Durarara!! - Volume 3 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Hello, I’m Ryohgo Narita.

It’s been a year and a half since I put out a Durarara!! book, and for the first time, I wasn’t writing it in real time. So you’ll notice I didn’t include any of Yumasaki and Karisawa’s time-sensitive observations. I’m hoping to play it by ear from now on. Yeah.

For this volume, I want to make a clean break with the three high schoolers, so the next story should transition us to more of an Ikebukuro and Celty-centric story, as she is supposed to be the protagonist.

More after these messages!

Commercial break. (Spoiler warning for this book!)

“Why did Masaomi Kida vanish? No one can answer that question, and as if to fill that gap in everyone’s hearts, a new incident arrives in Ikebukuro.

Suspicious soldiers from Russia.

The girls that flock to Izaya.

The remnants of the Yellow Scarves.

The serial assaults return to Ikebukuro.

And a TV crew chasing Celty around.

The Ikebukuro idol, Yuuhei Hanejima, who teams up with a rookie female reporter.

When vivid images of Celty are shown to the world, what will happen in Ikebukuro…?

Durarara!!, Vol. 4 on sale one day!”

Why would I do something like this? Well, because I got a number of e-mails and letters saying things like, “Is Durarara!! already over?” or “Don’t let it end at three volumes,” or “Is Durarara!! over? Good, now you can write more of   [another series I write],” or “Stop writing your other series and just focus on Durarara!!,” and so on.

…Where did these rumors about the third volume of Durarara!! being the last one come from? And then it occurred to me that it was probably just people’s imaginations running wild, since it looks like a resolution to the story of Mikado, Anri, and Masaomi.

So I thought.

“Hmm… Are people forgetting that the true protagonist of Durarara!! is Celty? Even my editor thinks he can turn this into a heartwarming youth rom-com centered around Mikado and Anri. I’ve got to do something about this!”

So look forward to the continuation of the Durarara!! series!

As far as my plans ahead, I’ll have some more Baccano! books on the way, followed by the afore-advertised Durarara!!, Vol. 4 and Vamp!, Vol. 4. Once enough of the short stories I’m writing for Dengeki hp pile up, I might have short-story collections for Hariyama-san and Etsusa Bridge. Although the Etsusa Bridge series has already ended, it doesn’t feel like it made a dent in my writing schedule.

It takes some guts to tell a writer, “Finish your other series so you can just work on  ,” so I will be frank: If that happened, I would still only be writing one book a year. Just because I stop working on a different series doesn’t mean I’ll suddenly have more ideas for the first series… So I hope you will indulge my ongoing multi-series schedule…

This afterword will continue after these messages.

Commercial break 2.

“Tsun-tsun-dere-tsun, dere-tsun-tsun.

The first volume of Yozakura Quartet, the new manga by Suzuhito Yasuda, the wonderful artist who does the Durarara!! illustrations, will be going on sale in September!

It’s set in the town of Sakurashin. Four different fixers with the sakura kanji in their names put their lives on the line through the little tiles of pure soul we call mah-jongg. It’s a tsundere mah-jongg manga.

Just kidding.

It’s a brilliant work of entertainment in which kindhearted goblins team up with a strict town elder to protect their home, with battles, comedy, and heartwarming goodness galore! I’ll stop my advertising here so that I don’t get yelled at for peddling another publisher’s product, but I urge all Yasuda fans and Durarara!! fans to pick it up. Oh crap, I forgot to mention the protagoni…”

Well, we’re running out of time (space) for this afterword. The phrase “will continue after these messages” is one of the least trustworthy of all time, but I’ve got enough for my usual thanks.

To my editor, who has to put up with my constant nonsense at all times, Mr. Papio. To Editor in Chief Suzuki and everyone at the editorial office. To the proofreaders, who I give a hard time by being so late with submissions. To all the designers involved with the production of the book. To all the people at Media Works involved in marketing, publishing, and selling.

To my family who do so much for me in so many ways, my friends, and the people of “S City.”

To Suzuhito Yasuda for bringing the Ikebukuro of my story to life with his illustrations.

And to all the readers.

Thank you all so much!

June 2006—“Planning to buy a Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360”

Ryohgo Narita