Afterword

Afterword

“The opposite of like isn’t dislike, but indifference” is a common expression, and I think it’s such an important phrase that it’s difficult to tell who said it first. It’s a phrase that’s really sensible and to the point, but I personally think that it’s very preliminary.

Rather than focusing on any one individual, it’s like taking a bird’s-eye view or thinking about things on the whole. When we focus more on the individual... Perhaps it’s that once you really like someone, you can’t go back to being indifferent to them, and you can only go back and forth on a number line between like and dislike.

However, the human heart isn’t as simple as a number line. Once you start to hate someone, everything they do annoys you. On the other hand, once you fall in love with someone, you start to love even that person’s faults. In that case, the direction on the number line opposite “like” can trend so deeply that it loops back toward “love,” and I find that to be a wonderfully precious thing.

And with that, I am Kota Nozomi, and this is the fourth installment of the rom-com with a heroine that is pushing thirty. As I wrote in the afterword of volume three, the story I had initially planned ended at volume three, and volume four marks the start of a story that I hadn’t planned.

The following is a spoiler: concerning the bombshell I dropped at the end of this volume... It was, how should I say, the result of the characters acting on their own. When I had Nanasemeruchi make the character design for Momota’s father for the manga, he turned out much cooler than I’d expected. So, I thought, “He looks like he’d be a popular dad who could get remarried quickly,” and that’s how I came up with the ending this time. The true pleasure of a light novel is when the chemical reaction between the author and the illustrator surpasses the author’s expectations...is how I’m going to say it, so it sounds nice.

And now for a sudden announcement. The second volume of the Slightly Older Girlfriend manga will be released at about the same time as this fourth volume of the light novel, so please look forward to it. It has some special extra manga, a new short story by me, and is really gorgeous.

Now then, my thanks. To my supervisor, Nakamizo, thank you once again for your help. I’m sorry for how random my schedule was. To Nanasemeruchi, thank you for the wonderful illustrations this time as well. I really enjoyed getting to see Orihara-san in various styles of clothing like her casual clothes, bathing suit, and pajamas. Also, I would like to give my deepest gratitude to you, the reader, who picked up this book. May our paths cross again in volume five.

Kota Nozomi