I just finished reading Chapter 99 and, yeah, I got the feeling that the ending was kinda rushed.
There are some important but unanswered questions left and I couldn't help feeling that the mangaka was perhaps forced to leave them unanswered.
1) What are the other 9 levels to the Black Plate test?!? Damn! I really want to know!!! Ever since I saw the first one, I have been imagining what the other ones are going to be like! I even made up scenarios where Taiga performed lots of tasks for the Executive Committee to raise his M0 points, in order to prepare for the next Black Plate challenge. Kinda like an RPG game. Heh. But now we will never know.
2) Will Hiragi see her mother? Will she? I always assumed that the final story arc would have something to do with resurrecting the dead and the consequences of such a spell etc. But now we may never know.
3) How many of Taiga's classmates will retain their memories of magic after graduation? Even with the abrupt ending, I would say Taiga being a special case is pretty much a foregone conclusion, but I would like to know if his close friends will retain their magic as well.
4) And well, we see Taiga working hard but with this abrupt ending, we can only ASSUME that he will get a Gold Plate with a Black Plate upgrade. We don't KNOW if he really will.
Having said all that, I have one question for those of you who have read the manga till the very end. I think it was probably explained in one of the earlier chapters but I am still unsure. The question is:
Is there a special reason for Taiga to want to hold on to his M0 plate? Was it ever explained that it would be easier to upgrade his M0 plate to a Gold one in one shot and that if he upgraded his M0 to a colored plate right away after getting just enough points, it would be harder to slowly work his way up to a Gold Plate?
Or was it because his M0 ability gave him the ability to fight on par with strong magic users and thus vital to his work as a Committee member?