The joy upon hearing this drove the elated Rentaro to bring his face closer. Kisara turned away, her face red from ear to ear.
“W-wait, Satomi. I really can’t do…that… I’m too embar… I’ll die if I…”
At any other time, Rentaro would have respected Kisara’s wishes and taken a step back. But now, Rentaro was tired. Tired of writhing under an agony he had no answer for. Even if it meant his destruction, he could no longer hold it in. He had to see where it finally led him.
Rentaro relaxed his grip slightly.
“Well, if you really don’t want to, Kisara, I’ll stop right now.”
“Really?”
“No,” he said in her ear as he brought their lips together.
The kettle began to whistle.
With a clank, her cooking chopsticks fell to the floor.
Sumire had been right all along: “If you really just want Kisara to be happy, you’re gonna have to keep killing off your own feelings. There’s no way to half-ass that. Do you swear you’ll do that?”
And now Rentaro had broken his promise.
Nothing about his outlook had changed. Marrying Hitsuma had been the only way for Kisara to forget about revenge and live out her life. It had been the sole, and final, method for her to move on. Even if that had meant Rentaro would have had to abandon his love forever—if that had led to Tendo no longer feeling compelled to massacre her own family, he would’ve had to accept that. But now he knew:
Being in love was like insanity.
Rentaro was insane for Kisara. He was awash in love, inflamed by it. And he couldn’t stop her revenge any longer. This love had every indication of taking the entire world down with it.
At the last possible moment, Rentaro had taken the selfish route. He would be forced to pay for that sometime, no doubt. He would probably regret it. Regret that, except for this single moment, he could never stop Kisara.
He had resolved to fight for the sake of “justice.” It could drive him, someday in the future, to cross paths with Kisara and the “absolute evil” that flowed in her. There was no way he could deny that.
Soon, Kisara would be taking sword in hand to hunt down the Tendo family, her sworn nemeses. With every one she slashed down, the rift between her and Rentaro would grow that much wider. There may never be another sweet day like this one in their lives together. Perhaps this was the peak. Perhaps, after this, they’d both come tumbling down, their mutual hatred piling up on itself as they did.
But—
No matter how much their relationship deteriorated from now on, no matter how much they screamed at and harangued each other, no matter how much they stabbed at each other with their blades of loathing—for now, now at least, he wanted to give up his body to her soft lips.
He pushed Kisara against the refrigerator and forcefully locked his lips against hers. The soft valleys of Kisara’s chest pushed against him. They softly flattened down, changing shape. Her eyes narrowed, as if she was intoxicated by these events, and she brought her hands around Rentaro’s neck.
He was willing to do anything to leave his body to the bliss that lay ahead, but Sumire’s voice refused to let go of his mind:
“You can always rebuild a broken body, but a broken heart’s beyond all help. You can’t do a thing with it.
“And if it’s too late for Kisara, that’s gonna be up to you to manage.”
• Enju Aihara has a Gastrea Virus corrosion rate of 43.8%
• An estimated 496 days left until shape collapse
AFTERWORD
Black Bullet is officially being made into an anime! Thanks to all of you for your support!
…Although, to be honest, I’m a bit torn. Should I really be so unreserved in my happiness at this? After all, I devoted myself heart and soul to make this the most exciting piece of text I could. Will my book remain entertaining in other media formats? As I write this, at least, I’m having a little trouble imagining how it’ll work out.
However, the anime team members I’ve met have all been masters of their craft—super passionate about their work, but also coolly analytical of what it takes to make this happen. I’m sure I’ll start bragging about this project a lot more as I get to learn about them and the values that drive them more, but already there’s no doubt in my mind that I can leave my brainchild safely in their hands.
We have half a year before the TV broadcast begins. Specialists from a wealth of different fields will be coming together, pooling their talents and working hard to make this as high quality a production as they can. Will the Black Bullet anime be worth the [digital] cels it’s drawn on? It’s up to all of you, the viewers, to watch and judge the results for yourselves.
I hope you’ll give the anime as warm a welcome as possible.
My thanks go out once again to Mr. Kurosaki, my editor. Even as the threat of this book slipping loomed larger and louder than ever before, the constant smile he wore as he worked from start to finish made even the deepest cauldron of hell feel like a dip in the ocean by comparison. They also go out to my illustrator Saki Ukai, whose ESP abilities apparently allow him to figure out which way is north at any time. Also thanks to Mr. Kojima, director of the anime project, and everybody under his command, as well as the producers, Mr. Ogura and Mr. Ogasawara. Finally, I want to thank everybody in the editorial team and elsewhere who helped bring this book to life.
Finally, a note to my readers. Not to go sharing my personal life with you, but around three years ago, when I first joined the Dengeki publishing family, I had a conversation with Mr. Kurosaki along the lines of “I’m gonna sell a million copies and get an anime version released!”—a conversation very much along the lines of what the manga Bakuman depicted. I didn’t sweat the details too much at the time, and the declaration was made less for me than for Mr. Kurosawa (who had just transferred into that department back then). Still, one of those two goals is now a reality. I really have all of you to thank for keeping me from being a complete liar. Again, thank you.
Regardless of how the anime turns out, however, the novels can’t afford to play second fiddle. My focus now is producing a series that’ll make people who took in all three versions—novel, manga, anime—think to themselves, They were all good, but the novels are what really hit it out of the park!
Thank you very much for taking this novel in hand. May all the blessings of God rain down upon all my readers.
Shiden Kanzaki
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