Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume1 Postscript

Postscript

Because it's an all-girls' school, it's full of girls. Like a cake smorgasbord.

Hello, it's Konno.

Nice to meet you, people who bought the book because the illustration was nice, even though you didn't know who the author was.

I've entered with a campus story very unlike my usual genre of story-telling, so I wondered if regular readers of my book collection were a bit bewildered. I'm not so fond of sweet things, or something (laugh).

This story takes place roughly half a year before my short piece, "Maria-sama ga Miteru," that ran into the magazine some time ago. That's why Shimako is still a first-year, and Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Foetida in the magazine are still the boutons, Sachiko and Rei (ah, so young, so young). So, this time I decided to shine the spotlight on Sachiko and her sœur.

The Imperial story takes place in "Yume no Miya," the Lillian Girls' Academy is in "Maria-sama ga Miteru." I hope that's clear enough.

Now, having written a story like this, I'd like to answer a few obvious and far-reaching questions.

First, I'd like to shout, emphatically. "I did not experience this!"

My high school did not have any sœur system like that of Lillian Girls' Academy. Of course, there were no students like the Roses, nor was it Catholic, and there were no Sisters walking about here or there.

The similarities would lie in that they were both all-girl schools and the scenery was based on the school I attended. A gingko pathway stretched out from the main gate, a small gymnasium was at the back of the school area, et cetera. However, my school apparently reconstructed a fair amount, so it probably looks quite different than when I attended. Oh yes, it was not a university escalation school, so it had a laid-back atmosphere, like Lillian Girls' Academy. Of course, mine was not a school for ladies.

However, I was not in a world completely foreign to Christianity, as my kindergarten was completely Christian. There was a giant sanctuary and cloister in the middle of my school, and most of my kindergarten teachers were Sisters. In the mornings, and on the way home, we put together our tiny hands and prayed. That's why Yumi's questions about "Maria-sama's Soul" are directly my own.

In the end, I mixed together many sources and ended up with Lillian Girls' Academy. It's a fictional academy, but when students that attend (or have attended) all-girl schools say, "yes, yes, it's like that," or when they compare it to their own, it makes me happy, and people in co-ed schools can say, "so that's how it is."

Now, there are many people I would like to thank this time around (two and a half pages left, I'm flying through them…)

First, my colleague and seniors, K-Kawa-sensei, S-Shima-sensei, T-Se-sensei (in syllabary order). I forcibly offer up this story to you three (please don't send it back, I won't listen to cooling-off). If you three hadn't been there for me, "Maria-sama ga Miteru" would never have been born. However, it might have become a much softer content than you all expected. Sorry. I guess reason stops my imagination from going berserk.

Next, Cobalt Publishing's U-san. Because you were a graduate of a Catholic-based school, I ended up asking a lot from you, sorry. But because of you, it ended up becoming a book. Thanks.

She's probably decorating this book with pretty pictures. I'll use this space to thank Hibiki Reine-san, my illustrator.

Anyways, the next issue should be around summer-time. I'll have some sort of palace dinner for an unspecified country prepared, so please, stop by. –By, this pavilion storekeeper.

Konno Oyuki

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