Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 28 - Chapter Aft

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Afterword

Long time no see. It’s the author, Takehaya. This is yet another short afterword, so I’d like to get right to it. Oh, and this afterword has spoilers, so make sure you’ve read the volume first.

With this volume, the series has finally reached thirty volumes. Partially to commemorate that, the final episode from when I was in the series’ planning stage has begun. Ten years have passed since then and things will continue from here, but this was the finale in the terms of the original plan.

But no matter how I tried to write it, I couldn’t get it to fit in a single volume. I realized that I’d need at least a volume and a half. Needless to say, this volume will feed right into the next one, which is why it ends where it does.

This series was designed to be long, but I didn’t have the green light for that at the start. I finally got it around the time we were discussing if the series would get to thirteen volumes or not, so a little bit before it was decided that there would be an anime adaptation. So originally, I was expecting to have to use this episode after volume 7 or 13. That wouldn’t be a problem for the structure of the story, but I had one concern, and that was if the readers would be able to imagine how Koutarou felt after Maki and Clan disappeared.

I wasn’t very confident that everyone would be able to imagine Koutarou’s feelings if this happened earlier in the series. By volume 7, Koutarou was firmly in the role of the girls’ best friend, and by 13 he’d only just broken through that role. As another matter entirely, without spending as much time with the characters, I was worried readers’ connections to them wouldn’t be as strong. I’m sure you wouldn’t feel the same way you do now about the two of them disappearing.

That’s why I’m very happy that I was able to deliver this story after the amount of time I think was necessary for it, which was why I chose not to touch on Koutarou’s feelings at the end. I believe they’re conveyed to you now without me even having to write them. And I hope to be able to deliver a satisfying conclusion. These might be a frustrating few months to come, but please bear with me.

With such limited space for the afterword, I’ve run out of room already. If I wrote any more than this, I’d have to write another sixteen pages thanks to how bookbinding works, so I have to cut things here. I’ll keep the details for the next volume.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with my heartfelt thanks to everyone at the editorial department for their help with the publication of this book; Poco-san who is continuously drawing up illustrations; and the readers for their continued support.