Accel World - Volume 8 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

 Reki Kawahara here. Thank you so much for reading Accel World 8: The Binary Stars of Destiny .

 In this volume, the rather vague-sounding “image power” ended up being the key word, and since I’m sure this doesn’t quite click for some readers, I thought I’d take this opportunity to offer a little supplemental explanation.

 I believe that image power—imagination—is the greatest ability human beings have. Because the power to imagine is the only one where the end result is output that the human mind generates from zero, rather than output from some given input.

 And now it’s no doubt even more confusing (lol), but the basic idea is that perhaps this thing called imagination doesn’t stop with specialized fields like arts, literature, science, and sports, but rather is incredibly important and effective in the little things we do in our lives every day. For instance, everyone alive has hard times, times of struggling, in addition to the good times. I think that if we first think about these things when we confront them, we can change the amount of energy needed, and even the result, if we imagine the situation in advance and make preparations to accept it.

 Every morning, after I wake up, I check my plans for the day, and if there’s something unpleasant or annoying, I try to imagine how I’ll get past it. Although I can’t say for sure if that’s actually useful or not (lol), at any rate, when I do actually get going, I feel like I’m at least a little prepared to tackle it. I’m going to the dentist after this, so I’m focused on imagining the drilling sensation!

 Also, in this book, Haruyuki managed to tough it out in the basketball game using image power, and even if that might have been an exaggeration, I don’t believe it was an outright lie. I’m also really terrible at sports and exercise, but when I’m riding at my maximum speed on my bicycle, there’s a real difference in how long I can keep going, depending on whether I’m imagining my breathing and pedaling or not. Although, of course, I can’t actually activate the Incarnate System and manage sixty kilometers per hour or anything. (Right now, anyway…) And so in the end, this turned into an explanation that really doesn’t make any sense (lol), but please do try imagining all kinds of things if you get the chance! And I’m sorry for continuing the story again! I’ll definitely finish it next time! Really!

 To my editor, Miki (former basketball player), and my illustrator, HIMA, I’m sorry for being late with my manuscript once again and causing problems for you! And to all you readers, these are difficult times, but let’s keep an image of the future in our minds and keep on fighting!

 Reki Kawahara

 April 14, 2011