Afterword
This is Yuusaku Sakaishi.
Thank you so much for picking up Volume 6.
I know there are quite a few people who start with the afterword, so let me just say this loud and clear—this time, I really went all out! I did a ton of research and poured my heart into writing this! Honestly, this isn’t the kind of stuff a science major should be tackling!
Anyway, I worked my butt off, so I’d be thrilled if you’d give it a read…
As expected, there’s a lot to talk about in this afterword, so my pen’s already itching to go. For the first time in a while, I’m genuinely excited to write this afterword, so let’s dive in!
- About the Management Game Arc
Volume 6 has a slightly different flavor compared to the previous Rich Girl Caretaker volumes, and there’s a reason for that.
I’m sure some of you have vaguely felt this, but by the time we hit Volume 4, it kind of felt like the series had “completed a lap,” so to speak. The arcs for Hinako, Tennouji-san, Narika, and Yuri were wrapped up, and then Volume 5 explored the changes in Izuki and Hinako’s dynamic.
When it came to planning the story for Volume 6 and beyond, I found myself at a crossroads. The conventional route would’ve been to start a second lap, but there was something about this series that had been nagging at me for a while. While Rich Girl Caretaker doesn’t exactly ride the wave of mainstream, trendy worldbuilding, the story itself has leaned fairly close to classic rom-com tropes.
You could argue that strikes a nice balance, but at the same time, I couldn’t shake the question: “Doesn’t that mean we’re not fully utilizing the world we’ve built?” I started to wonder if there was a kind of rom-com that only Rich Girl Caretaker could pull off.
That soul-searching led to the birth of the Management Game Arc.
The characters in this series are all destined to take the helm of major companies in the future. Hinako, Tennouji-san, Narika, Yuri, Izuki, Asahi-san, Taishou… What kind of leaders will they become? How will they run their companies? Answering those questions is one of the core goals of the Management Game Arc.
Blending business with rom-com is a bit of an unusual genre, but when you think about it, Rich Girl Caretaker has always had that vibe from the start. If anything, it’s precisely because of the groundwork laid in previous volumes that I was able to write a story like this.
It’s like all the little foreshadowing crumbs I’d scattered—some of which even I, the author, didn’t fully notice—piled up on their own and exploded into this arc. That’s how the Management Game Arc feels to me.
Of course, I made a conscious effort not to stray too far from what makes Rich Girl Caretaker special. My editor was super strict about that, too, so I think we managed to pull it off as a team. That’s why, while the Management Game Arc brings something fresh, I believe it’ll still hit home for fans who’ve loved the series from the beginning.
If I’d tried tackling this concept back in Volume 1, it probably would’ve been way too intense—like, borderline self-indulgent levels of business talk. Thankfully, the foundation of Rich Girl Caretaker kept me in check. So, thank you, Rich Girl Caretaker…
It was a bold move, no doubt, but I hope you enjoy it.
I’ll be working hard on the second half in Volume 7, too.
- About the Companies Everyone’s Running
By the way, in Volume 6, we finally revealed the name of the sports equipment manufacturer tied to Narika’s family. Some of you might’ve pieced it together from Karen or Katsuya’s family businesses, but almost every company in this series is loosely based on a real-world counterpart. The Konohana Group, the Tennouji Group, even Suminoe-san’s SIS—they all have models. That said, I’m careful not to let the real-world inspirations dictate everything, so I don’t stick too closely to their numbers or specifics.
The one exception is Izuki’s company, which doesn’t have a direct model. That said, there are plenty of similar companies out there in reality. Izuki’s focus on the gift market—a pretty niche sector—might seem out there, but it’s actually a market that saw a bit of a boom during the pandemic. If this piques your interest, it could be fun to look into!
- About Company Names
In the main story, Izuki’s company name was so slapdash that Karen and the others couldn’t help but poke fun at it.
As I mentioned earlier, most of the companies in the story are inspired by real ones, so their names sometimes reflect that. But I’m not super rigid about it and play things by ear.
One real-world company name that really blew me away was Bridgestone. Apparently, it comes from the founder, Mr. Ishibashi—literally “Stone Bridge.” When they were eyeing overseas expansion, they flipped it to “Stone-Bridge” for better appeal, but that still didn’t sound quite right. So, they reversed it entirely, and that’s how they landed on the sleek name we know today. Talk about genius!
Total tangent, but back when I was in the tennis club, I was obsessed with Bridgestone rackets. They had this cool, sophisticated vibe… even if they were ridiculously heavy…
[Acknowledgments]
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone who helped bring this book to life. Seriously, thank you all so much. To my editor, I’m sorry for suddenly throwing such a bold curveball at you in Volume 6, when things were starting to settle down. Thank you for giving me the green light regardless. To Sakura Miwabe-sensei, thank you for once again making the heroines so captivating. The new character, Suminoe-san, is so refined and adorable. And that bunny-girl Tennouji-san tapestry? Absolutely stunning—I’m in awe.
Finally, to all the readers who picked up this book, my deepest, heartfelt thanks.
