Full Metal Panic! - Volume SS03 - Unpolished Three-Ring Circus? - Chapter Aft

Afterword

This book is comprised of the Full Metal Panic! short stories serialized in Monthly Dragon Magazine from May through September 1999, with edits, plus one extra story.

So... um... in the afterword for Two-Out Inning, I wrote that the next novel would be out in fall... but in order to maintain quality, I’m having to take a little longer. It’s all because of how pathetic I am. I think Novel 3 will be out soon, so please be patient. I really am sorry. Ugh.

Anyway, comments on each story.

“A Hostility Born of One-Sided Rivalry”

My favorite rolls are the croquette rolls they sell at the convenience store, but recently I read the book Katte wa Ikenai. It said that rolls from convenience stores are dangerous, so, simple man that I am, I immediately stopped buying them. Yes. It’s the artificial colors that are bad for you. I try to take care of my health... and yet, I find myself smoking cigarettes every day.

“A Suicide of Inconvenience”

I bet everyone here has been in some situation in life that made you say, “I wish I was dead.” I have, too. Yes, there was that one winter’s night I’ll never forget... I think I’d eaten some bad seafood at an izakaya the night before, because I spent all night puking my guts out. Curled up in a freezing bathroom, moaning wildly, covered in sweat and suffering for five hours... I genuinely started to wish someone would just kill me. But then it was over. Life is a wonderful thing.

“A Hard-Sell Fetish”

Wakana Yoko has a real-life basis, but she’s not a loose cannon cop like the character. She’s a normal policewoman who’s very serious about her job. How serious? Serious enough to give my friend a ticket for parking violations.

I have my friend Inoue Yoshihisa to thank for the Poni-man’s speech tic being ‘Poni.’ I hope you get picked up for publishing! (←Purely private message.)

And Bonta-kun is so cute when Shiki-san draws him. I wonder if I can get someone to make a plushie. Fumoffu!

“An Eloquent Portrait”

I’ve never been in a situation where workplace romance has even been a possibility. I work alone, after all; the company I used to work for, Yuentai, was all guys, and before that, I was a student. I talked to my editor, S-san, while we were out drinking one time, and she said, “I don’t have any experience with that either. Nobody ever talks to me. Ha ha ha...” very ruefully. Of course, in her case, just like I wrote in the afterword for Rampaging, I think she has to do something about that attitude. This is a chance for all the bachelors in the Fujimi Publishing Department! If you want to ask her out, I’ll play mediator! Just like Sousuke, I’m sure I’ll make everything worse!

“The Patients of Darkness”

Like Sousuke, I don’t have much of a sixth sense for ghosts and such. A friend of mine has a much stronger one, and once we were drinking and messing around at a construction site that said friend claimed was definitely haunted. I was walking around in a dark room by myself when I suddenly saw a flickering light, like a red will o’ the wisp, beyond a distant girder.

“Crud! A security guard?!” I thought. I hid, and the red light just sort of drifted around for ten minutes or so without making a sound. Then it started coming towards me, but without warning, it went out without a trace. I wish there was more to it, but it is a true story. It was all pretty mysterious.

“Cat and Kitten R&R”

As I announced in advance, it’s a Tessa story. This one’s about her friendship with Mao, which I didn’t have much of a chance to expand on in the novels.

This might just be my personal view, but to a man, the fights between two women are always strangely anxiety-inducing. I wonder why. In a story, if you make it too real, it’s not fun, so I decided to keep it in moderation.

By the way, the R&R is meant to be read as ‘Rock & Roll’ but can also refer to the military jargon ‘Rest and Relaxation.’

Now, I should offer up my thanks once again. For all the people who helped me with this, I’m sorry for the trouble, and also thank you.

Next time, once again, Kaname’s fan will roar.