86 - Volume 5 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD 

Pilot suits are righteous! Hello everyone, this is Asato Asato. 

Volume 2? What are you talking about? Whatever—girls in pilot suits are justice. If you were to ask me what’s so great about them, I’d be inclined to say it’s the idea of armament + girl. Simply splendid. And they’re not revealing, but they’re still somehow sexy. It’s cute. Really, really cute. 

Boys in pilot suits are…well… It’s not off-limits or anything, but, you know… That’s not what makes boys sexy. Or rather, they look sexier when they’re dressed really snappily. You know, like in uniform. And, also, uh, when they’re in uniform. 

Now, then. 

Thank you, as always. I bring you 86—Eighty-Six, Volume 5: Death, Be Not Proud. The title is a nod to the John Donne poem by the same name. 

I sincerely thank you all for waiting for so long. It’s the pilot suit episode! Her Majesty in a pilot suit! I did it! 

And no quips about that not being a pilot suit! 

Feast your eyes!!! 

•    The battlefield this time: 

The concept this time was a XXXXX battle done with just polypedal weapons (blotted out for spoiler purposes). It was pretty hard without access to heavy artillery, mortars, or aerial bombing… 

By the way, the battlefield that served as inspiration actually exists (sort of), barring a few fictional elements thrown into the mix, but I’ll have to blot it out for spoiler purposes (omitted). I put a few allusions to it in the text itself, though, so anyone who’s interested is free to research it. They’re some pretty impressive war ruins. 

•    Dilatant liquid: 

Put simply, it’s like custard cream. 

There’s actual footage of custard cream squished between two panes of glass stopping a bullet, but… 

Custard cream, really…? 

Also, some advertisements! If you go to Dengeki Bunko’s home page, you can access the novel-uploading site Kakuyomu, where I’m publishing additional chapters called Fragmental Neoteny. They detail Shin’s backstory in the Eighty-Sixth Sector. The main concept is the story of a losing battle where a young Shin’s eyes gradually grow hollow and dead, so feel free to check it out if you’d like! It requires no registration and can be viewed for free! 

Lastly, some acknowledgments. 

To Kiyose and Tsuchiya, the editors in charge of me, who’ve been showing great concern for my remaining hit points. To Shirabii, I’m sorry for adding all these new characters in new uniforms. To I-IV, for answering my unreasonable demands for polypedal units fighting in a snowy environment. To Yoshihara, Volume 1 of the manga adaptation is finally published! 

And to you, who picked up this book. Thank you so, so much, as always. Our main pair has kind of done a complete one-eighty after how lighthearted Volume 4 was, but the upcoming Volume 6 will conclude the United Kingdom arc, so they might patch things up……… I hope………… (Ugh…) 

In any case, I hope that for even a short moment, I could take you to that battlefield cloaked beneath a white veil, and to his and her sides as they face the divide between them, and the presence of death they should have long grown accustomed to. 

Music playing while writing this afterword: “Eve of the Future” by Ali Project