After painful confessions and reconciliation, Kazuki Arata and Sayaka Uehara welcomed a new addition to the team. However, things would get complicated for Kazuki due to the appearance of a temporary transfer student. This time, in the form of Yui K...
EternalSunset here with yet another Afterword for the third volume. First of all, I have to thank the few people who have read the story up to this point. I really appreciate everything, and even if I would only have a handful of readers, if you have continued reading and enjoying my work, I am more than happy to have you along for the ride.
This third volume took quite a while to come out, and that is mainly because of a rewrite that happened. With a character like Yui, there are so many directions I wanted to take her character, and I had to keep retooling her character arc and angling it with the background and development of Mu and the Nullities. In the first iteration of Volume 3, her character development really spread out in too many different directions for my liking. I hope that the uploaded version managed to improve in that regard.
Speaking of Yui, I think that part of her character arc kind of struck a bit too close to home for me. Among the core cast members so far, I think that she's only second to Kazuki when it comes to sharing some of my own traits and personal dilemmas. Granted, I'm the farthest thing from being a popular personality anywhere, but the issue of genuine friendships and the loneliness after the initial high of validation are things that I have quite a bit of experience in. I don't mean to rant, but I think that one of the beauties in writing is being able to take something that you have gone through and try to direct it to your ideal yet logical conclusion.
Overall, Fractal Plane has been quite the idealistic story. I did not want to go the full shounen power of friendship route, but the series has a world where people generally get along and help each other up through affirmation and encouragement... despite some of those being done in a bit rougher methods.
Yui was not exactly my favorite character to write at first, but I think that thanks to her personality and dynamics with the main cast, she will bring in a unique set of interactions to the main cast from here on out. I hope that you will continue loving her and appreciating what she brings to the table, especially in contrast to the two other main heroines' more introverted ways of dealing with people.
Did I just spoil that she will be a recurring character from this point on? I think it's not much of a secret in the first place lol.
As for the world of Nullities, I featured it slightly in this volume. To give you a preview of the next volume, the backstory behind Mu, the first Nullities, and the things that I have namedropped will be given more focus the next volume and the one after that, both which would officially mark the halfway point of the series.
Speaking of the next volume, the next volume will be a big one with some major events that will hopefully lead to a tone shift. As such, expect wait a bit longer than usual since it will be a big arc that will change the complexion of things. Half a year, maybe? Somewhere around that. A more serious, darker Fractal Plane? I hope you guys will be there to see it. Here, have a commemorative art which will serve as the poster of the arc.
Credits to.... myself. Yes, it's probably my first major art project, and it's obviously still got a long way to go, but I hope you can wait for the next refinements and fixes for the final product.
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I often end the Afterword with shoutouts, and in addition to the usual suspects ( you, the readers, and my main beta reader) I would like to give a shout out to another friend of mine, LotsChrono, for giving me some tips the previous volumes and helping me be more consistent as far as grammar and mechanics are concerned. Gotta give kudos, as he has always been a big supporter of the series and always gives me a lot of encouragement that I need.
That's it for this volume's Afterword. I hope to see you all next time.
