August 24th, four days after the release of "Marigold," and the day before the manga royalties were to be paid.
While it wasn't a particularly special day, it was worth mentioning that Weekly Shonen Jump had finally resumed publication after the Obon festival.
The issue released today was the combined 37/38 issue, which also included the update for Chapter 7 of Fate/stay night.
Picking up immediately from the end of the previous chapter, the Lancer Cú Chulainn, after wounding Saber, retreated temporarily to obey his Master's orders.
Emiya Shirou still hadn't grasped the situation, but just then, Saber suddenly sensed a group of enemies approaching and immediately set off to intercept them.
Emiya Shirou chased after her, only to discover that the newcomers were actually Tohsaka Rin and Archer.
Seeing Saber attacking Tohsaka Rin, Emiya Shirou, in a panic, unintentionally used a Command Spell to stop Saber's attack.
Afterward, Emiya Shirou brought Tohsaka Rin back to his home. Tohsaka Rin then explained the settings regarding the Holy Grail War and Servants to him—and formally to the readers for the first time.
At the end of this chapter, Tohsaka Rin proposed taking Emiya Shirou to the church so he could withdraw from the Holy Grail War.
Compared to the consecutive explosive points of the previous two chapters, the content of this chapter leaned more toward dialogue. Although the amount of information was significant, the overall experience wasn't as brilliant as the previous two chapters.
Therefore, he felt that this chapter's shōsei ranking might not be very high.
However, before the shōsei results for this chapter arrived, what came first was his royalties for this month—just over 1.3 million yen—and the first-week sales report for "Marigold."
"43,000 copies!!"
At eight o'clock in the evening, Haruka's voice on the other end of the phone was still extremely excited.
For a pure newcomer's debut single to sell 43,000 copies in its first week was a god-tier start that others could hardly imagine.
"Mochizuki-sensei, congratulations—!"
"Thank you."
Unfortunately, Akira didn't know much about the music industry and lacked the relevant context, so he only responded with a polite smile without feeling anything particularly special.
Then he smiled and said:
"In any case, I'll be counting on you for the work ahead."
"Not at all, Shimizu-san is the main force moving forward. All I can do is my best to support her..."
After a bit of small talk, he hung up the phone. At that moment, a question suddenly occurred to him—
Speaking of which, how much money could he make from this wave?
So, he did a simple calculation:
The standard price for a single CD was 1,100 yen. They had a 10% record sales royalty, which meant they earned 110 yen per copy.
Within the group, he and Rin split those record sales royalties fifty-fifty, meaning he personally earned 55 yen per CD.
With sales of 43,000 copies, that meant he earned 2,365,000 yen.
Good heavens!
You don't know until you calculate it, and once you do, it's a shock.
Just 43,000 copies in sales could bring in over two million yen!
And that was just the money from selling records.
If the quality of the song was high enough and it became popular enough to stand the test of time and be listened to frequently by future generations, he could earn even more continuous money through copyright royalties.
Meanwhile, his hard work drawing manga only brought in about 1.3 million yen in royalties a month.
He was starting to lose his composure a bit.
However, drawing manga wasn't that hard for him, and it was actually quite interesting. More importantly, it was to fulfill the Original Owner's dying wish, and the later tankobon releases would be the real source of income...
After comforting himself enough, he suddenly thought of Utada Hikaru's 7 million sales...
Forget it.
It's better not to think too deeply about such things.
But then he thought about it, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly as he sent an email to Rin—
『Akira』:
"Congratulations, you successfully earned 2,365,000 yen this week!"
『Rin』:
"?"
---
Being Headquarters Building, 6th Floor, President's Office.
"43,000 copies..."
Hearing the data reported by his subordinate, Daiko took a deep, silent drag on his cigarette, his thoughts unknown.
After a while, he exhaled a cloud of smoke and spoke:
"What about the questionnaires?"
"Yes!"
Shingo immediately began his report.
The questionnaires were from random street interviews with passersby entering and leaving record stores, asking their reasons for buying or not buying the CD to study the song's strengths and weaknesses and judge the market direction.
Returning to the single "Marigold" itself, the evaluations they collected from passersby mainly included the following points:
The song itself sounds very good;
The melody sounds very warm and comfortable;
It's very catchy; after passing by the record store a few times, I couldn't help but buy it;
The lyrics describe summer, which is very fitting;
I'm a bit tired of hearing "First Love" all over the streets; the appearance of "Marigold" is refreshing;
...
In short, among the majority of evaluations collected, affirmations of the quality of the single "Marigold" itself occupied the majority.
At this time, Masao, who was nearby, smiled and said:
"It seems this single is indeed very good."
"...Hmph, don't speak too soon."
However, hearing his statement, Daiko gave a stubborn, cold snort and said:
"Let's see if the upcoming television promotion can actually sustain it."
Masao didn't argue upon hearing this, but instead nodded and said:
"That's true."
No matter how excellent this first-week sales figure was for a newcomer, only by appearing on television programs could they truly face the general public.
The sales figures shown then would be truly persuasive.
Would it stop here? Or would it soar to the sky?
Daiko's gaze drifted into the distance as he murmured to himself:
"Let me see just how far you can go..."
---
"Mochizuki-sensei, long time no see—!"
"We're here to disturb you again."
"Long time no see... but actually, it's only been a little over a week, hasn't it?"
"Oh, it's close enough!"
...
As soon as the door opened, the three assistants—mainly Hayato and Shota—began to make a ruckus.
However, just as Hayato said, although it had only been a little over a week, it did feel like a 'long time no see' situation.
So he also smiled and said:
"Long time no see, everyone. Please come in."
Once they reached the living room, he turned his gaze to the large package Hayato was carrying and asked curiously:
"Miyazaki-kun, did you bring something?"
"Hehe!"
As if he had been waiting for someone to ask, Hayato opened the package with a triumphant air. Inside were several pieces of something that looked like dry wood.
At the same time, a faint scent of seafood wafted toward them.
Seeing this, Shota said with some uncertainty:
"Is this... dried bonito?"
"Exactly!"
Hayato grinned and said:
"This is a specialty from my hometown, a souvenir for you all. Two pieces each, let's split them up in a bit."
"Ah, thank you."
The others, including Akira, were a bit surprised; they hadn't expected him to have such a thoughtful side.
But then, Akira also smiled and said:
"Actually, I also have a gift I want to give you."
"Eh?"
The three of them reacted with even more surprise. Hayato asked curiously:
"Did Mochizuki-sensei also go back to his hometown for the holiday?"
"I said it's a gift, not a souvenir."
Akira didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Then, he presented them with the three "Marigold" single CDs he had prepared beforehand and smiled, saying:
"This is the CD for the single I created. It was just recently released. If you don't mind, please accept it."
"...Huh?" ×3