I think most of the issues had to do with the translation. Some of the sentences sound extremely abrupt and I often had to reread paragraphs several times to understand what was being said. 

While Hardboiled took me a bit to understand, it had a fun concept and was decently executed. The pacing was a little tedious at times, but it did okay in capturing how long the night took. 

Hard Luck was easier to read but had extremely strange wording (again, I blame this on the translation). I appreciated the detail in the flashbacks the narrator experienced when reminded of Kuni. However, the subplot with Sakai was bizarre. Maybe it’s because I haven’t experienced a family member slowly deteriorate until they’re brain dead, but I don’t think people normally fall in love while visiting their dying relative. I think it would’ve been better if the romantic subtext wasn’t as prevalent.