Afterword

When he woke up, he was greeted by a strange space — there were white walls and floating black words lined the air.

“Are you awake, Eyus?”

The voice came from where his friend, Rutas, was standing.

“Rutas... What is this place?”

“Beats me...”

Rutas shook his head at Eyus’ question.

“I, too, was in this space when I woke up... But it feels like while I was sleeping, I had a pretty strange dream... It was like you were a protagonist someplace, and I was your partner. I stood out quite a bit, too... It was so real... But, no. There was no way that could have been real.”

“Are you stupid? There’s no way that could have happened.”

Eyus was exasperated by Rutas’ unrealistic talk of dreams and the like. After he listened to Rutas go on about his strange dream, he continued to speak, to no one in particular.

“Come to think of it... I’ve heard of it, you know. This space.”

“What?”

“So... It seems like, aside from the ‘main story’ part of this world, there’s what’s called an atogaki in Japanese, or ‘afterword’ in English... What appears in the afterword are events and persons that, while usually not portrayed as much in the main story, are given screen time in the afterword. Perhaps this space is connected to that ‘afterword’ in some way...!!”

“What...?! What are you even talking about? You’ve lost me since the start...”

Rutas’ claims were absurd. It was just far too unrealistic. Even if there was some element of truth in his words, it was all too convenient.

However, as if possessed, Rutas continued speaking, ignoring Eyus’ complaints. Placing a hand on his companion’s shoulder, Rutas kept talking, a mysterious sense of passion behind his words.

“Eyus! We have to somehow escape from this space and reach the ‘afterword!’ We have to be portrayed in the publication that way! That way, we will be popular with the ladies AND popular at tea parties!”

“O-Oh...”

Eyus, now compelled by the mysterious force possessing his friend, had no choice but to nod.

However...

“If we were going to leave... would we go through that door?”

Eyus was looking at a faraway door — its surface was covered by long passages and walls of text.

“Ohh! Good work, Eyus!”

Immediately running to the door, Rutas grabbed hold of its knob, pulling with all his might in attempts to open it.

“Ugh... Kuh! It won’t open... Why?!”

“Calm down, Rutas, look above us.”

There was a clear line of words above the door — and as luck would have it, it was in a language that the two of them could read.

“If you wish to open this door, say the name of this world.”

“I am the beginning of all forests. I am the beginning of all hearts of man. I am the beginning of the lives of men and their families. “I” am the beginning of all words.”

“This place is...”

“It would seem that the door will open if we solve this puzzle.”

“AUGGHHHH!!! I HAVE NO IDEAAAAA! What the hell does that even mean?!” Rutas quickly grasped his head, shouting in frustration.

“Calm down, Rutas. The answer is actually deceptively simple.” said Eyus, trying to calm his panicked friend.

“Y-You get it, Eyus?!”

“Yeah. These sorts of questions require the reader to pick up hints from its text. However, this question in particular uses different ways of saying ‘I’ for each part. In other words, it isn’t about finding similarities. This question is much more simple, as long as we fill in the blanks with the appropriate answers, we’re fine. There are four blanks in place anyway — just as there are four lines of questions.”

“Ohhh...”

“I am the beginning of all forests. That must be the kanji character for ‘wood,’ which is read as ‘ki.’ The characters for wood, when tripled, become the character for ‘forest.’”

“I see!”

“I am the beginning of all hearts of man — that would be the word for ‘self,’ which is pronounced ‘ga.’ Man obtains a heart when he first develops a sense of self.”

“Ohh! I see!”

“I am the beginning of the lives of man and their families. That would be the character for ‘entrance,’ called ‘to.’ No matter the kind of home, you would first need an entrance so that people can go into it and live in it.”

“I SEEEEEEEEE!”

“I am the beginning of all words. That would be the letter ‘A.’ After all, the alphabet starts from...”

“You’re wide opeeen!”

“Guh!”

Rutas’ fist suddenly connected with Eyus’ solar plexus, causing him to fall over onto the ground in pain.

“Ru-Rutas... What... are you...”

With a face twisted in malice, Rutas smiled wickedly.

“In other words, the correct answer is ‘KI-GA-TO-A’... With this, I have everything I need. I don’t need you around anymore,” said Rutas, looking down at the fallen Eyus.

“After all, the afterword is limited in the amount of words it can use. If two characters were portrayed in it, they would both receive less screen time. However, if I crush you here and now, the afterword will only belong to me! It’s practically guaranteed that I will be popular with the ladies now. The only one needed in the afterword is me!”

“W-Wait...! Rutas!”

“I won’t wait! Goodbye, my friend! With your sacrifice, I will now be super popular with the ladies!”

Without checking to see what lay beyond the door, Rutas pulled it open and jumped into the great beyond.

“Hey everyone, It’s everyone’s favorite nice guy of the northern dormitory, Rutas... Huh? Eh...? What is... What is this? GYAAAAAAAAAHH!!”

Rutas fell, and continued falling, into what seemed to be a great abyss. With the last of his wails echoing upwards, he finally disappeared.

The fallen Eyus, still in pain, could only manage a few words.

“That idiot... The alphabet begins with A... So you naturally read it backwards... The answer is not KI-GA-TO-A... It’s... A-TO-GA-KI... This... This is the afterword... The atogaki... Guh...”

And with those last words, Eyus passed out.

＊＊＊

Thank you very much for reading this far!

Eyus and Rutas are characters that appear in the web version of the novel — I am very sorry that the publication does not include them. To begin with, they were never important characters and were more of just sticklers in the background, and I had never really thought much of them other than deciding their names.

With changes made to the published version, the two of them didn’t appear. However, it wasn’t like they were erased — they just became background characters with no names.

As you may have discovered from reading through the afterword, Eyus is particularly good at deductions and inferences. Rutas, however, is a scumbag.

Although I asked Kurodeko-sama to design them (I am really sorry for asking you to do this), the two of them ended up sadly not having any screen time, and so I decided to make up for it by putting them in the afterword.

In subtle ways like this, the web version has some changes compared to the published version — perhaps you may be surprised, having read this far.

As for the reason for the changes... To be honest, I just really wanted to work on the main story instead — that was the main driving factor. I wanted to see Queen’s wishes come to fruition ever so slightly, and for Fie to continue living her own life. Although their feelings for each other are still somewhat childish, if you think about it, that in and of itself could lead to large developments. However, I wanted to portray them taking small steps, occasionally stopping along the way.

Realistically, I don’t think there are many people who try to take everything upon themselves. Fie and Queen, both being teens, perhaps try to think that way, and certain choices might be born from that immaturity. They will have to live with the choices they make.

This book chronicles the east-north inter-dormitory duel — this is perhaps my favorite section of the work.

About that, I also asked Kurodeko-sama to draw some of the characters that showed up in that part — and they did! I was very happy about their portrayal. I hope that readers found the performances of Fie, Queen, Gormus, Remie, and even Slad (...) enjoyable to read!

I would really like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to those who made the publishing of this book possible.