Afterword

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Afterword

I touched on this in the previous volume’s afterword, but I chose Kita-Kamakura as the setting because it fits the image I wanted and because it is a familiar place for me.

I attended a high school in Kita-Kamakura for three years. To get to my old school, you can either take the bus from Ofuna station, or go up the steep slope from Kita-Kamakura station. Continue past the houses on the mountain slope and a concrete school building will come into view—some of you might recognize it when I write it like that, but the model for the protagonist Daisuke’s high school was my own alma mater.

The school had a splendid view due to its elevation; on clear days, you could even see out to the sea.

I was happy to receive so many responses to the story, although it was still incredibly shocking to see people precisely identify which high school the protagonist went to. It was almost like they had graduated from the same school. Maybe some were even my fellow classmates. They would know more than well enough just how painful it was running up that hill to avoid being late for school.

Some of the things that appear in this story are real while others are not. I also wrote this in the previous afterword, but all of the books that appear do in face exist. In the same vein, the locations mentioned in and around Kamakura are also real.

Some of the shops and establishments that the characters visited were modeled after real places, while others were not. Just like with the school Daisuke went to, people familiar with the area were surprisingly adept at figuring them out.

Although the characters themselves are completely fictional. That is to say, they aren’t based people living out there somewhere. There’s a clear distinction as far as that’s concerned.

There were many things that I had to research for this volume so first, I would like to thank the people of Kobundo Books in Kamakura for graciously helping me collect information.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the readers as well. We’ve finally reached the main story.

I would be delighted to meet you again in the next volume.

-Mikami En

 

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