AFTERWORD

I don’t know the story behind the practice of including an afterword at the end of a book, but it’s become as universally accepted as holes in Swiss cheese. Additionally, I should mention that I was told that I could write as many pages as I wanted for this section, an offer that would normally make me dance for joy, but I’ll save that for a later opportunity. I would like to take this chance to write a few comments on each of the stories included in this book.

My overall impression will come across as “a year goes by in no time, but two months go by even faster,” a no-brainer, so I hope that I don’t bore you to death.

“The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya”

The namesake for this book was also the first printed edition of the SOS Brigade’s exploits. I believe it appeared in The Sneaker around two months before “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” was published.

I was pretty worried about publishing a story about later events before the first book, but it appeared that I was the only person who harbored such doubts as nobody else questioned the idea, which was a big relief for me. After all, I wrote this story on the spur of the moment so I was worried about the quality, but in the end, there weren’t any positive or negative comments that reached my ears so I just had to live with it.

Incidentally, I’ve only played baseball around ten times, as far as I can remember. I probably don’t need to tell you about my exploits as a second baseman who couldn’t catch a fly ball. I just now realized that I can’t recall ever hitting the ball, which is quite a shock, albeit late in coming.

“Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody”

The original title was “The Confusion of Mikuru Asahina.” However, there was some discussion about how it would be hard to recognize the series title so we ended up with this title. At the time, I didn’t expect these short stories to be published on a regular basis, so I can vividly remember how horrified I was when I saw the words “to be continued in the next issue” on the last page when it appeared in the magazine.

Since I had a time traveler to work with, I felt that I was obligated to write a story about time travel, but there was a sense that this episode would foreshadow the next volume—which was my goal.

“Mysterique Sign”

Owing to extenuating circumstances, I believe that this story was a personal best in terms of the time it took from idea to completion. I was considering what to put the group through, and the next thing I knew, this is what I ended up with. This was around the time when I started considering changing the title of the series to Fight On, Nagato, but I gave up on the idea since the story wouldn’t go anywhere. Still, she appears to be the most effective character in the bunch. I have high expectations for her. Really, I’m counting on you, Nagato. By the way, what should I do about her glasses? Does she look better with them?

I had intended to give the computer society president some more action, but for now, I don’t have any specific ideas so I can’t really say how that will work out.

“Remote Island Syndrome”

I actually began writing this before “Mysterique Sign,” and this story was supposed to appear in the magazine, but as I continued, it just kept getting longer and longer, so owing to various circumstances that were entirely my fault, it ended up as an extra story in this book. Which is why it boasts the highest page count in this volume as an extra story which was too long to run in the magazine and too short to publish as a stand-alone book. This episode gave me much to reflect on. I’m always thinking about how to work things out, but if thinking was all it took, everything would be so much easier. In fact, when I look back at my life, I can only count a few examples where something happened the way I wanted. And that is the reason my brain is in amoeba status now.

I wonder if someone might allow me to stay a week at a fancy resort on a remote island. I’m pretty sure I could at least serve as a witness. Though I’ll probably spend the whole day sleeping.

And so, I was able to publish this third volume. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who made it to this point. I would love to list everybody’s name, position, and nickname, but the list would include all the readers out there, many of whom I do not know the names of, so I’ll have to scrap the idea as there would be no end if I began. Instead, I can only offer my sincere appreciation.

I hope to see you again somewhere.