"...Thank you for coming, please come again!"
After seeing off another customer, Akira returned to his usual standby mode.
At this moment, thoughts of the paintings at home unconsciously filled his mind, and his mood became a bit troubled.
It's too hard!
Five days had passed since he met with Sasaki Hisashi.
During this waiting period, his original plan had been to rest, exercise, and so on. But in reality, the very next day, he had already picked up his paintbrush again.
For a manga aiming to secure serialization, besides the manuscript itself, various additional materials also needed to be prepared.
Most of what he needed had already been mailed to Sasaki Hisashi.
But one thing was still missing—
The color pages.
Color pages are essentially recommendation slots in Weekly Shonen Jump, representing real promotional resources.
Works that receive color pages gain more exposure and are more likely to attract new readers.
But at the same time, every mangaka has a love-hate relationship with them.
Because while they bring promotion, they also mean extra workload, making already tight deadlines even more stressful.
Back to the topic.
The number of color pages in each issue isn't fixed, but they are generally divided into three types:
Cover + Lead Color Page Middle Color Page Special Color Page
The Cover + Lead Color Page is the most valuable resource, usually reserved for top-ranking works.
However, even mid- or lower-ranking series can receive it when their story reaches a major climax.
Middle Color Pages are the most common and are frequently given to mid-tier works.
If a series goes too long without one, it's often a bad sign.
Special Color Pages are reserved for anniversaries, collaborations, or major announcements.
Additionally, new series almost always receive a Cover + Lead Color Page for their first chapter.
In short, once a manga begins serialization, drawing color pages becomes inevitable.
---
Returning to the task itself.
Both works he currently had were from the Type-Moon series.
And when it comes to Type-Moon's coloring style, one person must be mentioned—
Koyama Hirokazu.
Koyama Hirokazu wasn't a founding member, but an early staff member who joined in 2002. He was mainly responsible for coloring, weapon design, and illustration.
As is well known, Takeuchi Takashi isn't particularly strong at coloring, so for a long time, Koyama handled coloring his line art.
Although there are others on the team, Koyama can be considered the most important, even the "man behind Takeuchi Takashi."
He worked on titles like Fate/stay night, The Garden of Sinners, and Witch on the Holy Night.
He also handled character design and animation direction for some works.
It's no exaggeration to say that his style defined the core visual identity of the Type-Moon series.
So naturally, Akira wanted to imitate that style.
---
Koyama Hirokazu's coloring style can be summarized into four key points:
Characters: Use high-saturation, large-area flat colors (e.g., Saber's blue) to enhance recognizability
Shading: Use low-saturation similar tones for shadows, folds, and backgrounds
Effects: Use soft gradients with a high-saturation core and low-saturation edges
Atmosphere: Favor warm tones to create a sense of warmth
Based on these principles, replicating the style wasn't too difficult for Akira.
The real problem lay elsewhere—
Precision.
That night, back at home, he looked at his finished paintings and sighed.
"This is probably the best I can do."
As a digital-era artist, he knew that while Koyama's work resembled watercolor, it was actually done digitally.
Real watercolor had limitations—layering too much would damage the paper.
Digital painting, however, allowed infinite layering.
At his peak, Koyama could stack 8 to 12 layers, achieving extremely rich color depth.
Moreover, watercolor naturally introduced randomness due to fluid behavior.
Digital painting, being fully controllable, required deliberately simulating that randomness.
These differences created a gap—
One he didn't like, but couldn't overcome.
"Sigh... it is what it is."
But after accepting this, he looked at his work again.
Maybe he had been too demanding.
While his coloring didn't reach Koyama's peak, his line art had already reached Takeuchi Takashi's level.
Combined, the overall result was excellent—even by future standards.
And in this era?
It was practically overwhelming.
"Yeah... this is fine."
This time, his tone carried less regret and more satisfaction.
After selecting his two best color pages and mailing them to Sasaki Hisashi, his work was finally complete.
He then called him:
"Mr. Sasaki, I've sent the color pages. Please check them when they arrive."
"Is that so? That's great!"
Hearing the excitement in Sasaki's voice, Akira smiled.
"From here on, I'll be relying on you."
"Of course. That's my job as an editor."
Sasaki replied firmly:
"I will definitely get this serialized!"
"It's finally here!"
At the Shonen Jump editorial department, Sasaki Hisashi finally sighed in relief after receiving the package.
He had asked for two color pages to simulate the requirements of a new serialization.
While color pages weren't the most important factor, they still reflected an author's capability.
Typically, authors are notified one month in advance to prepare them.
Even that wasn't much time, considering they also had to maintain regular serialization.
If Akira hadn't submitted them in time, Sasaki would have had to reconsider his reliability.
Fortunately—
That wasn't necessary.
Back at his desk, Sasaki carefully opened the package.
The moment he saw the pages, he froze.
Then—
His eyes lit up.
The quality was beyond expectations.
Most mangaka with strong line art weren't great at coloring.
Usually, as long as the colors weren't bad, it was acceptable.
But these—
Were exceptional.
The first page featured Emiya Shirou alone.
The second included Shirou, Tohsaka Rin, Matou Sakura, and Shinji.
The line art was already excellent.
But the coloring?
Just as impressive.
Is this what a genius looks like?
Sasaki sighed inwardly again.
Though perhaps he had already become numb to it.
Thinking back, after meeting Akira that day, he had also read the one-shot Emiya Kiritsugu submitted to the Tezuka Award.
And after finishing it, only one thought remained—
Terrifying.
The story revolved around the classic Trolley Problem, exploring moral dilemmas.
The protagonist kills his own father to prevent greater harm.
Seeing such a concept depicted visually made it far more impactful.
Was it right?
Was it justified?
Could there have been another way?
It was certain to spark intense discussion.
And beyond that—
Kiritsugu was clearly Shirou's adoptive father.
Which meant the Mage's Association, the Church, Dead Apostles—
All of it might be part of a larger world.
If so—
Akira's ambition was even greater than expected.
Is this… a true genius?
"Is this the color page for the new work Mr. Sasaki recommended?"
"It's incredible…!"