In reality, the explosive situation at the initial release of "Kara no Kyoukai" was actually within expectations for Shonen Jump, so there was no need to be too surprised.
After all, before "Kara no Kyoukai" was released, it had just been promoted in "Weekly Shonen Jump".
Although Shonen Jump's circulation is no longer at its peak, it is still a super magazine with nearly three million readers.
The promotion published in Shonen Jump, even if it could only attract one-tenth of the readers, would at least guarantee a baseline of 300,000 copies sold.
Because the author of "Kara no Kyoukai" is none other than Akira.
Since the beginning of its serialization, shōsei's performance has been in the top three most of the time, making it undoubtedly a super popular new serialized manga today.
Moreover, although "Fate/staynight" has only been serialized for 20 chapters so far, it might sound like not much.
But in terms of time, "Fate/staynight" has already been serialized in Shonen Jump for about half a year.
The above two points are enough for Fsn to initially accumulate a group of loyal fan readers.
Most of them, regarding this light novel personally created by Fsn's author Akira, will likely buy a copy to show support, regardless of whether they are optimistic about it or not.
And apart from them, many other Shonen Jump readers will likely go to purchase it, driven by the gimmick of "a light novel created by a Shonen Jump serialized Manga Artist."
Therefore, the explosive scene on the release day of "Kara no Kyoukai" was completely foreseeable.
Because the vast majority of them are fan readers of "Fate/staynight" and Akira, or readers of Shonen Jump.
And after this round of explosive popularity, the extent to which the sales of "Kara no Kyoukai" can ultimately reach still depends on the quality of the work itself.
However, coming back to the point, according to Akira's timeline from his previous life, the Japanese light novel industry would not begin to gradually head towards prosperity and its peak until the birth of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" series in 2003.
And right now, it is in the dawn period of the light novel industry; although the three major light novel publishing houses of later generations have already taken initial shape, they are still far from being comparable to the currently flourishing Shonen Jump.
Therefore, the explosive phenomenon caused by "Kara no Kyoukai" on the day of its novel release, because it was backed by Shonen Jump, indeed brought a little bit of traffic shock to the light novel industry.
And compared to the light novel industry that had not yet reacted, the light novel readers who happened to come to the bookstore to shop on the day of the release of "Kara no Kyoukai" felt this most deeply.
Yamashita Eiji is a first-year high school student in the "go-home club" and a loyal reader of light novels.
On an ordinary day, on his way home from school, Yamashita Eiji habitually stopped at a bookstore on his way home, preparing to hunt for any newly released light novels.
However, just as he arrived at the bookstore entrance, his attention was caught by the Ryougi Shiki character standee at the door, and a flash of amazement crossed his eyes—
"What a cool female character! What exquisite artwork!"
Consequently, he quickened his pace into the store, preparing to ask the clerk which work the character at the door came from.
But before he had the chance to ask, the promotional poster that immediately caught his eye answered his question—
"Author of the popular new Shonen Jump serialization 'Fate/staynight'!
Mochizuki-sensei crosses over to write!
Light novel 'Kara no Kyoukai' first volume tankobon is on hot sale!"
"Shonen Jump?"
"'Kara no Kyoukai'?"
"A light novel created by a Shonen Jump serialized Manga Artist?"
Yamashita Eiji knew about this manga magazine; back in elementary school, many people in his class were reading it, and it was the same now.
However, perhaps precisely because everyone was reading it, he felt inexplicably resistant, so he had never read or come into contact with manga magazines.
Eventually, by some coincidence, he got into light novels.
In short, looking at the exquisite artwork on the promotional poster and the mysterious girl who perfectly hit his preferences, Yamashita Eiji couldn't help but feel a strong sense of curiosity.
He wanted to see how well a light novel created by a Shonen Jump Manga Artist was written.
Thinking this, his gaze hardly needed to search before he immediately spotted "Kara no Kyoukai" placed on the most prominent shelf.
And the scene before him made him feel a bit surprised.
The cover of "Kara no Kyoukai" was the same as on the promotional poster, but perhaps because of the smaller size, the artwork looked even more exquisite.
More importantly, on the same shelf, other light novels were stacked full, yet when it came to "Kara no Kyoukai," it had suddenly dipped, with only about six copies left.
Seeing this, he asked the clerk nearby with some confusion: "It's already like this, aren't you going to restock?"
Realizing what he was saying, the clerk gave an apologetic smile and said: "I'm sorry, this is all the stock we currently have for this light novel in our store."
"? Is this light novel that popular?"
Yamashita Eiji was immediately surprised upon hearing this.
Because this kind of situation was something he had only seen before on the release days of new volumes of popular light novel works.
Consequently, he couldn't help but look down and reconfirm the information about the work.
This was indeed a new work, no mistake.
How could it sell so fast?
Just because it was written by a Shonen Jump author?
However, just as he was feeling puzzled by this, someone came to the shelf with a clear goal and took a copy of "Kara no Kyoukai".
Now there were only four copies left on the shelf.
Good grief!
Seeing this, Yamashita Eiji no longer hesitated and immediately took a copy of "Kara no Kyoukai" from the shelf as well, and went to the counter to check out.
At this moment, the person who had already finished checking out, upon discovering that he had also bought "Kara no Kyoukai", actually took the initiative to smile and talk to him: "Are you also a fan of Mochizuki-sensei?"
"Uh—"
Yamashita Eiji was stunned for a moment, then scratched his head awkwardly and said: "No, I just thought this light novel looked pretty good, so—"
"Ah, sorry."
Realizing that he seemed to have made a mistake, the other person also immediately became a bit awkward; after apologizing to him, he left in a hurry, as if he were fleeing the scene.
The other person's behavior made Yamashita Eiji feel a bit embarrassed too, but since the person had already left, he also left the bookstore and prepared to head home.
But—
The Mochizuki-sensei the other person mentioned earlier must be the author of this light novel, right?
Is this Mochizuki-sensei also a very famous author over at Shonen Jump?
Recalling everything he had seen and experienced in the bookstore just now, Yamashita Eiji became increasingly curious about the content of the light novel "Kara no Kyoukai", so he also quickened his pace home.
"I'm home!"
Returning home, after hurriedly greeting his parents, Yamashita Eiji immediately rushed back to his bedroom.
Next, he took out "Kara no Kyoukai", carefully tore off the plastic film of the new book, and then couldn't wait to start reading immediately—
"'Kara no Kyoukai' Author: Akira Chapter 1: Overlooking View That day, I chose a wide avenue as my way home.
Such a whim is actually quite rare for me.
I was walking absent-mindedly through the unchanging commercial building district, and soon, someone suddenly fell down; it was a 'thud' sound that one doesn't often get the chance to hear, quite obviously—someone had fallen from the building and died.
—A corpse with a bent and deformed head like a fetus, from what I could see.
It was probably like a broken lily."