Afterword

To those meeting me for the first time, nice to meet you. To my regular readers, hello. My name is D.

Thank you so much for picking up this book.

I was honored to receive a Special Award in the Professional Author category at the 9th Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest (Kakuyomu Con 9) for Life Reversal ~ I Was Cheated On and Falsely Accused, but Now the Most Beautiful Girl in the School Is Getting Close to Me (the original title of this work), and with this book, I’m making my debut as an author.

It feels a bit odd to be debuting as an author while in the Professional Author category, but last year at Kakuyomu Con 8, I won the ComicWalker Award for a different work, which allowed me to enter the Professional Author category despite not yet having debuted as a novelist.

The web version of this story was posted on Kakuyomu, and starting around the seventh chapter (the scene where Ichijou Ai appears in the published version), I began receiving an incredible amount of passionate feedback. I also received comments from overseas readers, and though my English was clumsy and I relied on translation sites, those interactions became lifelong memories.

At times, I was supported by the insights of regular readers who seemed to know the work better than I did, which helped me surpass the required word count, pass the contest’s preliminary rounds, and ultimately win the award. I firmly believe that more than half of the reason for this achievement lies in the support of my readers, far beyond my own efforts.

The central themes of this work condense the darker aspects of humanity—cheating and bullying. While writing the web version, I received many comments about bullying in particular. Even in the news, stories of young students taking their lives due to bullying appear several times a year, and it’s heartbreaking. Through web comments and direct messages on social media, people shared their own painful experiences with bullying, despite how difficult it must have been to recall, and teachers struggling with how to respond reached out as well. Hearing readers say things like, “I wish I’d met teachers like these in school,” or “This ideal gave me a sense of salvation,” truly made me feel that writing this was worthwhile.

Now, I’d like to talk about this book.

The inspiration for this work came from noticing that in most web novels dealing with bullying, adults often acted out of self-preservation. So, I thought, what if I wrote a novel where adults actually behave like proper adults? Combining this with the issue of cheating, I wanted to write a story about a broken protagonist finding redemption. I surrounded the protagonist (who’s already something of a saint) with sincere friends, family, and teachers, all dedicated to healing the protagonist, who should be suffering the most.

One character who particularly resonated in the web version was Miyuki, the protagonist’s childhood friend who cheated on him. As an honor student, she couldn’t afford to stray from the path. Yet, in her self-preservation, she was manipulated by Kondou, the malicious cheating partner, which sparked severe bullying. As the story’s hidden protagonist, her journey is about confronting her sins—a subplot that’s not fully explored in this volume yet.

The main differences between the web version and this book are that the published version has more detailed early scenes, while also increasing the lovey-dovey moments between Eiji and Ai. As the author, I believe I’ve created something akin to a “complete edition.”

Lastly, my acknowledgments!

To the illustrator, HigeNeko-sama, thank you for the wonderful illustrations. I was overjoyed that you brought the characters of this work to life. When I first saw the character designs, they were so divine that I was moved to tears and had to take a deep breath to calm down (lol). I’d love to work with you again in the future.

To my editor, thank you for everything. Your precise and detailed advice on where to add content left me in awe every time, wondering, “How do you understand the novel I wrote so perfectly!?” Thanks to you, I was able to create a Life Reversal that evolved beyond the web version. I can’t thank you enough.

I also extend my gratitude to everyone at Sneaker Bunko’s editorial department who worked tirelessly on this publication, the staff at the novel submission site Kakuyomu, the contest judges, and everyone else involved. Thank you so much!

I hope you’ll let your imagination run wild, wondering how Eiji and Ai will deepen their relationship, how they’ll recover from their deep wounds, and how the group led by Kondou and Miyuki, who orchestrated the bullying, will spiral downward.

I look forward to meeting you again in the next volume, and with that, I’ll conclude this afterword.

Thank you all so much.