Tatakau Shisho

Volume 1 Afterword

Nice to meet you.

My name is Yamagata Ishio. I am a common man born and raised in a plain town near Kanagawa without ever standing out.

“Fighting Librarian and the Bomb in Love” may be a strange title for this story, but if we’re taking into account only the two main characters, it is a very straightforward title. For those of you who have started reading from the afterword, out of the two depicted on the cover, the seating one is the fighting librarian and the standing one is the bomb in love. They’re both strange people, but I think they’re getting along.

This work has received the honor of winning the Grand Prize of the Super Dash Bunko Rookie Awards.

All of us finalists have received an advance notice from the editorial department that we would be informed the result at a certain day in a certain hour.

Of course, during that day I wasn’t able to settle down at all. First, I forgot eating my lunch. Then, after having entered the same soba shop twice, the lady clerk shot a “Huh?” at me. I rode on the train for too long, and when I tried going back, I accidently got on an express train that didn’t stop at the station I needed.

After this bad day, as I wanted to watch a movie and relax, I rented Kinji Fukasaku’s “Battles without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima” that I have seen a long time ago.

Rather than just being unable to settle down, I started feeling real danger.

I have greatly enjoyed the movie afterwards.

Let’s change the topic.

I end up getting ideas for novels while in the toilet. Somehow, when I sit down on the toilet ideas start coming to me. The strange thing is that if I just stand inside, I can’t get any ideas. I think that things such as feeling like I regressed to the womb while inside a narrow room, the sense of relief at being able to let go of whatever weighs me down, and the peace of mind acquired by being able to discharge away anything whether big or small are affecting my mind in various ways.

During the time I was writing “Tatakau Shisho to Koisuru Bakudan”, I was once completely stuck. It was around the second half of the story. I then made a rotation of me sitting one minute by the desk and then three minutes in the toilet, and so on.

Then, I had an idea.

“Why don’t I write in the toilet?”

I immediately rushed there while holding a notebook and a pen.

After a while of writing down the ideas that came to me, I noticed it was difficult writing on top of my knees. I then remembered I had a small folding desk in my closet and went to get it.

I only noticed how stupid I was during the midst of assembling that desk.

First, to the illustrator Maeshima Shigeki-sama and the illustration coordinator – thank you very much for the amazing illustrations. I hope to be in your care in the future too.

To my supervisor T-sama – thank you for the various retorts and criticism. Because of you this series turned out this way.

To the editor-in-chief and those of the editorial department – your suggestions and assistance immensely helped me.

To the people of the screening committee and everyone who helped in the process – I believe I will require your help from now on so I can live up to the high ratings I received.

To my friends – I will never forget your words of encouragement. Forgive my narrow-mindedness in replying to your “let me read it” with “it’s going to be sold, so buy it”.

I can hardly assert enough the gratitude for my family who supported me. Thank you very much.

And lastly, to you who holds this book. I pray from the bottom of my heart that you have found some value in it and that we can meet in my next work.

Until then.

Yamagata Ishio

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