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Akihiro Moroto

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2025

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304 Followers

288 Following

27 Stories

1800 karma pts

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Swim on my terms

Weekly Contest #380

Oh, the great and glorious Salmon run. This is the predetermined destiny that is ingrained in all of us. It's an integral programming that drives our survival instinct. Against great odds, with death in every corner, I have been swimming full throttle since I hatched in a shallow gravel bed many moons ago. I eventually grew bigger and travelled downstream into uncharted waters. I got to mingle with species beyond the streams and wetlands. I saw the deep blue world. I was finally free! …So I thought… Now I am expected to return to the nar...

22 likes

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H.O.A. (Home Owner's Association)

Weekly Contest #377

“Halt! Who goes there? It is past curfew!” Mischievous shadows instantaneously scattered from the front entrance of Dudleytown. Their distorted voices and white breaths dissipated as Mr. Karter, the property manager, shook his fist in disgust. “This is private property, you lousy scoundrels! And stay off my lawn!” For generations, this secluded neighbourhood for the prosperous elites never needed to lock the front doors. It was an oasis away from the societal grime, and these select residents led by the highest of examples. Each Victorian...

29 likes

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Sacriledge

Weekly Contest #375

“Hey! Cuz. I don’t have much time. Pay attention!” “Um, I…Isamu! Where are you? Something is seriously not right here!” “Listen to me. I am being taken to you now. Lock the door and block it good." "Find another way out. Do not let me or anything else through. You hear me?" "... I am not myself… Hurry!” “Wh...What? I don’t understand… How do…” “…I'm already up to the third floor and coming towards you…" "... You’re running out of time...” Befuddled, I frantically slapped my face to get grounded. Ripping out the I.V. needle from my vein, I w...

32 likes

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Unwanted Kin

Weekly Contest #372

In Japan, it’s common practice to honour loved ones who have crossed over every August during Obon (お盆). For those precious few days, it is said that deceased ancestors ‘return’ for a brief visit back in the world of the living. Perhaps to process grief, it eventually transitioned to welcoming the dead with extravagant outdoor festivals, daily banquets, and graveyard clean-ups. It’s a venerable tradition that’s both celebratory and melancholic. Tending the home altars for the departed is a daily ritual, with offerings presented and incense ...

45 likes

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Single Origin Coffee and the Ninth Step

Weekly Contest #369

CW: Depicts family dysfunction affected by addiction, trauma, resentment-fueled language, self-harm, and recovery. Quite frankly, I have been dreading this day… My knees and legs have restlessly shaken and bounced, to the point where I was getting a charley horse. I’ve tapped my fingers on the lopsided corner table, as if I had an invisible typewriter, all while I gnawed the straw of my iced decaf pour-over to shreds. I have been sitting and waiting for over two hours at this aptly named Death Road Cafe, which she had chosen as ‘neutral te...

51 likes

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So... Are You Going To Eat That?

Weekly Contest #367

CW: Dark humour, depiction of food poisoning, death, hunting and being hunted. “Thank you to all who made it back to this gathering alive this moon cycle. I shall begin taking attendance... Hold on, my eyesight has never been the same since eating those white blooming flowers…” This Egalitarian group of Homo Erectus would be our ancestors’ ancestors. They obviously did not have Google, Wikipedia, or Reddit to look up what was edible and what would make you croak mid-chew. It was essential for data-keeping, so the taste-testers' guild forme...

38 likes

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The Sunken Acrimony

Weekly Contest #364

CW: Social injustice, Greed, Racism, drowning, Horror, Payback. “Why are we getting evicted? Our families have been here for seven generations!” “Nobody said anything about eviction. The city of New York is simply relocating residents from Ashton, Hurley, Olive, and ehhhmm…Where else on this list... Ah, and Shokan. The city is paying a fair amount for all of your patches.” “What about Boiceville?” “How about Glenford?" “Uh… Um, would Marbletown be spared?” “What about all of our businesses? Our loved ones who are buried?" “Put a sock ...

41 likes

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The Way to the Heart, is Through the Stomach

Weekly Contest #362

The year was 1984, with Karate Kid being all the rage, and Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’ playing everywhere. My parents moved us from a quiet fishing village overlooking the Sea of Japan to sunny Orange County just a few days ago. We have been so busy unpacking our belongings that we really didn’t have much time to learn enough English to assimilate or properly process our homesickness. It was the equivalent of being thrown into the deeper end of the pool without much warm-up. Like it or not, this was our new ‘home’ now…...

64 likes

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Cave Flowers in June

Weekly Contest #360

CW: Harsh realities of war are depicted, such as malnourishment, violence, children in warzones, war crimes, suicide, gore, death, and disease. This fictional story is dedicated to my late grandmother, who survived the Okinawa invasion. “Haruko! Don’t look! Eyes on Ama and Ne-Ne!” Yuina shielded her youngest from the carnage splattered all over the cave, and of those who had ingested the pills that the mainland officer distributed. The inquisitive girl did her best to abide by the firm command but couldn’t help herself from still trying to...

42 likes

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The Martini Effect

Weekly Contest #358

Several times a year, divers go missing trying to visit the underwater Megalithic complex in Yonaguni Island. Dr Nobuo Kimura, however, was unfazed by the risk: he has been diving these waters since the ancient structure was first discovered in the mid-eighties. He painstakingly mapped the pyramid-like monolith entirely from memory before any resistivity imaging scanner was even invented. The only aspect of the submerged ruin left to discover was its deep subterranean chambers, below the foundation… Well, at least Dr Kimura was the only one...

39 likes

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A Macaque's Memento

Weekly Contest #357

Deep in the Jungle of the North Maluku islands, a giant man-made green bird fell from the sky. Those in its insides dangled motionless in the trees. While every wildlife watched from a safe distance, the damaged bird was quickly engulfed in a red inferno. The storm clouds soon rolled in from Mount Binaya, and the teardrops from the skies extinguished the flames. Afterwards, only embers remained. Brave young males decided to scour what was left. It is especially a time of the essence for them to prove their worth to the tribe. If they don’t...

35 likes

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Bite the Hand that Feeds

Weekly Contest #355

CW: Inspired by classic German Folktales, popularized by the Brothers Grimm. Nestled beneath the Arnsberg Castle on a spring afternoon, the Vehmic court was in session. The accused siblings, nervously ensconced on moss-covered seats, next to the Judge. They allegedly lived off the kindness of a talented baker, who adopted the two orphans, only for them to attempt burning her alive in her own oven and then stealing her life savings. “They have nibbled on my house too, these Skamelar TERMITES!!”- A harshly disfigured woman, whose entire body...

48 likes

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Late Bloomer

Weekly Contest #354

Out of the blue, in April, eight Flamingo colored orchids decided to blossom. Strange that they would, considering I am terrible with plants. They haven’t done so since my ... Ah... Why do I keep dwelling? I don’t want to remember. Every stillness reminds me of her void- from these vibrant flowers to the brightly upholstered empty chair in the indoor garden room, her frayed Daffodil-colored toothbrush hanging abandoned by the sink, to her side of the bed with the plump, Victorian rose pillow... Undisturbed. ‘Living’ in this empty house, i...

49 likes

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Die Laughing

Weekly Contest #350

I don’t understand how all the greats went through this grind: -from doing stand-up at the local dive for the village idiots- -to handing out flyers for the late-night Jello wrestling-Karaoke- -to showcasing my ‘range’ by being a non-verbal extra on a taxidermy emporium commercial… There’s got to be a more linear path to get ahead in this industry! My comedic mentor has been in this game for a few decades, and he mockingly critiqued my comedy routines. He called me the ‘walking dead’ because I bored my audience to death with my niche pop-cu...

52 likes

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The Last Plesiosaurus

Weekly Contest #349

My midday slumber, floating on the ocean surface, was interrupted by an orange streak in the sky that zoomed overhead. It eventually disappeared in the distance. I honestly thought it was just some flock of pesky Pterodactyls that got too close to the Sun. In my peripheral vision, I noticed a flash far away, but a school of Belemnites caught my attention instead. I dove after my next meal, deeper and farther. They were much faster than usual, but my mother taught me well; I am a tenacious hunter. I was able to flank some of the ten-limbed c...

45 likes

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