Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 8 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

One day in July.

Jougi Shiraishi is the most nervous he’s ever been in his life.

Far more nervous than that one time back in high school when his club adviser came to him with a strange and unreasonable request.

“The concert band club only has five members. If things continue as they are, the club will be disbanded,” his adviser had said. “You’re the current club leader, right? Would you enter the upcoming solo contest? Enter the contest and save your club!”

The adviser made him perform at a competition that drew the heavy hitters from all around the prefecture, even though he wasn’t very good.

His face is far paler today than that one time when he got stuck performing without accompaniment because the music teacher he was counting on to accompany him suddenly withdrew.

“Sorry…I’m still a new teacher, so I can’t take on important duties like accompanying you in the music contest. You’ll have to enter alone,” the teacher had said.

Today is the day of the drama CD recording.

When the drama CD cast for Wandering Witch was first chosen, I thought that the cast was amazing, and I still think that today.

Anyhow, since I was a real bundle of nerves on the day of the recording, the trip to the recording studio seemed to go on forever, and even once I’d arrived, I felt as if I were in a dream.

Then someone said, “All right, say hello to the author, Jougi Shiraishi,” and pushed me out in front of the voice actors to greet them.

“Uh, these books were originally self-published…”

And I skipped over my actual self-introduction to launch straight into talking about the books. This was also due to nerves.

Give a proper self-introduction! What the hell is wrong with you, man?

I inwardly scolded myself after failing to even identify myself by my pen name during my greeting.

I had been dreaming of making a drama CD ever since Wandering Witch was first published by GA Books, and the fact that I actually got such incredible cast members is truly beyond amazing. All during the recording, I was asking myself if it was really okay for me to be there in that joyful environment with them.

It took two-and-a-half years of dogged perseverance to get that drama CD made.

The road seemed so long while I was walking it, but as I look back on it from the end, it passed by in a flash.

Well then, what was the actual recording process like, you ask?

“……” “……”   Dialogue between two cast members.

“……”   Jougi Shiraishi quietly biting his lower lip.

“……!” “……!”   Comical dialogue between two cast members.

“……!”   Jougi Shiraishi aggressively biting his lower lip.

Hearing my own writing being performed aloud, I nearly laughed with amusement several times, but I couldn’t just burst out laughing in the middle of such a serious professional atmosphere, so I had all these emotions brewing inside me and was still totally nervous, so I ended up biting my lower lip harder and harder.

The drama CD is really entertaining, and the voices of the five characters—Elaina, Saya, Miss Fran, Amnesia, and Avelia—are not only exactly as I imagined them in my mind, but even more amazing, incredible, stupendous, really truly the absolute best! Oh, I bite my lip.

By the way, back in high school, I also used to bite my lip over nothing, like that one time when I participated in that music contest and got all fired up with a weird sense of rivalry in front of the exceptionally skilled students from the other schools.

“Aw, shit!” I shouted. “If this is what it comes to, I’ll have to compete with my air sax!” Then I pretended like I was performing. So it’s possible that I still have a tendency to bite my lower lip when I’m nervous.

This is another digression, but despite the embarrassment I suffered being thrown in with the tough guys from the other schools for that solo music contest, the concert band club still ended up getting disbanded. We weren’t able to assemble enough club members the following year. Are you kidding me?!

At any rate, the drama CD turned out wonderfully, thanks to the amazing cast members, so if you’re interested, please give it a listen!

Now then, I’d like to start giving my commentary on each chapter. These comments are going to be full of spoilers, so anyone who wants to avoid spoilers should turn around now!

Chapter 1   An Important Day for an Important Person

This is the prologue to the final chapter… That’s it! Explanation over!

Chapter 2   The Curse of Immortality

Humans have a thing called the immune system, so that even if we fall ill, our bodies can overcome the sickness for us. I was struck with the idea for this story one time when I had the opportunity to do some research on disease.

I had been thinking for quite a while about debuting an immortal character, but super-competent immortal characters who know everything and walk around with smug grins on their faces are a dime a dozen… I was worried about that, and other issues, too. Eventually, though, I came up with Matroyshka. By the way, her name originates from the Russian matryoshka dolls. Apparently those toys, the ones where you open up a doll and a smaller doll emerges from inside, are named after an actual girl’s name.

Chapter 3   That Is There, This Is Here

Cannabis can actually be a helpful medicine for people with cancer… I read that in a book somewhere, and that’s more or less how I came up with this story. Some places stay neat and tidy by putting a lid on anything that stinks, but I think it’s very sad when people can’t find new value in old things. That said, I’m certainly not endorsing the use of illicit drugs, cannabis included.

Chapter 4   Welcome to the Den of Crime

Now that I’ve written eight volumes of The Journey of Elaina, there are quite a few characters that I want to bring back again and again. Among them, I definitely wanted to use the characters of Yuuri and Sharon in a more comedic chapter. I was able to really make it happen this time, and I’m so glad I did.

By the way, in the first draft of this chapter, the narration missed a lot of chances to poke fun at the characters, so I ended up revising it to read as if Elaina is the one telling the story.

Sharon is still Sharon, even after the change.

Chapter 5   Welcome to the Cat Ears Café

This is the tale of Elaina, who wants to rush off to play with cats after being cured of her cat allergy, meeting Avelia, who for some reason starts working at a café staffed by cat-eared maids.

I’ve written at length about the interactions among Saya, Amnesia, and Elaina, but when I thought about opportunities for Avelia and Elaina to interact one-on-one, there was only that one section of the final chapter of Volume 4, so I’m glad that I got to write about them here.

I digress, but while I was in the middle of writing this chapter, I received a number of reader comments like, “I want to see Elaina in a maid costume!” and, “I want to see Elaina wearing animal ears!” And I just so happened to be writing both! Go me!

Chapter 6   Frederika

Much of an individual’s character is shaped during early childhood. Apparently it’s quite difficult to change your personality as an adult (there are various theories on this).

The two sisters, Frederika and Lunarik, who were raised from birth in an environment where they absolutely had to be different, would certainly have developed vastly different personalities, even though they were twins.

Chapter 7   The Night It Rained Stardust

Biela’s Comet, first discovered in 1772, appeared at regular intervals in the night sky like most comets, but it was seen for the last time in 1845 and then never again. They say that the core of the comet split in two, and it crumbled apart. Because of that, people thought they wouldn’t see the comet again, but then in 1872, the remains of Biela’s Comet appeared to humanity in a new form.

This was the Andromedids meteor shower, which in that year produced a shower of several thousand shooting stars in the space of an hour. They say countless numbers of shooting stars filled the night sky. I really wish I could have seen it.

That was the main inspiration for the comet and meteor shower that appeared in the final chapter, and the name Bielawald was taken from Biela’s Comet. If you read Chapter 3, I think you’ll have a general idea of what became of the citizens of Bielawald after the events of this chapter.

Volume 8 brought back a lot of characters from previous volumes. It had already been decided from the start that we were going to produce a drama CD, so I had always planned to include the five characters who I knew would be on the CD—Elaina, Saya, Miss Fran, Amnesia, and Avelia. But when I started writing this volume, I never would have expected that Sharon and Yuuri would make an appearance, too. In the end, the page count for each chapter just got longer and longer.

I’ve been getting questions about this on Twitter, so let me say that there are plenty more characters from the past that I would also like to use again, but I haven’t found the opportunity yet. I do want to use them again, though.

So that was Wandering Witch, Volume 8. Hope you stick with me for Volume 9!

Well then, on to the acknowledgments.

To Azure: Thank you for always drawing such adorable illustrations. I really do love all of your illustrations, but especially the cover for the drama CD edition.

To the head editor, M: Thank you for always taking good care of me. And thank you for the sashimi. Part of me thought that I hated sea urchin and squid and couldn’t eat them, but once I tried them, they were ridiculously tasty…

To Elaina’s actor, Kaede Hondo: We were working to get you to play Elaina since Volume 1, so I would be so happy if you continued to play her role for future drama CDs. I can’t imagine anyone but you playing the role.

To Miss Fran’s actor, Kana Hanazawa: It was the greatest honor to have you playing the role of Miss Fran, and it was super fun to listen in on the dialogue between Elaina and Miss Fran from behind the scenes!

To Saya’s actor, Tomoyo Kurosawa: Thank you for playing such a pitch-perfect Saya that as I listened in on your performance, I got all excited and thought that Saya was really in the studio! Sorry for making you say “tickets” over and over again…

To Amnesia’s actor, Konomi Kohara: Amnesia has been an important character since Volume 4, so I was so happy to get you to play her. The way you speak, with the air of an older sister, is just like Amnesia…

To Avelia’s actor, Miho Okasaki: Avelia’s way of talking was really entertaining, and I had to bite my lower lip several times as I listened in. I particularly liked Avelia’s reaction when she had the wet hand towel thrown at her.

To Ikki Nanao, who is in charge of turning these novels into comics: Thank you so much for the truly amazing adaptation! I tear up every time I receive one of the drafts. I look forward to reading along whenever the Manga UP! version comes out.

To everyone in the light novel division at GA Books, to everyone involved in the production of the drama CD, to everyone in the editing department at GA Books, and to everyone in the sales department:

I want to offer you my sincerest thanks on this occasion. I’ve had a number of new experiences between Volumes 7 and 8, and nothing makes me happier than thinking about the valuable opportunities that I’ve been given.

To all my readers: I’m going to keep on writing Wandering Witch for a long time, and it would make me so happy to have you keep cheering me on as always! See you next time!