Chapter 21:

Omake 3: Creation Notes

One Wish They Never Wanted


---- Characters ----
Takuma Takashiro
Age at end of story: 18
Birthday: Sep. 10
A timid boy who, while intelligent, cannot really deal with broken relationships (and if he exists in real life, he will probably get his own butt handed back to him when it comes to job interviews). For better or for worse, this character is based on [the author] and most of the events are based off [the author's] life. He also has inspiration in Yuri Katsuki (Yuri!!! on Ice), but the glasses were due to the author's weakness in regards to writing characters with glasses.

Named after Takuma Terashima.

Ember Goldwand
Age at end of story: 22
Birthday: Jul. 23rd
The tsundere of the story. A greedy fairy who is meant to be somewhat dislikeable - Takuma was originally meant to call her "Mosquito" instead of her first name. Originally stuck with Quartz due to his gems. Her specialty is reversal spells, and she collects Quartz's gems for use as well as for selling off. Does not like spiders, as spiders tend to mistake fairies for butterflies and moths and thus any fairy caught in a spider's web may get eaten.

Quartz Gemray
Age at end of story: 20
Birthday: May 1st
An extremely polite, if somewhat timid, fairy. The reason he lacks magic is because the gems he creates are his magic and specialty, and so he relies on other fairies to be of any use (which is why he became polite in the first place). Has a soft spot for spiders and tends to live with them. Can, if left unchecked, become very very lost. Takuma sympathises with his plight.

Amelie Leroy
Age at end of story: 18
Birthday: Nov. 6
A somewhat manipulative yet social girl who believes the end justifies the means. Her parents' names are Oscar and Carmen; her sister's name is Renee. She studied sociology in her final two years of high school.

Her name was actually a carryover from a maid character created prior to the release of "Overwatch", so while her family is French in origin, she was not named after Widowmaker. To this end, she was not named after JJ (Yuri!!! on Ice) either.

Renee Leroy
Age at end of story: n/a
Birthday: Feb. 27
A loving sister to Amelie who was in her 20s at the time of her death. She was a huge fan of Kris and it was this reason that Amelie was one too. She used to live "in the moment" a lot due to her diabetes (type 1). It was because she wanted to see Kris's house before her diabetes got the better of her that Amelie gained the wand.

Kris Sheehan
Age at end of story: 24
Birthday: Jun. 11
A talk show host who can be unique and childish for his age, yet still hugely charismatic. His parents hail from the United Kingdom - however, as a stylistic choice, he looks that way due to Chuuya Nakahara (Bungou Stray Dogs). He is of average height for his age.

Originally intended to be a pianist for a famous band on top of his talk show duties, but this idea was too much of a spare detail. This idea was because Kris was inspired by Viktor Nikiforov (Yuri!!! on Ice), but since Kris's talk show was meant to air during late night and midday slots, he wouldn't have been famous enough.

(Also, he can't skate which is why he passed on the rink tickets in 'Takuma on Ice'.)

Fumika Sakajou
Age at end of story: 23
Birthday: Jan. 9
A strait-laced woman who's often seen in casual clothes. It's due to her surname that Kris made one of the characters of "The Familiar of Forty" 'Saijou'. Doesn't get out of the apartment much due to her duties as mangaka. Designed to be an "older sister" type to Kris, despite her age.

'Hiromasa Mutsumi' was a pseudonym picked by both Kris and her, since Kris cannot write stories, nor does he want to, but he's able to think of lots of ideas while Fumika has the skills to be a writer but not enough talent to break into the industry after chasing her dream for years.

(Also, she can't skate which is why she's been written out of 'Takuma on Ice'.)

Max
Age at end of story: 17
Birthday: Aug. 16
A character that represents a group, so he is much less fleshed out than the others. Due to how popular his name is in the real world, he lacks a surname. Seems to be Takuma's opposite (good at sports and willing to admit his mistakes if he realises them), but they met in a class in year 7 and instantly hit it off after both discovered the other was a fan of "The Familiar of Forty".

Originally the name for this character was 'Alex', but that name has already been taken by a certain character (that does not appear in this story).

---- Other ----
* There was originally meant to be a "Kamen Liger" which Takuma would have been a fan of in addition to "The Familiar of Forty". This was scrapped to make "The Familiar of Forty" front and centre.
* The first chapter was originally meant to be chronological, hence there are a lot of critiques about it. Likewise, the description of Takuma's room (ch. 1) and the interview segment (majority of ch. 2) were absent early on and wouldn't have existed if not for the criticism.
* There was a plan at multiple points to turn the entire story into a shared dream, shown through a machine and with Ember and Quartz as scientists (under the names "Abigail" and "Quinn" respectively), but in the end it seemed too nonsensical. This was due to a commenter's suggestion that Takuma was an unreliable narrator.
* Originally, "One Wish They Never Wanted" would have taken a backseat to "White Parasite", with the latter intended to be the true debut story due to [the author]'s strengths as a writer. However, this resulted in "White Parasite" having less planning than "One Wish They Never Wanted".