Afterword

On February 21st, 2016, I visited a certain hotel in Osaka. The entrance to the hall said “Japan Sherlock Holmes Club, Kansai Branch — 221st Assembly.” That’s right—since I presumptuously gave this series the title Holmes of Kyoto, a member of the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club (JSHC) reached out to me and invited me to their commemorative meeting.

One of the executive committee members was a lawyer who was formerly part of the mystery genre research society at Kyoto University. His name was O (Okawara was modeled after him), and he was the senior of the author Yukito Ayatsuji, who was also in attendance.

Many of the members had high-profile occupations—lawyers, professors, doctors—but they had youthful glints in their eyes, perhaps because they were Sherlockians. They were full of humor and mischief.

As explained in the book, 221 is a special number for Sherlockians. To them, it was a joyful miracle that they could hold their 221st assembly on February 21st. I listened to their stories about using 221 in their license plates and passwords, and their passionate love for Holmes had me itching to write a story about the meeting. Two months later, in April, I attended my second meeting and told them what I wanted to do. They readily gave permission, saying, “We’d be delighted! Just change the official name and whatnot, and you’re good to go.”

When I was writing about the 221st Assembly, I recruited members to be models for characters. The people who Sugiura, Azuma, Akashi, Nishizawa, Okawara, Sashihara, Matsuda, Makabe, the Uchiumi couple, and President Hiraoka were modeled from applied and filled out the survey I handed out, so I brought them into the story. (Madam is a fictional person, by the way.) The models checked my manuscript too, making me feel more nervous about my writing than I ever had been—but it was still enjoyable.

The characters’ occupations and anecdotes were mostly left as-is (even the story about the baby being born on February 22nd). I was very inspired by the generosity, open-mindedness, intelligence, humor, and playfulness of everyone at the Kansai JSHC. I’m sincerely grateful to them.

Thank you, everyone at the Kansai JSHC.

Additionally, in this volume I was graciously given the privilege of collaborating with the Kyoto Sanga FC. When the talks began, I thought, “Kiyotaka is good at kicking, but he doesn’t seem like he’d play soccer.” However, I was confident that he would love the local sports teams.

Before writing the short story for this collaboration, I visited Nishikyogoku Stadium in person and watched a game. Watching a home game is truly amazing—like Ms. Hayakawa in the story, I felt like I was going to get addicted to it.

Thank you, Kyoto Sanga FC.

Lastly, when you think of Nishikyogoku, you think of Ogawa Coffee. When volume 4 of this series was released, I was blessed with an opportunity to have lunch at Ogawa Coffee with the manager of a bookstore. It felt like a mixture of a traditional coffee house and a modern cafe. I was so impressed by the atmosphere and the delicious coffee and lunch that I asked if I could include them briefly in my humble work, and they said yes.

Thank you, Ogawa Coffee.

When I write it out like this, it feels like volume 5 was one big collaboration.

This volume takes place during spring break, one year after Aoi and Kiyotaka first met. Indeed, I think it was quite an eventful break. The two of them have finally taken a step forward, but more little incidents are sure to come their way. I hope you’ll watch over them warmly.

Once again, I offer my sincere gratitude to everyone involved with me and this book.

Thank you very much.

Mai Mochizuki