Afterword
Thank you very much for reading Yuri Tama: From Third
Wheel to Trifecta The Fifth!
With this volume, the childhood-friend-centric storyline
that began in The Third has reached its end. What did you
think of it?! I'm sure plenty of readers will react with
something along the lines of "That's what she settled on?!
Really?!"—but Yotsuba Hazama is, by her very nature, a girl
who always takes the most direct path to the outcome she
desires. Have mercy on her, please!
Now then, there were all sorts of twists and turns along
the path that led us to this point, but I'm truly glad that The
Fifth managed to make it to publication in the end. It feels
like I've really accomplished something—I wrote all sorts of
scenes that I'd been wanting to put on paper for a long
time, and got to enjoy plenty of Kuro Shina's illustrations
while I was at it. There are still plenty of sides to all of the
characters that I'd like to show more of, but on the other
hand, I do feel like I've been able to depict all of them as at
least a little more than their most basic selves, hopefully.
In all likelihood, this volume will mark a stopping point for
this series. That is not, I assure you, because I decided that
here is where the story should end. Rather, it's because of
the fact that unless the series manages to make some sort
of dramatic, status-quo-upending breakthrough, a variety of
practical considerations make its further continuation
unrealistic. If you're wondering why I didn't decide to bring
it to a clear and formal conclusion...well, just think of it as a
show of stubbornness on the part of me and everyone who's
helped make this series a reality. I do have (some) ideas for
what a continuation could look like, after all!
The tragic reality—if that's the right wording for it—is that
I'm grateful just to have been able to keep this story going
for as long as it has. In light of this likely being the final
opportunity to do so, I also themed the bonus short stories
available by purchasing this volume at particular retailers
around a "What if?" sort of theme, setting each of them
several years down the road from the point at which the
story ends. (They are all just what-ifs, of course, and should
be viewed as purely hypothetical thought experiments for
what might happen in parallel universes that might not even
necessarily totally stick to the continuity as established in
volumes one through five. I hope you'll be able to enjoy
them with that caveat in mind!) All in all, I'm glad that I was
able to bring this story to a conclusion that I enjoyed.
Needless to say, I most certainly did not make that
happen on my own! To start, the illustrator who's been
providing incredible artwork for the series since its very
inception, Kuro Shina, deserves tremendous credit for
everything from the initial character designs to the stunning
illustrations that made all of those characters more lovable
than ever. I also owe it to my initial editor, who found the
short story that this series was initially based on rolling
around on the internet and made its long-form publication
into a reality, inspiring all sorts of new characters and plot
developments along the way, and to my second editor, who
facilitated the publication of the fourth and fifth volumes
despite the year-and-a-half-long gap between them and the
third. If even one of them had been missing, this story could
never have turned out the way it did.
Finally, this story could never have reached this point if it
weren't for all the readers who've followed it. If it had been
canceled after the first volume, then Makina would never
have appeared at all, and Koganezaki would never have
gotten to be anything more than a member of the fan club.
It's all thanks to you that that didn't happen, and from time
to time I still go back to read the reviews you've left for it—
they never fail to encourage me!
I deeply regret that I can't satisfy the readers who've
made it clear that they want the story to keep going...but
fear not! As of 2024, the moment at which this volume was
initially published, the world has begun to enter an
unprecedented yuri boom!!! Yuri-themed novels and manga
are being adapted into anime form one after another, and
new series are coming out in droves as well! There've been
all sorts of developments throughout the light novel
industry, and the possibilities for what could come next are
genuinely exciting. I'm positive that all sorts of new and
compelling series will be coming your way soon enough!
One of the most fun things about books is that you can
never know when a reader will encounter a volume for the
first time. Some of you likely eagerly awaited this volume's
release, bought it on that very first day—Christmas Day,
2024—and read it immediately, while others probably
waited for the New Year, waited for another New Year on top
of that, or even picked it out from the old-books shelf at a
used book store. If that sounds like you, and if you read this
afterword and find yourself thinking, "Too bad...I wish I could
have read more," I encourage you to not stay trapped in the
past. Instead, face forward and channel that energy into
cheering on all the wonderful series you're sure to
encounter from here on out! That's the best possible way to
play your part in supporting them. That's a fact that has
always been true and will never change! Speaking
personally as a fan of the yuri genre, I look forward to
watching it grow and mature from here on out, and I can't
wait to find whatever new series happens to become my
next favorite!
So...that probably would have been a mildly sad but
stylish way to wrap this afterword up, but the truth is that
even as I write these very words, I've been working on a
brand-new series. Its name: My Older Stepsister Wants to Be
My Little Sister (Final Title Pending)!!! I've only written a plot
outline so far, but the plan is for it to be just as fun, wild,
and slightly morally dubious as Yuri Tama. Speaking as a
self-proclaimed member of the Make Overlap Overlap with
Yuri Culture Committee (current membership: just me), I
fully intend to continue to be an active participant in the
yuri boom! I hope you'll look forward to it!
And with that, thank you very much! Good night, sleep
tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite!