The End of the World and Before Dawn

世界の終わりと夜明け前

This is Inio Asano's first collection of standalone short stories, gathering one-shots rather than a single continuous narrative. The pieces — among them "Yoakemae," "Alfalfa," and the title story "The End of the World" — drift through the small dramas of ordinary lives, from listless days off to quiet turning points. Asano's grounded, melancholy slice-of-life tone runs through the volume as it moves between unrelated casts and settings.