Haibara’s Teenage New Game+ - Volume 6 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

The season within the book and the actual publication season have finally overlapped.

Anyway, long time no see. I’m Amamiya Kazuki.

This volume was a story about Motomiya Miori. To be honest, the way her character would be handled wasn’t set in stone at the beginning of the series, but I’d decided the direction I would take her by the fourth volume.

The sixth volume depicted regret and love. How did you find it? In it, we have a boy who wanted to redo his past that had ended up drab and gray, and a girl who wanted to return to her past that shone like a rainbow. I believe they are similar yet different wishes.

Moreover, the difference in attitude between Miori, who lives in a present contiguous to her past, and Natsuki, who came from the future by leaping through time, was difficult to bridge. He remembers his childhood days with her to be full of sunshine and rainbows precisely because he doesn’t remember the minor details.

In the end, Natsuki is motivated by his past regrets.

“For the cover, I think Miori in the rain would be absolutely horrible, but also super great!” is what I suggested, which gave birth to this awful (awesome) cover. Miori, drenched by the rain, is so beautiful... So wonderful...

This time, I have a lot of space for the afterword. Honestly, I’ve slowly run out of things to talk about, but since I have the space, I’ll go over my current status.

I always wish I could make a living off of creating stories. My main job is completely unrelated to writing, and I spend my days moonlighting as an author on the side, but that still means that about eighty percent of my day is taken up by my full-time position. I have so many tales that I want to write, and yet I don’t have the time to do so. Since I’m on the topic, there’s also plenty of games I want to play, manga and light novels I want to read, and anime I want to watch... Anyway, I don’t have enough time.

Lately, I feel terrified of wasting time. Because time is so limited, I want to be as efficient as possible when I use it. Though I feel like my days are fulfilling, I also feel like they are lacking in blank space. I think time that may seem to be wasted at a glance actually adds color to the prose in a novel. In a way, optimizing your life can also mean reducing your sensitivity. I find that sad.

To tell the truth, moonlighting as an author helps stabilize my income considerably. If I continue working like this, I doubt I’ll have financial concerns in the future. However, whenever people ask me, “Are you okay doing that forever?” I’m not sure how to answer. I ask myself, “Isn’t it about time I decide what path I want to go down?” Regardless of what I choose, I want to live without any regrets.

Now it’s time for acknowledgments. To my manager, N-san, I made headway as though I had no deadlines again this time, and I’m truly, sincerely sorry about that... I’m always, always causing you trouble. Also, I’d like to thank Gin-san, the illustrator, for the marvelous art, as always. The cover was perfect and complete. I especially appreciate how it contrasts the cover of volume one...

I’d like to give an enormous thank-you to everyone involved in this novel’s publication as well. It would be my pleasure as an author if this story resonated with you even a little bit.

Well then, that’s all for now. I look forward to seeing you again in the next volume, or in another one of my series.

My life is filled with the desire to write teen rom-coms, isekai fantasy, and supernatural battles that take place in modern times.