Volume 6Afterword

Man, I really spent my whole life wishing I could go on a Round 1 date with a cute junior who was good at sports. Hello everyone, long time no see! Koutarou Mitou here.

Girls who are athletic are awesome, aren’t they? Though honestly, I love girls who are completely hopeless at sports too. Ah, nobody asked? Right then…

Now then, allow me to express my sincerest gratitude once again for reading Volume 6 to the very end. The arrival of his ex-girlfriend, Masato coming to realize his true feelings from there, and confirming those feelings through dates with every single heroine… That’s what this latest volume was all about. How did you like it?

…Wait, stop! Don’t throw stones! I know some of you might have strong feelings about how that ending went down! But please, I’m begging you, buy the next volume! I’ll do anything!

I poured a ton of heart and soul into writing the date scenes with all the heroines, and I’m quite fond of how they turned out myself, but what did you think?

How each heroine changed over the course of this past year after meeting Masato, as well as the things that remained unchanged—since these were their final dates, I knew the girls would agonize over picking the right locations and scenarios, which is why I agonized over them just as deeply myself.

It probably goes without saying, but after writing six whole volumes, you get deeply attached to your heroines. For better or worse, I might be on the higher end among light novel authors when it comes to just how much I adore my own characters.

Being able to publish up to Volume 6 is by no means something I take for granted, either. Lately, I’ve been writing this series feeling truly blessed every single day.

And on that note, allow me to offer my acknowledgments.

To Jimmy-sama, thank you once again for the magnificent illustrations. The color inserts moved me deeply. Both of them turned out so breathtakingly well, and I feel truly fortunate to have Jimmy-sama providing the artwork for this series.

The manga adaptation is going wonderfully as well, so my immense thanks go to Touki-sama. The book jacket band on Volume 4 took me completely by surprise (lol). If you haven’t seen it yet, please go pick up Volume 4 of the manga!

I’d also like to express my gratitude to Editor O, who took over from Editor S. Right from the start, it was obvious how much love and care they poured into this series, which made me so happy. I look forward to working together all the way to the end!

Lastly, my heartfelt thanks go to all of you readers who have followed the story this far. It is entirely thanks to your support that this series has made it to this point. I hope you’ll stick around to see this story through to its conclusion.

Now, the story is heading into its climax. Unless something unexpected happens, the next volume will likely be the grand finale.

Please look forward to Masato’s choice—and the choices of all the heroines.

Written while moving into a new place, surrounding my room with merchandise from the series, and wearing a creepy grin,

Koutarou Mitou