Maidens of Cygnus - Volume 5 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

How is everyone doing? Have you been keeping healthy?

This is Satou. Thank you for always gracing me with your reading.

In the middle of writing this manuscript, I was unexpectedly confined to my bed with a 40 degree fever. Well, I’d felt poor for a few days before then, but as progress was slow, I ignored my health and continued writing, and as I was approaching the final scene of the manuscript, disappointingly, I became down for the count... To everyone involved, including my editor, I’m very sorry for being unable to meet the deadline.

Fortunately, results were negative for COVID-19 and the influenza, but if I had been infected with SARS-CoV2, this manuscript might have been lost.

It’s quite scary. In the end, we have to be careful with our health management. In this day and age, maybe it is better to be overly worried. Not just vaccines but also medicaments have finally started to appear in the market, and paying a visit to the doctor a little early is the right decision, wouldn’t you agree? I truly am not match for every healthcare worker. I believe governments, national and local, should take better care of healthcare workers.

These were the circumstances behind the beginning of the afterword being different from the usual.

This series has reached its fifth volume. With this, the series has reached a milestone. That said, this is not the end of the series.

As for the structure of the series, I’m thinking of new developments for the next volumes, but perhaps the sixth volume will be like a coffee break, with everyday episodes.

This time, main characters from the old series were fully involved in the story. In the next volume and beyond, the opportunities for characters from the old series to appear will increase, but the mains will always be Alisa and Marika, as well as their friends.

Honestly speaking, it is still unclear whether the developments from now on will match my current plans. Please look forward to the sixth volume of ‘Cygnus Maidens’, which even the creator himself cannot get an unobstructed view of the goal.

Well then, this is it for now. Thank you very much for staying with me until now.

(Satou Tsutomu)

Translation Notes

[1] A wallflower is someone with an introverted personality type who will attend parties and social gatherings, but will usually distance themselves from the crowd and actively avoid being in the limelight.

[2] ‘World Grand Prix’ is an abbreviation of FIM Grand Prix World Championship. The competition was officially renamed in 2012, so the engine is at least that old.

[3] A Japanese saying meaning that each person in a group of three is different from the other two in some way.

[4] 半身になる – A stance where the back leg is extended (the front one is bent) to reach out to your opponent.

[5] 後ろ蹴り - Ushirogeri

[6] Kirikage – Cutting Shadow.

[7] 焼き肉奉行 - The person at yakiniku restaurants or barbecues that gives instructions for cooking.

[8] A Japanese confection made of red bean paste, agar and sugar.

[9] Budokan – literally martial arts hall. There are two ‘big’ Budokan in Tokyo, the Tokyo Budokan and the Nippon Budokan. This is the former.

[10] Old-style Japanese martial arts.

[11] Fa jin - A term used in some Chinese martial arts. Refers to methods of generating and focusing force (jin) that is then released in the form of a blow with explosive power. In traditional explanation, one must transfer qi to the body part that will perform the technique.

[12] Known in the west by the name ‘W-sitting’. In Japan it is predominantly used by girls and women, which gave it the nickname ‘girl’s sitting posture’. 

[13] The standard position to sit in a gym is with the legs bent in front of the body, with the arms wrapped around the knees.

[14] This is the more well known Budokan in Tokyo. It functions both as a martial arts hall, hosting national tournaments, and as a music arena, regarded as the dream stage of many Japanese musicians.

[15] Yahata and Hachiman are both written with the same kanji (八幡). The first character means eight, which is why she specifies she has no connection.

[16] The deeper the bow, the more respectful it is. A slight bow of around 15º is used in casual situations like greeting a friend, while a bow of around 30º is used in formal situations like greeting a superior or a client. Marika’s bow was like the 30º degree bow. There are deeper bows of around 45º used only when greeting very important people, apologizing, or asking for big favors.

[17] Yamatsunami.

[18] Shintou jin or Shintoukei (浸透勁) - A kind of Fa jin. From its literal meaning “Penetrative jin”, it deals damage to the internals of the body.