Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 03 by Kagami Takaya
I have returned to the real world.
It's noon on the outside world.
The blue sky can be seen.
The clamors of the streets.
Zoom of the cars.
Voices of people.
Saki's labyrinth --- Apocalypse Alice disappeared, and this place has turned back into the streets.
"Shinnosuke!"
I can hear Gunjou's shout.
I turn around, and there stood the figures of my comrades.
Gunjou's there.
Shiro's there.
Himi's there.
Yousuke's there.
Kiri lies tired on the ground looking up at me.
On top of that, Kujaku, Makoto, and Yamazaki are also there.
They are saved. All of them are saved.
Shiro says.
"You did it. You finally saved your little sister."
But I can't answer him. I can't think of that as successfully saving her. Besides, if I did save her, where is my little sister?
I look around me, searching for my little sister. But what's around me is just the scenery of a normal reality.
Taxis and trucks driving along the roads.
Old lady walking her dog.
A female jogger.
However, behind that girl,
"............"
Is a strange lifeform.
A rabbit.
In the real world, a rabbit stands in a suit with a finely woven heart. It takes out a pocket watch with its right paw, looks at it and says.
"Yaah yaah, yaah yaah."
All the members of the Hero team notice it.
They look at the rabbit.
Then, behind the rabbit, a large-sized bus explodes, and turns over. A single soldier with the body of a card stands beside it.
Further away, in the sky, some gigantic creature resembling the shape of a dragon is flying.
What a ridiculous sight. A dragon from fairy tales is flying above a building in the real world, invoking a strongly eerie, unpleasant feel.
On top of that, several missiles come flying from somewhere, striking down the dragon.
Shiro looks at that and says.
"What, is that?"
Gunjou says.
"What in the world has happened......?"
But I recall the words that my little sister just told me.
"Then, I'll be set free. Away from this labyrinth, to the outside world. A labyrinth diseased girl will be able to roam freely outside. The human world will then end. Since I will encroach the outside world and turn all of it into a labyrinth."
The labyrinth disease.
The diseased girl has started encroaching the outside world.
The rabbit that's in this real world holding a pocket watch looks at us and says.
"Yaah yaah humans, it's time."
Claws extend from its left paw.
"Time to die."
And from that day onward, our world changed drastically.
* * *
Afterword
All right, here's "Apocalypse Alice 3".
How do you find it?
How should I put it, to me, it's really fulfilling.
The reason is because, for me, the speed of the plot advancement is as what I had in mind during the conception stage, which is a rare thing. Thus, I thought it might be nice to leave things at dramatical parts as we move to the next volume --- I grin to myself in a self-satisfied manner but, how was it!? (what will happen if I can't satisfy everyone --- LOL)
And also, actually, for Apocalypse Alice, compared to all my works to date like The Legend of the Legendary Heroes and Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, my writing style has changed a little (well, it's the first time I'm writing a in first-person narration) --- using a little shorter segments, I tried to make it such that wherever you read, you will find surges and swings.
Recently, during my discussion with my editor, we thought it might be also because of embarking on writing the script of the "Seraph of the End" manga which is serialized in Jump SQ.
In the manga script, the story composition and development must be done in 45 pages (in manuscript paper, it's only 20 sheets), and any unnecessary things will be cut; and I'm writing this every month.
This is reflected in my novel, and I can feel that the speed at which the story advances is getting faster.
And also, because I'm also working on a manga, more picturesque POV might have made it into my story as well, I feel.
But but, even though I don't whether that's good or bad, because there's actually merit in a slower-paced show and tell in novels, I try to combine the best of the two! And that's what I'm challenging myself in Apocalypse Alice but how is it!
More importantly, since I'm trying new stuff in this work, I might as well try a lot of difficult stuff at once and maybe it's because of that, I really enjoyed writing it. (Like Game-like stuff, like Headphone Fuzz, like battles! It's quite a lot of work to try to condense concisely the large amount of lore (LOL))
Jeez, I'm writing it while enjoying myself with the large list of new things.
If everyone finds it fun, there's nothing more blessed than that!
Ah, but, even though I manage to advance the plot with what I had in mind, it's crazy to have the characters get sidelined from the plot. I'm the type of author that gets pulled along by the characters, and thus, despite I'm doing such a crazy thing, I'm really touched when I managed to insert the stop points of the plot satisfactorily, rather, the starting points.
Myyyyyyyyy thank heavens.
I definitely won't do this in future! (Ehh)
And thus, the real story of Apocalypse Alice is going start from here!
Please continue your support!
And also, the comic version of Apocalypse Alice that's serialized in Comic Gene mag is going to have the first volume on sale some days after this book goes on sale!
↓ Here!
I heard from my editor that we're going to put an ad page here but!
Like real!
It's not one page, but a two-page spread ad came from Comic Gene, and we have to make adjustment to the page, and thus I have to write one additional page of afterword, and right now I'm desperately filling it up!
Erhm, so what should I fill with? Erhm, ah, up until yesterday, because of the needs of upcoming development in Seraph of the End, I went to Nagoya to do location hunting. Location hunting sounds like a term that the business world uses so I wanted to try using it so I wrote 'location hunting'. The truth is, I went to take pictures, eat miso udon, and wrote my manuscript in a hotel.
For Apocalypse Alice, the stage is at Kichijouji, so it's a breeze to do location hunting near my home!
And blah blah blah, I manage to fill up the page!
All right, this time for real!
In just a few more days, the comic version of Apocalypse Alice will go on sale, and this is how it feels! ↓
I heard the polls at Comic Gene were pretty good. I did it! Everyone, thanks for supporting me!
Please also support the comic!
The manga version has its own charm, and it's really wonderful!
And thus, with the ad done, that's all folks.
Please continue supporting Apocalypse Alice!
Kagami Takaya
* * *
Translator's Notes and References
↑ Headphone Fuzz: Always written as Intra-Cerebral Magic Activator (脳内魔導起機), and read as Headphone Fuzz (ヘッドフォンファズ). Subsequently in the rest of the volume, I will only use the reading in the translations.
↑ Kujaku: Kujaku is the Japanese reading and also writing (in Mitsutomo Kujaku's case) of peacock.
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Kagami Takaya, Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 03