Afterword
by Kajishima Masaki
Thank you for waiting, everyone. What? You weren’t waiting at all? (I’m playing the straight man here.) It’s been a year and a few months since the previous novel. So many things have happened. Three OVAs, two games, and prep work for a TV series… Who am I supposed to blame? Of course, the stress never lets up…
Anyway! A lot has happened. That’s why I was late. I’m sorry.
So…it’s spring. Luckily, I don’t have hay fever, so I enjoy spring. I wish I could forget everything and just relax. It’s not that I want to go anywhere, I just want to hang out, like Mihoshi or Ryo-Ohki, and space…out…
Spring comes, and after summer comes fall…then winter, and then spring again. Spinning, spinning, my head is spinning… It’s 6:00 AM right now (haven’t I hit a hundred lines yet?), so my brain is in a comfortable state of being naturally high. Kuroda-kun was busy, so we couldn’t do an interview together, but he sent me an e-mail that said, “Please write about a hundred lines for the afterword.” However, I have nothing to write about, and my brain isn’t working right now. And things aren’t going to improve at this point if I go to bed. So…
AFTERWORD SKIT THEATER:
“Ryo-Ohki and the Butterfly Prohibition”
It was a spring day.
“Tenchi and Washu-san, do you have a minute?” Katsuhito, Tenchi’s grandfather, had arrived at the house for lunch.
“Shall we talk in my room?” From Katsuhito’s expression, Washu realized that this would be an important conversation. She led them down the stairs to the door below.
“Everyone, lunch is ready.” Later, Sasami’s call caused everybody to assemble. Washu, Tenchi, and Katsuhito also emerged from the lab.
“What was that about?” asked Ryoko.
“This has nothing to do with you,” said Washu curtly.
“Hmph.”
As they sat after lunch, they could see several butterflies out the window, fluttering about in the soft spring sunshine, seeking nectar from flowers.
“Meow!”
“Ryo-Ohki!” Tenchi stopped Ryo-Ohki from going outside.
“Ryo-Ohki, don’t chase after butterflies anymore,” said Tenchi and Washu, both looking unusually solemn.
“Meow?” Ryo-Ohki had no idea what this was about and looked vacantly back at them.
“Ryo-Ohki, don’t chase after butterflies anymore,” repeated Tenchi.
“M-mew…” Ryo-Ohki finally understood the words, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“Why, Tenchi-oniichan?!” Sasami, who had been listening, blurted out. “Sure, Ryo-chan acts like a cat, so she loves chasing after butterflies and trips and falls down hills, or into the river…”
“You know, Sasami,” Washu gently said and then explained that Ryo-Ohki was a battleship’s computer unit. Thus, even if she fell off a cliff, or into the river, or if a car hit her, she would never get hurt. “Obviously, since she’s the greatest masterpiece I’ve ever made.”
“Um…Washu-san?” Tenchi interrupted Washu as she started to go off-script, and continued. “But, Sasami-chan, other people—the normal people of Earth—get the shock of their lives.”
“Oh…”
Yes, that would cause a panic: an apparent preschooler, a cute little girl, chasing after a butterfly and falling off a cliff into a river and then getting hit by a car.
“Okay…” Even Sasami was convinced.
“Meeeew!” Ryo-Ohki…was not.
“There’s nothing to be done, Ryo-chan,” Sasami said gently.
“Mew…”
And so, Ryo-Ohki was forbidden from chasing butterflies unless someone else was with her.
A few days later…
“Ryo-Ohki…you can’t chase dragonflies anymore.”
“Meeew!”
THE END
And…scene. Okay, your turn, Kuroda-kun.