Chapter 8

First meeting, everyone, I am Tsugumi Sajima. Thank you very much for reading this work.

The work that became my debut, "The Irregular at Magic High School," originally began as a serialized novel on a web novel submission site from October 2008, and was later revised and polished. This work, which was written purely out of interest, had the fortunate opportunity to be published in book form, thanks to an email from the site administrator.

The administrator informed me that they had received an email from ASCII MEDIA WORKS and forwarded it to me, which contained an invitation to discuss the possibility of publication.

To be honest, I suspected I had misread it.

Entertainment novels are my greatest interest, and I love reading and writing them. I have always wanted to publish my works as a writer of entertainment novels. In my unfulfilling white-collar life, I used to find time to write novels and submit them to publishers' new talent awards. However, I personally believed that "The Irregular at Magic High School" was a work that could only be published on a free, open platform for amateur writers. I still remember questioning the decision of a well-known publisher to handle this work, thinking it was too risky.

Actually, the target of the submission mentioned earlier was the 16th Dengeki Novel Prize hosted by ASCII MEDIA WORKS, and the submitted work was immediately disqualified. If you allow me to defend myself, the original word count of that work was more than half the required limit for the competition, and it was forcibly compressed, resulting in a product that I felt was "unnatural." I could accept the disqualification. "The world does not always go as one wishes" is one of the few valuable lessons I learned from my white-collar life.

However, life occasionally brings about "unexpectedly favorable" events. The Dengeki Bunko editor who met with me (though it may not be necessary to remain anonymous, I will follow the convention and refer to them as Mr. M) asked me, after some small talk, if I was the "Mr. ××××" who wrote "××××," which surprised me deeply. The work submitted to the Dengeki Novel Prize and this work share some settings but are completely different in style, and the pen name used for the submission was a Western name transliterated into Japanese. It seems that Mr. M remembered my disqualified work and, while reading this work online, felt a sense of familiarity with the setting, leading to the proposal for this collaboration.

Mr. M seemed hesitant about the outcome of turning a free work into a commercial one and was very concerned about the opinions of the online readers during our first discussion. I had also considered this aspect. In a long-term economic downturn, with company performance deteriorating and restrictions on overtime, I had thought, "If I don't find a side job, it will be tough, but then I won't have time to write novels." So, being able to continue writing this work was something I greatly desired.

While the world does not always go as one wishes, occasionally, good things—lucky things—do happen. Such luck, of course, comes from Mr. M, who proposed the publication, and the staff of the submission site "Shousetsu Kaisha ni Narou" (Become a Novelist), who provided the platform for publishing the work and assisted in various ways during the publication process. Most importantly, it comes from all the readers who have supported this work. I extend my deepest gratitude to all of you.

Additionally, I would like to thank Mr. Kawahara, who kindly wrote the recommendation, the illustrator Mr. Ishida, who added significant value to this work, the mechanical designer Mr. Stone, the colorist Mr. Suenaga, and all other personnel involved in the production of this book.

Most importantly, I am deeply grateful for the luck that has allowed this work, this book, to be in your hands. I will strive to ensure that this luck extends beyond this time and continues to bring you the next volume. I look forward to your continued support.

(Tsugumi Sajima)

The Long-Awaited Super Hit by Reki Kawahara

When the editor, Mr. M, asked me to write a recommendation for "The Irregular at Magic High School," I was so excited that I immediately replied, "I'll write, I'll write, I'll write as much as 20,000 pages!" However, once I sat down at my computer, I felt I had been overly presumptuous and arrogant... I do not have the capacity to write a proper recommendation or explanation, so I ask readers to treat this as an appendix column.

I feel somewhat apprehensive about suddenly delving into personal matters after such an introduction, but my first publication in Dengeki Bunko was in February 2009. At that time, it was almost unprecedented for a novel written by an amateur and published on a web platform to be turned into a commercial work (for a young adult novel). However, in the past two years, many works originating from the internet have been published by various publishers, and it seems that web novels have been fully accepted. Now, Dengeki Bunko is proudly presenting "The Irregular at Magic High School" (hereafter referred to as "The Irregular").

I believe readers are already aware that "The Irregular" began as a serialized novel on the submission site "Shousetsu Kaisha ni Narou" in October 2008 and concluded in March 2011. It not only held the top spot on the popularity ranking for a long time but also achieved an extraordinary 30 million views (!).

The appeal of "The Irregular," which has received such enthusiastic support, cannot be fully described in any amount of text, but in summary, I believe it is a work that effectively leverages the "unique disorderly style" of web novels.

If "The Irregular" had been written for a new talent award, the meticulously detailed magic theory and the many characters that appear early in the story would have been significantly shortened to meet the word count requirements. However, the only limit for a web novel is the "author's limit." The author can freely develop the setting, introduce as many characters as they like, and meticulously develop the plot as they see fit.

This, of course, deviates significantly from the path of commercial works. The key to successfully converting this disorder into charm, in my opinion, is "quantity," or the word count of the work. As mentioned earlier, the larger the scale of the work, the more difficult it is to sustain. The motivation for web novel authors comes solely from the feedback of readers (and at first, there was none...). Transforming the passion for creation into energy and persistently writing beyond the conventional path is what makes the work shine.

"The Irregular" is a rare work that has broken through these limits and soared. The total word count written by Mr. Tsugumi Sajima over two and a half years almost surpasses the productivity of all professional writers. Readers entering the world of "The Irregular" through the commercial bunko version can look forward to the continuously expanding and beautiful world of this work.

While I have written a long, serious article up to this point, the ultimate charm of "The Irregular" lies, in my belief, in the boundary-crossing love of Miyuki for her brother and the boundless invincibility of Tatsuya! With the beautiful illustrations by Ms. Ishida, Tatsuya becomes even more outstanding, and Miyuki will likely exhibit even more out-of-control behavior, which I eagerly anticipate in the next volume.

This is "The Irregular at Magic High School," the long-awaited super hit from the world of web novels.

First meeting, everyone, I am Tsugumi Sajima. Thank you very much for reading this work.

The work that became my debut, "The Irregular at Magic High School," originally began as a serialized novel on a web novel submission site from October 2008, and was later revised and polished. This work, which was written purely out of interest, had the fortunate opportunity to be published in book form, thanks to an email from the site administrator.

The administrator informed me that they had received an email from ASCII MEDIA WORKS and forwarded it to me, which contained an invitation to discuss the possibility of publication.

To be honest, I suspected I had misread it.

Entertainment novels are my greatest interest, and I love reading and writing them. I have always wanted to publish my works as a writer of entertainment novels. In my unfulfilling white-collar life, I used to find time to write novels and submit them to publishers' new talent awards. However, I personally believed that "The Irregular at Magic High School" was a work that could only be published on a free, open platform for amateur writers. I still remember questioning the decision of a well-known publisher to handle this work, thinking it was too risky.

Actually, the target of the submission mentioned earlier was the 16th Dengeki Novel Prize hosted by ASCII MEDIA WORKS, and the submitted work was immediately disqualified. If you allow me to defend myself, the original word count of that work was more than half the required limit for the competition, and it was forcibly compressed, resulting in a product that I felt was "unnatural." I could accept the disqualification. "The world does not always go as one wishes" is one of the few valuable lessons I learned from my white-collar life.

However, life occasionally brings about "unexpectedly favorable" events. The Dengeki Bunko editor who met with me (though it may not be necessary to remain anonymous, I will follow the convention and refer to them as Mr. M) asked me, after some small talk, if I was the "Mr. ××××" who wrote "××××," which surprised me deeply. The work submitted to the Dengeki Novel Prize and this work share some settings but are completely different in style, and the pen name used for the submission was a Western name transliterated into Japanese. It seems that Mr. M remembered my disqualified work and, while reading this work online, felt a sense of familiarity with the setting, leading to the proposal for this collaboration.

Mr. M seemed hesitant about the outcome of turning a free work into a commercial one and was very concerned about the opinions of the online readers during our first discussion. I had also considered this aspect. In a long-term economic downturn, with company performance deteriorating and restrictions on overtime, I had thought, "If I don't find a side job, it will be tough, but then I won't have time to write novels." So, being able to continue writing this work was something I greatly desired.

While the world does not always go as one wishes, occasionally, good things—lucky things—do happen. Such luck, of course, comes from Mr. M, who proposed the publication, and the staff of the submission site "Shousetsu Kaisha ni Narou" (Become a Novelist), who provided the platform for publishing the work and assisted in various ways during the publication process. Most importantly, it comes from all the readers who have supported this work. I extend my deepest gratitude to all of you.

Additionally, I would like to thank Mr. Kawahara, who kindly wrote the recommendation, the illustrator Mr. Ishida, who added significant value to this work, the mechanical designer Mr. Stone, the colorist Mr. Suenaga, and all other personnel involved in the production of this book.

Most importantly, I am deeply grateful for the luck that has allowed this work, this book, to be in your hands. I will strive to ensure that this luck extends beyond this time and continues to bring you the next volume. I look forward to your continued support.

(Tsugumi Sajima)

The Long-Awaited Super Hit by Reki Kawahara

When the editor, Mr. M, asked me to write a recommendation for "The Irregular at Magic High School," I was so excited that I immediately replied, "I'll write, I'll write, I'll write as much as 20,000 pages!" However, once I sat down at my computer, I felt I had been overly presumptuous and arrogant... I do not have the capacity to write a proper recommendation or explanation, so I ask readers to treat this as an appendix column.

I feel somewhat apprehensive about suddenly delving into personal matters after such an introduction, but my first publication in Dengeki Bunko was in February 2009. At that time, it was almost unprecedented for a novel written by an amateur and published on a web platform to be turned into a commercial work (for a young adult novel). However, in the past two years, many works originating from the internet have been published by various publishers, and it seems that web novels have been fully accepted. Now, Dengeki Bunko is proudly presenting "The Irregular at Magic High School" (hereafter referred to as "The Irregular").

I believe readers are already aware that "The Irregular" began as a serialized novel on the submission site "Shousetsu Kaisha ni Narou" in October 2008 and concluded in March 2011. It not only held the top spot on the popularity ranking for a long time but also achieved an extraordinary 30 million views (!).

The appeal of "The Irregular," which has received such enthusiastic support, cannot be fully described in any amount of text, but in summary, I believe it is a work that effectively leverages the "unique disorderly style" of web novels.

If "The Irregular" had been written for a new talent award, the meticulously detailed magic theory and the many characters that appear early in the story would have been significantly shortened to meet the word count requirements. However, the only limit for a web novel is the "author's limit." The author can freely develop the setting, introduce as many characters as they like, and meticulously develop the plot as they see fit.

This, of course, deviates significantly from the path of commercial works. The key to successfully converting this disorder into charm, in my opinion, is "quantity," or the word count of the work. As mentioned earlier, the larger the scale of the work, the more difficult it is to sustain. The motivation for web novel authors comes solely from the feedback of readers (and at first, there was none...). Transforming the passion for creation into energy and persistently writing beyond the conventional path is what makes the work shine.

"The Irregular" is a rare work that has broken through these limits and soared. The total word count written by Mr. Tsugumi Sajima over two and a half years almost surpasses the productivity of all professional writers. Readers entering the world of "The Irregular" through the commercial bunko version can look forward to the continuously expanding and beautiful world of this work.

While I have written a long, serious article up to this point, the ultimate charm of "The Irregular" lies, in my belief, in the boundary-crossing love of Miyuki for her brother and the boundless invincibility of Tatsuya! With the beautiful illustrations by Ms. Ishida, Tatsuya becomes even more outstanding, and Miyuki will likely exhibit even more out-of-control behavior, which I eagerly anticipate in the next volume.

This is "The Irregular at Magic High School," the long-awaited super hit from the world of web novels.