Chapter 22

Afterword This is my first alternate-world story. Some of you are probably wondering why I decided to write about pizza. There’s no big secret, but let me make a few notes about how this story started. I was in a certain café discussing what my next book might be about, and I decided to write a sort of slice-of-life story set in an alternate world. Slice of life, a picture of a nice, slow existence… It has a good ring to it. I love it. I was feeling very tired, and I thought I would enjoy writing something like that. Since I was going to go to all the trouble of writing this story, I thought about writing about a business, and that’s how this all started. “I’ll bet it would be fun to run a restaurant…” I love delicious things. “This imprint has a lot of male readers, so it would be good if the restaurant served something men like. Let’s see… There’s ramen, yakiniku, sushi, beef bowl, curry, hamburgers…” I listed off all the foods I could think of that guys might like, but none of them quite fit. I really need a “key word” I connect with in order to start writing. Just at that moment, I remembered a conversation I’d had with a particular male acquaintance. He had told me how, in high school, he used to cut class to stay home and make pizza. “Why’d you do that?” “I don’t remember… I wonder why…” So I never really got closure on that anecdote, but the high-schooler/pizza connection stayed with me. “Pizza… How about pizza?” Pizza is kind of in vogue, and it seemed like you could tell a lot of different stories about it. Above all, it sounded like something that would be fun to write about. And as far as foods guys like to eat—well, everyone loves a good pizza! I got the okay from my editor and started writing the book you now hold in your hands. It was determined that the book would be a series of short stories, so I thought it would be nice if I could do it like one of those overseas dramas or sitcoms. Each of the chapters has a beginning, middle, and end of its own for you to enjoy, but a greater flow runs through the book, and everything wraps up nicely at the end. Personally, I think I did a pretty good job achieving that, but what do you think? Comedies are a lot of fun whether you’re writing or reading them. I would be thrilled if you’ve all enjoyed this one. Now, the acknowledgments. My editor, as usual, was full of just the right advice that helped make this a better book. You were such a big help with the Joshi-Ryo books and now with this one. To my illustrator, Shiso, thank you for your delicious-looking drawings of pizza and for getting the characters just right! I was invariably excited when the illustrations came and always wanted to see more. Working with Mushikago Graphics on the design of a book has been a long-standing goal of mine. Yuko Mukadeya and Tetsuya Aoki, thank you for producing such a cute and colorful design. Finally, to all my readers, my deepest thanks. I hope to see you again. December 2016 Kaya Kizaki