Afterword
Thank you very much for picking up this book!
Nice to meet you—or if you’ve been reading this work on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, welcome back! I’m Itsukami Itsuki, the author of this story.
How did you find the book? If it managed to stir your emotions, even just a little, I would be truly delighted.
Thanks to the wonderful opportunity of receiving a publication offer, I have spent my days drafting, revising, and going through various editorial processes. And now, I find myself facing a major obstacle.
—That obstacle is writing this afterword.
It’s been about a week since my editor asked me to write it, yet I’ve been completely at a loss for what to say (sweatdrop).
So, in the interest of keeping things simple, I thought I’d share a bit of behind-the-scenes trivia about the story.
As much as I’m struggling with this afterword, I also struggled immensely while writing the main story. One of the biggest challenges was—naming the characters. Some of you might be thinking, Really? That’s a challenge? But for me, it was a serious hurdle. In fact, a few characters ended up being named on a whim, purely based on the flow of the moment.
The biggest example of this is the protagonist himself, Orn Doula. Believe it or not, his name is actually an anagram of All-Round! And not in English, but in katakana!
At first, I wanted to give him a name rich with meaning, something that would reflect various aspects of his character. But the more I thought about it, the more I overcomplicated things. In the end, I settled on something… well, simple (or at least, I think so).
On a related note, the names of the three instructors in charge of the Exploration Training—Anthem, Barnard, and Cathy—were deliberately chosen so that their initials would form A, B, and C.
Now that I’ve shared a little behind-the-scenes trivia, I’d like to take a moment for a quick announcement.
In addition to this novel’s publication, a manga adaptation is also in the works! It will be serialized in the web comic magazine Wednesday Sirius and is scheduled to begin this fall! Be sure to check it out!
Lastly, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Kisaragi Yuri-sensei, who brought this story to life with stunning illustrations, to Shōji-san, who worked tirelessly to make this book a reality, and to everyone who contributed to this project in any way.
And of course, to you, dear reader—thank you once again for picking up this book.
I hope we’ll meet again in the future.
Until then!
—Itsukami Itsuki