Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun

Pleased to meet you. This is the writer who managed to make their debut following their undeserved receipt of the Award for Excellence in the 10th Shogakukan Light Novel Awards. My name is Yaku Yuuki.

This time round, it was decided that this light novel would receive publication through Gagaga Bunko. Naturally, this was achieved not through the efforts of myself alone, but as a result of collaborating with a number of different people to make such a thing a reality. Therefore, at the very least, for this long, superfluous『Afterword』, I would like to openly commit my honest thoughts to paper.

Well I may say that, but I am not particularly good at talking about myself, nor at giving a commentary on the contents or theme of my work. Such a commentary would leave less room for interpretation, serving to influence the reader's thoughts about a work that has already left the hands of the author. Therefore, on this occasion I would like to talk about the emotions I felt when I saw the cover illustration of this volume for the first time.

At the time of receiving it from my editor-in-charge, what first astonished me was that level of cuteness. It was a composition overflowing with fetishes; that smiling facial expression, the light feel of the hair, the arrangement of the school bag and blazer, to mention but a few. I beheld the magnificence of a number of various points, but what moved me the most was those thighs. (Believing that I will eventually get a chance to speak about them in the future, I shall omit the other points for now)

If I had to say what it was about those thighs that moved me so much, the answer is simple. The part on the right side, near the root of Hinami-san's left leg. Since I've said this much, half of you will probably already be saying「I know, right」while nodding, but it's exactly as you've guessed: that bulge.

I do not know whether it should be called flesh or called an outpour of youth, but looking at that swelling around the base of that thigh, my heart was moved.

I then regained my composure, and, starting from the knee of that leg, traced the line along the thigh. Then, I realized something. Around the starting point, this leg had an indentation, an expression of supple slenderness. However, for the root of that thigh from there, as soon as you pass the area where the hands of Hinami-san make contact with the ground, you reach the section where the line bulges out.

My mind was struck by lightning.

Intuition told me that these few millimetres of ingenuity were packed with strong feelings. It may have been my own convenient interpretation, but that is the conviction I held.

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There was a reason for such conviction. It is because it is possible to depict thighs even using stick figures. Since you may not understand what I mean, I will provide a bit more detail. If you were use lines to draw a head, torso, hands and legs, making a bend around the center of the feet to form the knees, then above those knees will be the thighs. If one was to insist that those were thighs, then nobody would complain. At the very least, I wouldn't.

Basically, should one simply want to express the concept of『Thighs』, then this would suffice.

And if one were to work on one of those just a little more, creating an enclosure by adding a straight line and then painting its inside the colour of flesh, then that would more than qualify as a thigh.

However, for the cover of this volume, the illustrator was Fly-san. To that, she added curves, and even exquisite ruggedness. As for what resulted from this contrivance, it was, in summary, to give a sense of realism to the drawing, to blow fetishism into it ── no, perhaps a such a messy explanation might not be appropriate. Basically, this contrivance was simply carried out to give Hinami-san the warmth of a living being. It was a fingertip's worth of a few millimetres of magic.

Those in possession of the paperback version, please try softly touching that thigh on the front cover with a finger. Those reading the digital edition, please change the view to the cover illustration and place a finger against that thigh on the screen. I recommend using the index finger. How is it? Can you feel it? Is there not a definite sense of temperature, a sense of Hinami-san's warmth?

At the very least, I feel it. Right now, I am touching that thigh displayed on my computer screen while using just my left hand to type on the keyboard, and at the tip of my right index finger, I can feel it. It is slightly different from the physical warmth felt when touching a real human being. It is different. I will admit that fact. However, at the tip of that finger, very faintly, even though it might seem like a lie, the genuine warmth of a living being draws breath.

I would be happy if I managed to convey these feelings to everyone.

Now for some thanks.

First, to every person involved in the selection of winners for the 10th Shogakukan Light Novel awards, and to every person involved in the making of this book, from editing and publishing to business and sales. Thank you.

Next, to my editor-in-charge Iwaasa-san from whom I received all sorts of advice, severe and sincere. To my roommate T-kun, who read my manuscript prior to submission for the Rookie of the Year award, and who helped with the revised version by giving me their honest impressions. To my illustrator Fly-san, who produced such astonishingly cute and attractive illustrations for a still-nameless author such as myself. I sincerely thank you.

Finally, to every reader who has picked up this book.

Thank you very much.

If you so please, I would be happy if you could accompany me for a next time.

I hope you have found the above rough translation of the afterword highly informative and thought provoking.

– learning2tl