Before JumpFesta officially began, there were actually quite a few things to take care of.
First, the single for "Snow Flower" was finally officially released, and even before its official release, pre-sales for the CD had already reached 300,000 copies.
And that was just the pre-sale data.
On the day the single was released, countless shops on the streets of Tokyo began playing the song—
"The moment we huddled together quietly watching this year's first snow, overflowing with happiness... Acting spoiled doesn't mean I'm weak, I just love you."
"I love you from the bottom of my heart..." Although Tokyo hadn't seen its first snow of the year yet, the temperature in late November had already begun to enter winter, and people on the streets were gradually putting on thicker clothes.
Therefore, when the soothing melody of "Snow Flower" with its touch of melancholy played on the streets, it felt like background music for the arrival of winter, appearing exceptionally fitting for the occasion.
On the night of the single's official release, Rin appeared on "SMAP X SMAP" and performed the song on the program once again.
Besides the release of "Snow Flower," for readers of Shonen Jump—especially those who loved Fate/stay night and Akira—there was another matter even more worthy of attention: the official release of the first volume of Kara no Kyoukai.
On the day Kara no Kyoukai went on sale, rows of new books were placed on the shelves, and the vast majority of bookstores placed the Kara no Kyoukai tankobon in the most prominent positions.
The color cover of the first tankobon volume of Kara no Kyoukai featured a mysterious short-haired girl.
At night, the girl stood atop a city skyscraper, bathed in moonlight. Her profile facing the camera was cold yet beautiful, and her pupils radiated a brilliant light.
The mix of a purple kimono and a red jacket looked a bit strange, but it was unusually harmonious on her, instead highlighting her elegant and cool temperament.
At the same time, the dagger in her hand, reflecting the cold moonlight, added a touch of danger to her aura.
When all these elements came together, they created a beautiful girl who embodied mystery, danger, coolness, and beauty—someone extremely alluring and attractive.
Although the saying "buying illustrations and getting toilet paper for free" didn't exist in this era yet, for light novels, the quality of the color cover and illustrations was extremely important—a fact long recognized by the industry.
Sometimes, the importance of the illustrations could even surpass the light novel itself.
Therefore, Akira put a lot of heart into drawing the color cover for the first tankobon volume of Kara no Kyoukai, spending a considerable amount of effort on it.
This applied not only to the color cover but also to the illustrations within the novel.
As it turned out, his approach was indeed correct.
Thanks to his exquisite artistic skills and unique character art style, combined with the effort he put in, the final result was a high-quality piece of art.
The color cover of Kara no Kyoukai was a very eye-catching presence even among a row of other works.
Any customer who glanced in that direction would find it hard not to notice it immediately.
Besides his own efforts, the scale of the promotion for Kara no Kyoukai was actually unexpectedly large.
Setting aside the ads in Shonen Jump, on the day the light novel was released, many bookstores placed character standees of Ryougi Shiki outside their doors, and promotional posters were put up inside the shops.
The content on the promotional posters was also quite striking—
"From the author of the popular new Shonen Jump series Fate/stay night!"
"Mochizuki-sensei writes across genres!"
"The first tankobon volume of the light novel Kara no Kyoukai is now on sale!"
This level of fanfare was even more exaggerated than on the day the first tankobon volume of Fate/stay night was released.
Of course, these promotional materials weren't paid for by the bookstores themselves, but were provided by the publisher.
To be precise, it was Super Fantasy Bunko, which is under Shueisha and collaborated with Shonen Jump to release Kara no Kyoukai.
Just as Akira had heard before, the situation for Super Fantasy Bunko was indeed quite precarious.
Since its founding, Super Fantasy Bunko had failed to produce any successful works, and now it was on the verge of being shut down, potentially facing dissolution at any moment.
The release of Kara no Kyoukai in collaboration with Shonen Jump could be seen as Super Fantasy Bunko's final gamble.
Win and they survive; lose and they dissolve on the spot.
Therefore, for the release and promotion of Kara no Kyoukai, Super Fantasy Bunko practically squeezed out every resource they had available, sparing no effort.
That was why such an exaggerated scene appeared on the release day of Kara no Kyoukai.
On the day the novel was released, the editor in charge of Kara no Kyoukai, Akiyama Ryo, couldn't help but quietly visit a nearby bookstore to observe the situation.
However, although he was called the editor in charge of Kara no Kyoukai, he actually had no say in the entire project, or even in the review of the work itself.
Even as the novel's editor, he hadn't even met the author of the work he was responsible for, Mochizuki-sensei, a single time yet.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but give a bitter smile.
Being an editor like this is really—
But there was nothing he could do. Akira was currently the author of a popular new series in Shonen Jump, while he was just an ordinary editor at a light novel imprint about to be shut down.
The gap in their status was simply too large.
Not only that, for such an important project, the higher-ups chose him to be the editor in charge—perhaps besides valuing his ability and seniority, they mostly wanted him to take the blame if it failed.
But when the leaders personally hand down a burden, what choice did he have but to carry it?
So, he didn't have any more thoughts now; he only hoped that Kara no Kyoukai could truly support the project, or at least not fail too miserably.
He really didn't want to lose his job!
Thus, with this small wish, Akiyama Ryo walked into a bookstore with a Ryougi Shiki character standee at the door and quickly found the shelf where Kara no Kyoukai was placed.
The scene before him took him by surprise—
It's selling so fast!
Kara no Kyoukai was placed on the most prominent shelf in the bookstore.
Besides Kara no Kyoukai, there were other works on the shelf, some of which were currently popular light novels, such as the volumes of Full Metal Panic!.
But among all these works, the Kara no Kyoukai tankobon was selling the fastest!
It wasn't even noon yet, and the bookstore had been open for less than two hours, but more than half of the stock of Kara no Kyoukai on the shelf was already gone, and staff members were already starting to restock.
During this process, people still came to the shelf from time to time, took a copy of Kara no Kyoukai to the counter to pay, and some even took three copies at once!
Akiyama Ryo stared blankly at the scene before him, thinking somewhat incredulously—
Could it be—
Is it really going to be a massive hit this time?!