Hariyama-san, Center of the World Volume 1 Afterwords

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

First published 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 this time is split into four parts!  That said, my editor seems to have something planned for these afterwords, but he let me write it normally anyway…!

In any case, Urban Lgend 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 in the story in pa.s.sing, and it was because of that link that it came to be published in this book!

It’s the type of story that has two different sides 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 be broadcast this fall!”

I’m sorry that this has nothing to do with Hariyama-san, but right now, I’m frankly amazed that one of my works is making the transition to a radio drama for the first time…!  This couldn’t have happened without the support of all you readers.  Thank you very much…!

And for everyone who is reading my work for the first time, I’ll be happy if you take this opportunity to pick up one of my other series…!

Afterword Magic Girl Number 893

First published in Dengeki hp Issue 33

And so, thank you for reading Magic Girl Number 893!

This story was the first to be published under the t.i.tle Hariyama-san, Center of the World, so there were several things I was nervous about.  I had little experience focusing on a single character instead of an ensemble cast – but just watching that magic mature splendidly made me happy!

Strangely, when I began this story, I bought a limited edition Ace Combat 5 memory card from Namco.  The dogtag serial number happened to be “893”, and so I felt a frightening twist of fate as I wrote.

I don’t know much about the magical girl genre, and I ended up writing a lot about what they’re like… but I was worried I was destroying 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 saga will be complete!”…

Incidentally, the bamboo girl and panda on the back cover are original characters spontaneously drawn by Yasuda-san.  T-They… will they appear in a later volume of Hariyama-san…!?  And so, please look forward to Hariyama-san, irregularly published in Dengeki hp, from here on out!

Afterword Dear Sir Hero of Light

First published in Dengeki hp Issue 34

And so, thank you for reading Dear Sir Hero of Light!

This is most probably the first “bad end” story I’ve written, and sure enough, as I wrote it, I was excited about how it would be received…

On the Internet and in the mail, people often say things like, “Narita only ever writes happy ends.” I want to answer in a loud voice, “I can write these properly too!”… but I’ve already reached the point where it doesn’t matter.  That’s because the moment I write this, I’ll get mail from those same readers saying, “Bad ends aren’t like you, Narita…”!  W-What do I do…!?

Well, to tell the truth, I’ve had this story in mind ever since my debut.  It wasn’t written in response to what the readers think or say.  Sorry…!

This is the first time I saw Enami-san’s ill.u.s.trations of the boy and girl in school uniform, so I definitely felt refreshed as I read it…!  For the t.i.tle ill.u.s.tration, it seemed making a piece where the characters don’t really stand out was a challenge, but I was looking forward to seeing this wonderful work of Enami-san’s… (I still haven’t seen the completed version)!

This short story had an unusual writing style for me, in that it was in the first-person perspective of a man from beginning to end, 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 short stories all meet up, and I was able to depict what happened to them afterwards.

This book is a collaboration between two ill.u.s.trators, and it seems they faced several challenges that had not previously come up in Dengeki Bunko.   Yasuda-san said something like, “This book is the result of the author, artists, and editor going wild in their own ways,” and I definitely feel the same way… No, wait, I was calm and in control the whole time.

The front cover was done by Yasuda-san and the frontispiece by Enami-san, but for some reason, I feel like it’s too good for me and makes me want to apologize…!  Thank you very much!

And to my supervisor Wada-san and the editor-in-chief, who helped with the planning, as well as the Dengeki Bunko editing department, publis.h.i.+ng department, sales department, and everyone else in MW.  My family and friends, especially everyone in S City, and all the authors who encouraged me and gave me advice as I was writing.  As well as all you readers who picked up this tumultuous book, thank you very much!  Thank you for your support, continuing with the renewal in Dengeki hp this month!

“I feel like I did nothing but advertise this time.” Ryohgo Narita. (But what in the world is my editor planning…?)