Chapter 79

AFTERWORD Pulling the Wool Away from Your Eyes Hi. JIN here. How did you like Kagerou Daze, Vol. 5: The Deceiving? The hero of this volume was, as you know, the young man Kano. Compared to the narrative characters from previous volumes, he’s definitely a bit crankier, a bit harder to grasp, and certainly a lot more difficult to write from his perspective. That’s what makes him so adorable, though. Hopefully, he, Shintaro, and the rest of the gang can become friends in a real way going forward. A lot of people seem to like Kano the character, which I appreciate immensely. As I mentioned in the previous afterword, my cousin is one of Kano’s many fans. Totally popular with the ladies, in other words. I couldn’t be more jealous. Thus, I figured I’d use this volume to have Kano throw up once or twice, but due to structuring difficulties, I had to edit it all out. Lucky for him, I suppose. By the way, my mother apparently likes Shintaro. I suppose that doesn’t matter much, but hey. The Deceiving is the subtitle this time around, and it was actually a pretty arduous process getting to that. I think we went through a few iterations along those lines, like The Deceiver and The Night of Deception and so on. It wound up being a two-horse race between My Wacky Sister-Swapping Cross-Dressing School Fantasy and The Deceiving, and for some reason I couldn’t convince anyone else to vote for the first one, so here we are. It’s always hard to decide on these things. So we’re now at Volume 5 of the novels. Slowly but surely, we’re getting closer to the end. The closer we get, the sadder it makes me feel, in a way. This is my first shot at being a published novelist, and I’m wondering to myself whether there’s still a bit more life to this story after all. I’ll devote everything I have to writing this up to the end, and while it may not be for much longer, I hope you’ll be watching and reading to see how the characters develop. Though, really, I never would’ve come this far without the warm support I’ve received from all of you. I tend to do a lot of research (time-wasting) on the Net while writing, and whenever I look at all the fan fiction and illustrations people have drawn of Mekakushi-dan members, it really just makes me incredibly happy. Some of you are drawing Mekakushi-dan manga as well, which I’m also digging a great deal. Thanks much. Come to think of it, there hasn’t been a volume of this series covering the characters’ normal daily lives yet. In fact, we have yet to see all ten members in the same place. That’s something I’d like to cover in novel form sometime. It’d be nice if I had the chance, anyway. Anyway, this volume was another test of my skills as I tried to write about this cast’s adventures without letting their personalities overwhelm me. What was that? The publishing schedule’s slowing down from before? Oh, no, no, it’s not because I’m getting lazy. In fact, I’m mind-bendingly busy as always. In parallel with this novel, I’m participating in live shows, producing the intro songs for video games, writing anime scripts, producing the intro song for said anime, etc., etc… …… Hey, we’re an anime now!! (Did I forget to mention that?) Yes, it’s true. Mekakucity Actors, an anime series that depicts the Kagerou characters in a brand-new story, is going to be broadcast nationwide! (Is that ad copy hot enough for you?) I’m really, really excited about this. It makes me realize all the more that, if you put your creative mind to it, you really can make your dreams come true. That, as well, is all thanks to your kind support. Seriously. I think we’ll be able to get Volume 6 released before too long. It’d be great if you could keep on supporting this effort. See you in the next afterword! JIN (Shizen no Teki-P)