The Neighboring Aarya-san who Sometimes Acts Affectionate and Murmuring in Russian - Volume 7 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Hey, everyone, it’s Sunsunsun. Just like in Volumes 4 and 5, I had found myself in a troubling afterword situation again, with no pages left to write on, but now I’m completely dumbfounded after adding around sixteen pages a week before the deadline. There had to have been a better way that I could have done this while leaving myself with a few extra pages. If I had just three to eight extra pages, I could’ve done so much more. I know, I know. It’s completely my fault for not managing my pages properly.

At any rate, I’ve completely run out of things to say. I’m sure the comments I leave on the cover sleeve make that much obvious. It’s a mess. I don’t even know what I’m talking about half the time. Maybe science-minded people will find the peculiar use of numbers interesting, but I bet most people who are more liberal arts–minded will be utterly confused.

Then again, I bet everyone’s confused. Plus, I know I’m the one who came up with this pen name, so I’m not doing myself any favors making fun of it, but to tell the truth, I’m not a huge fan of the number three (sun in Sunsunsun sounds like san, which is the Japanese word for the number “three”). My favorite number is actually twenty-four. My next favorite number is twelve. I mean, twenty-four is such a cool number, isn’t it? It’s hard to describe. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It looks cool, too. Also, it’s divisible by all single-digit numbers except five, seven, and nine, which is another beautiful thing. And twelve is just great overall: the Twelve Apostles, the Twelve Heavenly Generals, the Chinese zodiac, the Twelve Ranks, the duodenum… Anyway, I think there’s a unique beauty to this number that appears in so many places. Oh, and thirteen is cool, too. It has that edgy cool factor to it. For the same reason, I can’t really dismiss fourteen, either. The number fifteen is weak. I feel nothing for it. It’s just…there.

Speaking of edgy charm, we can’t forget about zero. I get that it’s a bit debatable whether zero is actually a number, but it’s cool nonetheless. By the way, if you don’t understand the appeal of zero, you’re not a true edgelord. You’re back to square one. Too bad if you start from one, you’ll never reach zero! Mwah-ha-ha!

…Okay. I said the cover sleeve comments were aimed at science-minded people, and yet I rambled about something even they wouldn’t understand. Huh? What’s that? You want me to keep going? Well, if you insist! Let’s talk about three-digit numbers, but of course, as an edgelord… (The following has been omitted for brevity.)

Now that I’ve talked about six-digit numbers, let’s move on to the next topic. I think I might have just revealed my phone’s passcode toward the end there, but maybe it was just my imagination?

Okay, so what should we talk about next? Oh, right! I need to address something. It’s about the afterword in the previous volume. I claimed that putting in a short story instead of an afterword was probably a first in the light novel industry…but a writer friend of mine was like, “What? Plenty of other people have already done that.”

…I’m embarrassed, to say the least. This is what happens when you don’t read enough light novels. That’s right. Despite being a light novel author, I don’t actually read that many. I mentioned this briefly in the afterword of Volume 5, but starting something new takes a lot of effort for me… Whether it’s a light novel, manga, or anime, I find it really difficult to start something new. And the more famous or long-running a series is, the harder it is to start. Due to being like this, I think I had only bought and read about ten light novels before my debut? And out of those, only two were rom-coms? Plus, after starting university, I started reading web novels on sites like Narou, which are easier to access and have new works all the time, so I drifted even further away from traditional light novels… But anyway, that’s beside the point. I thought I was doing something groundbreaking, but it turns out someone else did it before me and used short stories instead of afterwords. But sandwiching an afterword between short stories? I’m sure I was the first to do that in the light novel industry. Maybe.

At any rate, after getting a taste for it, I just had to throw in another short story this time to pad the word count. It’s hard even to imagine filling the afterword with random thoughts after you realize how easy the short stories are. After all, you can use up more lines with short dialogue in a short story, and you can freely add line breaks to the narrative. Of course, I got carried away last time and ended up having to cram lines together and delete text because I didn’t have enough pages… I just had so much fun writing about Professor Side Slit…

Speaking of Professor Side Slit, we still haven’t seen any illustrations of her in the light novels (and there are no plans currently to have any illustrations of her, either), but she has already made an appearance in the manga. When I was working on Volume 6 of the light novel, the manga adaptation was covering a flashback of the middle school festival arc from Volume 1, and when I saw one of the handicraft club members in the rough draft, I thought, “She’s perfect.” So I went to the manga’s artist, Saho Tenamachi, and was like, “How about we make this Professor Side Slit?” She was really enthusiastic about the idea, so I proposed it to those in power when I turned in my rough draft for Volume 6 of the light novel. And that was how Professor Side Slit came to be.

Interestingly, when the chapter featuring Professor Side Slit was updated on Magapoke, Volume 6 of the light novel story hadn’t even been released yet. In other words, she actually appeared in the manga adaptation before the original novel…which created a bit of a trap where readers who followed every update of the manga adaptation might have ignored her or not even noticed her existence. But to be fair, the second volume of the manga, which includes that story, was released after Volume 6 of the original novel, and the manga artist, Saho Tenamachi, touched on Professor Side Slit in her afterword in the second volume…so readers who follow every update would have probably bought Volume 2 when it came out and noticed what was going on. Right?!

Ahem! Anyway, what I’m trying to say to you all is buy the manga volumes, too! If you do, you can read my ridiculously detailed afterwords. I’m the kind of author who, when asked to write a one-page afterword, would reply, “Oh, so as long as it fits on one page, right?” And then I’d not do what I’m told. But it’s not my fault. I-it’s their fault for not specifying how many words I can write. If something isn’t against the rules, then that makes it okay, right? You can’t tell me that I should be using “common sense” after I’m done, either. Because there are plenty of people in the world like me who do things that don’t make sense to most people.

You’re probably thinking I’m being cocky, even though I’m aware that I’m being unreasonable and lacking in common sense. But it’s actually quite the contrary. I’m cocky because I know I’m being unreasonable and lacking in common sense. People who feel guilty about something tend to act overly arrogant to intimidate others to avoid being called out. If you ever see someone like that, look at them with pity and think to yourself, “Awww.What a pitiful creature who can’t live without pretending to be a tough guy.” You know what’s even sadder, though? There’s also a certain number of people who are completely unaware of their own unreasonableness and still act superior. So if you ever see someone like that, look at them with pity and think to yourself, “Oh, what a sad monster created by the unfortunate environment they were born into.” Look at them with pity and then give them a German suplex. Wait, no. Don’t actually do that. Just do it in your head. Huh? What are you looking at me like that for? Oh, by the way, you can also read the short story I wrote if you buy the manga volumes. So get on it! All right, I’m done pushing my stuff!

Anyway, now that I’m done promoting the manga, what should I talk about now? The anime adaptation? Actually, I don’t really have much to say about that. I’m not even sure how much I can reveal. But the project is progressing steadily. The reason why it took five months for this novel to release is because we’ve been working on the manga adaptation in addition to the anime adaptation. This is the most I can handle as a part-time author.

Then again, it’s a bit up in the air, but I sort of feel like maybe I might have been able to possibly keep up with that one-novel-per-four-months pace if, perhaps, I had panicked more and pushed myself harder to finish the manuscript at the last minute, kind of like a high school student cramming to finish their paper during summer vacation, though who’s to say, really…? Yeah, I know. Even I’m kind of confused now.

Anyway, if I can’t talk about the anime…then maybe I can talk about creative theory instead? Surely the literature nerds would like that. I won’t, though. I hate talk about creative theory. It feels so self-important. I don’t mind when other people do it, but when it comes to me, a little devil on my shoulder always starts snickering, “Hey, only one of your series has ever been picked up by a publisher, and you’re already spouting off about creative theory?” Plus, who’s going to take writing advice from some weirdo who writes chapters one, three, six, and eight almost simultaneously? Yes, you heard that right. I actually don’t write Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian in order and don’t even start with the prologue. I usually write multiple chapters simultaneously, and at my worst, I write the entire novel out of order, going back and forth between stories.

Just like how everyone has their own way of writing novels, creative theory is so subjective that it’s best not to take it too seriously, so don’t put too much thought into it. Maybe just use half your brain to listen. No, a third at most. Even when I hear professional writers talk about creative theory, I often think, “Really? I don’t know about that.” In fact, I rarely agree with them. So instead of studying how to write novels, I think it’s better to deeply immerse yourself in the works you love and the ones you think are good and practice the principle of “learn by watching,” or in this case, “learn by reading.” Make these techniques yours. Of course, I’m not telling you to plagiarize.

But if you still want to hear others’ opinions and use them in your writing, I suggest joining a group of fellow writers, preferably one with a diverse range of writers. Of course, you’ll get all sorts of different opinions there, but if there’s something that you actually need to improve on, then multiple people will likely give you the same feedback. And I think if you apply their feedback, you’ll gradually be able to write better than the average person. Then again, I suppose this is also a form of creative theory in a broad sense, so you don’t have to take it too seriously. Just use a third of your brain to listen and take what I say with a grain of salt, because who takes advice from someone who rambles like this? In fact, only use a third of a third of your brain for this stuff. That’s one-ninth for you science people, so… (The following has been omitted for brevity.)

Anyway, it seems like I’ve been talking about numbers quite a bit, and we’re almost out of pages, so let’s move on to the acknowledgments.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Miyakawa, my editor, who has been very patient with my slow progress. I’m so sorry for always submitting my work right at the deadline……okay, after the deadline. I do feel bad. Or maybe I just say that I do. Thank you for your understanding and for always providing me with your honest feedback. I’m truly grateful for your support.

Next, I’d like to thank Momoco for drawing the wonderful illustrations once again. Despite your busy schedule, you’ve consistently provided us with an incredible number of high-quality illustrations. Especially this time, in addition to designing new characters, you’ve drawn numerous illustrations featuring multiple characters. Thank you so much.

Also, I must thank Tenamachi, who has drawn Alya, Masha, and now Yuki in her cute “younger-sister mode” for the manga adaptation. I made sure to promote the manga on Twitter as you requested as well. I’m pretty sure it was a joke, but you picked the wrong person to joke with. Heh. Then again, whether or not that counts as promotion is up for debate, I guess!

And last but not least, I would like to express my immeasurable gratitude to Suzuki, who has recently joined us as the editor for the manga adaptation, and to all the staff involved in the production of Feelings in Russian, as well as to all the readers. Thank you very much! Let’s meet again in the next volume! Actually, let’s meet again in the afterword of the manga for Volume 3! See you there!