"Warabe Seki" Wo Meguru Kimyona Monogatari

[Machine Translation] When I die, I want you to put a stone in the mouth of my body, retrieve it after cremation, and deliver it to a certain person. Kohei Kijima, a high school student who accepts his grandmother's will, meets an eccentric old man named Hayashi at the delivery destination. Hayashi, a stone collector, is delighted by the "dead man's stone" that Kohei has created, but he says he has no memory of his grandmother. Intrigued by Hayashi, Kohei and Naomi, a biology teacher, ask him to search for a certain stone. At the same time, a "child stone" with a human body part embedded in it is unearthed in the mountains of Mie Prefecture. What is the meaning of her grandmother's last will and testament, why Hayashi collects stones, and what is the outcome of the story that transcends time and space surrounding the strange stone? Grand Prize for Excellence in the 2013 11th "This Mystery is Amazing!

自分が死んだら遺体の口に石を入れ、火葬後にそれを回収し、ある人物に届けて欲しい―。祖母の遺言を引き受けた高校生の木島耕平は、届け先で風変わりな老人・林に出会う。石コレクターである林は、耕平が作った「死人石」に喜ぶが、祖母のことは記憶にないという。林に興味を抱いた耕平と生物教師のナオミは、とある石の捜索を依頼した。同じ頃、三重県の山中で人体の一部が埋め込まれた“童石”が発掘され―。祖母の遺言の意味、林が石を集める理由など、奇妙な石をめぐる、時空を超えた物語の結末とは。2013年第11回『このミステリーがすごい!』大賞優秀賞受賞作。