To those for whom this is our first time, it’s nice to meet you. To old friends, it’s nice to see you once again. It’s me, Rei Ayatsuki.
Thank you very much for picking up Volume 3 of Hero Syndrome.
So the Hero Syndrome series has now reached three volumes. It’s a strange feeling to think that a story I conceived of in autumn two years ago and which began in February of last year is still continuing, eleven months later.
By the way, dear readers, are you the type to read the story first, or do you prefer to start with the afterword? For my own part, I like to start with the story. So for the rest of this afterword, I’ll just assume that everyone does the same.
As those of you who have already read the story should know, the tale known as Hero Syndrome has ended with this volume. While it is a little sad to see that it’s over, I think this story was blessed to have been enjoyed by so many people. Honestly, thank you so much.
Now then, let’s get straight to the acknowledgments.
To riichu, who was in charge of character design and illustrations. I was overjoyed by the many marvelous character designs you created, not least among them the adorable Kaguya. Thank you very much.
To GEKIDAN INU CURRY Doroinu. Thank you so much for creating so many creepy yet extremely beautiful hero designs. It was truly an honor to get to work with you.
To my editors, M and N. Your willingness to always deal so pleasantly with the trouble I cause was a great help. Hero Syndrome only made it into this world thanks to its editors. Thank you very much.
To everyone involved in printing and proofing. I can never be grateful enough for your willingness to respond to important corrections. Thank you very much.
This will also be my last time writing an afterword for Hero Syndrome. But the work itself will continue to exist. A meeting between a book and a person is also a meeting between a person and a person. I think of it as a kind of connection.
Connections are often described as strings. But I have a slightly different way of looking at it.
A connection is like the flow of a river. People are like currents within that flow. The countless currents of a river come together in places and part again in others, over and over again, until they part into the sea. And once at sea, there are even more currents. More meetings and more partings.
It is the same when we meet a book. Books come into our hands for many different reasons, creating new connections each in their own time. And I am very happy if this book made one of those connections with you.
We are nearly out of pages, and it is almost time to draw the curtain. But I want to say, once more, that this story has brought a lot of energy and hope into my life. And it would please me more than anything if I was able to give some of that back to everyone in return.
We may have only been together for a short time, just a year. But thank you for supporting me every step along the way.
May our currents meet again.