Hello, this is Makishima Suzuki. I’m relieved to have brought you volume 9 without issue. First, I’d like to thank my correspondent at Hobby Japan and Yappen for the beautiful autumn illustrations. I’m sure Ms. Elf was thrilled by the vibrant ginkgo trees.
It’s been quite some time since our last communication, but I hope you’ve all been doing well. Fortunately, I’ve been doing relatively well without suffering any major health issues. I should probably get some more exercise, though.
Although this volume was released in October in Japan, the story takes place deep into autumn. As I write this afterword, the stuffy nights that were so difficult to sleep through have changed drastically, and it’s so cold that it wakes me up at night. I ended up changing into a long-sleeve shirt and pants in a hurry. I’ve been wearing my usual outfit for warmer months without thinking about it, but I really should be more conscious of the change in seasons.
Personally, I think autumn is a season that’s somewhat less distinctive than the others. Winter has snow, summer has giant columns of clouds in blue skies, and spring has cherry blossoms, so maybe I feel as if autumn is a bit inferior to those seasons. But I believe autumn is entirely different when experienced in adulthood compared to childhood. When the color fades away from the world around us, I’m surprised by how vivid the ginkgo tree on the local campus is. The wind then gets colder and colder by the day. They say autumn can feel lonely, and I clearly remember feeling that way as a child.
When writing this story, I consciously tried to express what I felt as a child into words. I often think about how Ms. Elf would feel experiencing things in Japan for the first time and how to best express things from her perspective. Those memories resurface, and I feel a touch of nostalgia as I write. It isn’t often that I recollect sensations from my childhood, after all. There are many moments like these where I feel things that are hard to describe when writing this book.
If all goes well, I’m planning a trip to Nikko next time. Oh, not me personally, but in the story. For me, vacations in the story are just as fun as taking one in real life, so I’d like to continue writing while taking care of my health.
Please take care of yourself as the weather gets colder.
Makishima Suzuki