[Author's Note]

Hey everyone,

If you're reading this that means you subjected yourself to almost 100k words of my inane ramblings and corny jokes. I would like to both sincerely thank you and also question your sanity. Why would you do that to yourself?

In all seriousness, this has definitely been the most personal story I've ever written and I very sincerely appreciate anyone who has stuck around to the end. I hope you've enjoyed this strange look into my brain, even with it's glaring issues.

Speaking of glaring issues, this story has some seriously bad first-draft syndrome, and will definitely need to be rewritten from the ground up. The pacing is wonky, there's stuff missing, stuff that needs to be taken out, and little inconsistencies that need to be buffed out. I went back and reread the first few chapters a little while ago and realised that Sai's manner of speech has slowly morphed from "uptight" to "impoverished victorian child" and now her elocution at the beginning and end of the story sound like two totally different characters.

When I do get around to rewriting, these are the things I'm gonna have on the forefront of my mind for changing:

Tighten up the pace a lot, since the story drags in some places and skips by in others. The timescale is also really weird, so make the story happen over the course of a few months rather than weeks.

Make sure the characters are consistent and develop naturally. There was definitely a heavy shift in all four main characters (minus bitchqueen) in the transition from volume 1 to 2 and I'd like to buff out those issues.

Fix up the continuity errors and other obvious mistakes

Make Sai a more active player throughout the story. Any time that Pep is in a scene, I feel like Sai ends up taking a backseat, which stifles her as the main love interest.

Make Ran more present early on so her inclusion in the latter half makes more sense

And most importantly, fix up Pep's entire character arc. Right now I think it's too repetitive and gets too stagnant, and while I am satisfied with the ending, I think she has far more room as a character. I even had a bunch of other stuff planned for her, including a school trip arc and an actual setup for her eventually getting with one of the two remaining single girls (won't say which one), but couldn't find a place to fit it in naturally. I've even considered doing an entirely new side-story or spinoff from her perspective since I have so much more I want to explore with her character.

But, with all that being said, this is where the story ends for now. I started writing this one around two years ago, and I couldn't be happier to have finally finished it. I think it has said everything I need it to say. So thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope it was worth your time.

Kirby out.