The first act of this spin-off is now complete. There’ve been a few more ups and downs than the original series, but I was given the opportunity to write not only what I wanted to write but what I wanted to read, which is what brings us now to this fourth volume. I’m often hit with ideas when I’m taking a walk or listening to music. They suddenly appear in my head like scenes from a manga or movie. Scenes like…the main character going up against an unbelievably powerful bull; a leader, his back to the viewer, encouraging his stricken subordinates in the face of an all-powerful enemy; a heroine unleashing the final blow from the sky after her companions have cleared the way for her. I have a habit of coming up with plots based on these kinds of powerful scenes that spring into my head and that I, myself, want to read. The characters, the world, the details of the setting—all of that takes a back seat as I write whatever it takes to reach those scenes I already have planned in my head. Calculating backward, in a way. Rather than starting from the story’s foundation, I start from the points I want to reach.
This terrible practice—or should I say author’s weakness—can make it very difficult to get the opening of a story up and running when writing for publication. I’ve been thinking about this method of writing a lot lately; however, every time my characters arrive triumphantly at the goal I’ve set for them, every time they exceed my expectations, I think to myself how glad I am that I made it all this way. The fact that I’ve been able to continue this series like this via my own selfish methods is only thanks to the support and encouragement of my readers. I can’t thank you all enough for sticking around with me as long as you have. I’ll continue doing my best to write stories you guys will think are exciting and fun. On that note, there are a great many people I’d like to thank who have made this book possible. My editors at GA, Otaki and Takahashi, my illustrator, Haimura Kiyotaka, who once again colored my book with his fantastic illustrations, and my stakeholders—it was only thanks to all of you that this book reached publication, and for that, you have my undying gratitude. I hope you’ll continue to be there for me along the rest of this journey together with my readers. I know I wrote this same thing in my afterword for book seven of the main series, but I really feel like these last couple of books have gone by in a flash—books five, six, seven, and now this fourth book of the spin-off series—which is why I’m considering taking a short breather before diving back in. At any rate, I’m just glad that I’ll be able to continue this little side story as it moves into the second act. All the best.
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