At nine in the morning, almost exactly when the bookstore opened, Rin appeared punctually at the entrance and headed straight for the Weekly Shonen Jump on the shelves.
Her first encounter with Akira had begun with one of his drawings.
Not only that, she had personally witnessed his entire journey from practicing his art to successfully signing a contract, right up to the official publication of his manga today.
Consequently, she had long been filled with curiosity about this work titled "Fate/stay night."
Although Akira had told her before that he could give her an advance copy of Issue 31 if she wanted it, she had declined.
For something like this, it felt more like a proper ritual to buy it in person, didn't it?
Walking up to the shelf holding Weekly Shonen Jump, she immediately noticed the exquisite color page on the magazine cover and the unfamiliar new face.
However, she chose not to examine it closely; instead, she grabbed a copy and quickly headed to the checkout counter to pay, intending to take it home and read it slowly.
On the way home, because she was secretly quickening her pace in anticipation, she accidentally stepped into a puddle, soaking her shoes and socks.
But this didn't dampen her mood in the slightest.
Or rather, for the moment, she didn't have the energy to focus on such trivial matters.
Back home, she shed her wet shoes and socks at the entrance and hurried barefoot to the desk in her bedroom. Only then did she finally allow her pace to slow down.
After steadying her breathing slightly, Rin instinctively glanced at the small picture frame on her desk.
The drawing sealed inside the frame was the sketch of the Akihabara street scene that Akira had given her back then.
...Well, better read the manga first.
First was the color page on the cover. This should be the male protagonist of the manga, right?
As for the artwork, she naturally knew Akira's skills were strong, but she hadn't expected his use of color to be so impressive as well.
Genius Manga Artist
Mochizuki Akira-sensei's New Serialization...
Seeing those words, she couldn't help but curl her lips into a slight smile.
Since Weekly Shonen Jump wasn't shrink-wrapped, she naturally flipped open the pages.
After quickly skipping past the various advertisement pages at the beginning, the color lead page for "Fate/stay night" came into view.
This time, besides the protagonist, there were three female characters behind him, each with a unique art style and distinct, vivid personalities that were very eye-catching.
A beautiful girl with black twin-tails and blue eyes, looking elegant and cool;
A beautiful girl with long purple hair and eyes, possessing a gentle and cute aura;
And a beautiful girl with short, wavy bluish-purple hair and eyes, her gaze filled with disdain and arrogance;
Among them, the black-haired girl with twin-tails caught her attention.
She had seen Akira use this girl for drawing practice before; she hadn't expected her to be a character in the manga, and one that seemed to have quite a significant role.
Now, finally, onto the main story—
"Fate/stay night"
Chapter 1: Shirou's Daily Life
"
—Upon waking, I found myself in the midst of a burning wilderness.
There must have been a massive fire.
The familiar streets had turned into ruins, like the war-torn sites seen in movies, with many people around reduced to shrunken charcoal.
In this vicinity, I was the only one alive.
Even a child so small would think so—
This sight was a literal hell.
...
..."
The opening scene of the burning urban ruins immediately grabbed her attention, but then the scene shifted. Just like the title of the chapter, it began to depict the daily life of the protagonist, Emiya Shirou.
Eating breakfast, going to school, chatting with classmates...
Setting aside the supernatural powers Emiya Shirou displayed and the anomalies hinted at everywhere, even the mundane daily plot itself was drawn very attractively by Akira.
This was primarily due to his outstanding draftsmanship; the entire visual presentation was so exquisite it didn't look like a shonen weekly, but rather felt like the quality of a seinen monthly manga.
The second impression, besides being exquisite, was its cleanliness—it was neither sparse nor overly complex, just perfectly clean.
Clean lines, clean shadows, clean backgrounds...
The combination of these merits made the entire reading experience very comfortable.
In terms of plot, the characters' dialogues carried a unique atmosphere. Even though it was just casual daily chatter, it was infused with a certain mysterious quality that made one unconsciously immersed in it.
Also...
Tohsaka Rin.
That was the name of the black-haired twin-tailed girl.
The moment she saw this name, Rin was suddenly pulled out of her immersive reading experience, and a flurry of thoughts popped into her head.
Tohsaka Rin?
Rin?
The same name as mine...
Did Mochizuki-kun do this on purpose?
Or is it a coincidence?
Or am I overthinking it?
...
After agonizing over it for a long time, she decided to bury the question in her heart for now and continue reading.
As the peaceful daily life continued, more and more details began to hint at an extraordinary existence, casting an increasingly eerie undertone over the tranquil atmosphere.
Until the next day, when Emiya Shirou unexpectedly stayed late at school and suddenly noticed unusual movements coming from the sports field.
When he went over, what appeared before his eyes was a battle between two men in strange attire. The exaggerated effects were like a recreation of mythology, completely shattering the previous sense of normalcy!
Just then, the man with the spear suddenly discovered Emiya Shirou's presence. Although his expression didn't change much, the terrifying power he had just displayed was enough to make one's blood run cold.
Emiya Shirou also realized things were bad. Amidst close-ups of both their expressions, the frame froze right there.
"...That's it?"
Rin blinked blankly.
Realizing that the content of the first chapter indeed ended there, she suddenly felt a sense of being left hanging, which could only be described as extremely frustrating.
It had to be said that the content of Chapter 1 was very interesting; the chemical reaction between the art and the plot made it impossible not to get immersed.
But—
Why would the ending stop at a place like this!?
This Akira is so mean!
However, just then, she suddenly thought of something, and her mood calmed down slightly.
Then, after re-reading the content of Chapter 1 a few more times, she decisively sent an email to Akira—
『Rin』: "I've finished reading Chapter 1 of 'Fate/stay night.' It's very good.
But the place where the ending cuts off is annoying!"
『Akira』: "(Holding back a laugh) Thanks, looks like the effect was pretty good then."
『Rin』: "! You really did it on purpose, didn't you!?"
『Akira』: "Actually, not really, but I habitually cut it off there."
『Rin』: "What a terrible habit..."
Also, about Tohsaka Rin's name...
Halfway through typing this sentence, her movements paused slightly. After hesitating for a moment, she deleted the original sentence and changed it to something else.
『Rin』: "Anyway, congratulations on officially debuting as a manga artist today."
"But I hope you can fix that bad habit in the future."