Originally recognized as Oni no Hanashi and later revised and published as Hitotsu Hinoko no Yuki no Naka, this is Yoshinobu Akita's debut. It is a Japanese-style fantasy about a girl with demon blood and a warrior bound to slay demons as they set out on a journey.

A demon child and a demon-slayer begin a journey together through the snow.

Set in northern Japan in the Enryaku era, this historical fantasy follows a corps of ritual specialists sent into the conflict between the Yamato court and the Emishi. Koumei Toku joins the campaign seeking revenge for his father's death, but encounters with Emishi life force him to question the war itself.

On the Emishi campaign, a ritual warrior stands between revenge and doubt.

An honorable-mention work by Nobuya Kasai for the Fantasia long-form novel award. Its title suggests a war chronicle inflected with the grotesque and the atmosphere of Japan's warring-states era.

An award-recognized work where war chronicle and grotesque imagination meet.

An honorable-mention work by Makoto Shinri for the Fantasia long-form novel award. The title evokes a story centered on friendship encountered in an unknown or otherworldly place.

A story of imagination directed toward a friend in an unknown world.

An honorable-mention work by Kana Harayama for the Fantasia long-form novel award. By placing distance from the sky in its title, it suggests a lyrical fantasy shaped by loss and a changed world.

A lyrical award-recognized work gazing at a receding sky.

An effort-prize work by Shinji Suzuki for the Fantasia long-form novel award. Its combination of culture, magic, and university suggests an academic setting overlaid with magical systems.

At a village-run university, culture and magic overlap.