Kino no Tabi:Volume9 UnderCover
Under the Cover[edit]
“AfterKino”
“Kino! Kino! Wake up! Kino!”
“Mm? Huh? What do you want Hermes…? Just when I took the trouble to take a nap under the sunlight filtering through the leaves…”
“As if you liked hammocks that much!”
“I love them. It’s especially cool and comfortable to the back during summer.”
“Then just go and sleep on a hammock forever!”
“All right. *Yawn*…I’m off to bed.”
“Wait! We don’t have time for that! It’s an afterword!”
“Afterword…? Isn’t there supposed to be one at the end of the book?”
“There’s also one over here! So if we don’t go and say something, the underside of the cover will be blank.”
“The underside of the cover is supposed to be blank.”
“That kind of thinking is not popular in Dengeki Bunko, baby.”
“Who? —Anyway, in the first place, this author…”
“Typically screws around with his afterword, yup. But alas, it seems that the author decided that he’d ‘like to write a perfectly normal and serious afterword once in a while.’”
“… He’s screwing with us, isn’t he?”
“Yup. And I think he wants us to take it seriously.”
“And as a result, we were driven into this kind of place.”
“Exactly. That’s why you’ve got to say something, Kino.”
“Okay. But I’ll sleep first.”
“Su— wait, don’t sleep! There’s still several frames left!”
“You say something, Hermes. Good luck… *Zzz*”
“You’re really asking for it… Well then dear readers, shall we talk about the time when Kino swam stark naked and uttered strange noises as her body was caressed by swarms of fish?”
“Wha—! Wait! Hold it right there, Hermes!”
“Ah, awake at last. Now then, ‘Once, we found a clear stream in a forest…”
“Wait! They’ll know if you tell them! They’ll find out!”
“There’s no use arguing about it now. ‘Since there was nobody, she stripped down, underwear and all…”
“Gah! I’ll s-shoot! I’ll shoot you if you don’t stop!”
“Killing me means killing your freedom. ‘And jumped in…”
“I’ll only fire a warning shot! —Bang! Rat-tat-tat!”
“Hermes barrier! All of them got deflected. ‘While she bathed, she suddenly uttered a weird ‘Aha~!’”
“‘Earth Destroyer Bomb!’ With this, it’ll only take one shot!”
“It’s futile. I can see through all your moves. ‘So I asked her, ‘What’s wrong?’ But she only giggled—‘Kya! It tickles!’—and ignored me…”
“Hermes! Now you ignited the fuse of my wrath! And for that sin, you’ll have to die!”
“Your threats are useless. And to continue—”
“Kino punch! One-two!”
“Ow, ow! I was hit! Hermes Kick!”
“Uh no, that’s not possible.”
“It’s the passion, you know, passion!”
“Ah I see…passion, huh. —Argh, now you’ve done it, I’m giving that back twice! Kino chop! Bam bam bam!”
“Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow”
“Kino blinder! Kino elbow! Kino uppercut!”
“Ow ow, whack, kapow, kabam!”
“Kino flare! Kino blast!”
“If you don’t stop this Kino, you’ll be walking from here on.”
“Hmph. Using my weakness against me, huh. You coward!”
“Ah, we’ve filled the page. The end, the end.”
“Eh? It’s already over? —What’s the catch?”
“Catch? —That’s for the readers to decide.”
“I see. I’ll go back to sleep then.”
“Sure, sweet dreams.”
“AfterShizu”
“Master Shizu.”
“What is it, Riku? I’m not a ****phile, you know.”
“No one said you were. This is the afterword.”
“Ah, I see. I’m not a stalker either.”
“Of course you’re not, Master Shizu!”
“Y-you know… Looking for a country is getting troublesome… Maybe I should put up some fences over there, make my own country, and toge—”
“Who are you?!”
“Do you know, Riku?”
“What is it?”
“In the original manuscript of ‘Kino no Tabi’, we weren’t actually supposed to appear in the Coliseum chapter. But as the writing progressed, it hit the author casually one day while he was shopping in front of Fujisawa station, and wrote in a memopad he just bought in Yurindo: ‘The son will make an appearance. He’ll have a partner called Riku,’ And so we were born.”
“Oh, the secret story of our birth that no one knows of, eh? How wonderful!”
“If we weren’t brought forth unto this world back then…we need not have to live this existence beset with torment. How melancho—“
“Who are you?!”
“Do you know, Riku?”
“What is it?”
“Once, the author met up with Mr. Kouhaku Kuroboshi in a big event that I will not name, and requested, ‘Make Shizu wear glasses in the next volume’. And it seems like Mr. Kuroboshi was all for it.”
“Ooh! So Master Shizu will have an appearance with glasses soon?”
“But without a thought, the author wrote a story with Kino wearing glasses in the eighth volume. Mr. Kuroboshi also drew gorgeous pictures for it…”
“Ah… Now that you mention it.”
“And thus, the chance for me to appear first as a meganekko[1] was forever lost…”
“Please don’t lose hope… Wait, you’re not a girl.”
“Ah, heaven has forsaken us!”
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration… ‘Us?’ Am I supposed to wear them too, Master Shizu? The glasses, I mean.”
“Na-nana-nana-naa! Dog with eyeglasses!”
“Ga— Ehem. Since, I’m a smart dog, I’ll restrain myself. By the way, the column above us seems quite busy.”
“Just some rats, probably. ——And so, the only road left for me is the ‘magical girl debut’…”
“Master Shizu… please don’t be disheartened. Come, let’s go to the hospital together.”
“It’s not yet out. The plans are for the month after next.”
“Come, you’re seriously ill. Master Shizu, you’re tired.”
“Hey Shizu, Riku! What are you doing, wasting your time whimpering in this kind of place? Pull yourselves together!”
“Hmm? Who?”
“W-who is it?”
“It’s me, Ti! Don’t you dare tell me you have forgotten this white hair, green eyes, and hand grenade!”
“Oh, it’s just you, Ti…”
“You were here?”
“I’ve been here from the start! But if I replied with ‘…’ all the time it’ll fill up too much space! You better thank me for being considerate, you foolish samurai and useless dog.”
“Foolish samurai? How mean.”
“A u-useless dog, me?”
“I’m just saying the truth! Hey, it’s time for the main text! Straighten up you good-for-nothing guy and stupid dog! Move it!—This column’s over!”
Translator’s Notes[edit]
- ↑ Literally, glasses-wearing girl.
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