Afterword

I’m Shotaro Mizuki, I guess. How are you guys doing? I’m doing... well, okay.

So this is volume two! Also my second afterword! I thought I should talk about the same stuff I did in volume one, but of course, I didn’t get mountains of information about nasty food from all over Japan (obviously). Instead I was impressed by the quality and sensibility of the Japanese taste bud, and so, I won’t be able to talk about that topic again. That’s right. Usually places with bad food just go out of business, don’t they?

But that being said, my rather twisted personality is unlikely to fix itself anytime soon, so I’ll be talking about something similar: “good deeds,” something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Lately I’ve noticed that lots of people brag about bad deeds they do, but nobody ever brags about good things they do. If, for example, local punks started bragging to each other about how they did good things instead of bad things, how would Japan change? Let’s imagine it.

“You know man, in the past I used to be one hell of a good guy.”

“Seriously, boss? You don’t look it.”

“Right? But I used to be a famous volunteer around town.”

“Really? That’s badass.”

“When I was little, I was satisfied with just collecting donations, but when I heard that barely any of that money went to the people in need, I got pissed off.”

“That’s right. There’s some of those charities that just spend the money on themselves. Screw those assholes.”

“Does that mean you used to be into that stuff too?”

“No, not like you. I never got into it like you did. You know how you can, like, kinda ‘adopt’ kids from foreign countries and send money to them? You’d probably know all about it. I do that. I only give a few hundred thousand yen a month, but...”

“Wow, you don’t look the type.”

“Nah, I’m not as amazing as you are.”

I can tell you right now, this is never going to happen. Nobody ever brags about the good deeds they’ve done. It’s not that they’re hard. It’s that they’re boring. There’s nothing harder to brag about than a good deed. You can send reports of good deeds you’ve done to our editing department, but I’m not going to publish them, so keep that in mind.

Anyway, on to the book itself.

I wrote this book so that it wouldn’t need any complicated exposition. You should be able to breeze right through it. But I do get excited when I write this stuff, so I hope you get excited when you read it too. Like, maybe go yell in a place where nobody’s watching. Anyway, fortunately I’m gonna be able to keep writing, so I hope you’ll keep reading. I’ve got a lot left in me to write about.

And now, the thank yous.

To Souichi Itou, the illustrator,

I think he’s aiming to go worldwide. I was amazed the first time I saw his rough sketches for this volume. Personally I like the student council president the best. I’ve never seen a character who I wouldn’t want to have as a friend, a lover, or even an acquaintance, but I still love her! Even as the person who came up with her personality I still couldn’t predict this.

To my editor, Ohashi,

Thanks again for this volume. Next time I want to get it done at a slightly easier time. Maybe I’m just going to keep saying that, but it’s strange how long it takes to do this work. I pray each day that I’ll get a little faster.

And thanks to everyone else who helped as well.

Now come on, there’s lots more fun to be had!

Shoutarou Mizuki / Souichi Itou