Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu‎

Volume 10, Author Notes

I am grateful to everyone for purchasing this book. I am the author in charge of this light novel, Inoue Kenji.

With this volume’s release, the main series has finally reached the milestone of 10 volumes. This kind of idiotic story could be continued due to everyone’s kind support. I know what I want to say next had become customary words I would use in every single volume, but I do earnestly want to thank every single individual.

Then, even if I try to eloquently write a whole bunch of acknowledgements, it will look rather difficult, so I will find a topic to write about like usual.

This time, what I want to talk about is a crucial existence that mustn’t be ignored when a series like Baka Test is printed, the editor-in-charge.

The editor-in-charge’s job, to put it simply, is to ‘create the book’.

For the case of Baka Test, once I finish every chapter, I hand it over to the corrector, Haga-san will do the illustrations, the designers will design every cover, and the editor-in-charge will compile them all into a book.

Saying this alone might make it sound really easy, but the work of editing alone is already difficult.

He will get stomachaches while being harassed by the dates, get stomachaches due to lackluster quality of the work, and get stomachaches if there are many parts that need to be corrected. Also, he has to supervise the work’s adaptations into anime and manga, think of ways to create adverts, and help in all sorts of activities. He has work piled up like a mountain.

However, even with such a stressful workload, when there is a block when it comes to the story, or if the author lack themes, the editor-in-charge still has to give suggestions.

A while back, the editor-in-charge earnestly listened to my difficulties.

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Inoue Kenji : “Hello?”

Editor-in-charge: “Hello, Inoue-kun? You don’t seem energetic at all. What happened?”

Inoue Kenji : “Yes…actually, I can’t think of any good themes recently…”

Editor-in-charge: “Is that so? That’ll be troublesome…”

After hearing my troubles, the editor-in-charge tries his best to think and settle this problem.

At this moment, the editor-in-charge provides a suggestion to save me.

Editor-in-charge: “Alright, let’s go to an okama bar then.”

—What is this person talking about exactly?

I could not comprehend what he said at all, and my mind went blank.

However, compared to the infamous me who writes badly, the editor-in-charge is a superman who worked on this job for many years. If I can compile the conversation and calmly think through this, I will definitely be able to understand the meaning behind these words.

Q: I can’t write anything interesting. What should I do?

A: Go drinking at an okama’s bar.

I do not understand…! I do not understand at all, editor-in-charge-san…!

This is like asking ‘what day is it today?’ and getting an incongruent response of ‘prawn tempura’. What exactly is going on? For some reason, I feel that there is a problem of whether the conversation is valid before we even talk about suggestions here.

I snarked back regarding the content, and the editor-in-charge laughs as he says,

Editor-in-charge: “Ahaha. That’s not it. I’m saying that we go to the bar to ask people about what they like and dislike about the characters in Baka Test. This might bring about some inspirating in you.”

I see, so that is how it is.

The editor-in-charge’s suggestion is really interesting. If we go by a normal popularity vote, Hideyoshi will definitely get first in an overwhelming manner, but I will not know what kind of outcome there will be if we see things from a different viewpoint.

Because of this, the editor-in-charge and I brought the character illustrations into the bar to get information. As for the outcome…I am sorry, but I cannot show it to everyone due to a limit of pages. Some of them even know of this light novel series Baka Test, so there were quite a few interesting results. I am really grateful to the people who provided assistance, so allow me to use this chance to thank these people.

But it seems like every time when I write the afterwords, I feel that there is not enough pages. I have not said anything at all, but why does this always happen?

Then, please allow me to get to the customary thanks.

Haga-san in charge of the illustration, I was really shocked to see Takashiro being such a bishounen. He looks so cool, but is completely na?ve and useless. Is this really good?

K-sama in charge of editing. I used you for material during the previous pages, so it might not be convincing to say this now, but I am really grateful for the suggestions you provided, the time you took to edit the script, and other things you did for you. I really feel fortunate to have you as my editor.

To the designer Kagaya-san, thank you for often drawing pretty pictures. Please take care of me in the future too.

To all involved in the production of the anime and manga, the bad parts I could not illustrate properly when I wrote this work was presented in easy to understand and interesting ways, and it really moves me. I am really sorry for not being able to provide much assistance.

And to all the readers! Before I know it, this story has become a long-runner series. I am really happy that everyone can accompany me till now. I have read the letters and fancards everyone sent over. I will continue to work hard in the future, so please take care of me.

Finally, I will make a simple synopsis.

The main story is left with the final event. The direction of the story in the next volume is still unconfirmed, but if everyone can continue supporting, I will be very glad.

Then, I hope to continue meeting everyone on the stage of Baka Test.