Chapter 250: What Is Shinji Matou Planning to Summon from a Parallel World?
Shinji hadn't told Cloris that his magecraft only had a very short duration.
It was enough to keep the enhancement on for the first half of the session, but it was far from sufficient for permanent upgrades, maybe not even enough to last through a single baby-making session.
So...
"If we gonna do it like that, we'll need the help of some ancient figures~"
The "ancient figures" Shinji mentioned, of course, referred to those bored Heroic Spirits lounging around on their thrones.
For someone like Shinji who casually threw out these kinds of suggestive remarks from time to time, Cloris had mixed feelings—love and hate.
If the comment was directed at her, she absolutely loved it.
But if it was meant for some other girl...
Cloris came to see Shinji today because she heard he had spent the night at a hotel with Arturia.
Feeling like these Servants were about to steal her man, Cloris rushed over to clock in some affection points.
Even if she couldn't make a breakthrough, at the very least she didn't want to lose favor just because they hadn't seen each other in a while.
If she really got outmaneuvered by those two slabs of steel, she'd probably die of rage.
Though Cloris was confident in her own figure and believed she could easily outshine either Arturia or Mordred...
The two of them together were undeniably more enticing than she was alone.
Especially since Shinji had such a well-rounded preference—so long as a girl was good-looking, he could always find something about her that satisfied his... tastes.
"Shinji, personally I don't mind indulging some of your little kinks. However—"
Cloris playfully pushed Shinji with a coy tone, pretending to scold him: "Aren't you worried you'll anger your mentor, Lord El-Melloi, to death by squandering magecraft like this?"
"He'll never die from anger!" Shinji waved his finger with a smirk. "But he'l probably die due to an explosion. An explosion of mercury, in fact."
"Are you trying to cause a chemical leak in the Department of Modern Magecraft?"
Cloris rubbed her temples and sighed.
The mercury used by the El-Melloi family for Mystic Codes wouldn't volatilize under magical conditions, so it was naturally non-toxic.
But if there was an explosion, and the magical link between it and the user was severed—especially in a crowded classroom—Cloris was certain that the situation would be handled, given the prestige of the Clock Tower's Lords. But as for Lord El-Melloi's hairline... that was another matter.
"Let's get back to reading what the media's saying about Super 8!"
Cloris figured that compared to "300 Ways to Piss Off Lord El-Melloi (Special Shinji Edition)," she was more interested in how much money their film could make.
So she picked up another fresh newspaper from the stack beside her and started flipping through it.
"Super 8 is a very clever movie. It deliberately keeps the plot simple so the audience can focus more on immersing themselves in the magical 3D world— Ugh, same vibes as The Los Angeles Times."
Cloris tossed the Variety paper aside.
"This one's not bad: Its exploration of justice, thrilling action scenes, visually stunning shots, and emotionally authentic performances make it utterly captivating... Meh."
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Cloris toss aside a paper that praised the movie, Shinji raised a questioning brow.
"That's from The Times—one of ours."
"Ha~ I figured."
Shinji laughed out loud.
Anyone calling Super 8's plot brilliant was probably either a diehard Type-Moon fan... or media already in their pocket.
"Overall, I guess the reviews are leaning positive," Shinji speculated, crossing his legs. "Thankfully we've got the advantage of the theme, so all they can really nitpick is how simple the story is."
"Pretty much," Cloris nodded. "But you know, there are always people who like to be contrarians."
As she said this, Cloris made a playful face at the ever-composed Shinji.
She was annoyed that he still hadn't touched her belly even though she'd been deliberately showing it for a while.
At this rate, she was going to catch a chill.
Shinji caught on to her thoughts and, with uncharacteristic tenderness, took the cushion he'd used for his nap and placed it over her stomach.
"The air conditioning's on. Don't catch a cold."
"Hmph!"
Cloris pouted and looked down at a newspaper filled with bad reviews. She deliberately read aloud in an exaggerated tone:
"Too many tedious explanations of setting, vague mystique without meaningful depth, unnecessary characters added for supposed nostalgia—all of which seriously bog down the film's narrative. Guess which paper this came from?"
She paused on purpose, trying to tease a reaction out of Shinji.
But the Shinji remained completely unbothered, as if the ceiling was far more captivating than the gorgeous girl beside him.
"France's Le Figaro. Figures. You're just not popular with Europeans."
Cloris revealed the answer with a huff, disappointed that he didn't take the bait.
"There will always be people who try to look special by going against the grain. You can't wake someone who's pretending to sleep."
Shinji smiled and replied, "Compared to mainstream media, I trust the massive review platforms more."
"You mean our IMDB, right? I checked before I came."
Cloris cut him off confidently.
"9.2. That's an insane score," she said, clearly pleased. "It's right up there with The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption."
But Shinji's smile grew faintly odd.
Cloris furrowed her brow. "You're not happy? That's like... top-tier recognition."
Shinji shrugged. "The number doesn't mean anything. I said I care about the actual comments."
"So the score's fake?" Cloris immediately suspected.
"Not fake," Shinji said vaguely, "just a matter of algorithms."
But Cloris could already guess the truth.
Calculating the average score is an algorithm, calculating the deviation value is also an algorithm, and the square root of the average plus 5 points is still an algorithm.
"Wouldn't people question that?"
Shinji explained, "Scores for new movies always start high. Over time, as more people rate them, the scores normalize. Once the movie's out of theaters, the algorithm levels out."
Cloris pouted. "So you take advantage of that inflated launch period and use a rigged algorithm to push the movie to the top of the site to harvest traffic? Aren't you afraid fans will notice?"
"It's not like we do it for every movie," Shinji replied nonchalantly. "Only for those with over 80% positive ratings. We're not lying, after all."
Of course, if it weren't a Type-Moon-related film, even an 80% approval rate wouldn't earn that special treatment.
But there was no need to spell that out to Cloris. She, as a successful businesswoman, understood the unspoken rules.
"You're such a villain,"
Cloris flicked Shinji's lips with one of her fair, slender fingers.
"Ahem, alright. I've got work to do—two gigs to record today."
Shinji stood up and walked out without looking back.
If he stayed any longer, he'd end up pushing her down and have his way with her. And Shinji wasn't sure he could hold back much longer.
So, while he still could restrain himself, he decided to flee from this dangerously tempting office.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Even though Shinji knew that Super 8's current IMDB rating was more inflated than the Pacific Ocean...
His fans didn't.
Over the past few years, thanks to steady promotion and a fair, unbiased treatment of non-Type-Moon productions, IMDB's credibility among film fans had grown significantly. So, for Matou Shinji to achieve a high rating on IMDB was, in the public's eyes, a true testament to his capabilities.
Since the release of Fate/stay night in 2003, Shinji had already directed three films and two TV series—and that was just counting his completed works, not even including projects he produced or those still in development. On paper alone, Shinji was far from a newbie in the entertainment industry. Combined with the fact that his content was deliberately crafted to appeal to audience tastes, he'd naturally amassed a loyal and passionate fanbase.
Even some professional critics, like Milo Johnson, considered themselves "fans" of his—though both Shinji and Milo knew that label came with a hefty pair of quotation marks.
To these fans, the idea of Shinji's movie climbing to the top of IMDB wasn't just impressive—it was cause for celebration.
"Now that's more like it!"
In the Tokyo Magus Club, Aoko stared excitedly at her computer screen, ranting to Alice.
"The story, the visuals, the effects, the scale, the acting—even the score! Super 8 beats those long-winded, pretentious movies a hundred times over! If that doesn't make the IMDB high score list, then the problem's with the site, not the film!"
"So basically, Super 8 scoring high on IMDB—even if a little inflated because it's new—proves the site's not broken?"
This time, Alice wasn't the one being roasted; she was doing the roasting.
Though it was Aoko who had converted Alice into a full-blown Shinji stan, Alice had since outpaced even her teacher in devotion.
That said, Alice didn't really care about the IMDB rating itself. Once she confirmed that Super 8 had generally good reviews, she immediately switched focus to analyzing the story.
"I'm really curious about that little girl who keeps showing up but never gets a proper backstory. Who is she, really?"
"Hmm…"
Aoko rubbed her chin in thought.
"I think she's some kind of deus ex machina, but…"
Her expression gradually turned serious.
The concept of "summoning heroes into the real world when faced with a crisis" was eerily familiar to magus like them.
"You thinking what I'm thinking? The Counter Force?"
"But what would that even imply?"
"Maybe Shinji's hinting that Heroic Spirits from parallel worlds can also be summoned—and that he's planning to do just that?"
"But why put that in a movie? That's meaningless, right?"
"How could it be meaningless?" Alice immediately countered.
"He successfully summoned Saber Alter by filming Heaven's Feel, remember? This might be another attempt to condition public consciousness so he can summon something else from another world."
"You're telling me Shinji actually wants to summon Ultraman or something? Is there even a parallel world where that exists?"
Aoko still felt like something didn't quite add up.
Fortunately, being a woman of action, she quickly came up with a plan.
"Why don't we just go see the movie again today? I bet we'll catch even more details."
"Of course!"
With a fun proposal like that, Alice wasn't about to say no.
<+>
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