Afterword

Greetings. Yuki Yaku here, first-time author and undeserving recipient of the 10th Shogakukan Light Novel Grand Prize.

Of course, I didn’t create this book published by Gagaga Bunko alone; many people have collaborated to make it a reality. I hope that I can at the very least express my thoughts honestly and straightforwardly in this entirely superfluous afterword.

That said, talking about myself isn’t one of my strengths, and describing the content and themes of the novel would basically be taking away space for independent analysis and making demands on the book after it’s already left my hands, so I figured I’d talk about my initial feelings when I saw the cover illustration instead.

When I received the illustration from the editor in charge of cover art, my first reaction was surprise at how cute it was. There was so much to admire: the energetic, determined expression on Hinami’s face, the light texture of her hair, the fetishism evoked by the placement of the schoolbag and blazer… But the part that got me the most was the depiction of her thighs. (I will leave discussion of additional points to future opportunities, which I am sure will present themselves.)

As for what exactly I found so moving about those thighs, well, the answer is quite simple. It was the hip joint of her left leg (the right side from the viewer’s perspective). Now that I’ve said this much, half my readers will probably be nodding in understanding. Yes, dear readers, your guess is correct. I am speaking of the swell of her hip.

I don’t know whether it would be better to call it flesh or the gush of youth, but the round swelling in the area of her hip joint really got me.

At that juncture, however, I composed myself and examined this leg starting at the knee by tracing the line up to the thigh, which brought about a realization. The line starts out concave, expressing the slimness and suppleness of the leg, but the moment it reaches the hip joint, just past where her hands are planted on the ground, it rounds outward.

An electric shock ran through my brain.

I had sensed viscerally just how much intention this choice of a few millimeters contained. My analysis may have been uninvited, but nevertheless I was quite confident that it was correct.

There was a reason for my confidence. That is, you can draw thighs on a stick figure, too. In case my meaning is not immediately clear, let me explain. Once you’ve drawn the head, body, and lower legs on a stick figure, and made a bend for the knees, the area above this bend will automatically become the thighs. If you tell someone those sticks are thighs, no one will complain. At the very least, I won’t.

In other words, if the illustrator had simply wanted to express the fact that these were Hinami’s thighs, he could have done so with a stick figure. He could even have gone a little further and enclosed the area in straight lines and colored in a skin tone, and that would have been more than enough.

But the cover illustrator for this project was Fly, and Fly decided not only to add curves to those thighs, but to give them the most delicate of contours. The purpose of this innovation was to add realism to the picture and infuse it with a very particular allure—no, those roundabout phrases are no good. The purpose was simply to lend warmth to Hinami through the magic of a few millimeters.

I urge those of you reading the paperback version to turn to the cover, and those of you reading the ebook to bring up the cover on your screen, and gently touch those thighs with your finger. Your pointer finger is probably best. Well, what do you think? Do you feel it? Do you feel that certain warmth—the warmth of Hinami?

At the very least, I feel it. Right now I am touching both thighs with the tip of my right pointer finger as I type with my left hand. Certainly, that warmth is slightly different from the physical warmth one experiences when actually touching someone. It is different. I accept that. Nevertheless, a warmth breathes beneath my fingertips—so faintly I almost can’t feel it, but it’s real.

I hope that I have succeeded in communicating my feelings.

And now on to the acknowledgements.

First, thank you to everyone involved in the selection of this book for the 10th Shogakukan Light Novel Grand Prize, as well as those who assisted with its editing, publishing, marketing, and sales.

Second, thank you to my editor Iwaasa, who gave me so much severe yet sincere advice; to my roommate T, who read the manuscript before I submitted it to the contest and helped me revise it through valuable and candid comments; and to Fly, the illustrator, who contributed so many surprisingly cute and sexy illustrations to this work of a complete unknown.

Finally, thank you to everyone who reads this book. I hope you will join me for future volumes.

Yuki Yaku