Thank you as always. I’m Mai Mochizuki.
Holmes of Kyoto has reached volume 21! Some readers thought volume 20 was the end (admittedly, it did feel like a conclusion), but it’s still going.
This volume begins a few days after volume 20 and spans the month of September. Surprisingly, only the prologue and the end of the epilogue are told from the perspective of our protagonist, Aoi. The rest of the story is written from the viewpoints of other characters, like Yilin, Komatsu, and Ensho. This was partly because I wanted it to feel different from usual and partly because I wanted to give readers the experience of working part-time at Kura alongside Yilin.
I also touched on things like the Shino tea bowl and kimono as a sort of series recap. Perhaps because it’s a long-running series, writing Holmes of Kyoto feels comforting, like returning to my childhood home. I’m reminded of how much I love each and every character. Also, this volume contains references to various scenes from previous volumes, namely 2, 13, and 0.
Every time I’m about to start a new volume, I want to cry because I think, “I have no more ideas!” But once I decide on a story and start writing, I remember how much I adore this series. I want to continue it for as long as I can.
This time, I visited Mibu-dera Temple, the Yagi residence, and Kyoto Seishu Netsuke Art Museum for research. I explored the museum as a regular visitor, but for the other two, I was introduced to Mibu-dera’s head priest, Matsuura, as well as the current head of the Yagi household via Taniguchi of Kyoto Daimaru (refer to volume 10) and was able to speak with them directly. Thank you all so much, Taniguchi, Matsuura, and Yagi.
Finally, I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone once more.
Thank you to Shizu Yamauchi for always providing such lovely illustrations. The artwork of Kiyotaka featured in the front pages of this volume was specially drawn to congratulate me on my tenth anniversary. It was so wonderful that I had it included in this book. And it’s thanks to all of my readers’ support that Holmes of Kyoto was able to reach its twenty-first volume. I’m grateful for all of the connections surrounding this series.
Thank you all so much.
Mai Mochizuki