Physically confronting your abusive superior might be cool and satisfying when it happens in a drama, but, as Kazuo Sugishita is learning, it's less cool when you're sitting at home afterwards, terrified to learn how you'll be punished when you return to work the next day. The sentence he faces sounds surprisingly lenient - just a temporary reassignment to the company's entertainment department while things blow over. But he changes his mind when he gets the specifics: Kazuo has been assigned as manager-in-training (read "servant") to Shiro Hoshizono, the "Star Watcher": A pompous, showoff-y, completely insufferable talent with no actual talents except using his sickeningly sweet words and foreign model looks to seduce lonely middle... more>> aged women into paying for the privilege of hearing him speak.

The day after his new assignment, Kazuo and Hoshizono leave for Saitama Prefecture, where Hoshizono has been recruited to become an image character for a campground in the mountains, alongside a group of other colorful characters, including a romance novelist with the looks of Cleopatra but the personality of someone's grandpa and a UFO obsessed conspiracy theorist.

But the morning after their arrival, their host is found strangled to death in his lodge, the road back is buried in an avalanche, and... you can probably see where this is going.

Turns out, despite how he comes across normally, Hoshizono is actually a genius detective!

The novel features a unique chapter naming scheme where each chapter is titled as a three to four sentence summary of its own contents, focused upon what information about the case is discovered and what evidence appears, for ease of reference.

A nominee for the 50th annual Mystery Writers Association of Japan Award, long story category. <<less

The once wealthy and powerful Ryuuzen clan has been all but destroyed. Their misfortune began in 1960, when a majority of the family was wiped out when their vacation villa was buried under a landslide. However, search and rescue teams discovered something even more shocking: A majority of the bodies they discovered showed obvious signs of having been mu*dered before the landslide.... more>>

As though it were a trigger, what came to be known as "The Curse of the Ryuuzen Clan" spread throughout the descendants of the family's only survivor. By mu*der, by su*cide, by accident... it seemed none who held the name "Ryuuzen" could live to see the age of 35, and now, the family has been reduced to a single woman, lying in a hospital bed, days away from death.

Kamo Touma was once just another of the endless parade of sleazy tabloid journalists looking to exploit a prominent family's tragedy to sell magazines, but Ryuuzen Rena's kindness melted his frozen heart, driving him to quit his old job and become an investigative journalist specializing in overturning cases of false arrest. Eventually, he and Rena were married, but now, the curse threatens to steal away their happiness.

Kamo prays for a miracle, and his prayers are answered by the Hourglass of Miracles, an artifact spoken of in rumors and urban legends, said to grant one wish to anyone who obtains it.

"Meister Hora", a guide for those who obtain the hourglass, tells Kamo there is only one way to break the curse and save Rena: He must travel back in time to the year 1960 and catch the culprit of the original Ryuuzen Family massacre.

Who was the culprit of the mu*ders that took place almost 60 years ago? Why did they steal away the lives of the Ryuuzen clan? What is the true nature of the "Curse of the Ryuuzen Clan?" And perhaps most mysteriously of all... What is Meister Hora's goal in all this?

Winner of the 29th annual Ayukawa Tetsuya Award. <<less

"Today is the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
I will now kill the participants."... more>>

Hanami Mitsui, a 19-year-old girl, will be attending the Coming-of-Age Ceremony that day.
She attended the Coming-of-Age Ceremony wearing a kimono, just like the rest of her classmates.
However, her goal is to kill her classmates. <<less

A newlywed couple are mu*dered in their bridal chamber on their wedding night leads to open fighting between Ouyang and Sima Manors. Amazing Constable Shen Ying personally takes on the case.... more>>

A gold hairpin holds the key to finally exposing the truth of this mu*der case…

The Bloody Bridal Chamber is Book #4 of Hong Kong author Ximen Ding’s Amazing Hawk Constables wuxia mystery series. <<less

Dreams will come true someday.... more>>

A Girl meets a Sinner, whom she asks to take her life. <<less

“Love is a prayer. I pray. I wish for the people I love to all be happy. I wish for all of them to fulfill their wishes. I wish for everyone to live somewhere warm, cool, or whatever they find comfortable, and be surrounded by their loved ones. I want absolute bliss to pour on them like heavy rain. I love every single person in the world.”... more>>

A set of love stories digging into the essence of love and stories. <<less

When I suddenly came to my senses, there was a dead body in front of me.

One day, a "Reality Rift" occurred in the holy city of Akiba!
The invasion of interdimensional people, space-time pirates, and science gangs was about to begin!... more>>

And then a beautiful superheroine stood up to the crisis in Akihabara.
An epic tale of superheroines in Akihabara, the sacred land of Otaku.

The 114th episode of this Young Adult fiction is "The Reason She Wears Fishnet Tights ". Now then, during a popular magic show in Akihabara, a magician disappears and is found dead.

As the magic industry's grudges, a suspicious ex-boyfriend, an even more suspicious magic designers emerge, the Otaku's desire for fame comes to the surface in a hilarious way... <<less

There exist in this world a set of six daggers that carry a terrible curse: the ability to inflict a death beyond time. Those under the daggers' curse shall reincarnate without end, never able to know happiness and always drawn to die once more by the dagger. This is the story of "Raine" and "Marie", two souls bound by the daggers' curse to kill one another, over and over again.... more>>

France, 1243. Lapis Lazuli Castle is the name of an insignificant relay fort nestled away in a forest east of Carcassonne. Its ruler, Count Geoffroy, and his only daughter, Marie, are both believed to be insane. The root cause of their shared madness is the mysterious disappearance of Geoffroy's wife three years ago, which caused Geoffroy to grow detached from humanity and cast Marie into a deep depression. After three years of wandering in a state halfway to nonexistence, Marie works up the nerve to ask her chief bodyguard, Sir Raine, to investigate her mother's death, confiding that on the night of her mother's disappearance, she had witnessed something impossible. However, her investigation only prompts a new tragedy.

The French-German border, 1916. As World War I rages on, Raine and Marie's latest reincarnations live the life of a sub-lieutenant in the French army and a medic with the Red Cross, respectively. The two lovers are reunited at the site of the Battle of Verdun, but no sooner have they met then Raine finds himself faced with a barrage of impossible circumstances. An enemy soldier's head suddenly vanishes, right before his eyes. One of his subordinates reports the same thing happening to an ally. Four more headless bodies vanish from a flooded bunker in the minute he looks away. These baffling events are a prelude to the return of their old tragedy.

Northern Hokkaido, 1989. Kimiyo, age eighteen, is already dying, an inoperable tumor in her hypothalamus leaving her with less than a year to live. Refusing to despair in the face of her tragic circumstances, she spends her remaining days with her friends at "The Library at the End of the World", a private library so called due to its isolated nature. One day, a man named Kito approaches her out of the blue, regaling her with a story about a set of cursed daggers, knights in the 13th century, and the two of them being cursed, fated lovers. Naturally, Kimiyo is intensely skeptical, but the events that come next don't require her to believe in them.

Arriving at the scene of these three tragedies is Snowy, an enigmatic figure of indeterminate gender who claims to be "a detective charged with managing the world's chaos". <<less

“If it means suffering, I don’t need to be loved.”... more>>

An explosive journey of the Meta Detective Tsukumojuuku’s soul threading its way on the dance floor scourged by the trumpets sounded by God/Seiryouin Ryuusui, the maestro to serial mitate mu*ders based on Genesis and Revelation to John from the Bible. <<less

The youth, a seminary student, one day saw a prostitute with a tattoo of a blue flower on her arm in a back alley. From... more>> that day on, his happiness was shattered. <<less

(Taken from the author’s own summary)... more>>

Liu An’an, who had been away from her hometown in the county, returned anew, at the news of the demolition of her old house. She left the train station and called a cab to go home. Everything seemed normal. However, what happened next completely exceeded her imagination.

The female cab driver suddenly locked the car doors and said, “I want to die together with you.”

Faced with the sudden threat to her life, Liu An’an had no choice but to put everything she had into it. Who was this unknown woman? Why was she doing this? And what happened in Liu An’an’s past?

In the fierce downpour, where would the fate of these two lead them to?

____

This is a baihe RPG-styled story originally posted on a forum. I sorted it out and posted it here.

A short story of just 150K Chinese characters. Genres are suspense and mystery, and it has two endings. Its old title is “Xiao Liu”. <<less

This is the story of the last day of one unfortunate boy’s life.... more>>

Depending on the interpretation, it can be seen as a happy ending. <<less

This bizarre story is about a girl, who transmigrated to olden days using her bracelet with the identity of an assassin. But this assassination will... more>> not be repeated again. <<less

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gaming industry has seen an explosion in popularity. One of the most popular games ever released is Mystery Maker, a VR RPG where players can create baffling puzzles in a virtual space and challenge other players to solve them.... more>>

As a promotional stunt for the game's upcoming sequel, eight real life great detectives have been hand chosen by Kurata Chikage, executive director of MegalodonSoft, to challenge each other to a match in a demo of Mystery Maker 2. Among them are Kamo Touma, a magazine contributor well known for his investigative work overturning false convictions, and his wife's cousin Ryuuzen Yuki, a recently debuted mystery novelist.

However, on the day of the demo event, the detectives are all drugged. When they awaken, they find their smartwatches are locked to their wrists and they are shown videos of their families and loved ones being held hostage. They are contacted by a Gamemaster, who tells them that if they wish to save themselves and their families, they must play a death game called "Delicious Death for Detectives".

As scheduled, the eight of them will play Mystery Maker 2's demo, and the Detectives will challenge the mu*der puzzles created by the mu*derer. If the Detectives are not able to reveal the mu*derer and their tricks before the time limit, all players will be killed. However, if the mu*derer is exposed, both they and their hostages will be killed. And if a Detective makes an accusation but gets even the tiniest detail wrong, they will be mu*dered by the Gamemaster's secret accomplice, the Executioner.

Now the only way for the eight detectives to survive is to expose the mu*derer and Executioner lurking among them, even if they must risk their lives and those of their compatriots to do so.

Which is an especially big problem for Kamo, because he's the one who's been chosen as the mu*derer! <<less

While gathering therapeutic herbs in the highlands, Monica, a pharmacy apprentice, notices a man and a lady who look out of place. The man turned... more>> out to be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince as I approached to warn them of a dangerous cliff ahead!? Why is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the mountains by himself, without an escort, and with a woman? His Royal Highness was pushed by the woman as she hesitated to approach, and as a result, he fell off a cliff. What ought I to do? What ought I to do? Will Monica's future be bright after she unintentionally became a witness? <<less

What I promised my childhood friend, You-kun.... more>>

I’ll be with you forever……..

So I’m going there too. <<less

The teenage boy, who didn’t have a good relationship with his family other than his younger sister, often caused trouble. One day, he unexpectedly stumbled upon his girlfriend engaged in questionable activities with another man. Fueled by anger, the boy punched the man until his face was unrecognizable and kicked him with all his might, although the root of the problem remained intact. The man testified that he was suddenly attacked while interacting normally with the girl. The girl affirmed his words.... more>>

With his history of mischief, the boy ended up in a juvenile detention center after this incident…

After completing his sentence, the boy was finally released. Waiting for him was his older sister, wearing a somewhat displeased expression, possibly because she lost in rock-paper-scissors or for some other reason.

However you look at it, this seems like an intense drama or a Tuesday Suspense Theater. <<less

A noble lady seek revenge After she was killed by her fiance.

We have the legend of the Saffron Maiden since ancient times
Legend has it that she was a little girl who committed su*cide
Later, many... more>> strange things happened
And several people died
But the truth is something else... <<less

N/A

As an extraordinarily handsome young character, rookie police officer Akechi, along with middle-aged Kobayashi and other amusing companions, faces challenging cases. Will Akechi be able... more>> to solve these cases successfully? <<less

An antique shop “BEAR” operates late at night. Each item sold there has its own particular significance. Once you step into the shop, you will... more>> find yourself in another world that is as beautiful as a dream. You are enticed there by a mysterious owner. What kind of terrors are trapped in those products is something to look forward to once you have read it. <<less

Short story, no moral boundaries, proceed with caution.

You are a single father living alone with your 16 year old daughter.... more>>

But one day —

Your daughter dies.

su*cide.

A month later, an extra game APP appears on your phone. The main character of the game is your daughter, who is being abused, violated, and ravaged.

The APP suggests that you have the chance to reset her life. <<less