narita did not begin work on a second novel during the six months after the publication of "the rolling bootlegs" because his chief editor asked him to write nothing until after he graduated from university. after his graduation, he was offered to publish his next book in august, and he submitted his manuscripts in late april, a bit behind original deadlines. he had written over 400 pages, making the price over ¥700, which is a high price for a novel written by a newcomer. this worried narita because it was unlikely anyone would buy the novel. as a result, he and his chief editor decided that the novel would be released in two parts. however, narita was still anxious about publishing such a long novel. to motivate himself to write more, he would often refer back to the dialogue he had written for ladd russo. as with the first novel, the plot changed because of the characters' "movements", most notably claire stanfield. narita noted that all of the lemure and russo, with the exception of a character named neider, were originally planned to die, but claire's presence in the novel left that concept "in ruins". in addition, chane laforet, who was not well liked by the author, was also supposed to die, but as time passed, narita became attached to her and changed her fate.