I said volume 5 would be the last of part 1, but I didn't say how many volume 5s there would be.
I'm just messing around. Everyone who read the LN can agree that volume 5 was rushed. Kuji had to finish part 1 there, so it couldn't be helped. But I knew from the get go that this would be 2 volumes rather than 1.
I considered calling it volume 5 and 6, but I wanted to keep the parallel to the LN, so it became 5.1 and 5.2. That's also why this volume ends kind of abruptly, it's really only half of a volume.
This volume was basically divided into 2 parts: Yuuto continuing his training, now under Michael, and Lost solidifying himself as the antagonist for part 1.
Of course, this volume was also the proper introduction of Rumi, Ruki's mother and Barbatos' Queen from the previous Devil King War, and Michael, an angel. Yuuto doesn't fully understand what it means for Michael, and consequently Ruki, to be an angel yet, and as such I couldn't explain it to you guys, but we'll get to it in part 2.
Then there's Lost's part, focused mainly on him getting stronger and more powerful. He'd eat and absorb those who have powerful or interesting abilities, and the ones who had good abilities but that Lost didn't want for himself (like Balance) he simply enslaves with Psyconnect.
I think that, out of Lost's part of this volume, the bit that was probably most surprising was Rikimaru and Seigi. I might be wrong, but I think everyone expected them to kinda join Yuuto after volume 4. I was actually going to have them die here, but I changed my mind around the time I was writing volume 3, they're one of the biggest reasons for volume 3.5 to have been a thing.
Out of Yuuto's part, the bit that probably caught the most attention was either Rumi or his first time with Lizel. Obviously, as I'm writing this, I have no idea which, so I'll comment on both.
Funny enough, I didn't intend for Rumi to be so much like Miyako, it's something I only noticed when I was actually writing it. But she's also different from Miyako in a few ways. While Miyako would have probably had a purely romantic relationship with Yuuto if she'd met him when she was Miyabi's age, Rumi is only interested in Yuuto for sex. She wants to see what a human Lovers can do, and how he compares to the previous Lovers. Something along those lines.
She only had a fairly small role this time, but she'll be back for part 2. She invested on a little idea that Lizel sold to her, and personally I'm excited to get to it.
Speaking of Lizel, there's the first time. I have to admit I'm really nervous about it.
I planned this entire story before I started writing it, but I didn't actually plan the ecchi parts. I innocently thought I could just wing it (TBH if I were to restart this story, I'd probably make it so that Yuuto has sex from the get go, kinda like a hentai web novel). But I hadn't realized this wasn't like HxH, there's like 2 or 3 big ecchi scenes per volume. That kinda screwed me over, since I always meant to have Yuuto lose his virginity soon, so it meant I had to hurry things along.
In these kinds of stories, the first sex scene is usually saved for right before the big climactic final battle. I'd be lying if I said I never thought of doing that here, but I ended up deciding to go against that. Hence Yuuto having sex early on (I mean, we're basically halfway through the story, so is it early?)
The question then becomes: with who? And in what kind of situation? I had many answers to that. Reina, Rumi, even characters I can't name since it would spoil stuff for part 2. But, in the end, the only one I could write in a way that felt good was Lizel. This story made me realize why it's always the main girl who takes the first time.
Maybe a lot of you are asking why I wrote that scene the way I did. It was considerably different from the usual. I do have a few reasons.
For one, I'm only going to properly focus on Yuuto's part in volume 5.2, so what you saw in that chapter was a glorified sneak preview. But, because that was so short, I knew I couldn't break apart the sex scene like I usually do. But I didn't think that was a problem, since I wanted it to be different anyway.
Another point is that Yuuto doesn't start off as the usual hentai protagonist, with limitless stamina and being able to cum buckets. He might be growing into it, but he didn't start off like that. So how should his first time go? Since he's narrating, I knew I had to do something like him not being able to describe how it feels properly or generally not really being a good narrator for that bit. As for what actually happens, he'd have to have some trouble both with his movements and his endurance. Hopefully you guys got what I was going for.
I think that's about it for 5.1, but there's something I want to ask before I go. It's about part 2.
I've been writing and posting these volumes all at once. It's a lot of work, but it also gives me liberty to go back and change stuff until right before I'm ready to release it. But I also feel like I spent too long without giving you guys an update, so I was wondering if there was anything I could do about it.
That's when the idea of posting the chapters weekly came to me. With part 1 ending, I have the opportunity to switch posting styles. Posting weekly would allow me to give you guys more frequent updates, receive and apply feedback more frequently, I'd be able to do chapters that don't really advance the plot (like dates and stuff). But not everything's good. Part 2 should be as long as part 1, if not bigger. So going weekly we'd be looking at at least 2 years of posting (a year has a little over 50 weeks).
So that's what I'd like to ask you all. Do you prefer me posting by volumes? Or maybe you'd find weekly chapters better? Or maybe you have some other suggestion? As usual, I'd love to hear your suggestions when you post your review.
That's it for me for now. 5.2 will be the end of part 1, we'll have Yuuto's past being told, as well as the big final battle between Yuuto and Lost. Don't miss out.
