When he spoke of Nasu Kinoko's unfairness toward Matou Sakura, he wasn't referring to those dark, damp descriptions of Mushroom's—though those were indeed quite disgusting.
What he wanted to discuss here was mainly reflected in Matou Sakura's actual screen time.
In reality, although the original Fsn was a Galgame, the character with the most development in the game was actually the male protagonist, Emiya Shirou.
The Fate route is about Emiya Shirou's persistence and inheritance of his ideals;
The UBW route is about Emiya Shirou's self-reflection on his ideals;
The HF route is about Emiya Shirou giving up his original ideals to save the person he loves.
In fact, looking at the themes, one can see that the tone of the HF route is quite mismatched with the previous two routes, almost as if it's not from the same game.
Furthermore, whether it was Saber in the Fate route or Tohsaka Rin in the UBW route, both played a crucial role in Shirou's growth, allowing him to break through his own limitations and become a better version of himself.
But Matou Sakura in the HF route did not.
On the contrary, her existence and experiences were instead the obstacles and problems that HF Shirou had to face.
Because her existence was the problem Shirou had to confront, she could neither save herself through her own will nor fall into villainy through her own will.
Otherwise, the problem Shirou had to face would not hold up.
Because of this, Mushroom almost erased all subjective agency from the character of Matou Sakura, and then used various plot points to justify the rationality of her actions.
The purpose of all this was simply to allow her to 'exist' as a problem.
To put it simply, Nasu Kinoko didn't actually build Matou Sakura as a heroine like Saber or Tohsaka Rin; instead, he shaped her like Kirei Kotomine in the Fate route or Archer in the UBW route.
This was what he considered Nasu Kinoko's greatest unfairness toward Matou Sakura.
Additionally, as a side note, there actually is a heroine in the HF route like Saber or Tohsaka Rin—or rather, a character who occupies the heroine's niche—
That character is Illya.
Although Illya is very cute and it's a pity the illya route was cut,
directly making Illya the heroine of the HF route is still somewhat dark humor.
To this, he could only say: Nasu Kinoko is truly heinous!
In short, based on the various reasons above, Matou Sakura's situation is quite difficult to handle.
The laziest method would, of course, be to treat Matou Sakura as just a purple-haired female extra, ignore her connection to the Matou Family, and abandon the HF route content.
When he first prepared to adapt Fsn, that was actually his plan.
But—
Would that really be okay?
Perhaps after "Fate/stay night" is finished, the HF route content could be published as a side story, but that would be a completely different situation.
Akira looked at the content of Chapter 15 before him, falling into deep thought.
But then again, the reason this week's Jump caught his attention wasn't actually because of the Fsn content.
Hmm——
It was because in this week's Issue 46, the first chapter of "Weathering with You" was finally published.
"Mochizuki-sensei even grasps the depiction of a young girl's expressions in love so well."
After reading the latest chapter of Fsn, Kishimoto Masashi couldn't help but let out a sigh of admiration.
Ever since he accidentally saw the color pages drawn by Akira at the Editorial Department and learned of his deeds, he had been particularly interested in him.
And naturally, he read every single issue of the "Fate/stay night" that the other was drawing.
Even putting the plot aside, the 'cleanliness' in the other's artwork was a state he liked very much and wanted to strive for.
In this chapter's content, what interested him most was Matou Sakura's performance.
It was clearly visible that Matou Sakura had a crush on Emiya Shirou.
After learning of Saber's existence, Matou Sakura's series of facial expression changes, as well as her subtle micro-expressions while secretly observing Saber and Emiya Shirou, were depicted quite meticulously by Akira.
It was almost as if he were a Manga Artist who started out drawing romance manga.
After reading this chapter, he had even grown a bit fond of this gentle junior schoolgirl who silently harbored a crush on the protagonist.
But Shirou seems to like Tohsaka Rin more.
Well, he actually quite liked Tohsaka Rin too.
At that moment, he thought of the love triangle plot he had drawn in Chapter 3.
Compared to Akira's delicate depiction of Matou Sakura's unrequited love in this chapter of Fsn, the unrequited love plot he had drawn indeed seemed quite lacking.
At the same time, considering the continued decline of his shōsei rankings in Chapter 3 and the editor's advice, he couldn't help but start reflecting:
Could it be that he really isn't suited for drawing romance plots?
Although he had such doubts in his heart, Kishimoto Masashi continued reading for the time being.
Gradually flipping to the end of the magazine, a new manga suddenly caught his eye, drawing his attention.
"Weathering with You?"
Muttering the name of the manga, the next moment he saw the author's name below the title, and his eyes widened in surprise: "It's Mochizuki-sensei's work?!"
Even though "Fate/stay night" had only recently started serialization, did Mochizuki-sensei already have the extra energy to draw a short story?
Surprised as he was, he began reading with great interest the next moment.
The first chapter of "Weathering with You" tells the story of a runaway boy named Hodaka who comes to Tokyo to make a living in a near-future society and encounters a girl named Hina who possesses a miraculous ability.
Even though the story had only just begun, it still left Kishimoto Masashi in awe.
Although the paper of the main Shonen Jump magazine was coarse, one could still see that the effort Akira put into the background art of "Weathering with You" was several times that of Fsn.
While the backgrounds were detailed and exquisite, they didn't feel cluttered; this level of artistic skill alone was enough to make one marvel.
More importantly, the other had constructed a very realistic and convincing near-future city, making one feel that the future might truly turn out that way.
At the same time, although Akira deliberately used simpler character designs, the depiction of character expressions remained vivid and delicate.
With all the above factors combined, the reading experience of the manga became incredibly immersive, as if the reader had truly become that runaway boy Hodaka, better understanding his mental journey.
The anxiety upon first arriving in Tokyo;
The oppression and gloom when unable to find a job;
The joy upon being accepted by the Editorial Agency;
And the shock upon witnessing the girl Hina's miraculous ability——
After reading it carefully, Kishimoto Masashi took a deep breath and praised from the bottom of his heart: "As expected of Mochizuki-sensei!"
At the same time, he finally realized one thing—in the creation of romance plots, he seemed to truly have no talent.
At least in this regard, he would likely never be able to surpass Mochizuki-sensei.
Not only that, but even the drawing skills he was proud of didn't seem to hold much weight against the exquisite background art of "Weathering with You."
So then——
What was he good at? Where was the thing he could surpass the other in?