No Game No Life - Volume 7 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD 

This is Yuu Kamiya, with the first new volume in a year and three months. Not only did I make you wait a very long time in the first place, but then I pushed back the release date drastically. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize deeply to my readers and all concerned. 
…… 
………… 
“…Huh? Where’s the punch line?” 
Oh, my third editor, “I,” good to see you. There’s no punch line this time. 
“Ohhh, you and your jokes— (serious) Mr. Kamiya, did you hit your head?!” 
No, you see, when I’ve made everyone wait this long…you know? I mean, if I was just late it was one thing, but then I pushed back the date. Yeah. 
“W-well, it’s true that you’re always busting our deadlines, but this time is very… How did this happen?” 
…Well, you see. There’s a story behind this deeper than a bottomless pit. 
Have you heard of…Friedrich Nietzsche? 
“That’s quite abrupt…not that that’s anything new, I suppose. Yes, I have.” 
Nietzsche said that God—a fragile, illusory ideology—is dead. Regardless, people feared the judgment of others or the strain on personal relationships and still clung to the theory of God’s existence. They sought a diversified and hollowed-out illusion that pandered to the biases of popular thought—and thus went without a defined self that would determine uniform principles of conduct. He reviled these people as the “herd” and contrasted them with one who would stand without God, one who would walk with independent will based on his own absolute values, unshaken by fear of others. In other words, he said one should become an “overman.” 
…O-or something like that. 
“……Probably.” 
H-honestly, I’m not sure exactly. I got all puffed up and decided to give it a read, but it seems there’s a fundamental inadequacy in my brain capacity! H-however, let’s take this interpretation as a lens through which to view the situation after the publication of Volume 6. 
The anime concluded successfully thanks to the audience’s warm reception! Meanwhile, Volume 6 raised the expectations for the next volume to the breaking point! My dear readers must indeed have thought: 
I bet Volume 7 will be even more awesome!! 
But at this juncture, I beg you to trace back through your memories. When you’ve been told This game is friggin’ awesome, has there ever once been a case when it actually was friggin’ awesome?! In the very best case, wasn’t it just Well, I guess it’s all right?! Thus, the readers’ expected values crossed Mach 1 to form a force field smashing past the Van Allen belt! As one of the “herd” whom Nietzsche so despises, I responded to that expectation with fear and a heart rate like a flea’s! As an ignoble member of the herd, I shook like an everyman—shook and broke like an everyman! I gasped in turmoil like any man! And then, in my throes of anguish, I thought thusly: 
Look at those who fling out hits beyond compare to mine and who proceed as if the expectations or appraisals of readers—that pressure—were a hardly perceptible breeze, announcing future works without a hitch, without a break. 
Ah…yes, look at them! They are those who Nietzsche lauded, the thunder of which Zarathustra foretold! Those who walk by their own firm will, swayed not by the masses! The overman—is they—!! 
So I thought of that, then looked at my manuscript. I’m no overman; I’m one of the herd. How can you blame me if it was late? No, would it not be more aberrant for it not to be late?! This is just what I think, but what about you?! Hmmmm?! 
“……” 
…… 
“Could you summarize that?” 
I got in my own way and wasted my own time and fell into a slump I’M SORRYYY!!! 
“…The defendant is sentenced to deliver the manuscript for Volume 8 immediately. He is also forbidden from rejecting an entire manuscript on his own like this time.” 
Hnk…ergh… Th-thank you for your merciful sentencing. B-but before that, well, you see—I have to fill six more pages with this afterword… 
“And whose fault is that, I wonder…” 
Huh? I thought you guys were the ones who said that printing conditions required…… 

“(smiling)—We what?” 
It’s my fault for writing an inconvenient number of pages! I’m sorryyy!! 
B-but…I mean, you know, I’ve got nothing left to write. 
“…It’s been over a year… Well, all right, let’s say we scratch all the time you were working on the anime bonuses and such. It’s still been over half a year… Nothing happened during that time?” 
Huh? No, I mean, yeah, a lot of stuff happened. What I’m saying is I’ve got nothing left to write. For example— 
—a sudden economic slump dragged down my parents’ business along with the whole of Brazil, and they called me from the other side of the world to go help them. And then soon after I got back to Japan, they told me my sister was getting married, so I had to return to Brazil again. But I told them my wife was giving birth so I couldn’t go to the wedding, and then they said to give them all the money for the honeymoon, with a little heart emoji at the end— 
(rolls eyes)—but do you really want to hear about all this? 
“Let’s keep it cheerful!! Uhhh… Right! What about that spin-off?!” 
Oh, good point! That’s a cheerful topic! A shamelessly cheerful plug, right?! 
…Ahem. 
A new spin on No Game No Life! See the world of Disboard through Izuna’s eyes—in No Game No Life, Please! It’s in Gekkan Comic Alive (Monthly Comic Alive), starting in the July issue! The project launched last summer based on my sincerest wish and nomination… Uhhh. 
A picture’s worth a thousand words, they say. So here’s a sneak peek! 

The sneak peek is presented in the original right-to-left orientation, so please read it in that order. 
 

So yeah, that’s pretty much what it’s like. Fluffy and relaxed, hot off the newsstands!! Mr. Yuizaki’s the one coming up with the ideas and the actual story, but I’m also participating directly in plot conferences, canon oversight, and so on. It skips over all the tricky logic battles to show the pure world reflected in Izuna’s eyes—a distillation of cuteness. I sincerely hope that you’ll give it a look. Mr. Yuizaki’s Izuna is adorable, as are the other characters! (pushy) 
“By the way, I’ll go ahead and share what the readers are inevitably going to say when we promote this.” 
Uh, all right…yes, of course, go ahead. 
“What’s going on with the original manga adaptation…?” 
I-I’ll get right to that storyboard as soon as I finish this afterword! Mashiro Hiiragi and I let our production system fall apart after the anime and couldn’t get it up again. But we’re back on it and will make up for the time we’ve lost, so please bear with us! 
“(smiling) Then, of course, the manuscript for Volume 8 will also be delivered in no time, right?” 
Yes, it will! Once I finish that storyboard, I’ll get to writing it in leaps and bounds!! 
“…Wha—?” 
…Wha—? 
“Wait, isn’t this the part where you pretend not to hear me and disappear…?” 
If I did that after a fifteen-month gap, it wouldn’t even be funny. For once, I sincerely regret what I’ve done… I won’t make you wait so long for the next volume. 
“—Ah—” 
Considering the content as well, we do have to get it out soon. 
“Mr. Kamiya, hold on there! You’re—!!” 
Don’t worry! I’ve already got Volume 8 written to some extent already! Come on, I’ll make it back by Christmas!! Leave it to me! 
“You’re setting a flag! It won’t even be a year! That’s the flag for a four-year quagmire like World War I!” 
And with that, I hope this volume proved to be worth the year-long wait. I’ll be back in Volume 8—a raging rush of follow-up on all the foreshadowing in this volume. It is my dearest wish to meet you there. See you then!