A middle school girl named芹沢わらび finds herself inexplicably captivated by the giant, moss-covered ancient burial mounds, or kofun, during history class. This unusual passion leads to an encounter with a classmate,山本あさ, and the two begin to navigate the uncertain waters of a new friendship. Their story, titled All Deteriorates, explores how initial warmth can curdle into something more complicated, as the narrator struggles with the feeling that her affection for a friend who seems effortlessly popular may have been viewed with condescending amusement rather than genuine warmth.

This exploration of the strange and the heartfelt continues throughout Suzuki Ritsu's first short story collection. The setting shifts from realistic school life to a world where fantasy intrudes on everyday concerns. In The Formation of the Nekomata Interpretation, a person notices a malnourished calico cat in the park and considers rescuing it. Before any action can be taken, the cat transforms into a cat-person. The story follows the mundane yet complicated reality of taking in this creature, dealing with medical bills and food costs, and culminates in a bizarre legal and social movement that successfully argues for the human rights of cat-people, setting a precedent for other monstrous beings.

Another story, Offerings! Sacrificial Meal, takes place in a timeless,深山 forest where a young girl is offered as a sacrifice to the great serpent Orochi-sama. As she contemplates her final moments, her thoughts do not turn to gods or fear, but to food, specifically the last meal she ate and the mysterious dish known as "mugina". In Proper Breathing Timing, a suicidal elementary school runaway finds herself under the reluctant care of a gruff, chain-smoking man she dubs "kidnapper-san." He becomes an unlikely mentor, prodding at her small but overwhelming adolescent pains and eventually taking her to swim in the sea, a vast and freeing contrast to the suffocating, enclosed world of her school pool.

The collection also includes stories with a more experimental or comedic tone. Tanka Tatanka follows two people using the pseudonyms Boragino and Manimani who, after a sudden message on a social network, begin exchanging tanka poetry. Their conversations, ranging from the profound to the absurd, create a poetic comedy built on modern connections and classical forms. In #hiasobi Broadcasting Live, science has advanced to the point where humanity is immortal, even able to regenerate from decapitation. In this world, the spectacle of death, or rather the performance of it, has become the ultimate form of online entertainment for bothersome video streamers. Other short pieces like Bunny Bunny Suit Suit, Uncle's Stone, Imaginary Freshly Baked, and Stone Flower round out the collection, each offering a brief, evocative glimpse into a peculiar idea or relationship, from fantasizing about owning a dog named "Freshly Baked" to the meditative act of stacking stones by the Kamo River in Kyoto.