Maidens of Cygnus - Volume 4 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

This has been the fourth volume of ‘Cygnus Maidens’. I hope you enjoyed it.

The stage this time was the Nine Schools Competition, so not only the heroines but also other students participated actively. Not just regulars, named guests also worked hard (?).

In stories like this with so many characters, it is difficult to think of names for the guest characters. As much as possible, magic high school students use names that use Buddhist priests, sorcerers, ninjas, or legends of the occult as references, but I’m all out of material.

The surname of one of the guest characters, ‘Tawara Hideki’, being read ‘Tawara’ instead of ‘Tahara’ may have rung bells for some people. The name is a reference to the legend told in ‘Tawara no Touta – Fujiwara no Hidesato’ about the subjugation of Taira no Masakado and the extermination of a large centipede. This more or less fits within my own naming rules, since it contains occult folklore.

However, ‘Tokugawa Ichika’ was completely out of despair. The source was ‘Tokugawa Yoshinobu’. As I was looking for surnames that looked usable for Numbers, I just applied the kanji for ‘nineteen sides’ for ‘Tokugawa’. As for why the 15th shogun was used, there is no deep meaning. A name that is really plain when the kanji for ‘family’ is added? That’s about the extent of the reasoning.

That said, many Numbers have surnames of the ‘just put the numbers in’ kind.

As usual, conspiracies cannot be disconnected from the Nine Schools Competition, but compared to the previous series’ ‘Nine Schools Arc’ and ‘Steeplechase Arc’, the circumstances were rather peaceful. Is this due to the difference of the virtue of the main characters? The protagonist of the previous series accumulated way too many crimes, didn’t he...

This book was just the right size with only the Nine Schools Competition, so I’ll consider adding the ‘swimsuit chapter’ I thought to include after it in the next volume. In this volume there was already a short swimsuit event with Third High, but that’s not nearly enough, right? You don’t think so, right?

Now, for the next volume... My apologies. I haven’t decided. I’m thinking about gradually getting the main characters of the previous series involved in this series, but for that some preparations are required. I’ve thought of something, but I don’t know yet whether I can deliver it as a book.

If it doesn’t turn out well, I think volume 5 will become something I can call ‘Fun Summer Vacation Arc’.

Well then, that is all for today.

Thank you very much for sticking with me until now.

(Satou Tsutomu)

Translation Notes

[1] Unofficial designation given to some retired elder statesmen who served as informal extraconstitutional advisors to the emperor. Unrelated to the 19th century Senate (Genrouin), despite using similar terms.

[2] 元老院 (Senate) and 元老員 (senators) are read the same way — genrouin.

[3] The 院 in 元老院 means house of parliament.

[4] Proverb meaning that a small mistake has great consequences.

[5] The first two characters of Tokugawa (十九側) mean nineteen.

[6] She is likely referring to Miyoshi Nagayoshi, whose given name has the kanji 慶like Ichika.

[7] In the 2096 edition of the Nine Schools Competiton, Tatsuya created a shotgun version of Invisible Bullet, which Akechi Eichi used to win Rower and Gunner. Deeply frustrated, Kichijouji Shinkurou failed to win the male event, and went on to create his own improved version. (Events depicted in the SS volume which has not been fully translated)

[8] Akane is a color known as madder, a subdued shade of red.

[9] Reserve seats are simple and small folding seats equipped on front-facing seats in sightseeing and long-distance buses.

[10] Written with the characters 十六夜 instead of 誘酔, confirming his past affiliation with the Hundred Families Izayoi.

[11] 青田買い – Recruiting students before the date where doing so is allowed. A strategy used by companies to lock in students with good prospects before they graduate.

[12] This sentence is a play on a saying, 豚もおだてりゃ木に登る, which translates to ‘even pigs can climb trees when flattered’.

[13] A period of time where a player has to sit out and not participate.

[14] Also known as Sankaku tobi (三角跳び). A move in karate where you jump in a spin, usually around the opponent, to end behind them and regain the advantage.