"Good evening, everyone."
"Well then, it's late-night music time again. Welcome to J-WAVE's 'Hello World', I am your DJ, Kuroda Yuta."
...Is it already this late?
Hearing the familiar opening remarks coming from the radio, Kimura Takashi paused slightly, sighed, and put down the manga in his hand.
Having just graduated from university this March, he entered a company with decent pay, but the price was heavy overtime, often requiring him to work until 9 or 10 PM before returning home.
And this hour or so at night was his most precious time of solitude.
J-WAVE's 'Hello World' is a program broadcast at midnight, and for him, it was also the signal that the day had ended.
Precisely because of this, this radio program he used to love the most was now something he was somewhat reluctant to hear the opening remarks for.
However, inside the radio, Kuroda Yuta's voice continued to play—
"Recently, people keep asking, 'DJ-san, do you have any good song recommendations?'
At times like this, I think, 'Are the songs I recommend every day just trash, you jerk?!'
Do you want a beating?"
"Alright, just kidding."
"I beg you all, please stop bombarding me with complaints."
"Anyway, although today's new song hasn't been released yet, I personally quite like it and have already listened to it many times in private.
It's the kind of song that, after listening to it, makes you think of someone, or a certain summer.
Especially listening to it right now, it's really fitting.
Alright, enough talk. Let's take a listen."
Brought to you by the new music duo 『Tsukirin』—
'Marigold'.
As Kuroda Yuta's voice trailed off, a bright and soothing rhythm came from the radio, instantly capturing Kimura Takashi's attention—
The wind is blowing fiercely / My heart is also slightly shaken / Watching you, so earnest and focused / It makes my heart flutter /...
Just as Kuroda Yuta introduced, this was a song that made one think of a certain person or a certain summer.
Kimura Takashi recalled the summer he spent with his friends back in high school.
Hiding in the shade to eat popsicles, reading manga together, singing karaoke, attending the Summer Festival, and that female classmate he had a crush on.
... / You wearing a straw hat / Like a swaying Marigold / That was a summer with a blue sky / The nostalgic, joyful, passionate love of that day /...
Listening to the descriptions in the lyrics, Kimura Takashi unconsciously began to fantasize about what the girl he liked would look like wearing a straw hat; that image must have been especially cute.
Unfortunately, he had never had a passionate love affair with her, only a failed confession.
Thinking about it now, it makes sense.
He hadn't even spoken a few words to her in a whole semester; she didn't know him at all, so how could she have accepted his confession?
It was just unrequited love.
Of course, although he cried a lot back then, looking back now, it was still a beautiful time.
He missed his friends a little.
At the same time, the song on the radio stopped abruptly after the first chorus, immediately pulling him out of his emotions.
Immediately after, Kuroda Yuta's voice came through again:
"How did everyone feel about that? This song is really great, isn't it? It's the kind of song that makes you want to listen to it again after just one listen. Anyway, for those who liked it, you can check out Tower Records on August 20th. Shibuya store, Shinjuku store, Ikebukuro store... all of the above will have stock. And don't forget, the song title is 'Marigold'. Now, the next song is..."
Kimura Takashi cursed under his breath. Before he could even reminisce, he hurriedly rummaged through his nightstand for a pen and paper to write down the song title, release date, and stores, only then finally letting out a sigh of relief.
'Marigold'...
At this moment, looking at the song title recorded on the paper and savoring the melody in his mind, he couldn't help but exclaim: 'This song is really great.'
---
The feedback received after the radio preview of 'Marigold' last night was quite good.
In the lounge outside the recording studio, Tanigawa Haruka was beaming, bringing them the good news.
"So far, based on the statistics from feedback received from various stores, the number of pre-orders has already exceeded one hundred. This is already very impressive for the first day of the promotional period!
Discussions about 'Marigold' have also appeared online, and most of them are positive, which is also a very good start.
In short, even for newcomers the company is focusing on Training, the current situation can be described as very encouraging."
"That's really great."
Hearing Tanigawa Haruka say this, Rin also breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slightly.
Then she looked at Akira beside her. Noticing her gaze, Akira also smiled and nodded at her.
Although he was quite confident in the song 'Marigold', having received concrete feedback made him feel more at ease.
By the way, after 'Marigold' last night, he also listened to the rest of 'Hello World' and found it quite interesting.
In his previous life, he didn't have much contact with radio programs; the ones he listened to the most were probably English listening exercises.
After reporting the current progress to them, Tanigawa Haruka hurried away, full of energy.
Before the single is officially released, she basically has to handle various pre-promotional tasks, which is the busiest time for her.
And after Tanigawa Haruka left, Rin talked to him about another matter.
"Um, Mochizuki-kun..."
Rin asked a bit embarrassedly: "Who is Cú Chulainn? Is he famous?"
What Rin was asking about was the content of 'Fate/stay night' Episode 6, which was just published today.
This episode mainly featured the fight between Saber and Lancer, and at the end of the episode, because Lancer used the Noble Phantasm 『Gáe Bolg: Spear of Impaling Barbed Death』, his true name was revealed by Saber, which was Cú Chulainn.
Regarding Rin's question, Akira smiled and said: "Cú Chulainn is a great hero in celtic mythology, with a status equivalent to Heracles in greek mythology."
Eh? That impressive?!
Rin widened her eyes slightly, let out a small exclamation, and then asked curiously: "If that's the case, then Saber she..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she quickly shook her head and said: "No, please pretend I didn't ask!"
If she knew now, wouldn't that be the equivalent of being spoiled?
Seeing this, Akira found it somewhat amusing.
In fact, it wasn't just Rin; after Episode 6 was released, it also sparked a wave of popularization and discussion on online forums.
After all, celtic mythology is still too obscure for the vast majority of people.
And after understanding the general situation, netizens were also discussing their guesses about the identities of Saber and Archer quite enthusiastically.
Among them, quite a few people actually guessed that Saber's identity might be King Arthur, but since there wasn't much evidence, they didn't dare to be completely certain.
As for the biggest issue, the gender discrepancy, it was actually the least important issue.
Although people often think of 'gender-bending' when mentioning Type-Moon in later generations, the habit of gender-bending has existed in the Japanese anime/manga world since ancient times and did not originate from Type-Moon.
Japan even once produced a version of the 'Journey to the West' TV series, in which Tang Seng was gender-bent and even had an absurd setting added where kissing could heal wounds.
He had nothing to say about that.
Perhaps Sanzang in FGO also drew inspiration from this.
Anyway, here in Japan, everything can be gender-bent, so it's nothing to be surprised about.