The Eyes of a Child: Afterword

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Thank you very much for picking up Kodomo no Hitomi this time. This story is a bunko (pocket edition) of a work that was published as a novel a few years ago. Since the novel edition came out so many years ago, I suspect there aren’t many people who still remember it.

There are stories I find myself bracing for even before I start writing, and there are those I can slip into with ease. This story, I think, fell into the latter category. As I progressed through the story, I didn’t really find myself stumbling or struggling much. But as I approached the ending, I could catch glimpses of my “What should I do?” feelings from back then, and I found that rather amusing.

For this bunko edition, I added a newly written story. While familiar characters do appear, the protagonist is a new character, “Sensei,” and his counterpart is Jotaro. The new story ends with Jotaro as an adult, but when I imagine what kind of young man he might have grown into during those seven years apart from Sensei, I can’t help but get excited. He could have returned to being the straightforward boy he was in the beginning, or he might have become sulky after the sting of heartbreak, or perhaps a cool young man, or a passionate one. Thinking about how the story would change entirely depending on which personality he developed makes me want to read all those different possibilities. But of course, I’m the one who would have to write them.

It wasn’t so much “I want to guide the story this way,” but rather, “it could go anywhere from here” that I found myself thinking. Having that kind of flexibility in my imagination was something I hadn’t experienced in my writing style up until now, so it felt refreshing. No, the story itself is quite basic, I think.

To my editor, who I worked with for the first time on this project: I’m so sorry for the trouble I caused you as we fought against the clock. I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to write a continuation as part of the bunko release.

To Machiko Madoka-sensei, who handled the illustration: even at the rough draft stage, the children were ridiculously cute. Both Misaki and Hitoshi matched my mental image perfectly. …And as for the grown-up Jotaro, in my mind, he overlaps with Misaki completely. Thank you so much.

To those of you who have always read my work: I’ve brought Kodomo no Hitomi back to life. The newly written portion is short, but it is a standalone story. Like a turtle’s slow steps, it’s a story that moves forward little by little. I hope you can enjoy it even just a little.

Well then, until we meet again somewhere.

Sometime in August

Konohara Narise

Born October 27, Scorpio, blood type O.

“I used to think I wasn’t the type to build up stress, but I realized that without even noticing, I’ve been escaping into reading books or just spacing out. The unconscious mind is a scary thing.”

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