City Series:Volume1 Afterword
Afterword
Imagine a woman you haven’t seen in a while approaches you and says you need to get married because she’s pregnant.
I think getting a phone call saying your novel just won first prize is a lot like that.
Or at least, it was for me. I felt like I had bloody sweat pouring from my nose, my ears, and the top of my head.
After all, something I had prepared quite a while ago had all of a sudden shown up and was telling me to think about my future. On top of that, it was entirely my own fault. Really, what are you supposed to do then?
Also, my friends are way too persistent. One of them called me up out of the blue.
“Ah! Kawakami? I saw it, I saw it, I saw it! I saw that embarrassing thing of yours!”
“You use a cellphone, don’t you? How can you yell something like that out in public? Anyway, what did you see?”
“Your name’s in a magazine.”
“Eh? Really? (I should really check on these things.)”
“Heh heh heh. Exposing yourself in a national magazine. What a naughty guy. Now I’m gonna go tell the others.”
“Dammit, don’t go telling everyone without asking permission.”
“Fine. So can I tell everyone? Okay, I asked. Time to go tell them.”
Everyone learned about it in no time. You don’t realize how scary our computerized society is until you experience it yourself.
But since this is happening, it’s happening. Just a bit ago, I read back through the book while listening to Mighty Wings from Top Gun because it was my background music while writing it.
“Who was rewarded the most in this novel?”
It made me wonder that.
Now then, now then. London will be the next stage.
September 1996. A clear morning.
-Kawakami Minoru
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