Abstract

A reunion for the first time since graduating from elementary school. Memories of a peaceful, depopulated town are turned upside down by each of their lies. This debut collection of short stories, including the winner of the 1st Sogen Mystery Short Story Award, depicts a "competition of liars" with a wealth of ideas and developments that are beyond the reach of a new writer.

Daichi, who spent his elementary school years in a town that was rapidly depopulating, reunites with two classmates in Tokyo for the first time since graduating more than 20 years ago. Nostalgic reminiscences of catching bugs and smashing watermelons naturally lead to a conversation about an accident that occurred in the fifth grade. What is the truth behind the drowning accident in which Shoki, the leader of the group, fell into a swamp and fell into a coma, never waking up and recently died? This is a "competition of liars" collection of five stories, including "To the Liars," winner of the 1st Sogen Mystery Short Story Award.

This is the debut collection of short stories by a notable new writer.

Author’s Information

Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1984. Graduated from Kobe University. In 2023, while working as a company employee, Ogura submitted "To the Liars," which won the first Sogen Mystery Short Story Award (also awarded to Mizumi Hagane's "The Man Drinking Blue Mountain Every Morning").