AFTERWORD

And now this series has reached its eighteenth volume. At this point in the story, Tatsuya and Miyuki will soon be senior high school students. It feels like the finish line is getting close. I don’t think that’s necessarily the reason why, but in any case, I’ve started worrying more than usual about elements I didn’t write enough about or didn’t write about at all… Yeah, actually I think that is because the finish line is getting close.

Initially the Master Clans Council arc was going to be a two-parter, but it’s ended up as three, because I kept thinking, Oh, I should write about this. Right, gotta write about that, too. For example, per the original outline, Raymond wasn’t going to appear in Volume 18. But as I was writing, I started thinking that it would make sense to drop some hints that among the Seven Sages, his position was somewhat different from the other six. Kyouko Fujibayashi’s and Toshikazu Chiba’s roles were also steadily expanded the more I wrote. All these minor additions ended up adding another volume’s worth of text.

Speaking of things I was worried about leaving unwritten, the incident on the flip side of the Steeplechase arc where Erica and Leo meet again is something that had always stuck in the back of my mind. I don’t plan on writing a side story before I finish this arc, but once the Master Clans Council arc is done, I’d like to write some extra material about Erika and Leo next.

That said, it’s not entirely my decision. Currently, all that’s certain about this series is that Volume 19 will conclude the Ten Master Clans arc.

I’ll do my very best to get that conclusion to you all as soon as I possibly can. Thank you all very much.

Tsutomu Sato