AFTERWORD
It has been a while. This is Isuna Hasekura.
Just as the title suggests, this is the first volume of a story.
As to the question of why that is, answering it would take a book in and of itself, so I can’t say too much, but the major reason is that it’s impossible to tell how many pages a basic plot will require.
I planned to write only what was absolutely necessary, but it kept growing and growing.
With great effort, I managed to trim away pages and complete a first draft, but because there was so much of it and it was still a little messy, it wound up split into two volumes, and I did more editing on the second volume.
Which all means that my beautiful bimonthly publication schedule did not quite happen and a bit of a gap opened up, so hopefully you all will do me the favor of waiting a bit longer.
Lawrence should be really cool in the second volume.
At least, that’s what the plot says!
Incidentally, recently I ate something truly strange and now will report about it.
It was sashimi made from—I swear—the back fat of an Asiatic black bear.
The restaurant owner was an amazing hunter and had taken wild boars in Okinawa and deer in Nara, and prepared the game he took as dishes in his restaurant. Well, apparently, he was lying about the deer, but the boar was true.
So, the Asiatic black bear back fat.
According to what I’d heard in advance, it was said to be not unlike uma no tategami, or sashimi made from the tender neck meat of a horse, but when I actually tried it, it was like unsalted butter. It melted in my mouth immediately, and there was no odor at all, only a slight fatty sweetness, and lacking any actual meat, it really was just like eating butter.
There on a side street surrounded by high-rise buildings, sitting in front of the shop on folding chairs and using a small refrigerator filled with beer as a table, it really was a very rustic-seeming situation, which made things only more delicious.
Now that I’ve talked about it, it’s made me want yakiniku for dinner, so I think I’ll do that tonight.
And it looks like I’ve filled the page, so we’ll leave it at that. I’ll see you again in the next volume.
Isuna Hasekura
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login