Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 7 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

For whatever reason, the seasons in the story and the times of year I’ve been writing it have been in alignment recently. That means it’s the very height of summer right now!

Writing those winter flashbacks during the hottest time of the year made the heat feel less oppressive to me, even though I was burning with jealousy for Ryuto. Like, when I wrote the scene where he learns he’d gotten into university, I thought to myself, “Well yeah, you had such a cute girlfriend supporting you—it must’ve been easy to focus on studying!”

Speaking of getting into universities, I made a surprising discovery when I looked into the way my alma mater informs applicants if they passed or failed. When I took my own entrance exams, it was all analog—they would put up a list on campus with entrant numbers of those who passed, and you had to come and look for your number. Apparently, they don’t put up those lists anymore! I guess people nowadays can’t take pictures of themselves pointing at their number on the list to commemorate getting into college... I guess it’s not such a big deal, but it did shock me a bit.

And speaking of scenes having to do with taking university entrance exams, Runa’s mask was cute—I was happy to get to see it drawn. Cute girls are cute, even when wearing masks! Though the really cute ones look better without them. If you can only see a girl’s eyes, they can’t look cuter than average, you could say... You know what I mean, right? I felt that way when looking at Runa too—it made me realize all over again just how adorable she is.

Anyway, every character had become an adult in the previous volume, so I focused on writing their present circumstances in a dramatic fashion in that one. I’m glad I got to write flashbacks of Ryuto’s high school days in this volume instead. This one also focuses more on his relationship with Runa. Did you like how this volume went?

A poem by Giniro Natsuo includes the following line: “May our relationship last forever for reasons only we understand.” I like that poem a lot.

I think it might resonate with people who’ve been with someone who made them feel the following: “What I feel for that person is probably different from what they feel for me. It must be. And yet, for some reason, we’re still together. This reason exists in both our hearts. It doesn’t matter what it is—love, friendship, or whatever else—as long as it keeps us together.”

Acquaintances, friends, lovers, family members... There aren’t that many everyday words to describe people’s relationships. But the reality is that relationships are more diverse than these, and my friends’ ideas of how couples should be don’t necessarily apply to me or the characters in my works. It should be obvious, but we’re prone to forgetting that and starting to worry. That’s important, and I wanted to make sure to remind everyone of that in this work.

Now then, since I wrote about going to Okinawa in volume 6, I figured I had to actually do it myself—and so I did, in spring. It was my second time going there. The last time I’d gone was roughly twenty years ago.

As I walked around Umikaji Terrace and the American Village, I thought to myself that Runa would enjoy those places. I’d planned my tour of the island with a guidebook, looking for places that Runa would likely enjoy. My folder with photos is full of things that don’t suit someone my age, like selfies of me eating sata andagi and doing a cheese pull and wearing a swimsuit at the beach. It was all material for the story...!

While my youth was at the same time as the peak of Amuro Namie’s popularity, I was never a gyaru—though I did wear loose socks. Ever since I started writing Kimizero, I’ve been learning about gyaru fashion and the lifestyle in order to better understand them, so these days, I might be the most gyaru I’ve ever been. Who knows—maybe I’ll be a full-on gyaru by the time I hit sixty?

As always, thank you, magako-sama, for all the wonderful illustrations! And thank you, Matsubayashi-sama, for your editing!

And at last, the time has come!

The Kimizero anime will start airing on Friday, October 6! The names of the main characters’ voice actors have already been published, and it’s quite the lineup... They all did great on their auditions, so I don’t think anyone will be disappointed!

You can check when and what channel it’ll be airing on the official website and on X (Twitter). I’m really looking forward to it too!

Well then, may we see each other again in volume 8!

August 2023, Makiko Nagaoka