Afterword: Deneb, Altair, and Vega. That’s the Summer Triangle you pointed at.

Hi, it’s Yumizuru again. It sure has been a long time since we’ve been able to chat in a café like this, hasn’t it? If I take a bite out of this Apple I’ll probably lose a tooth, though. Since it has Gorilla Glass.

Anyway, here it is: Infinite Stratos Volume 8. Sorry to keep you waiting. Somehow, after everything, Overlap ended up deciding to put it out. I’m grateful. And what’s really an honor is to have illustrations by CHOCO. There’s the ga from the title, manga. I’ve known about his work since I bought Igna-Zero in my second year of high school. Cute girls popping out of computer screens, fighting a demon in a fantasy world, and even twisting the laws of causality to battle space monsters—and now, that same artist is drawing for IS. It’s hard to believe we ended up collaborating. But I couldn’t be happier.

Anyway! Nothing more to say about volume 8! It was a huge pain in the butt! That’s it! I’m going back to fluffy romcom style for volume 9. I just want to write cutesy stories! Cutesy, you hear?! I’ve had enough of battles! I’m worn out. See you next time!

— Izuru Yumizuru

Oh, right, I’m supposed to write two pages here. Um... B. Behind, I got so behind! I always thought that it really sucked for manga artists when they got dragged into editor meetings to meet deadlines. Yet here I am doing it myself! I did it with the book, and now I’m doing it again with this afterword... Honestly, I’m sorry. I’ll try to get volume 9 done early! (I say this every time.)

This releases April 25th, doesn’t it? R. Releases. Right around when Dragon’s Dogma comes out. I’ll do the playing for all of us, so you guys can finish reading IS first! Send in those surveys! I’d like to do a character popularity survey, it’s been a while. And then I’d be able to write something nice for the first place. If only... If only... But nah, there’s no way to make that work, is there.

Oh, and I’ve been having lots of fun with the new JoJo fighter. I’m terribad at fighting games, but I’m still gonna buy a copy.

“I’m holding up the press!” and they’d go, “Dammit, Yumizuru!” (I would get killed if I tried this.)

I’ve really got a thing for Kuroiel lately. Even more of one if imagining her with four legs, a pair of blade arms, a missile pod, and an angel’s halo. (And maybe a pair of shotguns!)

I wish they’d give me and CHOCO our own segment on Radio IS. Maybe something where we could write a scene based on requests, and then send it over to the rest of the cast or something. Oh, I’m out of room on page 2.

By Izuru Yumizuru.