Yashakiden: The Demon Princess has concluded its journey. I deeply appreciate all the readers who spent the time to make the trip with me. This afterword brings us to the end of that road.
These are the people who made it possible for me to write Yashakiden. To briefly sum up: Mr. N, the editor in chief at Non Novels who okayed the serialization in thirty-seven installments.
My editor, Mr. T, who put up with my attitude, my moods, my flights of procrastination, and faithfully and diligently watched over me and pestered me tit for tat.
Mr. I, who suffered through all the troublesome revisions and saw the book through to publication.
My senpai, Kyushu University’s Assistant Professor H, who found words of praise for this work alone.
Manga Artist A, who always offered criticism in the gentlest terms.
Mr. T’s lifelong rival, Mr. W from company K, who never failed to cheer him up, while spurring him on to the next manuscript deadline.
And more than anybody, the illustrator, Jun Suemi, who has labored patiently over these past four years without a single complaint, exercising an imagination to make my hair stand on end.
And, of course, all my readers.
Oh, that reminds me. Bubbling into my thoughts when I’m dead on my feet, accompanied by bursts of laughter, stirring the pot of my writerly inspiration, the love of my life, Toya-san.
I know I’ve said it before, but Yashakiden currently stands as my best, and longest, piece of work. There were, of course, many twists and turns getting there.
I promise a hundred and twenty pages and, finishing fifteen, send Mr. T back to the publisher staring into space.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, I don’t get home on time, and Mr. T, left out in the freezing cold, calls me from a nearby laundromat and says, “Next time I’m bringing soap and a towel” (there’s a public bath next to the laundromat).
There’s been talk of an anime series featuring Setsura Aki, but I’ve turned them all down. I may be the one writer in the world harboring such a dislike for the medium (manga is different, as the choice of an artist may be settled in advance).
But when other jobs were getting me down, and another Yashakiden loomed, strangely enough, my mood improved. I’m not kidding (really, I’m not, Mr. T). That’s how attached I’ve become to the characters in this story.
I had actually mapped out the last scene several years before. Writing it, I uncharacteristically thought to myself, Ah, so this day has finally come.
And one more thing I don’t usually say.
Everything that has gone into this story, as I’ve described, must now be poured into the further adventures of the black-clad P.I. and the white doctor. That is the only way I can think of thanking you.
✦ ✦ ✦
I promise that we will meet again soon. I’m looking forward to it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Hideyuki Kikuchi (while watching Bride of Dracula) October 11, 1991