Afterword

This is my 37th book. Zounose here. A status update: I've been pushing my body and mind past their limits a bit. Due to circumstances outside my control, my work schedule in May and June ended up becoming beyond overwhelming, as I constantly complained on Twitter (sorry for soiling your eyes...). I pushed myself too hard just to make it somehow, and now I'm on my way to developing some stress-induced nervous system problems... Intermittent headaches and whole-body nerve pain really suck...

There's still a lot unclear about it, and it's a real pain in all sorts of ways. It's hard to say before I have some sort of official opinion (judging from the symptoms, I think I can get some sort of provisional diagnosis). But I figured I'd be fine once things just calmed down! And in July, they did. At which point I immediately drew this book at fever pitch. I mean, if it's stress-induced, then doing something fun should cure it, right?? (Layman's thinking) And I love drawing doujinshi!! So at the moment, the symptoms have already gotten a lot better and I'm probably fine! Probably!!!

Enough complaining, let's get to this book. The idea itself has been in my thoughts for a long time. The foundation was Yuuka and Eiki's conversation in PoFV. The "you've lived a little too long" part, that is. The story does involve a named character dying, which I've voluntarily banned myself from using ("Higan's Camellia" being the only exception). As you just read, though, I kiiind of dodge the issue anyway. But, well... blooming again next season is what flowers do, so... Think of that what you will.

I was planning to have all sorts of characters join the extermination but only give proper screentime to the main few, but in the end, even though Komachi alone got her own dramatic entrance, she didn't really contribute much, just got kicked around a bit. I'm very sorry. But I already drew Komachi appearing with Eiki and getting some licks in despite being at a disadvantage back in the second compilation book, and I wanted to make the plot a bit smoother, so I had to omit it this time. Still, there might've been a better way to do that...

Next up, I'm planning an Udon-chan and Hatate book for Autumn Reitaisai or Kouroumu. If I manage to deal with this, anyway... But, well then. I hope we can meet again. Really.