There are many important choices in life, and the majority of us will make our choices after serious consideration. Life isn’t like a visual novel: you can’t save or load your life, and there are no alternate routes. You can only go forward on the path you’ve chosen. That being the case, life is also unlike a visual novel, in that everything is unlikely to be decided by choices alone. In visual novels, if you choose the wrong route, that’s the end of the story; in reality, however, you can probably make it all work out with your own effort. By the same token, even if you choose the guaranteed successful route, a small mistake could ruin everything. The choices you make are important, but what’s more important is what you do after you’ve chosen, just like your career path or your love life.
And with that, I’m Kota Nozomi, and this is the fifth installment of the rom-com with an age gap.
The main focus this time was on the Orihara sisters, who are twenty-seven years old and thirty-four years old. I’m not really sure whether or not this was a story about women being princesses at heart no matter how old they get. To be frank, even I, the author, had no idea how I was going to resolve the bomb I dropped at the end of volume four. When my supervisor asked me, “How are you going to bring this all together?” I said, “Who knows? I’m sure I’ll think of it when I write volume five,” and thus put everything on my future self. At the end of the day, I think it all worked out, though.
I mentioned a few laws and things this time, but this work is set in a fictional prefecture in the southern part of Tohoku, so the laws are just that, the laws of a fictional prefecture. They have nothing to do with real laws, so please understand.
The next volume will be about the school festival, and it will delve into relationships that aren’t between Momo and Hime. However, this is me we’re talking about, so everything is undecided. The me who writes the sixth volume will do their best.
Now, it’s time for a sudden, messy announcement corner. Please look forward to the manga as well! Also, please look forward to my other works from other companies! Also, look forward to my new work coming from GA Bunko in April! Of course, the main heroine will be older too! The age gap is one year! It’s a rom-com about a senior and junior in high school!
Now then, my thanks. To my supervisor, thank you once again for your help. I look forward to working with you on the next work. To Nanasemeruchi, thank you again for your wonderful illustrations. The sleeveless version of the cover is really precious. Also, I would like to give my deepest gratitude to you, the reader who picked up this book. May our paths cross again in volume six.
—Kota Nozomi