Another two days passed.
The 8th chapter of Fate/stay night was published in Weekly Shonen Jump.
Following immediately from the end of the previous chapter, Tohsaka Rin brought Emiya Shirou to the church and met the overseer of this Holy Grail War, the priest Kirei Kotomine.
For some reason, Saber did not follow them into the church, choosing instead to wait outside in the courtyard.
After learning Emiya Shirou's name and identity and hearing that he intended to withdraw from the Holy Grail War, Kirei Kotomine explained the rules of the war while subtly manipulating him to abandon his plan to quit.
Seeing this, and to prevent Emiya Shirou from being misled, Tohsaka Rin also chimed in, continuing to persuade Emiya Shirou to withdraw from the Holy Grail War.
At that moment, Emiya Shirou suddenly learned from Kirei Kotomine that the hellish sea of fire he had been trapped in as a child was caused by the previous Holy Grail War.
Ultimately, to prevent the Holy Grail from falling into the hands of villains, he decided to continue participating in the Holy Grail War.
Compared to the previous chapter, this one was entirely dialogue-driven and confined completely within the church.
For those who enjoy analyzing the plot, this chapter might be considered brilliant because Kirei Kotomine's speech and his attitude toward Emiya Shirou contained a wealth of information.
While drawing this chapter, Akira had omitted as much unnecessary information as possible while finding ways to make the storyboards more visually creative.
For example, there was Kirei Kotomine's classic walk, with occasional close-ups of Tohsaka Rin and Saber's beautiful faces, trying his best to make the reading experience less boring.
But even so, for the average reader, the experience of this chapter was still somewhat flat.
Therefore, it was foreseeable that the ranking for this chapter wouldn't be very high either.
However, in the next chapter, two more heavyweight characters would debut, leading to another minor climax, so it wasn't a big problem for him.
By contrast, the situation on Rin's side was more concerning.
Tonight was the recording of 'HEY! HEY! HEY!', and during the day, as a singer, Rin had to undergo rehearsals for the evening's performance.
During the daytime rehearsal phase, Rin couldn't help but send him an email to vent—
『Rin』: "Greeting people is such a pain. The hierarchy is so strict; it feels like I've gone back to ancient times."
How to greet the director, the audio director, and others;
How to greet the lighting technicians, cameramen, and other staff;
Then there were the seniors in the entertainment industry, peers roughly at her level, and newcomers whose results weren't as good as hers...
She had to adopt different attitudes and ways of speaking for different people; otherwise, she might be labeled as 'not knowing the rules' behind her back, leading to exclusion or even bullying.
『Akira』: "That's just how it is. Anyway, thanks for the hard work.
If you're unhappy, just tell them to 'all drop dead!' in your heart.
Then come back and we can trash-talk those guys together.
I'll listen to the gossip while we're at it (laughs).
Or I can join you in cursing them out."
『Rin』: "...Thanks for the advice, but it hasn't quite come to that yet...
And I have to say, Mochizuki-kun's way of comforting people is truly..."
Unique?
"But I really do feel a lot better now (laughs)."
『Akira』: "You're welcome.
After all, even though you're the only one on the show, I'm getting a cut of the money too (laughs)."
『Rin』: "..."
How can this person be so mean!
Compared to those old fogies on the show, Akira was better at making her angry.
She was really going to give him a good smack when she got back!
Despite thinking this, Rin didn't notice that the corners of her mouth had unconsciously curled up; she looked entirely like she was enjoying herself.
Something's definitely going on!
Seeing this, Haruka, who was nearby, kept her head down and focused on herself, pretending to be completely in the dark.
...
...
On the other side, after finishing the chat with Rin, Akira couldn't help but sigh:
"Tsk, I knew it. The entertainment industry is just a pain."
This was Rin's first formal contact with the industry, and the signs were already showing.
Fortunately, they had signed a relatively loose contract. If she were a rookie idol singer at the mercy of a company with a fully packed schedule, it would be pure torture.
By comparison, the circle of Manga Artists was much simpler, without so many complex interpersonal interactions.
Because serialized Manga Artists were busy every day rushing to meet deadlines and draw, they had almost no extra time or mental energy to deal with that messy stuff.
Furthermore, for a Manga Artist, the most important thing was to consider how to draw well; if other matters were too much trouble, they could even leave everything to the editor to handle.
Of course, there were certainly Manga Artists with poor character in the industry; that was unavoidable.
But overall, especially compared to the environment of the entertainment industry, the Manga Artist circle was undoubtedly much simpler and cleaner.
That being said, although Rin couldn't help but complain to him during the day, she told him after recording the show that night that things had gone relatively smoothly and she hadn't been given a hard time.
True enough.
After all, as a highly anticipated super rookie whose debut single sold 43,000 copies in its first week, and with a major company like Being backing her.
Generally speaking, people wouldn't necessarily suck up to them, but at the very least, they wouldn't go out of their way to make things difficult for no reason.
Of course, in this irrational 'Earth Online,' one really does encounter some inexplicable idiots sometimes; that's just bad luck.
Luckily, Rin's luck was good this time, and she didn't spawn any brainless NPCs.
Not only that, but after she finished, the general director even praised her, saying she performed very well.
As for the actual effect, they would have to wait until the show aired next week.
...
But before the show aired, the shōsei results for Chapter 8 arrived first.
Just as Akira had predicted, the shōsei score for this chapter dropped again, landing in 4th place, but it was still acceptable.
At the same time, the assistants who had returned to the studio finally discovered the new manga Akira was drawing.
"Is this the one-shot manga Mochizuki-sensei mentioned before?"
Looking at the exquisitely drawn manuscripts by Akira's side, Hayato was curious and a bit surprised:
"Actually, I wanted to ask about the one-shot last time, but I saw Mochizuki-sensei was busy with the tankobon bonus materials, so I didn't ask."
"But, given Mochizuki-sensei's drawing speed, shouldn't it have been finished long ago?"
This was also what the other two found puzzling.
They really couldn't imagine what kind of one-shot could keep him drawing until now; saying he lacked inspiration or couldn't draw it was even more of a joke.
On the other side, Hayato seemed to think of something and gave a knowing smile:
"Mochizuki-sensei didn't slack off during the holidays, did he?"
"Well, I understand that feeling..."
"I know you understand, but don't understand just yet."
Hearing this, Akira gave him a sharp look, then pointed to a thick stack of storyboards nearby:
"It's simply because there's too much content to draw, and I haven't finished yet."
"...Is all of this the content to be drawn?"
Looking at that pile of manuscripts nearly two fingers thick, Shota asked in disbelief.
This wasn't the scale of a one-shot; this was like going straight to a tankobon!