A single CD created and released by a Manga Artist—such a special gift and experience is likely not something everyone gets the chance to have.
"Marigold"
『Composer: Akira』
『Arrangement: Akira, Rin』
『Lyricist: Akira』
『Singer: Tsukirin』
The three of them were so surprised they were momentarily speechless. Although they had known for a while that Akira was dabbling in music, they hadn't expected him to take it to this level.
More importantly—
"Um... actually, I bought a copy of the 'Marigold' CD myself."
Shota raised his hand in a mix of surprise and joy, feeling a sudden realization and an indescribable, wonderful sensation in his heart.
"When I saw Mochizuki-sensei's name on the CD, I thought, 'It couldn't be the same person, right?' I didn't expect it to be true!"
As he spoke, he looked at the single CD in his hand, which bore the signatures of both Akira and Rin.
This was the first time he had ever received a CD signed by both the singer and the creator. Considering Akira's identity, this gift was incredibly precious and meaningful.
"Terashima-kun, you actually bought the CD?"
Hearing this, Akira looked at him with some surprise, not expecting to find a fan right here.
On the other side, Hayato asked with a look of wonder:
"If that's the case, does that mean Mochizuki-sensei's song is really popular?"
"Well... I just thought it sounded good, so I bought it..."
Shota wasn't entirely sure either, so he just scratched the back of his head and said:
"Anyway, almost every record store I've passed these last few days has been playing Mochizuki-sensei's song, so it must be pretty popular, right?"
Hearing his statement, Daisuke's eyes lit up slightly as he smiled and said:
"Now that you mention it, I think I've heard it too. I just didn't realize it was a song composed by Mochizuki-sensei."
"Huh?"
Hayato pointed at himself in shock and said:
"So, am I the only one who didn't know anything?!"
He had only gone back to his hometown for a short break; how did it feel like he'd been completely isolated from the loop!?
Watching Hayato's reaction, Akira found it quite amusing.
But it wasn't a big deal; now was the perfect time for his newly purchased CD player to shine.
"Well then, let's all listen to it together."
...
After listening to the song, the three assistants returned to their workstations and began their orderly work routine as usual.
This familiar scene signified that his life as a Manga Artist was back on track.
A short while after the assistants started working, Mr. Sasaki called. Today was also the day the shōsei results for Chapter 7 would be released.
"Mr. Sasaki, long time no see!"
"Long time no see...?"
Hisashi on the other end of the line paused. He decided not to dwell on the greeting and got straight to business.
"The shōsei result for this chapter is 3rd place."
"Although the ranking has slipped slightly, considering the content was a bit more low-key compared to the previous two chapters, it's still a good result overall."
The 1st place this week was One Piece, while 2nd place was a bit unexpected—it was hunter x hunter.
It wasn't that hunter x hunter didn't deserve the rank.
It was mainly because this was Togashi Yoshihiro's first update after a five-week hiatus; the fact that he was actually serializing was the unexpected part.
One could only wonder how many chapters he would manage to serialize this time before stopping again.
However, that was just idle chatter for them. Besides the shōsei results, there was an even more important matter to notify Akira about today.
Hisashi said:
"It has been decided to begin production for the first tankobon volume of 'Fate/stay night'."
When publishing a tankobon, the first considerations are the volume of content and the completeness of the story.
Typically, a tankobon volume fluctuates around 200 pages, which generally corresponds to 8 to 12 chapters of a serialized manga.
In addition to the page count, it's best if a tankobon volume covers a relatively complete story arc.
Although only 7 chapters of 'Fate/stay night' had been officially published, the manuscripts submitted to the editorial department already exceeded 10 chapters, so the content volume was already up to standard.
As for story completeness, after some discussion, the editorial department decided to use Chapter 8 as the conclusion for the first tankobon volume.
However, beyond the manga itself, the decision to produce a tankobon also requires a commercial judgment.
For series that rank very low, if it's judged that publishing a tankobon won't be profitable, they might not even release a single volume.
Of course, in this regard, 'Fate/stay night' had absolutely nothing to worry about.
The shōsei results for the first seven chapters had already proven the manga's popularity. Even though Chapter 8 hadn't been published yet, it didn't matter at all.
Furthermore, in the questionnaires they collected, 'Fate/stay night' readers showed a very strong desire to purchase the tankobon.
Because of these reasons, Shonen Jump was eager to announce the decision to prepare the tankobon even before Chapter 8 of the manga had been officially released.
"Starting production on the tankobon already?"
Hearing this, Akira couldn't help but feel a bit dazed, remarking with emotion:
"We've finally reached this step."
When he thought about it carefully, drawing manga was the very first thing he had decided to do, followed by light novels, and finally songwriting.
But now, the songs he wrote had already been released with tens of thousands of CDs sold, while the manga's tankobon was only just starting production. It was a little hard to process.
But there was no helping it; compared to the other two, the production cycle for manga was simply too long.
From the publication of Chapter 1 to the current Chapter 7, two months had passed.
In that same amount of time, he could have written two volumes of 'Kara no Kyoukai'. If he were just copying songs, doing only one a day would be considered slacking off.
Well, as long as things were progressing steadily, he wasn't in any particular rush.
That said, Hisashi wasn't just calling to notify him of the decision; Akira also had a fair amount of work to do regarding the tankobon production.
First and foremost was the revision of the manga content.
There might be drawing errors from the serialization period or parts that needed redrawing, as well as errors in the dialogue. These needed to be checked and corrected by both the author and the editor.
However, for Akira, these issues were practically non-existent, so he could skip that part.
Aside from that, the author needed to provide bonus content exclusive to the tankobon.
This included exclusive cover art, frontispiece color pages, an author's afterword, character setting data, some columns, and so on...
"Of course, besides the cover and frontispiece art, you can try other ideas if you have them, but we'll need to discuss them before deciding."
Akira smiled and replied:
"I understand."
With the business concluded, Hisashi was about to hang up.
"Oh, by the way,"
Akira suddenly said:
"Along with the manga manuscripts sent this time, there's also a gift. Please keep an eye out for it, Mr. Sasaki."
"A gift? What kind of gift?"
Hisashi found this a bit strange, wondering why he was sending a gift at this time.
Hearing the question, he answered with a smile:
"It's the single CD I just released recently."
"..."