People, this is the 3rd volume! A completely new realm for me!

I really struggled writing this volume, more so than ever before. If you wonder what bothered me, well, to be frank, I fell off my s...o...b..ard and broke my left elbow, which left me with no other choice but to write the larger part of this book with one arm alone. That being said, considering that the snow has long since melted away because of the summerly weather as of this writing, I should be alive and kicking by the time you are reading this afterword (which will be in the season of delicious mushrooms at the earliest, I suppose).

One ought to take care of one's tools. Please always pay attention not to injure yourselves, dear readers.

All right, let's proceed to a brief introduction of the chapters like always.

Chest

In this chapter, Tokiya and Saki search for a lost cat, and in the course of doing so, they visit the mansion of an old woman who possesses a chest that preserves everything you store inside in a perfect state and disappears until a certain configurable date.

Speaking of chests and boxes, I've recently had the pleasure of dealing with cardboard boxes. Yes, I moved just the other day. Little did I know that I would discover cheap, hand-written ma.n.u.scripts from my younger days while arranging my belongings... I can't throw them away, but I don't want to read them either. Is there no good place to hide them?

Puppet

As though drawn in by something, Saki is made to touch a windup key with a string woven around it, which Towako has bought the other day. The start of a new incident.

The idea that initiated this story didn't originally have anything to do with Tsuk.u.modo Antique Shop, but I thought it might fit in just nicely. I'm glad the idea could see the light of day.

Dream

There is a censer that is said to give you complete control over your dreams if you fall asleep while using it. This chapter begins with a girl who has lost her lover in an accident and gets her hands on that censer...

There is a dream I always have when I'm ill. In that dream, my field of vision is entirely covered by a mandala background across which flies a phoenix-like bird. I've had that dream ever since elementary school. I wonder how I'm supposed to interpret that...

Sleeping Beauty

The incense they obtained in the previous chapters turns out to have an unexpected by-effect and causes Tokiya and Saki to fall asleep for exactly 12 hours in turns. How can they lift that curse?

I hope you'll find it enjoyable to watch them talk past each other once more.

Okay, I would now like to give my thanks to all my contributors like always.

I would like to offer my thanks to Takabayas.h.i.+-san, my great editor in charge, to Takes.h.i.+ma Satos.h.i.+, who is enhancing the story greatly with his splendid ill.u.s.trations, to everyone who has helped making this book happen, and last but not least, to all my dear readers.

Thank you so much!

Furthermore, thanks to everyone who has sent me a fan-letter. While I'm sadly unable to reply to all of them due to time restrictions, I make sure to read through them without an exception. They are my source of power to write; and I will give my best to make good use of it.

Well then, I hope to see you again!

Akihiko Odou