Slayers - Volume 7 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Scene: The Author and L

Au: The Slayers TV anime started airing today, and it’s been an eventful day for other reasons. I hope everyone’s doing well.

L: This has been Slayers: Gaav’s Challenge! But just when it seemed like things were coming to an end, this volume gives us a “to be continued!”

Au: Yeah. Actually, the cliffhanger was a little worse originally.

L: Worse? How so?

Au: It was going to end with a scream and then the “to be continued!” In my initial draft, you didn’t get to know who was doing the screaming.

L: Wow, really?

Au: Yes. But since the next novel wouldn’t be out for six months, I decided the readers might get pissed. So I changed it.

L: Jeez... These reprints are coming out so fast that I never thought about that. Six months would have been torture.

Au: Yep. Being on the reader side of that “to be continued” can be rough. I used to follow this one detective manga. There would be a murder and the detective would figure out the culprit, but then you’d get “to be continued” just before he named them. My curiosity always drove me to buy the next installment when it came out months later... but when I’d read “It was you, X!” in the first line, I could never remember the actual case or what was going on.

L: Seriously?

Au: I mean, it was months later and I was always reading other stuff in the meantime. So the detective would reveal his conclusion and the case would be solved, and then in the same volume, there’d be another murder. The detective would say, “I know... who the real culprit is!” Then you’d get hit with the “to be continued” again. And as the reader, I’d be like, “Wait, who’s the killer?! I’m dying to know!” And so on and so on in an endless cycle.

L: Are you... stupid or something?

Au: Rgh... I hate that I can’t deny it!

L: And I’m sure the person who wrote the manga would be disappointed! If it was such a problem, why didn’t you just reread the last installment before the next one came out?

Au: Heh, don’t be naive! You think I could find a comic I bought a few months ago inside a room so messy that it looks haunted?!

L: Don’t brag about that! Clean up your room!

Au: Well, I do... When I get around to it, I throw all my old junk in a garbage bag, then pile up the books I’ve already read next to the bookshelf.

L: When you “get around to it”? You put things next to the bookshelf?

Au: And when I’m done, I whisper, “Yes, I’ve done it!” with a triumphant smile, and immediately turn on the TV...

L: That’s terrible! All you do is throw away some garbage and move stuff from point A to point B!

Au: Huh? But it gets everything in order...

L: Does not! All you’re doing is satisfying your desire to feel like you cleaned! And don’t just do it when you “get around to it”! Do it regularly! And don’t be satisfied piling up books next to a shelf! Keep working until the floor is clean!

Au: Hmph... But everyone has their limits.

L: Even children can clean their own rooms!

Au: Aww, but...

L: Aha... hahaha... Okay, fine. I’m going to share the secret of how even someone like you can clean up their place.

Au: Really?! What is it?!

L: First, bring me some gasoline and a lighter. And have a moving crew ready.

Au: Er, sorry... I think I’ll pass. I’ve realized it’s best to just keep things clean.

L: But given the state of things... I sure hope you don’t have important work documents buried under all that mess.

Au: Oh, surely not... Surely. After all, since I know they’ll get buried if they sit for too long, I always deal with work-related stuff as soon as possible!

L: Couldn’t you just... clean your room?

Au: I see... Looking at it with fresh eyes, huh?

L: More like normal eyes? Well, it’s no skin off my nose either way... You’re lucky anyone even reads your stories at this point.

Au: Urgh... Is this even an afterword, or just a hate-on-the-author-fest? Welp, that’s all for this time!

Afterword: Over.