Atogaki ー Afterword

Japanese Edition: 安心してお召し上がりください (Anshin shite Omeshiagari Kudasai)
English Edition: Rest assured, it’s safe to eat
250th Hyper-Imagination Contest: Travel / Adventure

Thank you very much for reading this work.

Given that the theme was either “Travel” or “Adventure,” after some thought, I decided to write a story about a chef who pushes right up to the edge of what people find repulsive.
The theme I chose is “Adventure.”
Since sword-and-magic fantasy adventure tales seem to be popular, this work takes a different route to avoid being buried among them.

As for the cooking, I put together the course while consulting with ChatGPT, keeping everything within a realistically achievable range.
If I had any real culinary knowledge, I could have tested whether it was actually reproducible, but unfortunately, I can’t cook.
And even if they are edible, I don’t want to eat “cockroaches.”
I don’t even want to touch them.

When it came to the species of cockroaches, I also wrote this while asking ChatGPT detailed questions, but I was plagued by situations where reference images appeared without being asked for, and cockroaches ended up creeping into subsequent image generation as well.

Now then, the protagonist of this work was a chef.
Some of you may have noticed, but the cooking manga that inspired him to aim to become a chef is Iron Wok Jan!.
It was serialized from 1995 to 2000, and an anime adaptation has been announced for 2026.
While I’m happy about that, I’m also a little worried about whether I might end up getting scolded from various directions.

I consider Iron Wok Jan! to be the greatest cooking battle manga of all time, and I have no intention of accepting any objections.
For the record, I also refuse to acknowledge any of its many sequels or spin-offs.

Setting my personal opinions aside, the two characters who appear as customers, the two Ichinose, are characters from my own work Two in the Abandoned House.

This work is the second installment in the travel series, following One Summer Day at That Resort. By the way, Yuka’s surname is not Ichinose—she is simply using it on her own. I might write about the reason for that if the opportunity arises.

This story takes place after One Summer Day at That Resort. Last time, there was a depiction of an invitation being made and turned down, but this time, it seems that Misaki accepted the invitation without hesitation.

Around this time, the cover illustration was generated using ChatGPT, with the title added via a smartphone app.
The English version was created using Photo Director 365.

Unusually for me, the cover illustration featured no people.
The cake looked glossy and delicious, so I decided to use it as it was—but inside it is that thing.

For the record, I think I would be able to eat this course if it were served to me.
However, the final cake would be impossible.
Just imagining that I might eat it without realizing what it was makes me feel sick.

What am I even saying, after writing it myself?

Once again, thank you very much for reading this work.

January 20, 2026　Tochika