Afterword

Thank you for picking up The Story of Buying a Classmate Once a Week.

This work is a novelization of a web-serialized story, with revisions, additions, and newly written content.

My first book. My first afterword. …As I write this afterword, I’m still filled with disbelief, wondering if this will really become a book. Living with a sense of half-doubt, I’m determined to stay alive until I see the physical copy, adopting a “take care of your life” strategy. Furthermore, I’m trembling with uncertainty about what to write in an afterword. But trembling won’t move things forward, so I thought I’d look back on the journey from the birth of this work to this afterword.

The protagonists, Miyagi and Sendai, were born in 2020. The spark for their creation was a single sentence I wrote on my computer: “The Story of Buying a Classmate Once a Week.” This sentence, which ultimately became the title, was combined with the concepts of “buying a classmate for five thousand yen when something bad happens” and “the top and bottom of the school caste system.” I developed it into a story I wanted to read myself, and it evolved into its current form.

However, with two quirky protagonists and an equally quirky story premise, I was anxious about whether it would be found interesting. I initially posted it online as a short story, planning to end it after two chapters (six chapters on the web), but it was read by far more people than I expected. So, I continued the story! It went on to win the “Special Award in the Romantic Comedy (Light Novel) Category of the 7th Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest,” and with wonderful illustrations by U35-sensei, it was published as a book.

The first chapter was posted online in February 2020, so revising the manuscript meant facing my writing from over two years ago. It was more enjoyable than difficult, I think.

As for the interludes and side stories, they were newly written for this book. The side story is from Miyagi’s perspective, covering the second chapter, “Miyagi hands me 5000 Yen Today” It’s a story I’d always wanted to write but never had the chance to—until now! The interlude came about during revision discussions with my editor. Since I wrote a side story from Miyagi’s perspective, I mentioned wanting to write something new from Sendai’s perspective as well. My editor suggested, “How about including an interlude about Sendai before she met Miyagi?” I’d never considered writing about their lives before they met, so I’m truly grateful for my editor’s suggestion.

Reflecting on the past like this, it seems I’ve reached a good page count.

Lastly, to everyone who has read Miyagi and Sendai’s story up to this point, and to everyone who supported it online—thank you so much. I have many more stories about Miyagi and Sendai I want to write, so I hope we can meet again in the afterword of volume two.

And to U35-sensei, who drew the most amazing illustrations, my editor who taught me so much I didn’t know, and everyone involved in this work in various ways—thank you. I’m deeply grateful.

And, and… to my friend N, who always listens to me and handles troublesome tasks—thank you.

I hope you enjoy the side story.

Usa Haneda