Concrete Garden

A collection of hard science-fiction tales. In the first story, *Concrete Garden*, beings known as Angels exist, and Kashii Kiyoharu—grandson of the man who supposedly "created" one—is hired to become its friend. The Angel's name is Toki. Kashii soon discovers the real reason the scientists need his presence: Toki is desperately lonely, yet everyone keeps their distance because he subsists on human flesh. Kashii must now confront the dangerous reality of what he has agreed to. The second story, *Clock Down*, follows Tokiwo, a young man whom everyone expects to enroll in a top-tier university. Unwilling to simply play it safe, he harbors his own doubts about the future. One night, an earthquake strikes, and a stone he had been examining suddenly begins to glow. From the floor emerges a figure who bears an uncanny resemblance to his childhood friend, Jiu—though this version is clad in combat gear and wields an enormous weapon. As Tokiwo grapples with the mystery, he must uncover the stone's connection to this doppelgänger and the identity of the person who gave it to him in the first place.