Afterword
Afterword
Afterword
AFTERWORD
Thank you, dear readers, as always. This is Asato Asato. The series’ second short story anthology, 86 Alter.1 “Youth with a Hint of the Reaper”, is published for your reading pleasure!
This volume gathers the first to sixth volume’s store and fair exclusive side stories, detailing moments from Shin and his friends’ daily lives between the age of twelve and the autumn after he turned eighteen, published in chronological order within the story’s timeline. I included the long version of “Star Shower Lemonade,” as the published version had to be shortened due to page number limitations. It also compiles some unpublished short stories, so anyone who hasn’t read these exclusive stories can enjoy the full package!
In place of our usual analysis, here’s some commentary about the unpublished and newly written stories!
“Lena+Annette,” “Theo+Kaie+Haurto+Fido,” and “Meanwhile, Annette and Dustin…”
These are three unpublished store exclusive stories. For the store exclusives for Volumes 1-6, I made to write the necessary number of stories plus an extra two (I wrote them under the pretense of backup in case a story gets voted out, but I basically just wrote whatever I wanted). Any unused stories were typically published on Kakuyomu, but these three ended up timed poorly and weren’t published anywhere. “Lena+-Annette” and “Theo+Kaie+Haruto+Fido” were written as exclusive side stories for Volume 1, meaning I wrote them six years ago! That really takes me back…
“October 2 nd (Anju’s Birthday)” and “November 12 th (Annette’s Birthday)”
These are newly written stories.
For these two (along with Vika and Frederica), I haven’t been able to write their birthday chapters for Kakuyomu, since the story’s timeline hadn’t reached October and November yet. Ep. 11 takes place in October, while Ep. 12 takes place in November, so I finally managed to write chapters for those two. I’ll definitely try to write the chapters for Vika, who has a December birthday, and Frederica, who has a February birthday!
“All-Star Perfume Battle”
People were curious! They wanted to know all the characters’ birthdays, perfumes, and—perhaps most importantly—what pistols each faction in the story uses, so I mixed it all into this comprehensive side story.
Getting all the characters to appear meant the timeline had to be toyed with, so you can feel free to think of this as not an actual event that took place, but some kind of mass hallucination Shin and his friends experienced (after all, Rei, Kaie, and Eugene are already dead…).
By the way, characters like Grandpa Seiei, Grandma Gelda, Vika’s father, Auntie Svetlana, and Lieutenant General Bel Aegis all share their perfumes with their successors; respectively Reisha and Yatrai, Yuuna, Zafar, Vika, and Olivia. For this reason, they weren’t featured.
Also, the Alliance’s standard issue pistol wasn’t shown, given that Olivia was accidentally shot at and chased down by Václav and the Priest, so I’ll write its details here:
“A highly accurate but rather expensive-looking for military purposes 9 mm single-stack automatic pistol.”
Lastly, some thanks.
To my editors, Tabata and Nishimura. I’m glad you laughed when you heard the idea of the birthday tags and tropical Fido.
To Shirabii. Lena’s troubled expression on the Volume 12 cover was lovely in its own way, but seeing her carefree smile on this volume’s cover is a pleasure. I wish she could smile like this all the time during the main story, too…!
To I-IV, who burst out laughing at the idea of Fido taking part in the all-star battle, swinging buckets around! Thank you for designing the galactic cruiser and the staves for the magical girl spinoff, too!
To Somemiya. The Magical Girl Regina Lena is beginning its manga adaptation! Lena and Annette’s magical girl forms in the first volume are so pretty, and the Eighty-Six characters are adorable with their little doggy ears! Plus, the three old military officers are so pitiful. It’s great!
And of course, to all the readers who read this far. The Reaper and the Bloodstained Queen have their moments of youth every so often—or rather, more often than not—but I hope you enjoy watching them and their friends grow and mature.
In any case, I hope that, for even a short moment, I could take you all to a happy get-together in the Spearhead squadron’s base, and to the cheer and clamor of the days in Rüstkammer base.