Feeling like I forgot something? Is the Herrscher of Memory's influence still lingering? Ah, whatever.
Volume 4 is complete!
I know what you want to see. Someone definitely scrolled straight to the end of this chapter, right? Right?
So first, my feelings about this volume. There were quite a few plot points I borrowed (copied) this time, like stuff from Your Name, stuff from A Certain Magical Index. But I genuinely didn't expect the final scene to end up resembling the flow of the "Final Lesson" [from Honkai Impact 3rd].
I don't know if you enjoyed reading it, but writing that part was satisfying for me, though maybe not that satisfying... I had a brilliant idea to make this story truly resonant! Alas, my writing skills fall short! Sigh—
Anyway, let's get to the questions.
First question: Is there a heroine... Next.
Keep shipping, you guys... Anyway, nothing will be more ridiculous than Shu and the White Mist's "Love You, Yandere Wants to Eat You" situation. You wouldn't ship Shu and the train, right?
Second question: What's the plan for the Herrschers? Are they related to the Aeons [from Honkai: Star Rail]?
I was so foolish, truly. I only knew to avoid the twelve sequential Herrschers of the current era, but I didn't anticipate that Star Rail's prefix is also "Honkai". Evolution corresponds to Yaoshi (Abundance), Memory is Fuli (Remembrance)... You guys are amazing. This was purely a coincidence.
Of course, if my brain short-circuits in the future and I decide to send Shu over to Star Rail too, then these become foreshadowing. Then you'll marvel at my deep strategies, profound foreshadowing, gradually falling into the 'Dihua' trap, hehehe, No one's keeping receipts, right?
Third question: Isn't Shu's personality a bit... er [immature/silly]?
The personality trait of being able to snark about everything might be normal in reality, but it seems abnormal when written down. Actually, Shu being like this isn't about being tsundere or anything like "Dawnlight is also Sunlight" [play on words with Shu's name].
What I wanted to portray is that Shu isn't someone with super high IQ who can quickly grasp abstract concepts. He's better at using relatable analogies to help himself quickly understand extremely abstract things, hence the snarky comments.
Of course, this has little to do with my desire to insert memes, really. These kinds of figurative analogies are useful, right? Don't people who get the memes instantly understand the situation? Isn't that how idioms and allusions work?
Like sending someone a hyperlink... It's just that the linked content is relatively new, so it comes across as tsundere-ish. No one's going to say "Have you no sense of propriety?" here, right? Young people nowadays, barely twenty, already living like seniors, even stealing seniors' lines—
Now for the Fourth question, always the most heart-wrenching one in these afterwords. Regarding the main theme of this volume.
First, let me ask, how many of you haven't visited your grandparents in a long time? Reading this sentence, did you think of him/her?
See? Young people nowadays are already saying things like "Have you no sense of propriety?" and "We didn't have conditions like yours back in our day." Even we young people feel like we're falling out of touch with the times, so what about the elderly?
They kept up with the times for forty years, sixty years. Can they still keep up with this faster-developing era in their seventies, eighties, when their memory starts to fade and their bodies are no longer what they used to be?
So, these elderly people are left behind in the past, living in memories.
Now for the prize-less quiz— Who occupies the largest part of the memories they rewatch, ponder over, and cherish endlessly?
It's you.
And what are you worried about? Not being successful? Not getting good grades? Afraid of trouble? Afraid of nagging relatives? Afraid of the elderly asking too many questions? Afraid of returning to the inconvenient countryside with poor internet?
The elderly have already left themselves in the past, starting to just get by, waiting by the door hoping for family visits. We shouldn't leave these elderly people alone there.
So, at least find a chance to call them, try to be more patient, talk with them more. Before the world remembers everything, remember them, okay?
Second point: What constitutes death?
Previously, like many of you, I believed being forgotten was true death. But later, while studying in a museum, a thought struck me.
If someone physically dies and is forgotten for a very, very long time, then is suddenly remembered because of some trace they left behind, does that count as a kind of [Resurrection]?
Then I found many examples. The fingerprints on the Terracotta Army, the bamboo slips from the Shuihudi Qin tombs, and that extra 2000 years extending Chinese history from "5000 years" to "7000 years."
Even if forgotten, one can be remembered again. Even if everyone forgets you, the world will remember you. Until someone, due to the butterfly effect you caused, remembers you again.
Question: What constitutes death?
Conclusion: Remember "They" existed, and then the world will remember everything.
—
Next Volume Preview:
["Shu... outside..."
"What's outside? Enemies?"
"It's all Homus!!"
"?"
"This is—paradise~"]
["Wow! Mei, look! I'm actually the 'Homu Kingdom Princess'!"
"I... I'm the 'Prince Who Saves the Princess'..."
"Bronya is the guiding shiny Fairy of the Homu Kingdom! Lost traveler, accept Fairy Bronya's guidance and proceed!"
"Bronya, don't get too into character..."
"Huh? Shu, what are you?"
"I hate this game."]
["Crime: Not helping Grandpa Homu cross the road... The verdict is obvious..."
"This Homu Magic User hereby sentences the sinner Shu—to death!"]
["Hello... friend from the outside world. You seem to have encountered great trouble..."
"Who are you?"
"Allow me to introduce myself... My name is Joyce."
"Welt Joyce."]