Editing Kino no Tabi:Volume3 Author's Notes (section)

==A Tale of an Afterword —Preface—<ref>This is a parody of the prologue of Volume 1 (If you didn't have the chance to read it, but know the anime, it was also the prologue of Episode 12).</ref>==


''The world has no afterword.''


<span style="font-size: 200%;">* * *</span>


And then, an afterword was born.

There was absolutely no punch line.

Neither meaning nor theme could be seen.

Only the slow turning of pages could be heard.

“That’s right…, I suppose, but…”

Suddenly, the voice of a human was heard. It was slightly high-pitched, and was like that of a young boy.

“But?”

Another voice asked, encouraging the first to continue. It was a rather boyish voice.

There was a silence for a while, and then the first voice gently continued. Its tone was like that of someone convincing himself of something and it was directed towards a deserted place.

“Is an afterword something that is needed from time to time? Is it a completely useless piece of article? Is it a completely unnecessary part? I don’t completely understand why, but there are times when I feel this way. There are times when I am certain of it…. But during those times, I can’t help but feel that everything’s beautiful and fantastic, be it the text, the illustrations, or the frontispiece. Everything seems dear to me…. The afterword makes everything else more and more appealing, and I figured, unreasonable though it may be, that the afterword has to be placed at the end of the book for that reason.”

And after a short interval, continued,

“Painful things, sorrowful things and jokes, that were cut off, can always be included in an afterword. Definitely, I have lots of such things left to write.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And that’s why I don’t think I can stop from writing afterwords. It’s so much fun that I would still continue even if I had to expose my foolish side. Besides,”

“Besides?”

“I can stop anytime regardless of my editor’s opinion. And so, I’ll continue.”

The first voice said decisively, and then asked.

“Do you understand now?”

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t get it at all.”

The other voice answered.

“I think that’s a good thing, though.”

“Really?”

“Though being an author myself, I probably don’t understand it well enough. Maybe I’m just confused. And maybe I continue to write afterwords to understand it better.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Now then, the afterword’s over. I have to write something for the next volume again. …Until next time.”

“Until next time.”

The rustling of thin sheets of paper was heard, and eventually stopped.





Spring, 2001

Sigsawa Keiichi

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