Afterword

It’s the third novel, and I’m officially greeting you in an afterword for the very first time. This is Shinobu Wakamiya. It’s a pleasure to meet you.

I’ve always loved children’s stories, and I love Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. When I heard that PandoraHearts had a world that was linked to children’s stories and to Alice, I tracked down the series and became—and stayed—a reader who was at the mercy of a story just as tricky as Lewis Carroll’s Alice series. …And now, as fate would have it, I’ve been allowed to write the novels.

When I was simply reading as a reader, it was fine for me to just enjoy the unpredictable story and what the characters said and did, and to let everything surprise me. However, when it came to moving the characters on my own and describing them through text, I had to do better.

My head isn’t wired for thinking about difficult things, but I put it into full operation, and I read the story—with its double and triple foreshadowing—over, and over, and over.

When I imagined I understood the characters and got carried away and tried to predict where the story would go, I fell hard for false leads and ended up being surprised anyway. That was what it was like to become deeply acquainted with PandoraHearts. I have no idea how often I got worn out and exhausted from being surprised!

PandoraHearts is full of appealing characters, but my first favorites were Alice and Gilbert, the ones who are straightforward and easy to understand. Characters like Oz and Break have something complicated deep inside them, but as the story advanced in the original manga, and as I wrote about them over and over in the novels, I gradually deciphered their feelings…and then, all at once, I felt close to them.

Then I discovered that Alice and Gilbert, the characters I’d thought were straightforward and simple, were actually much more than just straightforward and simple, and I trembled with fear.

In other words, even now that I’m writing the novels, my relationship with PandoraHearts hasn’t changed from what it was when I was just a reader. In that case, I plan to let this cruel and beautiful story toy with me and to enjoy it until the very end.

If I’ve managed to add even a little extra color to the pleasure of following the original through these three short-story collections, which focused on the characters’ everyday lives, I’ll be happy.

In closing, a few words of thanks.

First and foremost, to the creator of the original, Mochizuki-san. Every month, in the midst of the turmoil of her limit-pulverizing work on the series, Mochizuki-san helped me by meticulously checking the manuscripts and providing material. Without her help, I really don’t think these three collections would have been completed. The illustrations and bonus manga are masterpieces, every time! They are!

These three books also exist through the help of the original manga’s supervising editor, Mukasa-san, and the many other people who are involved with PandoraHearts. I’m very grateful to all of you.

…And, above all, my greatest thanks go to you, the readers who’ve picked up this book.

I hope we’ll be able to meet again in a fourth collection of short stories.

Shinobu Wakamiya