Chapter 97

AFTERWORD Hiromu here, and it hasn’t been so long this time, has it? Applause, please. After the release of Volume 5 in April, we managed to release Volume 6 within four months. I’m not a fast writer. I agonize over each sentence, sometimes for days at a time. So I haven’t finished a Chitose book this fast since Volume 2. What’s more, the main story in Volume 2 was 359 pages long, and this time it’s almost 250 more pages! Go, me! But as a result, the two months it took to get the first draft written…I have almost no memory of that time. (Teardrop.) —I really wanted to publish this book in August. One of the reasons is, as I mentioned in the afterword of Volume 5, that I felt I couldn’t make you wait another six months. Another reason is that I wanted people to read this end-of-summer story at the end of summer. When writing a series, sometimes the season in the book doesn’t correspond with the publishing season. For some time now, I’ve been thinking it would be better if I could put the summer story in the summer and the winter story in the winter. So this time, I tried my best to make the most of the opportunity. I hope that those who pick it up around the release date will feel the air outside the window, look at the sunset sky, listen to the calls of the summer insects, and enjoy the festival music. I hope that you’ll experience summer with Saku and the gang, while immersing yourself in the glow of fireworks. By the way, with these six volumes, we will conclude the first half of Chiramune. Two years and two months after the release of the first volume. It feels solid, and it feels like it’s been forever, but at the same time, it feels like it’s passed in the blink of an eye. And when you don’t even know how many volumes a series will be, it feels odd to look back on what’s already gone. In any case, I’ve been pursuing this with all I have, using up my life force (and maybe my life span, too). Maybe going forward I’ll take my time a little more and write five or six volumes without so much frantic energy. However, don’t worry. I’ll make sure every word is meaningful. While taking breaks to improve my energy and stamina, I’ll plan out the concept for the second half of the series carefully, so that it will be more satisfying than the first half of the series. So please look forward to that. So let’s move on to the acknowledgments. Raemz, I think there were more requests than usual from me and the editor in charge of this cover illustration, but the result was a degree of perfection that far exceeded my expectations. Thank you very much; I love you! Even after two years, the excitement of receiving the illustration has never faded for me. Editor Iwaasa, there are still as many things I want to accomplish as there are stars. Don’t settle for the status quo, let’s reach for the moon (wait a minute, is it stars, or is it the moon?). In addition, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have been involved in Chiramune, such as those in charge of advertising and proofreading, and above all, to all the readers who have stuck with me so far. Let’s continue hand in hand, shall we…? HIROMU