Chapter 21

Afterword. Pleased to meet you! And thank you so much for picking up Hirano and Kagiura. I’m Shou Harusono, creator of the manga and responsible for the idea for this book. If you’re here from the manga version, it’s great to see you again, and thank you. We’ve received a novel that does a really wonderful job with these characters. Hirano and his friends were originally part of a bonus short I did for the Sasaki and Miyano manga, but there were so many requests and so many fond wishes that finally, with the help of many people, I turned their story into a novel. A whole book devoted exclusively to Hirano and Kagiura. Thank you all very much. Hirano and Kagiura was originally a story I did online, and in my mind, it was largely complete. But working on this book, taking a fresh look at the characters and their whole situation, made me realize how much more of these characters I want to draw. I would love to get a chance to return to them sometime. There were so many moments I wanted to draw in the novel that it made the illustrations difficult! I would say to myself, “I want to draw this scene…but I want to draw the reaction to it, too!” There were so many moments like that, and it led to a bunch of the illustrations being broken up into panels. It was a lot of fun, though. Hachijo, who handled the writing of the novel, has such a gift for psychological description. The way feelings of love creep up on Kagi all unawares, the way the happiness springs on him, come through so clearly. Then there’s the way Hirano smiles or the moment when Kagi is talking to Hirano about his struggles on the basketball team and the anxiety he feels—I just love all of it. I devoured the draft pages every time they arrived. Thank you, Hachijo. I’m so thrilled to have had you write these characters. If you’d like to share your thoughts or feedback, please feel free to get in touch via your favorite medium: To: Kotoko Hachijo and/or Shou Harusono Attn: Gene Pixiv Editorial Department Kadokawa Corporation 2-13-3 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8177, Japan I’m happy to say there’s so much more I still want to write, and I’ll be trying to polish and improve the work the very best I can. I hope I’ll see you next time! Later! (BTW, please also have a look at the Sasaki and Miyano manga. It’s all about Miyano, an underclassman on the Disciplinary Committee with Hirano and Sasaki.)