Afterword

Hello, everyone! Anda Sadanatsu here. Thank you all for reading!

As the second volume in the Kokoro Connect series, this is my second-ever published work. For those of you who have yet to read the first volume, Kokoro Connect: Hito Random, I strongly encourage you to do so in order to enhance your reading experience!

Now then, the rest of this afterword is for everyone else.

As you’re almost certainly aware after reading this far (or guessed from the title, if you haven’t read the book yet and are starting from the afterword for some reason), there’s no body-swapping in this book. Apologies to those of you who were hoping to see more of it. Rest assured, these kids struggle just as hard with the second phenomenon, so I hope you’ll continue to watch over them. There is no greater joy as an author than to see so many readers follow my characters as they mature and grow.

Anyway... Whew. Looks like I’ve got another long-winded afterword for you! It’s hard to write these without discussing spoilers, so this time around I’d like to talk about the “author profile” found on the dust jacket of this volume. There, I listed my favorite food as “noodles” and my favorite pro wrestling move as “shooting star press.”

Let me ask you: do you have a favorite food? Or (please don’t send me hate mail telling me that pro wrestling sucks) a favorite pro wrestling move? If you can name your favorite food off the top of your head, I’m a little envious of you. Doubly so if you have a favorite pro wrestling move, because you’re probably really cool, and we should be friends.

...I can already tell that if I start talking about pro wrestling I’m gonna go off on some huge tangent, so let’s set that aside for now.

The point I’m trying to make is this: it can be surprisingly difficult to name your absolute favorite in a given category.

Like anyone, you probably encounter situations in your day-to-day life—maybe not frequently, but every now and then—where you have to write about yourself or introduce yourself to a stranger. In times like these, if someone asked you to name your favorite food, do you give the exact same answer every time?

Frankly, I don’t. All food is good food, you know? Japanese food, Chinese food, Italian food, Spanish food—they’ve all got their own appeal. Be it main dishes, side dishes, dessert... They’ve all got their own unique role to fill, and they’re all great! All food is good food! (I’m like a broken record over here.)

Personally, I couldn’t possibly choose one absolute favorite over all the others. So when people ask me this question, my answer is based entirely on how I’m feeling at the time... hence I gave a vague answer like “noodles” for my author profile.

...Nobody knows what the heck I’m getting at, do they? Okay, let me summarize it:

“Just because I said my favorite food is ‘noodles’ in my author profile doesn’t mean I want to eat noodles 24/7! I like red meat and sushi too! And if you’d like to take me out to dinner, I’d prefer to go someplace really expensive!”

And there you have it.

...Wow, this afterword is a total waste of time for everyone, isn’t it... Except me, I guess...

Only now does it occur to me that I would’ve saved us all some time if I’d just picked a different question for my author profile in the first place...

Well... Hopefully someone out there will come away from this having learned to take the answers to these sorts of questions with a grain of salt.

Now then, on to the acknowledgments!

First, I’d like to thank everyone who bought the first volume, sent in the questionnaire postcards, left reviews online, told their friends to buy it, and/or sent me fan mail (which I’ll treasure forever, by the way; thank you so much). You all have my eternal gratitude. Kizu Random wouldn’t be here today without your support.

Second, I’d like to thank everyone who worked hard to help me get this book published, particularly my editor. Thank you for bearing with me!

Third, a HUGE thank you to Shiromizakana-sama for making time in her busy schedule to draw more gorgeous illustrations for my book. I can’t begin to imagine how many people must have bought a copy purely for her art alone, and it is my hope that I’ve written a story worthy of being associated with her talent.

Lastly, I’d like to extend my full gratitude to all of my readers once again. I would be honored to cross paths with you again in the future.

—Anda Sadanatsu
April 2x1x