Afterword
Summer is the season of youth, so I threw in the ocean, swimsuits, fireworks, and a barbecue all together; I also added a story about being a runaway. Sleeping over at your friend’s place while you’re running away from home is the ultimate form of youth, right? Right?
Long time no see. I’m Amamiya Kazuki.
Well now, volume three was a summer story that mainly focused on Hoshimiya Hikari. Up until this point, I’ve portrayed many of her cute sides, but not who she is at heart. I think you’ve got a better picture of her now after this volume.
Please continue supporting the (self-proclaimed) school idol, Hoshimiya Hikari!
The themes for this book were “future dreams” and “family.” Following the trend in volume two, Natsuki was in a tricky position where he couldn’t make any direct confrontations himself. I racked my brains a lot about how he would get involved, especially during the midpoint of the story—and then Hoshimiya ran away from home. What a surprise.
So, how did you find volume three? I took advantage of the summer vacation to shift the story away from school. But I still wanted to illustrate as carefully as I could a theme that anyone could relate to.
In actuality, there probably aren’t many high schoolers who have a clearly defined future dream. Though, I have many friends who did. Personally, I was the type of student who didn’t have anything I wanted to do in particular, so I went with the safe option of going to university. I remember feeling respect for those who had their eyes set on the future.
This time, when I wrote Hoshimiya’s story, I reflected upon myself. And I suddenly realized, Come to think of it, I’ve never thought anything like, “I want to become an author,” huh? Once I became an author, though, I always thought that I wanted to continue writing.
I wrote my first novel when I was a first-year in high school. I didn’t have any special reason for writing one. I’d merely read an interesting novel and wanted to write something entertaining just like it.
I’d always had many fantasies that I wanted to depict, and I discovered how fun it was to put them into words. At the same time, it was very difficult, and I also realized how deep of a craft this was. What kind of themes, what kind of characters, what kind of plot, what kind of prose do I need to attract readers?
What do I need to include to make someone else think my story is interesting and inspire them to write their own novel? I also want to become an author who has the power to motivate others.
I believe that someone as fickle as me continued writing and reached where I am today because I enjoyed pursuing the creation of something interesting.
My first novel was published in the autumn of my first year of university. At the time, my hobby was writing novels online, and I sometimes wondered if they’d be turned into books one day, but I never seriously believed I’d be published.
You never know what will happen in life. I’m a person who doesn’t think about the future and lives in the present, after all... However, my urge to write something interesting has never changed. And I believe the true essence behind Hoshimiya Hikari’s desire to become an author also lies there.
Now, it’s time for acknowledgments. To my manager, N-san, I said, “Deadlines? What’re those?” a lot while I was working on this volume too, and I’m terribly sorry about that... To my illustrator, Gin-san, thank you again for the wonderful illustrations this time as well. The images of everyone in their swimsuits were the cutest...
And thank you to everyone involved in this novel’s publication and to my readers. I’m always grateful for your support.
Now then, next up is the school festival. Whose hearts will their music reach?
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