AFTERWORD

To all the returning patrons of my series: It’s good to see you again.

And to all the bourgeoisie out there who bought up all four volumes at once: Nice to meet you.

I’m Kazuma Kamachi.

We’ve gotten to the fourth volume before I realized it. But when I look back on it calmly, I haven’t even been active for a year yet, huh? Well, thanks to that, my work has managed to get to the point where it can be called a “series,” but when I think about that, I get the keen realization that a year is really worth a lot and can’t be taken lightly. When I sit down and think about it, I realize I’ve poured a hundredth of my total life span into this A Certain Magical~ series, haven’t I? If you take that sentence out of context, it sounds pretty high-handed and ceremonious, though.

In any case, as those of you who have finished reading the book will know, the theme this time was “summoning spells.” There’s plenty of varieties of “summoning” bundled up in just that word, from the necromancer who places dead souls into bodies to talisman accessories imbued with the power of Mercury—there’s apparently a whole lot of methods of summoning and lots of different things that can be summoned.

When I thought about summoning angels or demons, I would get this image of praying into an eerie magic circle, but it seems that actual Christianity (in its legends) is a bit different. Like how there’s an angel and a demon that come as a pair for every single person, even if you don’t go through all the trouble to call on them, and things like that. The entire concept that I see in comics a lot is of “a tiny angel and a tiny demon spinning around your head and arguing with each other whenever you’re stimulated by things like worldly desires.” If you try to trace this back to its roots, you’ll run into some unexpectedly serious references.

To my illustrator, Mr. Kiyotaka Haimura, and my editor, Ms. Miki, thank you, again and again, and sorry for all the trouble. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if I were to say that all of the merits of this book were thanks to you two. I look forward to working with you in the future.

And to all my readers—the fact that you’re all allowing me to publish at such a high pace, rivaling that of weekly manga tankobons, is the result of you having purchased my work. I would like to bow my head to you twice; at the same time that I wish you a great “thank-you,” I also ask for your continued support in the future.

Now then, for the time being, as this page of my work is closed,

and ever wishing that the continuation of the work remains in your imaginations,

today, here, I rest down my pen.

…Summer vacation is so long, this work isn’t turning out to be a school drama.

Kazuma Kamachi