Thank you for waiting! Here is Volume 22.

I’ll be happy if this volume brings joy to everyone once again, but I must say, the moment of delivering a new volume is always the most nerve-wracking.

By the way, after reading the finished manuscript, my editor, Mr. I, had this to say. “There’s no way this is going to end in the next volume, right?”

And I responded with conviction: “It’s not time to give up yet!”

To which Mr. I fired back: “The only one who hasn’t given up is you, Fuse-san.”

He’s been nicknamed "Razor I" lately, and as expected, his comebacks are sharp as ever.

(…I can hear the voice saying, “You’re the only one calling him that, Fuse-san!” But I’ll just chalk that up to my imagination.)

Even Sugita-P, the anime producer, messaged me right after reading: “There’s no way you can wrap this up in the next volume, right?!”

Not in a questioning tone, but with a smiling certainty. That left quite the impression.

Oh boy… what are these people talking about? I was left utterly bewildered.