I cannot judge fairly given that the stories are labeled, but the story about the koi is dreadful. It is about a supposedly mysterious subject—the machine at least insists it's mysterious—but it is so dull, so pedestrian, so cut-and-dry. "My mommy dying makes me sad but the peaceful koi pond helps me find peace". Blech.

Perhaps it only seems so banal because the competition is so engigmatic.

And what does it mean for something to smell of "sterile detachment"?