Afterword

Here we are at volume five.

I wasn’t sure how long I could keep this up, but I’m managing it pretty well, I guess.

This volume has a slightly different format than usual. It’s a collection of daily life stories coming off the fourth volume, and each story ties together loosely in a way that will continue on into the sixth volume.

With short stories, I have this idea in my head that you need to explain each one, so I’ll try that here. This might contain light spoilers, so I hope you’ll read the stories before you read any further.

Light Novel Conference:

There is no connection between Orihara’s situation and mine. It’s about how new light novels aren’t selling very well nowadays, and the need to think of something that will sell.

Hinoenma:

You don’t see many people avoiding having children because they’re a Hinoenma, but the urban legend was very prevalent until recently, so I’ve always found it fascinating.

A Challenge From Chiharu Dannoura:

It was fun thinking about how Dannoura Archery worked. I haven’t used all my ideas yet, so if I get the chance to bring her back, I’d like to unveil more.

Mika:

Based on the Mary doll urban legend. It’s a bit of a cliche, but I mainly just wanted to do that closing scene.

The Yokai Fave-Stealer:

I liked the explanation of the osaki, so I remembered it, and I stuck the recent internet slang “Fave-Stealer” onto it. It’s like a modern yokai legend.

Yori’s So Popular:

I mainly wanted to do a story about how popular Yori is, but I feel like it just became another story where Yuichi goes nuts...

Spirit:

Is this the first time the Narikama ritual has been used in a light novel? I abbreviated the ritual itself a lot, but it more or less goes like that.

Now for the acknowledgments.

To my editor, I’m sorry that I barely make it (at least, I think I do) every single time.

To An2A who handled the illustrations, thank you for providing wonderful illustrations once again. I’m happy that Yori finally got the cover page.

Well, see you next volume!

Tsuyoshi Fujitaka