New Year's Day Is Approaching

It was the end of the month, so by convention I had to take time off. But the New Year was approaching, and if I took leave again at the end of January, I'd definitely be drinking during the holiday. Might as well rest for two days and have a little wine...

As for stockpiled chapters, there weren't any, so don't even think about it. You want stockpiled chapters? I want them too, but I just can't write them. This book has gotten a bit too long, and the more I wrote, the harder it became...

Once the Orange Tournament was finished, the story would officially enter its later stages. It should be completed next year... I wasn't sure either, but once Sinnoh was done, it would be close. There wouldn't be much left to write after Sinnoh. If you wanted to see the World Championship and the Eight Masters, I could still pad things out a little.

Actually, everyone in the Eight Masters had gone easy on Ash, all to make him Champion and fulfill the dreams of fans who had followed the Pokémon anime. I really didn't want to ruin that.

Whether I'd write the Eight Masters was something to discuss later. It was still too early to talk about it now...

If you didn't want to see the Eight Masters, then this book would probably end in another two or three volumes...

The outline and detailed outline for the later stages still hadn't been sorted out. I'd work on them when I had time...

The three main storylines for the later stages of this book had all been set up in the main text.

Once the Orange Tournament was over...

The next main storyline would be breaking through to the Elite Four.

The next main storyline would