(Joint) Afterword

—At a certain location on a certain day, Editor S said this to us with half-closed eyes: “...Now then, feel free to explain why it took so long for you two to finish volume two. I thought you two were playing catch, bouncing ideas off each other...”

“Hehehe... Since when did you get the false impression that we were playing catch—?”

“We weren’t playing catch; we were playing dodgeball. Dodgeball with an iron ball at that. Hehe.”

For some reason, Kamiya and Himana had answered while brazenly giggling.

“After all, now that Tsubaki is in Saitama as well, I can punch him anytime I want. Previously, the distance between us prevented me from doing so.”

“And when he does, how strange! For some reason, I find myself punching back! Long live the Code of Hammurabi!”

“...Can’t you two keep things a bit more civil.”

“With due respect, did you know that a certain peace-loving musician with round glasses got into a fight with another band member before leaving the band and causing their breakup? This is what happens when you get rid of national borders [read: division of labor]. Are you seeing this from heaven, round glasses?”

“In the end, everyone insists on having it their own way. In other words, to find a point of compromise, the only option is to speak with your fists. (In an assertive tone)”

“Indeed, peace is nothing but an illusion. Humans can only understand each other through fisticuff—”

“Well, it’s fine I guess. After all, the ones who would be caught in a financial pickle if the book never gets published are the two of you, not me.”

““War doesn’t leave behind anything but debt, does it. (With solemn faces)”” At their editor’s words, the two whose faces were swollen (from punching each other) nodded.

“...I remembered something just now.”

—Sino, who had been watching from the sidelines until now, spoke up:

“Regarding a certain series of Mr. Kamiya’s that’s published by another publisher... Mr. S, you were the one who set up that project and also the one who made Mr. Kamiya adapt it into a manga together with his wife, right?

“...Wouldn’t it be the case then that you made Mr. Kamiya publish Clockwork Planet knowing full well that he would be crushed by the additional workload, Mr. S?”

—Sino had realized what must not be realized.

Indeed, as everyone fell silent, only Editor S said leisurely, “Now then, I have to get back to sending the manuscript to the printers. Please be quicker with the third volume, alright?”

Seeing him begin to make his exit while wearing a dark smile, Kamiya and Tsubaki both barked:

“Stop right there! If I wasn’t crushed to death with work for my other series we could have given you the manuscript for volume two a tad earlier you know?!”

“No wonder Kamiya kept saying ‘I’m busy,’ when I would ask him whether he had checked over the plot outline yet—so you were the culprit behind everything!”

The two of them then, like mirror images—shook hands with ferocious smiles. “The source of conflict ought to be sentenced to death 3.” With that show of unity, the two chased after their editor at full speed.

...Sino nodded deeply. “...Wowww, conspiracies really do exist in real life~”

—Yep, it looks like we’re still far, far away from achieving world peace, Sino muttered internally...