Strike the Blood - Volume 3 - Chapter Aft

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Afterword

Forgive the inconsistency, but if I were answering a questionnaire about what a girl who just falls out of the sky might have been riding on, I’d definitely put an “airship” pretty high up on my list, though I wonder if that’d be true for real. In this case, the girl in question really is a princess, so I thought an airship was picture-perfect in so many ways.

So, we’ve finally made it to Strike the Blood, Volume 3.

Usually the setting is a drab man-made island, but this time, I thought I’d go somewhere a little more “outdoor.” There probably wasn’t enough tension to make it a real survival situation, but since I personally enjoy stories where someone’s washed up on a mysterious island (…though the details vary in my case), I had a lot of extra fun writing this. Having said this, I actually cut about half the deserted island scenes I’d had in mind.

I’m sure most of you already started to guess, but the reason why was that it was focusing on those two without the story advancing one tiny bit. It felt a little like cutting an episode out, but if I’d submitted the whole deal, I’d probably feel like I was banging against the publisher’s door, so I figured, yeah, it’s a good idea to cut it.

So, we have the arrival of yet another heroine for this volume. But this time it’s Sayaka who got shoved aside. Actually, I hadn’t planned on Sayaka appearing in this volume whatsoever; even after meeting with the editor, I put my foot down and said, “She’s not in it.” But being that obstinate doesn’t do any good, so I relented in the end. Sayaka is probably a bit concerned about being wedged between Asagi, the classmate with home field advantage, and our new heroine, but as the creator, I’m overjoyed to welcome such a wonderful new character to the fold.

While on the subject of new heroines, let me borrow Kanon Kanase’s personality for a moment and take the opportunity to thank all of the creators for your assistance. Thank you very much, you’re lifesavers.

And finally, sincere and deepest thanks to Manyako for another round of superb, charming illustrations! And let me thank from the bottom of my heart Yukiwa the editor and everyone who worked to get this book into print!