A Letter from Norman

A Letter From Norman (ノーマンからの手紙) is a spinoff novel written by Nanao (七緒), based on The Promised Neverland Manga written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu.

The novel is first published on June 4, 2018 in Japan under Shueisha's Jump j-Books. The release date for an English translated version of the novel is yet to be confirmed.

It was announced that a sequel spinoff novel is set to be published on 4 January 2019 alongside Volume 12 of the manga. The sequel is titled "Moms' Song of Remembrance".

Synopsis
On the day before Norman is set to leave Grace Field House, he goes through various memories he has of Emma and the other kids in the facility.

Prologue
To my dearest Emma,

After running into the forest, Norman sat next to Yvette as he started writing on a piece of sketching paper that she had given him. Yvette was happily shaking her leg to and fro as she drew on her sketchbook.

That took place on the third of November in the afternoon, the tender autumn wind kissed the forest. Norman, who was wearing his sweater, still felt a tad bit cold. In a blink of an eye, summer has come to an end.

Norman gazed through the gaps of the tree branches as he saw clouds floating pass in the sky.

Who would have thought after catching a glimpse of despair over the Grace Field's wall, one could still be in a state of serenity.

Tonight, Norman shall be "shipped-out".

"Norman, what are you drawing?" Yvette tilt her head as she stares at Norman. Norman smiled warmly as he sees her face, so filled with blissful innocence and purity.

"I'm writing a letter."

Yvette nodded her head, "I'm drawing tha tree ober there!" the young girl grabbed her pencil as she continued to draw.

The younger children are still unaware of the truth behind the House.

Norman turned his head to look at it.

He always thought the Grace Field House, the place where siblings with no blood relations and a gentle foster mother, is a peaceful and harmonious orphanage where they spent a happy childhood in.

But all of these is just a facade, a facade that hides the truth of the orphanage.

Norman stopped writing.

That faithful night, they were exposed to the truth of Grace Field.

At the night of October the twelfth, Conny was adopted by foster parents, and had hence left the House.

The children here will be sent to foster parents before they reach the age of twelve. Currently, the oldest children are only eleven, and they are Norman, Emma and Ray.

"Today is Conny's last day, huh."

During the free period of Conny's last day, Emma was congratulating Conny on her new journey in life. Emma placed her hand on her chest.

Her antenna-like bright orange hair danced in the gentle wind. Meanwhile, Ray was sitting by himself reading his book.

"Another person left before us. Again." Somewhere deep in his heart, Norman sighed. For him, Emma and Ray are his family and dearest friends throughout his life.

The three of them had completely different personalities. There was the always cheerful Emma, who had great athletic ability and love for her family, and Ray, a walking dictionary, realist, and sometimes contrarian. Despite these differences, the three were able to sync up perfectly in whatever they did. They complemented each other. That was their relationship.

But Emma, Ray, and even Norman himself would have to leave the house in the near future.

Even though Norman believed that finding a new family is a delightful thing, another thought began to grow stronger. The more he thought about getting separated from everyone, the more he felt sad. If only we could all live together forever.. These types thoughts were not uncommon to have. Everyone who leaves the house must have had these thoughts, Norman thought as they were sending Connie off at night.

After clean-up time, Norman, who was trying to take out a broom, was taken aback by a loud voice and turned around. It was Emma's voice.

"Connie!? Can you seriously be THIS forgetful!?"

Emma had entered the eating area with a broomstick and found Little Bunny, a stuffed rabbit plush that Conny loved so dearly and never let out of her sight.

Little Bunny was given to Conny on her 6th birthday and was handmade by Mama Isabella herself. Conny loved Mama. Before leaving, she would always hug Little Bunny and say, "If he's with me, I'l be okay. When I grow up, I want to become a mother like Mama."

"Wh..What should we do...?" Emma asked.

Before Emma sank into despair, Ray entered the eating area and said, "I saw the gate lamps from the bath window. Mama hasn't come back yet, so I think it's safe to assume that Conny hasn't left yet."

Upon hearing that, Emma and Norman thought there was still a chance to deliver Little Bunny to Conny. Running to the "gate" from the house wouldn't take too much time. Norman looked at Emma, who had a confused look, and simply said, "Let's get Conny her Little Bunny."

Missing paragraph here

"If we think about how Connie's feeling, we should get a move on it don't you think?" suggested Norman.

Emma took this to heart and nodded furiously in agreement.

So Emma and Norman went towards the gate secretly. There, they learned the "truth" to this world.

The cruel "truth".

"Conny?"

Beyond the opened iron gates, the only thing that was there was one truck. No one else was there. Emma's voice echoed in the closed area, but there was no response. While carrying Little Bunny, Emma lifted herself onto the back of the truck, pulled the curtains and peaked in.

Little Bunny fell from her hands to the ground.

Emma turned pale, a pale no one else has ever witnessed before. Upom hearing his name, Norman rushed over to Emma's side.

And then they saw it.

In the back of the truck was Connie. Her body was faced up, and her empty eyes stared at the two. Sticking out of her chest was a plant that they had never seen before. Half of her body was soaked in some kind of liquid.

It was just a little while ago. Not even an hour had passed. In front of them was Connie. Connie, who had changed into her new clothes and put on her hat. Connie, who looked so happy while holding Mama's hand as they left the house. Connie, who laid in from of their eyes and now looked completely different.

"Who's there?"

Emma and Norman hid under the truck once they had heard the deep voice. Connie was clearly killed by someone. The man whose voice he had never heard before, must be the killer Norman thought as he processed the situation quickly While laying down, the two looked up. In their limited field of vision, what they saw was not human.

In addition to its distorted figure, it had giant claws and jet-black skin. The eyes were arranged vertically behind a mask of some sort.

"Looks delicious."

Norman couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Calling them human-killing demons was only half right. The realization made it all the more disgusting.

(Human-eating demons....)

Standing there were two alien-looking monsters. They lifted Connie's body and put her in a large bottle. Norman trembled with fear upon hearing the demon's conversation. He had no idea what was happening.

Human meat. Plantation. Important "goods."

We've only been raised to be fed to "demons."

Norman felt Emma trembling underneath the truck. He tried to reach out to comfort her but realized that his hands were shaking too.

The nightmare didn't end there.

"I understand," someone said.

The two heard a voice they were sure they couldn't have misheard. The voice was replying to the demon's orders regarding the next "shipment."

Standing there was their Mama....Isabella.

The winds were remarkably strong and the branches above swayed. The pages of Yvette's sketchbook were turning over quickly, and her colored pencil flew everywhere. Even with that, she let out a high-pitched, happy scream.

"Are you okay?" Norman asked as he picked up the colored pencils near his feet.

"Thank you, Norman. Hey, look at this. Do you think Mama will praise me?"

Norman thinks that she will once looking at the finished drawing. He closed his eyes and nodded.

Mama who everyone adores.

But that Mama is a pawn of the demons. She was their enemy.

From that night onwards, Emma, Ray, and Norman paired up with Don and Gilda, who were 1 year younger than the trio, to plan their escape.

Grades are assigned based on score and age. When the "shipping date" is decided, they tell the children that they are going to their foster parents and are taken away. No matter how much the children waited at Grace Field House, it seemed highly unlikely that none of their siblings who had left the house would send them nothing about their new lives. Isabella always smiled and reassured them that no news was good news.

Behind that smile, just how many children has Isabella sent to their deaths?

Norman grimaced.

Way before the children turn one and are send to the plantations, they get a tracking device implanted in their ears.

It's the most perfect plan to control the children. The perpetrators have overlooked nothing.

But Ray created a tool that could disable the tracking device.

When it came to getting ready for the escape plan, Ray's sacrifices were immeasurable.

Ray, who was the same age as Emma and Norman, became a traitor when he was 6-years old, working with Izabella on the side. Knowing the truth of the house, Ray always kept an eye on the "herd of sheep" as Isabella's watchdog. At the same time, he collected information from the demon side in order to be ready for the escape when the day finally came.

But Isabella cut off that relationship with Ray. It wasn't because his cover as a double agent was blown. Instead, Ray wasn't needed to control the children anymore

(The relationship was cut off because the exchanges between Mama and Ray were only to ensure that the premium goods would be shipped without any issues)

After Norman learned of his shipping date, he thought about how Izabella was going to act.

Isabella must be confident in her victory. She believes that she can ship the three premium goods. If that's the case, she doesn't have any "enemies" to deal with.

Norman smiled slightly.

(It's because of her illusion of victory that we can...)

Escape from this house, all of us. None of our siblings will be eft behind.

(We can do it.... We can definitely do it, if it's Emma...)

If they consider the goals of the original plan, the plan had failed miserably and the current situation seemed hopeless Isabella saw through their plans, broke Emma's leg, and the "traitor" Ray was cut off and thrown away.

But even now we still have a chance to win. The "plan" I've written on this letter is our chance.

I have hope.

Even if I am shipped out tonight.

The image of Connie's dead body played in Norman's head over and over. Emma and Ray were told to lay low during this down period. By doing so, they will extend their time at Grace Field House and when the time to escape comes, they'll team up.

That's the plan.

(How naive)

Putting Emma aside for a moment, knowing Ray, he was going to try to calculate how much their chances of escape had fallen even though it was a number they could easily predict. (And Ray would end up doing something drastic upon realizing what that number was.) Norman gave slightly pained smile.

To go that far just to ensure that Emma and Norman would live.

Ray was willing to sacrifice himself.

Norman understood Ray's feelings well. He will make the escape plan succeed with the smallest number of sacrifices. After all, the thing he's doing now is the same as Ray's original plan.

"The plan will be carried out in 2 months, most likely on Ray's birthday. Begin the plan on the night before his birthday," Norman started to put together the details of his plan on the drawing paper.

His plan tells Emma and the others what to do after, even after he himself was long gone.

Research Elements

 * The cover of the novel is one of the many fisheye illustrations done by Posuka Demizu. Other fisheye illustrations done by the latter include:


 * All the events that took place after the prologue are prior to the main story, before the Introduction Arc.
 * The story is written in Norman's perspective.
 * Norman writing his letter to Emma could be seen in a flashback scene in Chapter 34 of the manga, as he used a piece of drawing paper from Yvette to write.
 * Norman's shipping date from Grace Field House is on 3 November 2045. Which all happened in Chapter 30 of the manga.
 * There were at least 4 known orphans who were older than Emma, Norman and Ray: Olivia, Michelle, Marcus, and Robert.
 * In a Q&A with Kaiu Shirai, it was revealed that Olivia and Michelle are the two girls who were shown in the Christmas Omake Chapter 21.5.
 * Ray is not a superstitious person unlike most of the other orphans in Grace Field, as he do not believe in the existence of ghosts.Citation needed
 * Ray revealed how all the books he had read are fantasy books, thus implying how fantasy is his favorite genre of books.

Author Comments

 * Below are fan-translations of the authors' comments, please scroll down to "See Also" for more information.