Afterword

Who is it that comes up with the names for all the powers and special moves and stuff you see in fiction, anyway?

In retrospect, I think that question was where this series really began for me. Fiction’s filled with all sorts of proper nouns and technical terms, but most of the time, the question of who defined those terms in-universe gets a handwave, at best. I’m sure everyone’s seen a character in some battle manga bust out a brand new special move with a super flashy name and thought, “Wait, did he think that up himself?” at some point, right?

That’s how I decided to write a series where that sort of thing wouldn’t be handwaved in the slightest. I’d depict the process in detail! Specifying the origins of all the proper nouns as much as possible was one of the driving concepts behind this series on the whole. There would be no names spontaneously popping into the characters’ heads at just the right moment here—no, my characters are all the sort of people who spend night after night doggedly flipping through their dictionaries in search of just the right word!

So anyway, with all that out of the way... Hi! Kota Nozomi here.

If I had to pin down this story’s theme in a single word, I suppose I’d have to go with “chuunibyou.” Which is, of course, way too deep and way too obscure of a theme for an author as inexperienced as I am to take on! The truth of the matter is that the more I dug into the topic, the more I realized I’d never be done researching it. Chuunibyou somehow gets harder to understand the more you learn about it. The harder you chase after the essence of its meaning, the farther away the meaning appears. It’s just that abstract and poorly defined of a concept.

Anyway, now that I’ve referred to my book’s central theme as “an abstract concept” and tried to make myself look smart in the most chuuni-tastic way possible, I’d like to say a few words of thanks!

First up is my editor, Nakamizo, who provided an incredible amount of support over the course of this novel’s creation. I’m grateful beyond words for all their help, without which a book as unfocused and meandering as this one would probably never have managed to make it out the door.

Next up is my illustrator, 029. I’m extremely thankful that they were willing to take on this job in spite of their incredibly busy schedule. I take my hat off to the sheer skill it must have taken to bring forth such beautiful drawings from my writing.

Finally, I’d like to express the greatest of thanks to every last one of the readers who were willing to give a book that can’t quite decide if it wants to be a supernatural battle story or a slice of life a chance.

That’s all for now! May we meet again, if the fates allow it!

Kota Nozomi

Oh, and one last thing—if you turn to the next page, you’ll find a sort of prologue for the next volume. Please give it a read if you’re interested!