Chapter 12

AFTERWORD Hello, I’m Mizuki Nomura. It’s been about four years since I’ve written an afterword. I’m embarrassed to talk so publicly about what I’ve been doing since then and how I came to publish another book like this, so I’m going to post it stealthily on my blog instead. I’m also going to include a special side story about Haruto and his aunt, otherwise known as “Book Girl,” as well as some other stuff, so if you’re interested, please check it out. You can find it here: https://note.com/harunosora33. So then, this story is about a boy who can hear the voices of books and acts as their ally. Book lovers all have a few that are particularly important or special to them, I think. And I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of picking up a book we’ve had in our room since childhood and turning its yellow, battered pages to reread a beloved story. In those moments, it feels as if the book is cuddling up close or cheering you on, doesn’t it? This story was inspired by the notion that maybe our books really are speaking to us, only in voices we humans can’t hear. How great would that be? When I first came up with Musubu, the protagonist, he was a veeery gloomy kid. He was living with a book his missing girlfriend had left behind, and he had given that book her name, that kind of stuff. But gradually, he lightened up and became the Musubu you see now. Princess Yonaga went the other way—she started as a reasonable girl, but she darkened in reverse proportion to Musubu’s lightening. In the scene where she wanted to take a bath, she reminded me of the little princess heroine of Dress. Princess Yonaga is probably her reincarnation. So what’s going to happen to this couple, Musubu and Princess Yonaga? Is true love between a human and a book even a viable concept? I think it is! The title story, Kyōka Izumi’s “The Surgery Room,” also made an appearance in Book Girl. I really love it, and I since I went to the trouble of making Tohko’s nephew appear in my book, I included it again. Speaking of Haruto, I have one regret about his character. I wish I hadn’t made the characters in his name read as “Haruto.” A good 90 percent of you probably read those characters as “Yuuto” initially. When I first wrote about little baby Haruto in the Book Girl series, I never imagined he would appear in a different story. I thought “Yuuto” was so similar to his father’s name, Ryuuto, that it might confuse people, so I simply decided to call him Haruto. What a mistake! I should have named him Yuuto! But now it’s too late for regrets. Please just try to remember to read it as “Haruto.” Aside from Famitsu Bunko, Kadokawa’s literature division is also going to be offering Musubu books for sale at the same time. The latest Kadokawa volume is titled The Long, Long Good-Bye of “The Last Bookstore,” and it’s an important story that I really wanted to write. It’s set in a bookstore in a certain city in Tohoku, where Musubu is traveling during spring break. The illustrations are courtesy of Miho Takeoka, the same artist working on the Famitsu Bunko books. All her illustrations are so beautifully executed, it almost makes me cry, so please get your hands on both books if you can. It would make me very happy, and I’m sure the books would be happy about it, too. Then on July 22, Kodansha Taiga is going to publish Bookshop of Memories: The Fleeting Utakata Books. It’s the story of an unfortunate young man who seems cool but makes his living selling memories. The “exquisite rose” from the Vampire series will make a bold reappearance. Lastly, I’d like to thank you for picking up my first book in four years. I was delighted to receive messages saying you’ve been waiting for it. I hope you’ll be so kind as to read the next one as well. May 29, 2020 Mizuki Nomura The following works and website are quoted or referenced in this book. Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren, translated by Yuuzou Ootsuka (Iwanami Shoten); Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren, translated by Florence Lamborn (Puffin Modern Classics); “Rashōmon” / “The Nose” / “Yam Gruel” / “The Robbers,” Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (Iwanami Shoten); Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, translated by Jay Rubin (Penguin Books); The Story of Fifteen Boys, Jules Verne, translated by Tatsuzou Nasu (Kodansha); “The Surgery Room” / “The Holy Man of Mount Kōya,” Kyōka Izumi (Kadokawa Shoten); “The Surgery Room” in Japanese Gothic Tales, Kyōka Izumi, translated by Charles Shirō Inouye (University of Hawai’i Press); http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/letters/nichibun/syoukai/1nichibun/bungaku_yomu.files/bungaku_yomu-dennma.htm