"Kiritsugu Emiya," as Mochizuki Akira's masterpiece from his rookie period and the grand prize winner of the Tezuka Award, was naturally read by his three assistants at the first opportunity.
Not only that, as Mochizuki Akira's manga assistants, they had a special privilege—they could see unpublished content in advance at Mochizuki Akira's place, and in the form of original manuscripts.
Thus, on the day they arrived at the studio this week, the three of them couldn't wait to finish reading the second chapter of "Kiritsugu Emiya" during their break.
However, after finishing it, the three of them couldn't help but fall into a state of conflict and silence.
Although they understood after reading the first chapter of "Kiritsugu Emiya" that it would be a relatively heavy story, they didn't expect it to be this heavy.
After a long while, Daisuke couldn't help but sigh, "Sigh, an ending like this—sigh—"
In the second chapter, the adult Kiritsugu ultimately kills his foster mother with his own hands to save more people.
This plot seems like a simple repetition of the first chapter, but that is not the case.
When the young Kiritsugu killed his father, although he also acted out of the idea of "saving more people," the perceptions of both parties were completely different.
At that time, he was just a child and didn't have a clear concept of the world, good and evil, life and death, and so on.
The young Kiritsugu at that time might not even have clearly realized what his act of killing his own father actually meant.
Whereas the adult Kiritsugu clearly had a clear understanding of the above situations.
Furthermore, the situation of Kiritsugu's foster mother, Natalia, was also the exact opposite of his biological father, Noritaka's situation.
In the first chapter, the source of the tragedy was Noritaka Emiya's experiment; it could be said that his role was the antagonist of the story.
Therefore, although the young Kiritsugu's act of killing his father was equally regrettable, it at least had the righteousness of "sacrificing family for the greater good."
But this time, the foster mother Natalia was also on the side of justice; after doing her best to defeat the villain, she was helplessly trapped on the plane.
Therefore, the choice to kill Natalia possessed no righteousness whatsoever.
This time, Kiritsugu simply compared one innocent life with countless innocent lives and ultimately chose the latter rationally.
It's just that this time, Kiritsugu could no longer carry out his rationality to the end.
So, after blowing up the plane, he finally couldn't hold on anymore, collapsing on the deck of the yacht and wailing in despair.
Mochizuki Akira also portrayed this scene with great tension, vividly showing Kiritsugu's inner collapse, despair, and pain, making it hard not to be moved."
"So why couldn't he save both sides!?"
Suddenly, Hayato Miyazaki cried out in frustration, "Since he's the protagonist, shouldn't he be able to save everyone?!"
Shota Terashima, who was beside him, was startled, but after hearing his statement, Shota Terashima explained helplessly, "What you're talking about is a classic hot-blooded shonen manga, but 'Kiritsugu Emiya' isn't like that."
"Especially for Kiritsugu, he could only choose one between his foster mother and the citizens of the city."
His feelings toward Kiritsugu were complex.
Rationally, he believed Kiritsugu's choice was indeed not wrong; but emotionally, it was hard for him to agree with Kiritsugu's choice.
But putting himself in those shoes, if it were him, he might really not know what to do.
Because this choice was simply too difficult to make; it felt like no matter what he chose, it would be wrong.
He had heard of the trolley problem before, but through this story of "Kiritsugu Emiya," he truly felt how difficult this problem was.
...
Emmmmn...
Although Hayato Miyazaki still felt very annoyed, he seemed unable to refute it.
However, at this moment, he noticed Mochizuki Akira watching the fun from the side and suddenly had an epiphany.
"In that case, it's ultimately Mochizuki-sensei's fault, right?"
Mochizuki Akira: "?"
To this, Hayato Miyazaki said confidently, "Because the fact that Kiritsugu would eventually face such a situation was entirely designed by Mochizuki-sensei on purpose!"
Hearing him say this, Shota Terashima and Daisuke also nodded in agreement.
Indeed.
How could this Mochizuki-sensei be so cruel!
"Uh—"
Hearing this, Mochizuki Akira was momentarily speechless.
Because it really was.
In his previous life, due to the update of Type-Moon's settings, the two-choice situation Kiritsugu faced was broken, and a possibility appeared where both sides could be saved.
It was precisely because of this that Kiritsugu's reputation plummeted afterward, with many people viewing Kiritsugu as a clown.
But in this regard, Kiritsugu actually suffered somewhat of an undeserved misfortune.
Because when Gen Urobuchi designed this plot, he clearly just wanted Kiritsugu to face the dilemma of the trolley problem, not to show his ignorance or stupidity.
So in this part, he slightly modified the enemy's settings, changing them to a simple villainous magus and the familiars he summoned, bringing the problem back on track.
Therefore, whether it was Gen Urobuchi or him, they indeed deliberately designed the situation Kiritsugu had to face.
One could only say that this kid really found the blind spot.
However, although he couldn't refute it, he at least had a way to make this guy shut up.
So he said with a smile, "If you say any more, there will be no part for you in 『Jump Festa』."
"
!"
Hayato Miyazaki could only surrender aggrievedly, making a zipping gesture at his mouth to indicate he was shutting up.
Dammit!
This is tyranny!
Mochizuki Akira couldn't hear the other's inner grumbling, but seeing him obediently shut up, he still nodded with satisfaction.
Just then, Hisashi's call came through.
This call first started with the routine notification of the shōsei's performance.
This week, the ranking for Chapter 21 of shōsei was 2nd place, dropping only one spot from last week.
Because Chapter 21 was a dialogue-heavy chapter, but the amount of information revealed was large, and Shirou's performance in the conversation and his final talk with Rider were quite striking, so the performance didn't decline much.
In contrast, "The Prince of Tennis," which was in 2nd place last week, fell back to 5th place this week, which is back to its usual normal range.
At the same time, the ranking of "naruto" rose by one place again, reaching 6th place; currently, it seems to be gradually improving.
And the 1st place this week was "hikaru no go"; this chapter reached Chapter 47, which is about the plot before Touya Akira prepares to play against Zama.
However, Mochizuki Akira was more curious about whether Touya Akira was wearing black stockings under those pants in this chapter.
Brother, you really are a bit of a snack.
After the shōsei results, they got down to the main business.
Hisashi laughed and said, "Congratulations, Mochizuki-sensei. The first-week sales of 'Kara no Kyoukai' have exceeded 150,000 copies, setting a record for the first-week sales of a light novel!"
"?"
Mochizuki Akira was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, "It broke the record already?"