First and foremost, to everyone who has picked up this book, my utmost gratitude. Thank you so, so much.

Also, my thanks to everyone who supported the web version, to Pilokey-sensei for the wonderful illustrations, and to the editorial staff and proofreaders for their incredible patience with me.

This was the story of the Ostrich-chans. The second volume, but how did you find it? Since the folks from the Victims’ Association at the end pretty much summed it all up, I’ll skip the details, but I hope I was able to convey how our girls grew as they were buffeted by all sorts of events. As I wrote in the previous volume, if this work has made you even a little bit interested in ostriches as a species, and you’ve gone to see them, bought some merchandise, or even had a taste of them, there would be no greater joy for me. Ah, and of course, by ‘had a taste of them,’ I mean eating them. Please, munch away just like the Ostrich-chans do.

Now then, shall we end the serious-ish? talk here and I’ll give you a little peek behind the scenes of this work. It’s not that I couldn’t think of anything to write for the afterword, but there’s just something I want to say…… Really, I swear, okay?

This ‘Ostrich Beast-kin’ is my very first published work, which I submitted through the Kadokawa BOOKS-sama application form and was discovered by my current editor. Naturally, that led to a meeting with said editor, and since I live out in the sticks, I asked for a web meeting, but… y’see? At that time, I had actually gone and caught that infectious disease that was all the rage back then. To be precise, it was more like I went to the hospital after the meeting and found out I was infected, yep. And on that day, for better or for worse, it was Christmas. A present from Ostrich-Santa-san.

Back then, I was thinking, ‘Man, I feel kinda off, my head’s all fuzzy. Am I just getting carried away ’cause it’s my first book deal?’ as I had the meeting, all the while worrying if my mouth was even moving properly. I’m telling my editor this for the first time through this afterword, but… I’m so sorry if I said anything weird. I’ll take this opportunity to arbitrarily apologize. Had I been an ostrich beast-kin, I probably would have been damage-free, but as a human, my futon became my best friend from the very next day. So this was just a little story to say, please take care of your health, everyone. I hope you enjoyed it.

Lastly, thanks to all of you, I was able to bring the Ostrich Beast-kin-chans into the world once more. Thank you so, so much. I don’t know what will happen yet, but if there’s a next time, I’d love for it to happen! Also, there’s actually a comic adaptation by Marisuke-sensei in the works, so if you could please keep an eye out for it! I got a little sneak peek, and it was absolutely amazing! Please read it, ’kay? ♡

And so, with love for the adorable idiots.

Sairiumu