Hyouka Volume 5 afterword (end)

Good afternoon. Honobu Yonezawa here.

I was inspired to write this volume after first seeing Michael Z. Lewin’s book, Type-A Girl, although I suppose that’s only its name in Japan. More accurately, it’s called Ask the Right Question.

When I initially saw the Japanese title, I thought, “What could this possibly be about?” and the mystery I imagined formed the basis for this volume. (By the way, the novel turned out to be entirely different than what I had imagined. It was still a great read, however.)

Additionally, I had Stephen King’s The Long Walk in mind as I was designing it as well. When I had initially read it a long time ago, it was so scary and had such an impact on me that I couldn’t put it down, so it was probably only natural that it continued to float around in my head as I was writing this book.

I realized, however, that there was a decisive difference between his book and mine from the very get-go.

The Long Walk‘s protagonist had companions while walking.

In this book, the protagonist walked alone.

It couldn’t be helped. If he was going to be walking the Marathon Event, there was no way he’d be able to match his pace with others.

Now then, I hope that the story of the will be able to reach you next time as well.

Thank you very much.

April, 2012

Honobu Yonezawa

This novel was translated by Manlyflower.