I have many interests, but actually I also love SF (a new SF mystery book has been released)

My new book, "Why Do I Have to Go to School?" (Bunken Shuppan), has been released! 🎉

This work is a book I'm very happy with, packed with many things I love and have wanted to try! 🐰🐰✨

◆ First, the synopsis

So, the setting is a near-future virtual space!
It's SF! My first full-blown SF! (I'll say it twice because it's important)

◆ I am actually a samurai who loves SF

When I started writing novels in junior high and high school, I read a lot of Motoko Arai and Mayumi Nagano and was heavily influenced by them, so I've always loved SF! I don't understand the difficult parts, but dome-shaped cities or surviving races on distant planets tickle my inner middle-schooler heart! I love it!

Coincidentally, my university graduation thesis was also themed around SF novels. Even though I was in the Geography Department! I forced a connection to geography by focusing on the transition of environmental descriptions in SF novels and read tons of books. Since a graduation thesis takes a year, I wanted to make it a theme that involved novels. Thanks to the professors who gave me the credits.

As you can see, I've loved SF for a long time, and I prefer the taste of slightly mysterious or light SF rather than hard SF. During my amateur days, in addition to youth stories, I also wrote a lot of horror and SF.

◆ But the project didn't get approved

The fact that I am currently in the field of children's books and light literature has a lot to do with it, but generally, if you put the word "SF" in a proposal, it doesn't get approved, and people tend to say, "It's a bit... for us."
Light literature is dominated by workplace stories, ayakashi, brides, and Chinese fantasy, and SF isn't a bestseller in children's books either.

Because of that, while I had a desire to do something SF-like, I didn't have the track record or ability, so I did my best with other things I could write. Of course, I have many interests other than SF. Because I'm an omnivore!

...However.
Recently, finally! It's my 9th year as a writer, but the opportunities to get projects approved for things I want to do, which were difficult before, have increased a little!
This new book is a work that I proposed and finished while thinking, "Can I really do this?"

◆ A virtual space where truth and fiction mingle

This work is set in a community where only truant children gather in a virtual space, and everyone participates with avatars.
So, you don't actually know everyone's real age or gender.
It's a story about monologues, fun collaborative work, and the feeling that you've made friends, but...?

I felt the plot was quite messy, and I was worried if the editor was really okay with it.
Once the first draft was done, it was super interesting, and I trembled, thinking, "Am I a genius?!" (normal operation). When I sent it to the editor, I thought about adding, "It's super interesting," but I suppressed it with reason. As a result, the editor replied, "It's super interesting" (paraphrased), so I really think it's interesting!
It's a three-part structure with monologues that I've never done before, but I feel like I wrote it well. I'm very satisfied that this work has taken shape.

It's seriously interesting, so please read it!

◆ By the way, I also like Alice in Wonderland

Some of you might have noticed from the cover, but I have loved "Alice in Wonderland" for a long time. Especially the Disney version.
Because of that, in this work, a girl with a Lolita avatar who calls herself "Alice" manages the community and holds a tea party once a week. The cover shows the tea party. There is also a rabbit on the back cover🐰 Speaking of Alice, it has to be a rabbit🐰🐰

Alice, as a story, doesn't really make sense, though. I just love how everything that appears is strange and cute. I also play the smartphone game Twis○te, and of course, my favorite is Heart○abyul. The dorm uniforms are cute.

◆Previously published works with a sci-fi flavor

Although this is my first commercial work set in a near-future sci-fi setting, I have released several previous works with a sci-fi flavor, so I'd like to introduce them.

• "Us and the Purple Eyes of Lies" (2024)
  A boy-meets-girl story themed around a fictional disease. I think the setting of the disease is sci-fi. I was quite happy and moved when I was able to write this and give it shape.

From the perspective that stories with supernatural powers are also sci-fi, what about the following?

• "Is the Cool Boy's Inner Voice Full of 'I Love You's!?" (2024)
  A middle school romantic comedy that features a bit of the supernatural power of mind-reading.

• "With You Beyond My Gaze" (2025)
  A youth YA story about two middle school students who suddenly gain supernatural powers one day.

……So, I've introduced various things.
In addition to being sci-fi, the works that I have personally challenged myself with quite a bit in terms of structure recently are the aforementioned "With You Beyond My Gaze" and this work, "Why Do I Have to Go to School?"
I would be very happy if you could read these two works together.

◆It's all about the challenge

For a while after my commercial debut, I was praised in various places for being able to write "mainstream stories." So, I did my best to provide what was requested. Thanks to that, the number of things I can write has increased, and I've discovered new things I'm passionate about that I hadn't even realized myself, so I think it was good.

And, well, that aside.
I also want to take on new challenges.
As I wrote somewhere before, I want to eat all sorts of things, from local Chinese restaurants and fast food to conveyor belt sushi and high-end French cuisine. Even with novels, if you only do one thing, it won't last, and above all, you'll get bored.

I sometimes hear about the "etiquette" of children's literature, but since I am in a position where I am allowed to write in various genres, I want to actively incorporate things I think are good and try new things.

◆By the way, this work is a mystery in terms of the story itself

You might wonder what I'm talking about after discussing sci-fi until now.
Bunken Shuppan issued a press release for me, and they billed it as a "new sensation youth mystery"👏
As for the story, it progresses based on the monologues of the characters, and it feels like there are various tricks involved.

This might be the first time my own work has been explicitly labeled as a "mystery." I'm a little nervous. Please think of it as a sci-fi mystery.

◆So, by all means

I truly think it's interesting (I'll say it as many times as it takes), so I would be very happy if you could read it!!!