86 - Volume 1 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD 

Aren’t garter belts just the best? 

Hello, everyone, this is Asato Asato. A weird name, I know, but have no fear; it’s just a pen name. It’s a twist on my real name and eighty-eight. 

To those of you who sneaked a peek here before reading, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book. 

To those of you who sneaked a peek with no intention of reading this book, I hope you find enjoyment in whatever piece of entertainment you do pick up. 

And to those of you reading this after finishing the book… Thank you very much. How did you like it? It’s a story that has a little bit of everything. You have battles and mechs and a boy-meets-girl story and a dystopia and so much more. If any of this happened to pull on your heartstrings, I’d be the happiest person alive. 

As for me, I had a lot of fun writing this. This is the kind of story I love to read, after all! It’s full of all the stuff I like! This is the kind of story I always wanted to write! Which makes it all the stranger that it ended up winning a prize. Even I’m not sure how that happened. 

Well, to be honest, there were quite a few things I had to painstakingly omit from the final version so I could submit it to the contest. I ended up adding one of them, the scene portraying garter belts, during a later revision of the book. Garter belts are cute, aren’t they? Sexy, too. Sexy and cute. 

I hope you fellow garter-belt lovers enjoy Shirabii’s super-cute and lovely illustrations of Lena and the garter belts adorning her sexy thighs. 

And for those of you who haven’t awoken to the appeal of garter belts, please leave me to my creepy ramblings. Here are a few addenda regarding the story: 

•  The story uses elements from World War II, specifically a certain country from the Axis powers and a certain country belonging to the Allies, and certain dark aspects of the history of that time. I would like to clarify that I bear no ill will toward any of those countries today; there just happened to be a lot of material regarding those particular themes. 

•  The story uses the word pig as a spiteful derogatory term. I would like to clarify, however, that I bear no ill will toward pigs. If anything, I love them! They’re delicious. Pork cutlets are great, too! 

•  Please don’t think too deeply on the particularities of the Sensory Resonance theory or any other weapons that appear in this work. They may be modified later on if need be. The collective unconscious idea in particular is one I intentionally misinterpreted for the sake of the story. 

•  The story takes place in an alternate reality but still employs the metric system. I did this because made-up units of measurement fail to really give one a grasp of what’s going on. The reason I didn’t use the old Japanese system or imperial units is because I don’t really know them. 

•  This story takes place in an alternate reality but has references to the Bible, Remarque’s novels, and so forth. The reason for that is… Well, I’ll leave that to your imaginations. 

…Let’s stop pointing out my plot holes and move on to some words of gratitude, then. 

To my editors, Kiyose and Tsucihiya. Your notes and well-thought-out feedback greatly increased the quality of this story. I always enjoyed meeting up to work with you. 

To Shirabii. Your illustrations are always gorgeous. Your ability to imbue a character with a strong presence and dignified look in their eyes never fails to impress. Thank you so much for all your amazing work. When I got your sketch of Shin with all sorts of cool armor bits on him, I worked my brain off trying to find a way to fit something that awesome into my story. 

To I-IV. Even though I told you to design something as absurd as a “weak, badly designed machine,” you provided me with not just designs for cool, ominous-looking weapons, but also awesome designs for the Juggernauts. Seeing all the little details you put into their designs really made me excited. And to top it all off, the Legion are even more dangerous and borderline invincible than I thought they could be, with Fido going to the other extreme and being so adorable. Seriously, can I have one of those? 

And finally, to all of you who read this work. Thank you so, so much. We may be at the end of this volume, but there are still plenty more stories coming your way, so please look forward to them. 

In any case, I hope that for even a short moment, I was able to let you experience that closed paradise full of ostentation and vanity, and the skies, the stars, the winds, and the flowers of that battlefield rife with bloodshed and steel. 

Music playing while writing this afterword: “Sidonia” by Angela