Toradora! - Volume 2 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

I’ve become smooth and fat—it is I, the letter Y. My ­favorite phrase is: “Then let’s settle this with sumo!” What I want is a sumo wrestling ring. It’d be a fine pretense to hone my deadly technique. What do you think of my stable balance…? I’ve got your attention now, right? …The fastest one always wins, you hear me? (This is a message to anyone out there with ties to a sumo stable.)

Well then, to all those of you who took Toradora 2 in hand, I thank you sincerely! I’d say this second volume has a more brutal feel to it, but did you enjoy it? Please do join me again for the next volume, I kindly beg of you! If it gives you pleasure even for a short while, I will even sell what’s most important to me as a woman (the youth of my skin) to the romcom devil! I’d even throw in this in the bargain! (Yup, there goes my estrogen…)

And now, as I think some of you may already know, my series Our Dear Tamura-kun has become a manga with Monthly Dengeki Comic Gao! I’m looking forward to seeing what Tamura and the gang will look like in their first outing as manga characters. I’ll leave the fate of the Tamura-kun and Toradora! manga in your hands.

Well then. As always, I’ve got tarako spaghetti mania. Its extraordinary deliciousness never fails to give me the shakes… it’s so tasty, it’s obscene. And in addition to that, what really packed the pounds onto me this winter was the jewel of the meat bun world, the climax of flavor—the pork bun. Well…actually, um, it wasn’t really pork buns so much as pork ramen (as in both the ramen and pork buns). I’d have two bowls in a single day, or sometimes even three. It got to the point where it’d be strange if I hadn’t gotten fat.

Nonetheless, I didn’t just do nothing about it. I gave in and tried that thing. That “diet” thing that people talk so much about. Specifically, it was a low-carb diet. I had a menu prepared for a full week, but after a single day of it, all I could think about was rice. The inside of my mind was all about rice. That white and chewy yummy rice that I’m one hundred percent all about. I got a phone call from Mr. Manager about work, but I couldn’t think! I couldn’t manage any good replies. I was so hungry I cried a little. I called my parents’ house to talk to my mom…because I wanted to hear her voice… 

So then, well, uh, I stopped. Mr. Manager also said, “This affects your work, so please stop,” so I won’t ever do a low-carb diet again. I don’t want to cry those bitter tears ever again! And then I retested my romance for my favorite combo of ingredients—boiled water and raw rice… ah, what was that?! Romance, combo… Romcom? 

…After thinking up something like that, maybe I should shave my head in apology…

So then, thank you for staying with me up to here, all of you readers! Once again, I really, truly am thankful. I love you so much that I’d even introduce you to my parents. If you had even a little fun, I’m incredibly happy. And Yasu-sensei and Manager-sama—thank you for taking care of me. Like prayers to the holy trinity, I send you my very best regards. And also, this time around, thank you for finding time in your busy schedule to comment on my belt, Nasu Kinoko-sensei. If it’s Nasu-sensei, I don’t mind being seen in the full regalia passed down through the generations of the Takemiya household (replete with hair bun)…

—Takemiya Yuyuko