissed for now!! Thank you for your hard work!