Fremd Torturchen - Volume 6 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Winter’s cold wave has given way, and spring is upon us.

And with it, Volume 6 has been released. Truly, an auspicious season.

Thank you all so much for buying the sixth volume of Torture Princess.

In regard to how I’m arranging this afterword, I thought I’d lead with the acknowledgments this time. To Saki Ukai, for these six volumes of wonderful illustrations; to my editor O, for putting up with all the trouble I’ve caused you; and to Hina Yamato, for the two volumes of the manga adaptation, I would like to thank you all so much. I’d also like to extend deep thanks to everyone else involved in the process, as well as my beloved family, particularly my sister. And more than anything, I would like to express my gratitude to my readers once more. The curtain has finally closed on Kaito Sena’s story. Thank you all so much for accompanying me on his journey. I was able to write almost everything about him that I wanted to, a fact that fills me with emotion.

As for Torture Princess as a whole, it will continue.

It will continue. (That part’s important.)

To tell you the truth, after I submitted my plot outline for Volume 6, my editor mentioned it would make for a good stopping point, so if I absolutely wanted to end the series there, I could. But I still had various things I wanted to write about her and her acquaintances, and about this event and that event, and the various characters doing this, that, and the other thing, so I asked to be allowed to continue writing.

Since then, I’ve submitted my whole outline for the plot to come, and I got my editor’s seal of approval. The content and pace should be just about the same as it has been up until now, so I hope that news brings you all some relief. However, if you want to just close the book here and call that the end, that’s a perfectly valid choice, and this would be the volume to do it. As an author, though, it would bring me utmost joy if you were to come along with me, watch over the characters, and see the fate of this world until the true end. I intend to keep writing to the best of my ability, so I hope you’ll join me.

Please, I beg of you.

The story up until now has been for his sake.

From now on, though, it will become a story for the other protagonist’s sake—for her sake.

And as long as the story continues, there’s one thing I feel I must say.

The true hell—

—has only just begun.