Somewhere between the manga and the movie, there's a light novel nobody in the West ever got to read. Kaguya-sama: Love is War got a novelization in Japan and it never crossed the ocean. This is my attempt to fix that.

The book

• Title: かぐや様は告らせたい 小説版 ～天才たちの恋愛人狼戦～ (Kaguya-sama: Love is War Novel Edition, The Geniuses' Romantic Werewolf Battle)
• Released: November 17, 2023
• Publisher: Shueisha, JUMP j BOOKS imprint
• Story by: Aka Akasaka
• Novel by: Jūichirō Hitsujiyama
• Format: B6, 272 pages plus 4 color pages
• ISBN: 978-4-08-703541-4

What it's about

The story sits in a narrow window of the timeline: after Kaguya and Shirogane start dating, before the final showdown with the Shinomiya family. The student council is invited to the Fujiwara family's private island, where a treasure said to grant any wish is hidden in the Tsukikage-kan mansion. What follows is a werewolf-style battle, with the council, the Fujiwara sisters, and Shirogane's little sister Kei each playing their own game.

Why it exists

The manga ran for six and a half years and ended in November 2022. Almost exactly one year later, this novel appeared, which the book's own blurb called a "miraculous revival". The story is completely original, it never ran in the manga.

The novelist, Jūichirō Hitsujiyama, made his debut in 2017 with the first Kaguya-sama novelization, Shuchiin Academy's Seven Mysteries. When the series got its revival book, Shueisha brought him back.

The fine print

This is a fan translation. I don't own the book, the characters, or the series, and I'm not making money off any of this. If you're reading this and you hold the rights, this is a labor of love. Say the word and it comes down.