Bitchie asked Alex Gabriel:

I just finished your Learning How To Lose series, and was wondering, will we ever get a glimpse into Hiro's mind? Hiro's thoughts and feelings remained such a mystery to me. Like, did he think about Ryuu in a romantic way BEFORE Ryuu ( made his move? Was he attracted to men, or just Ryuu? (not asking you to answer all those questions, just saying those are things I'd like to see someday!)

Alex Gabriel When I began writing the series, I considered alternating Ryuu’s and Hiro’s points of view; in the end, I decided not to because I felt that Ryuu’s journey of self-discovery and his quest to navigate through the relationship with Hiro would be less interesting if Hiro’s thoughts and feelings were clear all along. The tight, limited point of view – so I hoped – would make for more suspense in the way things unfolded.

Of course, when it comes to reading people and coming to correct conclusions regarding their thoughts, feeling and motivations, Ryuu is… well, not a natural talent, shall we say. I don’t actually think that Hiro IS a terribly mysterious and unknowable person; the fact that Ryuu often has no idea what’s going on with him has just as much (or more) to do with Ryuu than Hiro. Ryuu does get a fair number of indications of what Hiro is feeling and thinking – he just doesn’t know how to interpret them, or ignores them, or downright misinterprets them.

And since Ryuu is the reader’s only window into the story’s world… yeah. Tricky.

But long rambling reply aside, to finally answer your question: I currently have no plans to write a story from Hiro’s point of view, although I am happy to talk about what I pictured he felt at any point, if you do want to hear my take on it. (I’d also love to know what your take is, actually. So would Ryuu, come to think. Just help the poor man out here.)

I hope you enjoyed the books despite the mystery! ;-)

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