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

Also, my thanks to everyone who supported me during the web novel serialization, to Pilokey-sensei for the wonderful illustrations, and to everyone in the editorial department who I caused so much trouble for. Thanks to all of you, Ostrich-chan was able to be brought into this world, and I was able to have my very first book published. I cannot thank you enough.

Regarding the ‘Ostrich Beast-kin’ in this work, they are quite the strange existence. While they have certainly borrowed several elements from the real-world ‘ostrich’, they are at the same time ‘people’. As a result of mixing these two, the ‘intelligence’ that is a merit of people has been completely lost, and some of the ‘features’ that Ostrich-chan has couldn’t be fully depicted, leading to some differences from reality. Therefore, I would be delighted if those who have picked up this book would take the opportunity to visit a place where there are actual Ostrich-chans and enjoy both the similarities and the differences. There are also many people who share the lives of Ostrich-chans on social media and video sites, so please check those out as well.

Now, that’s enough of the serious talk for now……

I am absolutely freaking out.

I mean really, truly. As I mentioned earlier, this is my first published book, my commercial debut, and it’s so different from when I was doing everything on my own… I’ve had so much help from so many people to get this book out. And the finished book can’t show its true worth unless someone reads it. That’s why I’m so worried, thinking “I wonder if the people who read it enjoyed it?”, “I wonder if I was able to write it in an interesting way?”, “I wonder if it’ll even sell in the first place?”. If this were just my own solo activity, if it didn’t sell, I’d be the only one to blow up and be done with it, but if this book doesn’t sell, it’s a much bigger problem. It’s possible that people other than me might end up blowing up, too. It’s a huge responsibility… So scary.

On top of that, since I had absolutely no connection to Ostrich-chans before writing this work, I’m also worried about whether I’m properly conveying their charm. If someone involved were to tell me, “This is no good,” or, “You’re not conveying it at all,” I’d have no choice but to commit seppuku, so I’m worried about that too. …I wonder if my editor would do me the favor of being my kaishakunin? Even if they leave it to the Ostrich Beast-kin-chan to clean up by eating everything afterward… Oh, come to think of it, those girls will even eat people if they don’t have their stopper, ‘Reis’, you know? They won’t munch on their own kind, but humans are just a weak, plentiful bonus ingredient. Well, I guess there are some monstrously strong humans out there, too.

[T/N: A kaishakunin is a man appointed to behead an individual who has performed seppuku, Japanese ritual suicide, at the moment of agony.]

And so, it is while caked in anxiety that I am writing this afterword. I would be happy if even a few more people find this work interesting.

To my lovable idiots, with all my love.

Sairiumu