Greetings, Nogami here.
It's been quite some time since I last posted a chapter—a work which I can say that I can truly be satisfied with.
Ever since the time I posted Chapter 4 from my main work, Scum of Humanity and His Youth, I couldn't feel content with anything I wrote. Rather, the feeling of discontent came about before that Chapter even went up.
Back in May, by the time I was about to post Chapter 4, a friend recommended me this book for a real quick read. It was a Novel written by a famous mystery author— the greatest one of our time, in my honest opinion. Though, there were no english translations present for the said work so we settled for the manga adaptation instead. And after going through the book in the span of two days—
It seriously hit home.
Rather, it was as if that story was writen to make the clean hit.
It was as if my friend had recomended it for that sole reason.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Such the foul play, if I do say so myself.
Though, I merely jest.
Ever since then, I had a hard time feeling content with anything I wrote. I even ended up changing a lot of things in the Chapter before putting it up just because of that particular book. It really left the strong impression, frankly speaking.
Because of that, I ended up spending the past couple of months reading his work and watching their adaptations—thoroughly studying his unique writing style. In the end, it resulted in four unproductive months and three unfinished titles. No matter how much I wrote, I never found any of those titles satisfactory. They kept on ending up being straight-out copies of that author's works.
As a result, I dropped the pen for some time and fully indulged myself in different hobbies. Though, in that span of time, I never felt satisfied and kept on switching from one to the other. It was then when this story came about.
I put all my frustrations to the tip of my pen—the surface of my keyboard, to be more precise, then wrote something in which I can be truly proud of. In the end, I guess frustration’s the thing that keeps the pen on writing? Hopefully not.
Ke-ke-ke.
To wrap up, I’d like to pose a simple question: where do people draw satisfaction from? Surely, it doesn’t have to reach the point of death, just to feel satisfied. In fact, who can say for sure that death truly puts an end to our endless wanting. I wouldn’t want to be the one to prove it, that's for sure.
Surely, after some time has passed, I’d find this short story somewhat dissatisfactory and end up asking myself why I felt so proud about it, and probably also curl up in bed asking how I got the nerve to put up such an cheesy (?) afterword. Heck, do short stories even need to have an afterword? It really makes you think, doesn’t it?
Though, in the end, I’m sure that would only show that I truly am human—flawed and imperfect, hard to find contentment. And it would also be the sign of how much I’ve grown as a writer.
To TRULY wrap up, I’d like to thank those of you who’ve given the time to read my work and would like to invite you to read my main work. The first two chapters aren’t up to my standard as it’s been almost a year since I first put them up. But regardless, the invitations always there. I intend on continuing the story, even though it’s been quite some time. It’s already under works.
Once again, thanks for the read and I hope for your continued support.
This has been Nogami with my short story, Manzoku.
I hope you found it satisfactory.
P.S
For those of you who are interested, the book my friend recommended goes under the name of Shoujo Fujuubun (Broken Girl/Imperfect Girl), written by the great NISIOISIN.