All or Nothing

Volume 1: Authors Endnotes

Author's Endnotes:

Hello ladies and gentlemen, G-String is back. Finally! I know it's been a while and I said I was hoping to get this sequel story out for you guys ages ago. But a lot has happened since I started working on this. Low motivation for writing, my views on cote changing with the more recent volumes, my internship and part time job (which is now full time after a promotion), and the Chiramune translation project I'm working with a few friends on. In essence, I've been really busy lately and that may only increase as time goes on, but I plan to spend as much time on this All or Nothing project. So let's talk about it.

I do hope you enjoyed the very first volume of All or Nothing (more on that in a bit). Yes, I know it's literally just Volume 5 copied and rewritten, but I added quite a lot of bonus content and even changed a lot of the scenes to fit the continuation of the White Room Troubles universe. I will let you know now that this was just the starter for the All or Nothing project and we will start to diverge a little bit from the original LN in the next volume so if you're looking for some more original content, please be patient as I have a lot planned for this project.

Let's talk about the volume itself. As you've noticed, Kiyotaka was actually more akin to his logical and powerful self. This was one of the many problems I have with Y2 V5 and Y2 as a whole. Kiyotaka just seems to be nerfed quite a lot. I don't like that at all. Of course, I don't want him to seem OP, but I also don't want him to be too relaxed. This is what I wanted to portray him as in this volume. Kiyotaka is paying more attention because he's looking to use more of his power to protect the people close to him. Do you all remember the epilogue of The White Room Troubles V1? Kiyotaka pledged he was going to become more serious, and this is just the start of it.

Now I know some of you are still gutted that I ended up going with the Airi expulsion ending. Trust me, I am too. But even if you did hope for a different ending, Airi's Soliloquy in the Prologue literally showed how the ending was going to be. Doing this was a necessary expense for the story direction I am aiming for (more on that in a bit). One change I did make here was I made Horikita the bigger villain here instead. AND The White Room Troubles V2 showed that Kiyotaka does care for Airi and V1 showed he considered the Ayanokouji Group as a "family he never had". Of course, his emotional development would make him not want Airi to be expelled at all, nor to even say she should get expelled. Yes, I know I still ended up making him say it, but did you notice his emotional development here? He was really hesitant to say it, and even though he ended up doing it, he mitigated the issues by providing Airi with something she wanted, and even pledged to Haruka that he would bring her back. This is a huge step forward for Kiyotaka, and a much larger step towards the character I want to see him as.

Back on the story direction, the aim of All or Nothing is for Kiyotaka to go all out to protect both himself and the people he loves. But, in order for that to happen, sacrifices must be made. Don't you remember the Memoirs? Anyway, Airi's soliloquy and part of the Epilogue told something which you probably all noticed but forgot later as time went on. I'll repeat the line from Airi's soliloquy in the Prologue for you: "So as I turn my back to the place I created all those memories, I'll start more by being the useful spy I've been tasked to be." This is a very important line, something which a lot of you did notice but didn't think about too much. I'll give you a hint on what it might mean, as you'll all find out what Kiyotaka and Airi are aiming for in the next volume. It has to do with his end goal of freedom. What does he need to get away from to ensure he has total freedom? Who has he been fighting against all this time and who will he be fighting as time goes on? The answer lies there. And for this, I wanted Airi to be the one to help Kiyotaka with this goal and so her expulsion was a needed expense to go for a small plot point that will later become even more important to Kiyotaka. As for Kushida... well as Kiyotaka has said, she has no hope. Find out what happens to her in the next volume. Anyway, I'm spoiling too much for you, so I'll just leave it there.

Did some of you get the reference to Akuisha I made in this volume? I mean... I did actually point it out to you in the part anyway (LOL). I've never been there of course, but the food there looks absolutely great. Thank you Chris Broad (Abroad in Japan) and Ryotaro's Japan for making such interesting videos that even I can use them in my stories (LOL). You should check out Ryotaro's Japan's video discussing Akuisha if you haven't already.

Are you guys still with me? Right cool. Finally, I want to discuss Volume 2. As of now, Volume 2 is still in the works, but it is about 60% written. My goal right now is to aim for a September release for Volume 2, which I think you'll all enjoy a lot. All or Nothing already has 4 volumes completely planned out for it's story so I hope to get that far, but I also want to get up to 7 Volumes of All or Nothing with this project. I really have a lot planned so I hope I can stick to it as time goes on. We'll see how it goes and whether I can actually reach 7 volumes is another question altogether. As I've said, I've been getting busier lately, so uploads may get slower. Please understand this as time goes on.

Anyway, Volume 2 has a release goal of September and I'll have more news on that as time goes on, so make sure "CLICK ON THE POP-OUT BANNER UP THERE TO FIND OUT-" wait... this isn't the Carwow YouTube channel and I'm not Mat Watson either (I've been watching too many car reviews from Carwow, please forgive me but check them out too, Mat Watson is hella cool and funny)... Ahem. Make sure to follow me if you haven't already so that you can be notified of all of this when the time comes.

And yeah. That's all from me. Thank you all so much for your continued support! Do what Kei is doing and make sure to share this story with others. All or Nothing is going to be big. I'm sure of it! So I'll need your help to make sure of this. See you guys next time!

- rainy26541 (G-String)