And that"s it for this volume!Next up are couple side stories from the Tales of mobile games, then the second volume of Hariyama-san. Sometime in the near future, I "ll want to give both this novel and Persona x Detective a pretty thorough editing/accuracy check, but... it"ll be pretty time-consuming and not at all enjoyable, so we"ll see.
Hariyama-san, Center of the World 1
Afterwords
Afterword Urban Legend
Firstpublished in Dengeki hp Issue 31
To all the newcomers, it’s nice to meet you! And to everyone else, it’s been a while. This is Narita.
That said, thank you for reading Urban Legend!
Well, there’s a lot going on, so the afterword thistime is split into four parts! Thatsaid, my editor seems to have something planned for these afterwords, but helet me write it normally anyway…!
In any case, UrbanLgend was published as part of the “Horror and Mystery Feature” of Dengeki HP last summer. In those days, I only had vague plans for Hariyama-san; I only dropped his name inthe story in pa.s.sing, and it was because of that link that it came to bepublished in this book!
It’s the type of story that has two differentsides to it, “front” and “secret”, like in Baccano!1931 – and there’s one thing I’d like to advertise…
“The Baccano! 1931 radio drama will bebroadcast this fall!”
I’m sorry that this has nothing to do withHariyama-san, but right now, I’m frankly amazed that one of my works is makingthe transition to a radio drama for the first time…! This couldn’t have happened without thesupport of all you readers. Thank youvery much…!
And for everyone who is reading my work for thefirst time, I’ll be happy if you take this opportunity to pick up one of myother series…!
Afterword Magic Girl Number 893
Firstpublished in Dengeki hp Issue 33
And so, thank you for reading Magic Girl Number 893!
This story was the first to be published under thet.i.tle Hariyama-san, Center of the World, so there wereseveral things I was nervous about. Ihad little experience focusing on a single character instead of an ensemblecast – but just watching that magic mature splendidly made me happy!
Strangely, when I began this story, I bought alimited edition Ace Combat 5 memorycard from Namco. The dogtag serialnumber happened to be “893”, and so I felt a frightening twist of fate as Iwrote.
I don’t know much about the magical girl genre, andI ended up writing a lot about what they’re like… but I was worried I wasdestroying the image of a magical girl…!
Yasuda-san’s magical girl design is really superb;it had such an impact on me that I was tempted to add another side character: “The Tragedy of Number 37,564 hasn’t been published yet… if the second volume comes out, the sagawill be complete!”…
Incidentally, the bamboo girl and panda on theback cover are original characters spontaneously drawn by Yasuda-san. T-They… will they appear in a later volume ofHariyama-san…!? And so, please look forward to Hariyama-san, irregularly published in Dengeki hp, from here on out!
Afterword Dear Sir Hero of Light
Firstpublished in Dengeki hp Issue 34
And so, thank you for reading Dear Sir Hero of Light!
This is most probably the first “bad end” storyI’ve written, and sure enough, as I wrote it, I was excited about how it wouldbe received…
On the Internet and in the mail, people often saythings like, “Narita only ever writes happy ends.” I want to answer in a loudvoice, “I can write these properly too!”… but I’ve already reached the pointwhere it doesn’t matter. That’s becausethe moment I write this, I’ll get mail from those same readers saying, “Badends aren’t like you, Narita…”! W-Whatdo I do…!?
Well, to tell the truth, I’ve had this story inmind ever since my debut. It wasn’twritten in response to what the readers think or say. Sorry…!
This is the first time I saw Enami-san’s ill.u.s.trationsof the boy and girl in school uniform, so I definitely felt refreshed as I readit…! For the t.i.tle ill.u.s.tration, itseemed making a piece where the characters don’t really stand out was achallenge, but I was looking forward to seeing this wonderful work ofEnami-san’s… (I still haven’t seen the completed version)!
This short story had an unusual writing style forme, in that it was in the first-person perspective of a man from beginning toend, but I’d appreciate it if you’d keep in mind that I can do this too…!
Afterword Hariyama-san, Center of the Miracles
New text
And so, thank you for reading this book!
This story more closely resembles my past works. The characters from the preceding three shortstories all meet up, and I was able to depict what happened to them afterwards.
This book is a collaboration between twoill.u.s.trators, and it seems they faced several challenges that had notpreviously come up in Dengeki Bunko. Yasuda-san said something like, “This book isthe result of the author, artists, and editor going wild in their own ways,” andI definitely feel the same way… No, wait, I was calm and in control the wholetime.
The front cover was done by Yasuda-san and thefrontispiece by Enami-san, but for some reason, I feel like it’s too good forme and makes me want to apologize…! Thank you very much!
And to my supervisor Wada-san and theeditor-in-chief, who helped with the planning, as well as the Dengeki Bunko editing department,publishing department, sales department, and everyone else in MW. My family and friends, especially everyone inS City, and all the authors who encouraged me and gave me advice as I waswriting. As well as all you readers whopicked up this tumultuous book, thank you very much! Thank you for your support, continuing withthe renewal in Dengeki hp this month!
“I feel like I did nothing but advertise this time.”Ryohgo Narita. (But what in the world is myeditor planning…?)