Afterword
When I went from my workplace (you could call it a study) to the living room, Ayato-chan was already sitting on the sofa, facing the manuscript on the table—that is, the third volume of 'Tier 1 Sisters'.
As for the relationship between me and her—Kakitsubata Ayato-chan—this is the third time in this series, so I'll skip the explanation, but her figure, quietly sipping tea before the manuscript, was quite the accomplished editor. Until now, none of my editors had ever sat before a manuscript so calmly. Because basically, we work remotely.
I sat down opposite her and asked, "How was it?"
Ayato-chan quietly returned the cup to the table. "I didn't expect you to reveal Sakurato's identity in volume 3. I thought you would drag it out much longer."
I rested my cheek on my hand on the armrest of the sofa. "The original plan was to reveal it in volume 5."
"In volume 5?"
"Yeah. Volume 3 would be the Chinana arc, volume 4 the Ranka arc, and volume 5 the answer arc—but after actually writing up to volume 2, it started to feel kind of slow."
"Slow..."
"I started to feel like if I wrote it one heroine at a time, there wouldn't be much point in having multiple heroines... In fact, in volume 2, I couldn't focus on any heroine other than Meru."
"Hmm... well, that's true, it would turn out that way."
"Besides, this is my personal theory, or rule of thumb, but when you're torn between moving up the plot or not, it's usually better to move it up. Just doing that makes it about three levels more interesting."
"Three levels is an exaggeration."
"No, it's not an exaggeration."
"As a result, you've used up most of the foreshadowing from volume 1, but what about that?"
"That's for you, the reader, to decide."
"I found it interesting... but I didn't expect you to have laid out the foreshadowing in such detail."
"I wanted to put some in volume 2, but it just wasn't possible. I was running tight on page count."
"Was setting the answer arc in Izu also part of the original plan?"
"No, I decided that when I was writing this volume. When I looked into it, Izu is a place that seems like it was made to be the setting of a rom-com. It's full of romance-themed power spots everywhere you look."
"I learned that from reading this manuscript... Does it really exist? A heart-shaped bus stop."
"It does... When I saw it on Street View, I couldn't help but give a wry smile. The local government's enthusiasm for promoting it is amazing."
When I showed her the image on my phone, Ayato-chan made an indescribable expression. Probably the same one I made when I first saw it.
"What do you think? As a current high school girl. If someone confessed to you at Lover's Point."
"I don't think I would go to a place like this with someone who hasn't even confessed to me in the first place."
"You're right about that."
At her curt reply, I curved my lips in a self-deprecating way. It's called Lover's Point because only lovers go there, I'm sure.
"But in that sense..." Ayato-chan said, flipping through the printed manuscript. "The other three besides Chinana-chan... aren't they a little too aggressive... too faithful to their carnal desires?"
"There's a part of that where I'm just letting the characters move on their own, but when you think about it, it's also a natural course of action."
"Is it natural to get in a shallow bath together, or to go wild on a first kiss and even use tongue...?"
"Actually, before I started writing this work, as part of character development, I did an MBTI test for all the heroines."
"Oh... MBTI is like a personality test, right? That's quite an interesting approach."
"It was trending at the time, so I felt like it. And since I've already revealed the trick, I'll announce the results—"
Kikuri—Logician (INTP-A)
Ranka—Adventurer (ISFP-T)
Meru—Virtuoso (ISTP-A)
"Hmm... I can kind of see it. Kiku-san's logical side is just like a logician, and Meru-chan's stoic side is just like a virtuoso. And Ranka-san being an adventurer, now that you mention it, that seems plausible."
"And this is Chinana's result."
Chinana—Protagonist (ENFJ-A)
"Pro... Protagonist........."
At those three shining characters, Ayato-chan was at a loss for words.
And rightly so. When I got this result after answering the questions completely without any bias, I thought MBTI was amazing too.
"To add a little explanation, the other three's personalities were greatly influenced by not being chosen by Kiminaga, whereas for Chinana, being chosen by Kiminaga was a major influence on her personality formation. That difference is what shows up like this. To put it more bluntly, the three besides Chinana have lower self-esteem."
"And as a reaction to that, they seek love more aggressively, without choosing their means?"
"Simply put, yes. To put it badly, they're not at ease."
"Why did you put it badly?"
"Well, the one who wasn't at ease the most this time was Chinana—if she hadn't gotten impatient and made that phone call, her identity wouldn't have been revealed, you know."
"...Didn't she want it to be revealed?"
"Meaning?"
"Well, isn't keeping a secret quite stressful? I get flustered just being the werewolf in a game of Werewolf—somewhere in her heart, Chinana-chan might have had a desire to be free."
"...Maybe so, you're right..."
I brought a hand to my mouth and thought for a moment. "That might be why I... also thought it would be better to reveal her identity here."
"Why are you guessing at your own thought process?"
"You'd be surprised how little you know. About what you're really thinking."
Thoughts are surprisingly disorderly. You can't make every corner of them conscious. If you could, people wouldn't post carelessly on social media, and most of the conflicts in this world wouldn't happen.
"Well, anyway, I'm relieved that I was able to safely resolve the foreshadowing I set up."
"What's next?"
"I don't know yet. The comic adaptation is starting, too."
"Ah, right. That's true. How is the comic adaptation going?"
"I've only seen the storyboards, but it's pretty amazing. The first page."
"What's so amazing about it?"
"I'm telling you, it's amazing. The first panel of the first page..."
"I'm curious..."
"If you're curious, you'll have to check out the comic version when it's published in some medium someday!"
"Why doesn't the original author know anything?"
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