Touka Shikisai no Saika was supposed to be the last thing I wrote with the aim of becoming a writer. I intended to quit after that. I couldn’t stop writing entirely after doing it for ten years, but I wanted to write with the hopes of becoming a writer in mind one last time.
That novel went through the second, third, and final rounds of selection, which I had always been unable to pass, and won an award, becoming this book, Buying You on the Day You Were to Die.
I still have a lot to learn, but I’ve made it this far, so I intend to keep going.
My protagonist, Sakata, repeats the same question over and over again like he’s delirious.
What is love?
The answer Sakata comes up with in the end will not be true for everyone. It is the right answer for Sakata, and he decided Nishikawa was right, despite going about things the wrong way, and these are their truths.
I don’t have my own answer yet. I hope to ponder it in the course of the life I’ve been given—a kind and peaceful form that I can cherish and keep deep within my heart forever.
Please join me in searching for your own answer.
This book was awarded the Selection Committee Encouragement Award at the 29th Dengeki Novel Prize.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in its selection and publication.
I would like to thank the editorial team who chose this work and everyone involved in the selection process, the selection committee members who critiqued it, Enjin Miyamaru who brought Sakata and Nishikawa to life with their beautiful art, and my editor Y-san, who worked so hard to ensure that this novel reaches you in the best possible form.
My friend A, who taught me how to write novels, everyone in my high school literature club who read the first stories I was brave enough to show people, my advisor, my coworkers who congratulated me, and my family for always laughing with me.
Above all, to those of you who read this book, thank you so much.
I hope to see you again.
Narito Shiki