In a near-future Kathmandu, Siddhartha, a young man from a remote town, is assigned to protect a girl newly chosen as the living goddess Kumari. Set in a city where body modification has spread among young people, this science-fiction suspense story brings mythology and biotechnology into contact.

A young man appointed guardian to a living goddess steps into a Kathmandu shaped by a culture of bodily modification.

A legendary poison bird, the zhen, attacks a public square in Youheki during a pro-democracy movement, killing soldiers and civilians alike. Ten years later, after a change of regime and rapid national development, two surviving young soldiers follow different paths in this science-fiction short story. It won an Excellence Award at the 10th Sogen SF Short Story Prize.

Ten years after a legendary bird's attack, two surviving young soldiers walk different paths.

An alternate-history science-fiction story set in the Sakhalin Socialist Republic, founded in the far north at the end of the war. Through an accumulation of plausible fictional documents, it traces the new Rusty religion, its influence on the state, and the mystery surrounding its leader, known as the Teacher.

It follows the full history of a mysterious religion that came to rule a nation.

A science-fiction short story about children absorbed in an uncanny game called Animal Spinning. Set around a hole that appears in an elementary-school playground in Kyoto, the tale turns a contest of spinning animals like tops into a story of motion and requiem.

At the far end of a game of spinning animals, a still point comes into view.