AFTERWORD
Hello, everyone, this is Keiichi Sigsawa. I’m very grateful that you’ve picked up Gun Gale Online XI.
I’m currently making the same pose that Llenn does on the cover of Volume X, with the same pistol.
No, there is no photo of this.
I’m sure you’re wondering what in the world I’m talking about. I’m actually being serious for once.
The gun is an airsoft gun, however.
I’m sure you’ve heard about it already! (Editor’s note: This is not as likely as he thinks.)
That’s right, the pink pistol Llenn shoots in the story is now being sold as an air gun (technically, a “gas blowback gun”)!
Tokyo Marui, one of the premier air gun makers of Japan, put out an AM.45 Version Llenn Vorpal Bunny (henceforth “Vorpal Bunny”) in April of last year (2020) as an official collaboration product! I just missed out on getting to introduce it in Volume X, which came out in March!
You may recall that in the afterword of Volume IX, I introduced the pink electric air gun P90 Version Llenn and expressed my great gratitude for its existence.
This time, it’s a pistol! I had already introduced the Vorpal Bunny in my story as an AM.45, a black pistol designed by Kouji Akimoto for Tokyo Marui as an original concept, and now it gets to be sold as a real air gun… As the author, I feel like I’ve died and gone to Heaven. My feet aren’t touching the ground. It’s so far below me. Uh-oh, the oxygen’s getting thin up here. For being midday, the stars sure are beautiful…
On top of that, this March (2021) they started selling a plain black AM.45, the one that Pitohui uses in the story.
On the package for the Vorpal Bunny and AM.45 air guns, there are illustrations from the one and only Kouhaku Kuroboshi. The AM.45 has a brand-new illustration of Pitohui! I also wrote a special little piece for it. That’s a little story you can only read there.
Its specifications as an air gun are top-notch, and its utterly original design looks awesome, of course, but on top of that, it’s an ultra-rare pink handgun—so you can look good shooting it, displaying it, or doing anything with it, really.
This one is not a totally limited production like the P90, but will be manufactured and restocked at regular intervals. I’m sure it will eventually be found at reasonable prices in stores. If you find any, why not get one or two to keep on you? You can feel like Llenn or Pitohui and pretend to be a cool guy like Sigsawa!
Anyway, this has been your afterword, in the form of air gun advertisements!
I was trying to turn this afterword in as is, but my editor scolded me with a much more socially acceptable version of saying, “Cut the crap,” so I’ll write a little bit more.
Of course, I won’t be revealing any details from the story here.
Instead, I’ll give you a bit of trivia. In Japan, we use the word netabare to refer to advance details of a story, but I’ve recently learned about the English word spoiler. They use that word because it spoils the fun of the story.
Remember that word, because it might show up on a test. Or it might not.
It’s Volume XI, everyone!
To reveal a bit of behind-the-scenes information that only the author himself and a select few knew about, GGO was originally designed to end at Volume IX.
But because the fans kept up with us so diligently (i.e., kept buying the books), I ended up having to write a new Squad Jam. Excuse me: I got to write a new Squad Jam.
It’s so much fun writing GGO that when I was told I could keep writing it, of course I was going to jump at the opportunity. In other words, Volume XI was brought about by your enthusiasm, dear readers. Thank you so much.
So we’ve started another Squad Jam, the fifth of its kind.
If you’re always working under the same rules, it’s not as much fun for the players or writer or readers, so I threw in a bunch of changes right in the middle of the story, just to make the players furious.
The special rules I’ve written before are modeled directly off fun rules I’ve experienced myself in survival games (i.e., pretend battles with airsoft guns), but in this case, I decided to go one step further and make some rules that can’t be done in real life.
Long live VR games, huh? The idea of getting to experience crazy gun battles in peace and safety with no one getting hurt is just the best.
If they ever make full-dive VR games, I really, really, really want to play GGO. For my weapon, I’d use the SIG SG 550.
Meanwhile, I just live my life and assume that world is coming someday. Will they make them by the time I’m an old man? Then I’ll just be able to dive all day long.
The neighbors will say, “Is the old man from that house all right? I barely see him at all anymore.” But I’ll be fine. I’ll be better than fine. I’ll be great.
Of course, if the last two years have taught me anything, it’s that you never know what will happen in the future.
But if things can turn out worse than expected, surely they can also turn out better than expected sometimes. I believe it. Sigsawa will always believe it.
With all that said, I’d like to strive for the next wave of the future, but for now, I know I need to write what comes next after this book. So once I send this file to my editor, I’ll get started on that.
In the next volume, Llenn and Fukaziroh are gonna kick ass. Like always, I suppose. Look forward to that.
See you in GGO Volume XII.
Keiichi Sigsawa—2021
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