Book 4: Afterword

The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria

AFTERWORD

(This will touch on the story, so be forewarned

if you haven’t finished the book yet.)Hello, Eiji Mikage here.

This is the resolution of the Game of Indolence, the fourth volume of HakoMari! (I’m really starting to like that nickname).

I kind of assumed everyone would understand why it isn’t “Vol. 3, Pt. 1” and “Vol. 3, Pt. 2” even though the books deal with the same Box, but what do you think?

Oh yeah, I have an apology to make. In the afterword of Volume 3, I wrote that this volume “should be out in the spring,” but it was released in June. I’m truly sorry… I’ll work harder.

Now then, I’d like to talk about the story a little bit.

As an author, I was a little surprised by something that happened during the writing of Volume 4.

The Classes in the final game were assigned in a way that fit the image of each character perfectly.

To be honest, it wasn’t deliberate. I gave the characters their Classes in order to heighten the drama, so whether they suited the character’s image was secondary.

And yet, things worked out that way.

It’s possible this was no coincidence. Since I was thinking so much about the story, the things I couldn’t see during the conceptual stage revealed themselves in the end.

It feels wonderful to go beyond your superficial comprehension in crafting a tale.

And now for the acknowledgments.

To the illustrator, Tetsuo: Thank you once again. It may sound like lukewarm flattery, since I say it every time, but I think it must be truly difficult to draw appealing images that fit my work so well.

To my new editor, Miki: Thank you for the keen pointers and assistance. I know I’m a difficult author who writes in a quirky way, but I look forward to working with you more in the future.

Now, as for my plans for upcoming work, there will most likely be a bit of a longer window than usual before Volume 5 comes out. I don’t know if I can call it a replacement, but sometime in the summer, I’ll be taking pArt_in a certain project, so please pick it up and give it a look if you’re so inclined. It won’t bear the name Eiji Mikage for various reasons, but I think all of you who have read this series will know the book when you see it.

See you next time!

Eiji Mikage