Kino no Tabi:Volume10 Chapter5

In A Place Like This

—Preface—

“Hey, Kino. Is there really a country here?”

As Hermes ran along, it asked Kino this.

“Dunno…”

She cocked her head as she replied.

Kino and Hermes were in a desert. The hard-packed white earth stretched from horizon to horizon, as far as the eye could see.

Clouds covered the sky without fail and it was only a sheet of white. A white sky and a white earth. The farther you looked, the blurrier the distinction between the two. In such a blank world stood a lone Motorad.

Kino wore her yellow goggles and a bandana was wrapped around her face. She also had a long, brown coat on, with the extra-long hem rolled up to her thighs.

“Whaddya mean, Ms. Dunno?”

“Actually, I don’t even know why I’m even driving here. It’s strange.”

“I knew it. Well, it’s camel flag around here, I guess.”

“…I think you mean camouflage.”

“Yeah, that’s it! —Nice work.”

"Uhm, but... What is this 'camouflage' for?"

“If we go along further, we’ll figure it out.”

As Hermes said these things and made Kino tip her head again, she drove along. The scenery hardly changed, so it became even more doubtful whether they were moving at all. When some time passed in this manner,

“Ah…”

This was what Kino found.

It was a very big sign. Half-buried and slanting in the white desert. The huge letters inscribed on it—.

Kino stopped Hermes before the sign. She let down the kickstand and got off, wobbling over to the sign,

“Uuugh…”

And at length sunk down to her knees. On the sign was written thus:

“The afterword of Volume X begins here, so best regards.”

How can this be, Kino muttered as she beat her gloved fists into the white desert.

“‘So this was an afterword! —dammit, that blasted author did it after all!’”

So Hermes yelled enjoyably for and behind Kino. And then it whispered quietly.

“An afterword all of a sudden in the book—. It’s within the realm of some authors, though. This is just one of them.”

“Not only in the last volume but this one, too—how can he do this to a character?!”

Kino became angry, but we’ll ignore that as the afterword begins.

Okay, so, the afterword.

As usual, no spoilers. Reading this before the subsequent stories in this book is fine, too.

So now Kino’s gone up to X.

“Volume 10” is just one word, but since the year 2000 when the first volume went on sale, six years have passed. So if you’ve been reading since you were in sixth grade, you’re a high school senior, now. Amazing. As for me, it’s been a plentiful six years of experience and growth, I believe.

In all that time, Kino got a drama CD, an anime, video game, a signing at Entama, an anime movie in theaters, a speech on that stage, a signing in Taiwan, a second game—lots happened.

The book’s application manuscript that was originally the grand-prize winner of Dengeki Game Novel. That it came this far is, by far, because of reader support.

For this turning point as the tenth volume, I am gratified again. Thank you.

However…… I must deliver some very disheartening news.

I’ve started to run out of material for the Kino series.

I’ve been doing my best writing this far, but…I can’t go on any longer.

I can’t think up any more...

For an interesting afterword!

October 2006 Keiichi Sigsawa, The Afterword Author Who Dreams of the Future

P.S. I’ll try my best.