NOVEL WEB Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Idol
The magus' desire for FSN's high box office wasn't hard to understand. After all, in this day and age, studying magecraft was an endeavor with an imbalanced input-output ratio.
With the decline of mysteries, magus were pouring more and more resources into researching the mystical arts, but the results they obtained were dwindling.
Many magus families had exhausted their wealth in this process and had become impoverished.
Although there were politicians, business tycoons, or landowners among magus, like the Matou family, the majority of magus families were declining just like the Tohsaka family.
FSN's appearance was like the first ray of dawn, and magus realized that magecraft could actually be used to make money, and big money at that.
Even though the Japanese yen wasn't very strong, 2 billion yen was not a small amount. Many Clock Tower research departments didn't even have an annual budget of 2 billion yen.
While everyone understood that not all of those 2 billion yen belonged to the production company, they also knew that 2 billion yen was definitely not FSN's endpoint.
Because in the fourth week, FSN's box office surged again, reaching 1.56 billion yen, breaking the 3 billion yen milestone in Japan and reaching 3.56 billion yen.
The reason for this was that Shinji had found a way to mobilize another huge group of Japanese moviegoers – Japanese housewives.
Don't underestimate these housewives who spent most of their days at home.
According to the statistics in the Japanese entertainment industry, they were the largest consumer group for entertainment in all of Japan, even surpassing children and otaku.
The reason was simple: housewives controlled the household finances and had plenty of free time.
Having money and leisure time, coupled with no other responsibilities except household chores, made these housewives ideal for pursuing their interests in stars and dramas.
Johnny & Associates, for instance, was elevated to the position of Japan's number one talent agency largely due to the support of housewives.
Shinji's method to mobilize these housewives was quite simple. He had edited a special FSN ad featuring the handsome male actors and had Aniplex air it during daytime dramas, which were the housewives' favorite programs.
This idea had actually been suggested to Shinji by the enthusiastic young fangirl of Gilgamesh during the preview screening. It made him realize that the King of Heroes had a charisma that could captivate the majority of women around the world.
Originally, Shinji had planned to use Gilgamesh as a backup plan if the box office couldn't be boosted. But before he even got around to it, FSN's box office took off, and now Gilgamesh had transformed from an underdog into a trump card.
But it's not just about giving extra help; adding a touch of beauty to something already beautiful can be nice too.
At least, Gilgamesh's good looks had quite an impact on those housewives. Enchanted by the handsome Gilgamesh they saw in the trailers, these ladies brought their families to the theaters to watch FSN.
After watching the movie, they complained about Gilgamesh's limited screen time but treasured his photos because Shinji had arranged a special promotion where attendees would receive character photos after watching FSN.
This move made housewives all over Japan eagerly participate in the event, hoping to get their hands on Gilgamesh's photos. It was unknown how many mothers, while giving these photos to their children, secretly kept Gilgamesh's photo for themselves.
Illyasviel told Shinji that in her school, Gilgamesh's photos had become the rarest and most sought-after collectibles, even though the number of Gilgamesh photos distributed was the same as Saber and Shirou's.
"Why do so many women like that rude man?" Sakura, who had heard from Shinji about the Gilgamesh photo selling out, was venting her frustration while shopping with Arturia and Medusa.
In Sakura's eyes, Gilgamesh, who had caused a lot of trouble during the shoot, was simply a burden to the cast. She couldn't understand why he was getting so much attention.
"Sakura, you need to know one thing," Medusa pushed up her glasses, "when you don't know much about someone's personality, visuals can be a great supplement. Besides, that twisted guy doesn't look half bad."
"But Rider, you admit that his personality is terrible, right? Arturia, what do you think?"
Sakura still felt a bit dissatisfied and looked to Arturia for more agreement.
Arturia, who was munching on a meat bun, tilted her head, "Hmm... It's quite normal for the Master to be popular, right? After all, he looks a bit like Lancelot."
"What does that have to do with Onii-sama?"
Arturia asked in confusion, "Good-looking but bad personality? Isn't that Master?"
"Achoo!"
Shinji inexplicably sneezed.
With Shinji's various promotional efforts for FSN, the movie's box office had soared like an unbridled wild horse. It even sparked a wave of enthusiasm for moviegoing in April, which wasn't the peak season for movies.
Many media outlets predicted that FSN might become the first Japanese film to break 10 billion yen at the box office this year and even had a chance to become the box office champion of the year.
Although those media predictions were made with a tendency towards exaggeration, and they wrote in a sensationalistic style, the articles about the final box office forecast for FSN not only silenced the film critics who had been shouting that the movie was terrible but also aroused some different thoughts among the magus families.
Back then, the Matou family had also sent invitations to the magus families in Japan when they were preparing to make a movie.
But all the magus unanimously refused, using the excuse that they were too busy researching the mysteries.
Now that someone was making money, everyone was envious.
There was no way around it; it was 10 billion yen!!
Even if you deducted some, it would still be enough for magus families to start several new research projects.
So, many heads of magus families contacted Zouken one after another.
Some boldly set their sights on Shinji, the core of the project, and approached Zouken with marriage proposals, saying things like, "I have a daughter (or granddaughter) at home who's very charming, just like your Shinji. They're a perfect match. How about we become in-laws?"
Of course, among magus, there were those who looked down on worldly matters and valued the art of magecraft more.
Some chose to seek advice directly, hoping that Shinji could explain the magecraft rituals in the movie to them, while others intended to deconstruct the Holy Grail ritual in the most direct way possible to reach the Root.
These people were more troublesome; in a community where normal individuals were already scarce among magus, they were the extremists among extremists.
To ensure the safety of Ryudou Temple, Zouken had to arrange for the Heroic Spirits to take turns guarding the temple.
Although the Heroic Spirits weren't as powerful as in other parallel worlds, dealing with these trash magus was no problem.
However, Arturia and the other Heroic Spirits were somewhat uncomfortable as they had to enjoy the treatment of a certain gatekeeper whose name couldn't be mentioned.
But Yan Qing had taken a liking to the game of scaring intruders when he was on guard duty in the temple in full cosplay. This added some fun to his otherwise boring guard duty.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the magus who came to Fuyuki City didn't achieve their goals.
The intruders were swiftly dealt with by the Heroic Spirits, and those magus seeking marriage proposals or cooperation with Shinji returned empty-handed.
It's not that Zouken is being stingy; his reasons are quite valid.
"My grandson Shinji isn't here, and I can't make decisions on his behalf," is not just some excuse Zouken randomly came up with; Shinji is indeed not in Fuyuki City.
Because starting from May, Shinji took a trip to France with Kariya to attend the Cannes Film Festival.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
France, Nice Airport.
Shinji strolled out of the passage, whistling with a slightly mischievous, self-confident smile on his face, dragging a slightly oversized suitcase.
Following behind Shinji was Kariya.
"Wow, the flight attendants from French airlines are really friendly," Shinji said with a smirk. "Although French men aren't great, the ladies are something~ Hm, Uncle, what are you looking at?"
Shinji was curious as he saw Kariya craning his neck, looking around.
"Nothing, I'm just looking for the person who's here to pick us up."
Kariya rolled his eyes and replied insincerely.
Shinji raised an eyebrow, "The person picking us up is Waver. He should be easy to spot, right? That face, it's impossible to miss him even from a few hundred meters away. Or did you not coordinate properly with Waver when you contacted him?"
"Of course, I coordinated properly," Kariya replied, "I only spoke with Mr. Velvet on the phone, and I haven't met him in person."
"I see, as long as you spot someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the crowd, that should be him."
"Shinji Matou! You're talking about me behind my back again!" A voice that sounded like it had been working overtime suddenly chimed in.
Waver glared at Shinji with irritation, clearly very displeased with his earlier comments.
Shinji didn't show the slightest hint of embarrassment but instead greeted Waver with a hug.
"Isn't this my good buddy Waver from the Clock Tower? Long time no see, your dark circles have gotten worse."
"Tsk."
Waver clicked his tongue impatiently, and his forehead wrinkled, including the wrinkles between his brows.
"This won't do, Waver, you need to take care of your health."
As Shinji finished hugging Waver and adjusted his black suit, he smiled and expressed his concern.
"You're just pretending. If it weren't for you suddenly coming back to Japan, I wouldn't have had to take on so much extra work," Waver grumbled through gritted teeth.
"Really? I've already completely forgotten about something that happened so long ago," Shinji replied nonchalantly.
"It wasn't that long ago, just a few months ago!!" Waver rubbed his temples and complained in exasperation, "You've always been like this, Shinji, it's really annoying!"
Kariya, nodding vigorously, added, "I understand. Shinji always passes on troublesome tasks to others and makes unreasonable demands! He's horrible!"
"I know, right!" Waver enthusiastically grabbed Kariya's hand. "Although we confirmed it over the phone, it's only after meeting in person that I can be sure. Mr. Kariya, you truly are my comrade in arms!"
"That's right, Mr. Velvet!"
Kariya responded enthusiastically to Waver.
Feeling excluded, Shinji quickly interjected, "Hey, you two, are you forming a class friendship or something?"
Shinji, sensing that the conversation between Kariya and Waver was getting more nonsensical by the second, promptly interrupted them with a work-related question.
"Waver, have you contacted the European and American distributors as I instructed? How's the situation?"
"Regarding that, I've already contacted several in advance, and they've all shown interest in the movie. However..."
Waver gave Shinji a deep look, pretending to be profound, and said, "One of the distributors has made a special request."
"A special request?"
Shinji had a bad feeling about this for no apparent reason.
"Yes." Kariya joined in, wearing a smile that seemed to match Waver's. "Mr. Velvet and I have both given our approval. After all, Shinji, you entrusted all matters related to Europe and America to me."
"Hmm..."
Shinji, sensing trouble, shivered slightly. Immediately after that, he felt his shoulders being held down by Waver and Kariya, one on each side.
"What are you two trying to do?"
Shinji's tone contained a hint of panic, something rarely heard from him.
"Nothing, we're just introducing you to the distributor," Waver said, with a hint of satisfaction in his heart. "Come on, Shinji. Allow me to introduce you to this..."
Before Waver could finish his sentence, a silver-haired, red-eyed girl appeared in front of Shinji.
"Shinji Matou!"
"A girl with a fierce look in her eyes grabbed Shinji Matou and threw him to the ground.
Shinji Matou found himself choked by the opponent, both physically and mentally.
"Cloris... Flora..."
Shinji Matou, trembling like a mouse caught by a cat, called out the girl's name.