Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume11 Author's Notes
Author's Notes[edit]
I really want to thank all the readers for picking up this book. I am the writer of this story, Inoue Kenji.
This series is a little unique because of the naming of the short stories, so when writing my afterwords, I will think ‘what volume is this’, and then count it again. I never thought this volume is the 16th volume, 16! Maybe Baka Test as a series has quite the long life. I really want to thank the readers who had been accompanying me for such a long time with all my heart. Thank you very much.
Allow me to put aside such courteous words that lack creativity. This time, allow me to revisit the past and write something random in my afterwords again.
Whenever I look at the afterwords of this series, I think I am always lamenting that “I don’t have enough pages for the afterword’.
There are a lot of things I want to write, but not enough space.
There are a lot of things I want to describe to everyone, but I cannot express them sufficiently.
Hatred, sadness, regrets, I always have such things when I am thinking about this.
However, there are no such problems this time. The least I had for this was two pages, and this time, I get 11 pages! The minimum 2 pages to 11 pages, that is more than 5 times! If I use a percentage here, it is a 450% increase! This is really amazing! I can do whatever I want with such a large space! Ahh, seriously…
Do, I, not, feel, that, this, is, too, much?
I think about it this way again…to put it somehow, I should be grateful if it were just 7-8 pages…not everything can go smoothly for me, huh?
On a side note, as for how the number of afterword pages for Baka Test is decided, it is like this,
① Due to printing issues, the total number of pages for a Bunko book has to be a multiple of 32. After counting the main story, illustrations and other contents, the smallest multiple number will be the number of pages for the volume.
② A book is then created for real, and we count the total number of pages the modified main story takes.
③ Once we count the remaining pages, the remaining part is used for afterwords.
Using this volume for example, the story, illustrations, content page, copyright page and everything else total to 277 pages. The smallest multiple of 32 that can contain all these is 288 pages, and the total number of pages for volume 11 is set at 288. These 11 remaining pages become the number of pages I can use for this volume.
In other words, regarding what’s going on now…the increase and decrease in number of afterword pages is all my fault. The illustrations and content do not seem like they will increase the number of overall pages, so if I have to complain, I have to do so to myself. This idiot! I am so sorry.
Also, there is theoretically a situation where I can have 31 pages for the afterwords, but in that case, I can write a short story here. At that time, I might want to fill the pages in a short story format like, “Me and Kids and Summoned Beasts”, “Me and Doubt and a Man's Pride”, “Me and Japan and the Language I'm Unfamiliar With”, “I’m an author and there are too many pages for the afterwords”. Maybe it might be unexpectedly natural—not. The last topic obviously doesn’t fit in.
If I have to say,
“Hero of Benevolence, Liu Bei Xuan De!”
“Hero of Loyalty, Guan Yu Yun Chang!”
“Hero of valor, Zhang Fei Yi De!”[1]
“Will apologize after chopping a tree! George Washington!”
It just feels that there is something that cannot be associated with the rest at all; there has to be some restrain. I also have to make sure the 31 page afterword do not end up like that.
Allow me to leave aside such random talk for now. This time, I might reintroduce the theme I forgot to introduce in the afterword of volume 6.5—no, omitted because of the page number. The theme is—
‘Inoue Kenji Vs Moving Company’s Onee-san - ~Please allow me to explain the contents of the box~’
It is a common theme, so I did not feel really moved or emotional here; it is a very normal topic. If you feel that this is a waste of time, please flip on for another 4 pages; it will be better, and will also the correct decision, to enjoy Haga-san’s illustrations, as time is limited.
As for those who wish to continue reading…I am sorry. Please continue to bear with me for a while.
Alright, this probably happened more than 3 years ago. At that time, I had to move houses due to work.
Moving houses…it is a tedious and time-consuming job. The time and energy required was really arduous for me, who had been working from morning till night at the office, sleeping immediately after reaching home, and spending all my free time on games the light novel.
I hoped to finish it in as little time as possible, and when I was thinking about this, I found there was a ‘handle everything’ option on the freight bulletin. The offer was that they would come to the room to pack up, unpack everything upon reaching there, and put everything in place. Simply put, I just have to look. This is a set that can be said to be catered to me, and I made this request without further ado.
And so, on the day of moving houses.
After clearing up my room, I followed the instructions given by the freight company, and waited for the workers to come over without doing anything.
(Are there anything embarrassing that can be seen? Maybe I should just pack it up myself and ask them to move the stuff after all…)
I had that thought for an instant, but it was too late. I could only prepare myself.”
After waiting for a while, the doorbell alarm indicated the arrival of the workers.
Worker (leader): “Please take care of us today.”
Me: “Please take care of me”
It seemed there were three of them helping out, two men and a woman. Heh…so there are female workers in a freight company…I thought that there were only males because it would require manual labor…
The leader ignored this curious me and continued to give clear instructions clearly.
Leader: “○○-kun and I will be in charge of the large objects. △ △-san will be in charge of packing.”
Worker onii-san and onee-san: ““Got it.””
And they started carrying out their own work. I see, the two men are in charge of moving the fridge and other large furniture, while the woman’s in charge of moving the other spare boxes? I suppose this is a delegation of tasks.
The two men started moving out the fridge and the washing machine. Eh, it does not seem right for me to just watch them do this; I have to do something.
But even if I say so, I might end up causing them trouble if I go help move the large furniture as well.
And so, I decided to help the onee-san packing my stuff.
Onee-san: “…(Sasasa)”
The onee-san was quietly moving the books on the bookshelf into the box. I think I should help here, and so, I took another box and pack my books.
And then, after clearing up a bookshelf, I was about to move to the next bookshelf.
Onee-san: “…”
I found that the onee-san stopped for a moment.
What was that,
‘The H-books drawn by many illustrators I know of (needs to be mosaicked).”
Onee-san: “……(Gos…gos…)”
No no no no, that is not the case. You are mistaken. These are all sent by others or bought by friends, they are not my inter…I am sorry. Actually, I really love them!
The onee-san ignored my feelings completely and stuffed the books neatly into the box. Then, her movements stopped again for a moment.
‘Baka to Tesuto to Shoukanjuu X Numerous Copies
Baka to Tesuto to Shoukanjuu Volume 2 X Numerous Copies
Baka to Tesuto to Shoukanjuu Volume 3 X Numerous Copies
Baka to Tesuto to Shoukanjuu Volume (and so on) X Numerous Copies’
There were several copies of the same volume stacked together. This onee-san must have been thinking, “How much do you like this series?”
That was not the case. These were the books that were given to the author as an obligatory gift. Of course I will not repeat the same stupid mistake of buying the books I bought before many times.
I continued to do my work without saying such excuses.
This time, she moved to the other series, and then, there were books there as well,
‘Baka to Tesuto to Shoukanjuu (Korean Edition) X Numerous Copies
↑
(Chinese Edition) X Numerous Copies
↑
(Taiwanese Edition) X Numerous Copies etc…’
So I say, that was really not the case. It is impossible for me to buy different languages versions of the same book besides buying numerous copies of the same book. These too are given to the author.
I might be able to explain things if I could change the topic, but she merely continued to work silently, probably because her job required her not to talk. In this situation, I could only summon my courage and try to talk to her.
Just when I was about to make up my mind, I saw some things placed in the corner of the room.
‘Cheongsam and gym clothes and bloomers’.
Ah. It was over. There was no room for me to make an excuse.
The remaining gifts given to me during the company’s end-of-year party, the gifts I received from the readers as a joke (I guess?), the complimentary books given to the author were all placed inside the room. The fact is that I am just an ordinary light novel author, but this is a fact…but I wonder if anyone would notice it. Even I, who knew the truth, “Ah, un…looks like you had quite a lot of stress…” would probably have such a response after seeing this room.
In the end, I gave up on explaining, and the moving of house was completed in silence as we continued this awkward work. I had absolutely no intention of knowing what that onee-san would say to the other two workers on the truck ride back.
And this is how it is, all those intending to move houses. When you choose a freight company in charge of dealing anything, you will really have nothing to do, and you will spend quite the awkward time working, so please take note. To be honest, that awkward atmosphere really made me uneasy…
And after this explanation of a very common lesson I learned in my life, the pages are soon filled up. Really, who was the one complaining that there were too many pages?
Anyway, allow me to input my customary thanks.
To Haga-san in charge of illustrators, I am really happy as a reader to see three characters appear on the cover this time! Also, the SD[2] Miharu and the color illustration of Shouko on the 8th page are so charming, making me blissful here. Thank you for taking care of me every volume.
Editor-in-charge K-sama, I could not finish my original script in term, but it is thanks to your hard work that the publishing was not delayed. I can only lower my head and show respect at that profile of yours, squeezing out every ounce of strength and will, fighting against fatigue and stress, using your hazy eyes and trembling hands to finalize the script. I am truly sorry, and really grateful.
To Kagaya-san in charge of design, thank you for always providing such pretty title designs and pictures for the test questions, content page and explanations. It is thanks to your work, Kagaya-san, that I could try out all sorts of things. Please continue to take care of me in the future.
To all the people involved in the anime, manga, collaborations and special editions, I earnestly thank you for taking care of me. I am really sorry that I cannot contribute much…
And to all the readers! I can only say some customary things, but I am really grateful that all of you can continue to support me like this. Besides the countless letters and fan mail, I actually received some lovers’ chocolate for Muttsurini. I am truly grateful for that. Speaking of which, Muttsurini is very popular amongst the females for some reason. When the series started, I started to feel pity for him, thinking, “This guy’s just a pervert, so the female readers will most likely hate him…”. In the end, things ended up like this. Return me all the sympathy I had back them! Also, following up after him in terms of popularity is Hideyoshi. This however is what I expected. I sincerity thank for all the support from everyone.
And finally, I shall mention a little bit regarding the next volume,
It is still not finalized, but if it is successful, I hope the next one will be the final volume of the main series. As for what sort of ending this story will have, I will be delighted if you can witness it until the end.
On a side note, the prelude in the previous volume was presented as a ‘final episode’, and the reason was that there was a high possibility I could not compress all the content into one volume just like how it ended up. I originally planned the main series to last 10 volumes, but I could not compress the 8th volume, and added another volume as a result. I could not end it on the 10th volume, so I had to add another volume, forming 12 volumes altogether. I do not think the plan will deviate much more…yes, probably, supposedly, likely. At this moment, it will be cool if I can proceed as what I planned…but it is hard to get things to go as just I want, just like the number of pages of the afterwords.
Alright then. I am really grateful that all the readers can still read such a long afterword after the main text. At this moment, I sincerely hope that I will meet everyone on the stage of Baka Test again.
