Hello, this is Reki Kawahara. You’ve just finished Sword Art Online 6: Phantom Bullet, my final book of 2010.
Since February 2009, I’ve had an alternating schedule of SAO and Accel World, publishing a new book every other month, twelve books in total. Of course, the only reason this insane plan was even possible was the fact that the SAO series already had been written. If all I did was just some minor retouching of what I had previously published on my website, that shouldn’t be too hard, I thought.
However, upon rereading the material, I found not just tweaks to make, but entire passages to rewrite. For the first two volumes, I was able to keep it to just “fixes,” and for the next two, it was more like “additions.” The fifth volume ended up being more of a “rewrite”…and for this sixth volume, it was essentially “written from scratch.” (laughs) Not only that, it ended up being far longer than any of the previous books…it’s actually a slight miracle that I survived (debatable) to write this afterword. I can’t help but scream at myself: Why! Did this! Happen?!
So with the help of that inexplicable effort, I managed to put together a book that I hope readers of my published edition and web version alike will find fresh and new and exciting. The next volume should be focused on Asuna instead. I hope you’re ready for our main heroine, after she barely appeared in the fifth and sixth volumes! (I won’t be rewriting it—I think.)
And now, for this year’s final apology section…
As I’m sure some of you know, in October of this year, I attended a signing event in Akihabara called the “Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival 2010” with my illustrator, abec. And yes…I showed up late! Extremely late! Thirty minutes after the event began! Due to a data block malfunction in my brain, I processed “12:30” as “2:30”!
From what I understand, in the four-thousand-year history of Dengeki Bunko, I was the first writer to ever show up late to his own autograph signing. I don’t even know how to apologize to those people who applied to the event and waited in line for long hours…I’m so sorry. I won’t do it again. (Then again, maybe they’ll never ask me to do another signing event after this!)
So, to my editor, Mr. Miki, who I troubled so very much with my lateness in both events and manuscripts, and my illustrator, abec, I hope the next year will be a good one. And to you readers, if you’ve read this far, I hope you have a good 2011! And to me—stop being late!
Reki Kawahara—October 2010