Afterword I

Hey there! Kido-san here! If you've made it this far, then congratulations, you have finished reading The Barefoot Girl! The idea for this short story actually came from a side manga my brother Pocket drew over seven years ago titled Academy Showdown 0, featuring an intense battle between Amos (then named Kube) and Nanaya in a graveyard. I would end up adding that very battle to the original Academy Showdown manga script I wrote with my fellow otaku clubmates back in high school. (At least that's how I remembered it).

Years later, long after the original group manga project had fallen through, I decided to revisit Academy Showdown, this time writing it as a web novel series. As I was neck-deep in Book 0 - An Urban Fantasy, Pocket proposed that I rewrite this classic encounter with a more in-depth story between the two characters, shining a bit of light on their relationships, and their backstories. And once Pocket refines his art style to where he's satisfied, he wishes to work on a manga adaptation of this story. (Hopefully, that also means an Illustration for the novel version down the road, fingers crossed!)

At this moment in time, I am dedicated to writing Book 0 - An Urban Fantasy to completion and have already made some progress with Book I. I still have a ton of things that I still need to brainstorm so until then, it'll be a while before the next side story.