Hello, everyone. This is Haru Sakura. I hope you enjoyed the story, whether this is your first time reading one of my books or you’re a longtime reader, or it’s been awhile since we last met!
Since this was my first stand-alone volume, I wanted to create something with a different feel from my usual fare and take advantage of the extra space to explore the story in more depth. And the story turned out to be pretty complex with lots of twists and turns. I hope you made it all the way to the end without getting too lost!
It was a long journey to write this story. Even when I finally managed to decide on the plot, I was terrified at the thought of writing it. But thanks to my editor’s gentle encouragement, I was able to bite the bullet.
At first I told myself, “There’s plenty of room because it’s a full-length book. Don’t worry about it!” only to find that pages flew by in no time when I was writing. Even as I sit here now at the end, I can’t help but worry that there are a few things I wasn’t able to write. It felt like such a big adventure, and I’m grateful that I was allowed to go on it!
The first scene I came up with was the one at the very beginning. I could picture Kreis’s desperate cry so vividly I knew I had to write his story until the end. So finally bringing it to a close feels like such a relief!
Kreis is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever written, but the more I explored his path including his struggles and regrets, the more I found myself wanting to give him happiness.
And then there’s Siegfried, the light of Kreis’s life, especially when our hero was trying so hard to carry his burdens alone. As I wrote the story, Siegfried became a calming presence to me too. So much of what’s broken in him comes from love, and there’s something very endearing in the way that he abandons everything for the sake of that love.
This story had a lot of other characters I enjoyed writing as well. If you’ve read any of my other stories, I’m sure you know I have a terrible habit of getting too attached to side characters. This time I did have to cut out several side characters while we were revising the manuscript... I just can’t seem to get over my love of side characters! It shouldn’t surprise you that my personal favorite this time was Professor! LOL.
Mitsuya-sensei did the illustrations for this book. I haven’t had the chance to see them yet at the time of this writing, but I’m sure they’ve beautifully captured these two characters. Thank you so much for your hard work!
And once again, I can’t thank my editor enough. Without you, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to write this story at all. Thanks for sticking with me until the end. The fact that this story has a final period at the end is all thanks to you!
Finally, thank you to everyone who bought this book and chose to spend time with this story. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! Life has a way of throwing all sorts of things our way, but I hope this book brought even a little bit of joy into yours.
Until we meet again in my next work!
Haru Sakura
November 2023