86 - Volume 4 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD 

Raid units get the blood pumping! Hello, everyone, this is Asato Asato. 

An elite unit that goes behind enemy lines to raid and suppress important positions and secret weapons! Isn’t it just the coolest? And with that in mind, this time I had Shin and his Eighty-Six comrades get organized in that kind of unit. Its name is…the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package! 

The numbering is probably some kind of cruel joke by the Federacy’s elite. If I could have my way, I’d love for them to have their own exclusive flying battleship or something, but the technological level in this work’s setting makes that kind of impossible, and aerial weapons aren’t in the story, either. 

God dammit, Legion! Or rather, goddamn, the Eintagsfliege are annoying! 

Now, then. 

Thank you all as always! 86—Eighty-Six, Vol. 4: Under Pressure is out for your reading pleasure! This volume’s story is a bit lighter than usual. I actually made it light this time around! After how dark Volume 3 was, those two just keep flirting and flirting and flirting. To hell with them! Dammit! 

If I had to sum up the twists, it’d be something like “tasty sweets before bitter coffee.” There isn’t much of a deeper meaning to it, though. 

•    This volume’s battlefield: 

It’s an underground labyrinth, or rather, a subway terminal. The inspiration comes from my grudge over how I used to get lost in Shinjuku Station, Otemachi Station, and Tokyo Station. I still get lost sometimes. How many exits and lines can one station have…?! 

Also, since the mecha is a short polyped type, I wanted it to fight in a low-ceiling, cramped scenario a humanoid mech—which is necessarily tall—wouldn’t be able to fight in. 

•    The whole part about Shin’s high body temperature: 

That’s actually entirely based on my little brother (who had a single-digit body-fat percentage throughout his high school and university years). Apparently, the closer the human body gets to a state where it’s all muscle, the higher its body temperature becomes. From what I hear, the average body temperature in that state can get to thirty-seven degrees Celsius. Athletes are amazing. 

Shin’s body temperature is probably pretty high, too, so Lena could snuggle up to him during the cold winters… Or not. Those two are kind of impossible… 

Finally, some thanks. 

To my editors Kiyose and Tsuchiya, who gave me so many helpful comments and advice. I already checked out all the references and recommendations for a breather you suggested. 

I apologize for the sudden increase in characters, Shirabii! And this time you’ve finally bestowed upon us the sight of Lena in that state of affairs…! 

That one guy whose name I’ll omit for spoiler purposes was awesome, I-IV. I really wanted to get into the self-propelled mines’ posing capabilities in the story proper, though…! I’ll do it at some point. 

And finally, we’ve gotten a manga adaptation! Yoshihara, I get excited every time I read it. I’ll work hard to make the novel’s battle scenes be as exciting as yours are! 

And to all of you who picked up this book. Thank you so much. In fairy tales, the evil witch is always defeated, the princess gets saved, and everyone gets their happily ever after. But do people always necessarily achieve peace and joy after evil is vanquished, the tragedy ends, and everyone is saved from adversity? Even with the wounds they’ve been inflicted with left as they are? 

This story of these boys and girls who know only the battlefield, 86—Eighty-Six, is about what lies beyond the happily ever after. 

In any case, I hope that for even a short moment, I could show you the reunion those warriors experienced in a fleeting moment of blissful rest. To put you on their level as they grappled with the darkness in the depths of their memories. 

Music playing while writing this afterword: “Raise Your Flag” by 

MAN WITH A MISSION 

References: Railway Corridor by Hiroki Tokugawa 

and Transparent Specimens by Iori Tomita