along with it. In the end, Tamotsu is able to finish his latest novel after all. Yuuko Ayase Yuuko () plays a small role in the series. She was the manager of the track team at Tatsumi's school, and developed a close relationship with him as a result. She refers to him with the traditional "senpai" honorific, and has great respect for him despite his choice to leave the school. Yuuko is the one who arranges for Tatsumi to live with Maiko and Ureshiko, and helps him transport his belongings to the boarding house. When Yuuko arrives at Maiko's boarding house, she greets her by saying, "It's been a long time." It is unknown how or why Yuuko knows about Maiko, but the two seem to recognize each other, if nothing else. She refers to Maiko as "Oba-san," but since this is a traditional way of attending to the elderly and not a direct translation to "Grandmother," this does not mean that the two characters are related. Though it is fairly obvious that Yuuko has romantic feelings for Tatsumi, he is completely oblivious to them, even when she offers to become his bride. After she seems him off, Yuuko does her best to forget about Tatsumi and push him away when he contacts her. In episode 9, Yuuko announces that she will be marrying a friend from childhood. Despite this, Yuuko looks sad when she says her goodbyes to Tatsumi, suggesting that her feelings for him have not changed. Wonderland As far as the show has revealed, these characters are all from the Wonderland, and thus are artificial life-forms created Aphrodite, Freya, or Agnes when they created their versions of the Wonderland. As the Wonderland has not been changed for three terms, it may be that these individuals are descendants of those created by the earlier Managers. It is important to note that both those who were born in the Wonderland and those who happen to be in it will be erased if the Wonderland is changed, but that they have no knowledge of this. In this way, the Wonderland can be thought of as a large-scale experiment run by the people of Realm on the effects of different living conditions on a population. The Publishing Staff Soon after moving to the Wonderland, Tatsumi secures a job working for Kashiwa Publishing, a small editing and publishing company that handles local