Don't Call Me Master, Call Me Director

"Yes, Director."

Although the smile was very small, Artoria did indeed smile.

Shinji, who had been about to pick up his coffee again, froze, maintaining the pose of holding the coffee cup.

"What terrifying charm. I almost fell under its spell. This arrogant knight is indeed worth conquering."

Shinji muttered in a low voice.

"Speaking of which... this should be true-to-life acting, having the actor play themselves. If it works, let's promote this throughout the entire crew."

True-to-life acting usually refers to actors playing roles very similar to themselves in real life, making the performance feel most natural to the audience. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is the best example.

And in the FSN crew, each main actor plays their parallel world self. Without forcing a performance, letting them act as their truest selves would actually be more brilliant than having specific demands.

"As expected of my proud brother, a complete genius."

Sakura praised him sincerely.

Shinji puffed out his chest proudly, "Of course. Do you know who your brother is?"

Unexpectedly, Sakura's expression instantly darkened, "Indeed. As expected of the famous playboy from the Clock Tower, you're so natural at seducing girls, without any sense of incongruity."

"Wait! Sakura, what are you doing?"

Shinji's eyelids twitched wildly.

It turned out that without realizing it, Sakura had put too many sugar cubes into Shinji's cup. The undissolved cubes had piled up in the cup, forming a pyramid-like shape.

"Brother's mouth is so sweet, he must really like sweet things. Here, you eat more sugar, so you won't lack sweetness when you're charming Saber later."

"You little brat, are you trying to drown your brother in sugar?"

Chapter 4: The Eizenbern Castle in the Mountains

After Shinji came up with the idea of using cue cards to help the actors with their lines, the filming in the following days became a little bit easier.

Unfortunately, only a little bit.

The actors' smooth delivery of lines couldn't hide the other various problems within the FSN crew.

After all, film is a comprehensive art, and the filmmaking process is a combination of many aspects.

Besides lines, issues with blocking, lighting, sound effects, and other details would ultimately affect the video captured by the camera.

The main reason for these problems, besides Shinji's lack of experience as it was his first film, was that most of the crew members, except for a few specific positions, were amateurs.

Shinji had no choice. The filming location was his hometown, Fuyuki City, which was far from major film industry hubs like Tokyo and Kyoto.

Besides the permanently hired cinematographer and lighting technician who were willing to come to Fuyuki City, they could only find locals for fragmented, low-paying jobs.

Although the entire crew was full of rookies, they were cheap to hire and didn't require much expense.

However, the overall performance of the crew could only be described as a perfect embodiment of "you get what you pay for."

Fortunately, a commercial film like FSN had relatively simple requirements for dramatic scenes. For the action sequences, with the presence of Heroic Spirits, Shinji only needed to consider camera work and post-editing.

So, even though the crew's operation wasn't very smooth, Shinji managed to lead everyone in finishing the film bit by bit.

However, these past few days also made Shinji fully realize the truth that watching movies and learning about filmmaking is one thing, but personally producing a movie is another.

The gap between the two isn't small, at least it's as big as the difference in cup sizes between Artoria Pendragon Saber and Artoria Pendragon Lancer.

Despite facing numerous difficulties, Shinji never thought of giving up on this movie.

It was impossible to give up now anyway. Shinji had already invested nearly a million dollars in this movie alone. Not to mention the various additional investments he had made over the years to enter the film industry, which included money from the Matou Family and other Mage families he had cooperated with.

If Shinji were to give up, those Mage families who had bet on him would surely tear him to shreds.

However, even though Shinji was determined to persevere, the crew's performance inevitably made him depressed.

Actually, there was another person who was just as depressed as Shinji, and that was the owner of the Emiya Residence, Shinji's good friend, Shirou Emiya.

To save on set construction costs, Shinji decided to use "real locations" for filming, which resulted in the entire Emiya Residence being almost occupied by the crew.

When Shinji first told Shirou, Shirou thought it would take about a week to finish filming. However, the crew ended up taking several weeks.

Although the crew members didn't live at the Emiya Residence, many filming equipment and props were piled up in the house, leaving only a small amount of living space in the originally spacious home.

One night, Shirou got up to go to the bathroom and was so startled by a model of himself covered in blood in the hallway that he almost didn't make it.

It was only when he turned on the light that Shirou realized it was a prop model of himself used for filming.

"Shinji, can't you tell them to put the props away?"

The next day, Shirou complained to Shinji at length.

Shinji shrugged innocently, "I can't help it. That thing can't be folded up and stored, it would leave marks."

"Really, if I didn't have school, I'd go live in the mountains with Dad and the others."

Because filming took up space, the cunning Kiritsugu Emiya had already gone with his wife Irisviel to the Eizenbern Castle in the mountains for some alone time.

Shirou rubbed his temples and said, "It's a good thing Illya is staying at a classmate's house these days, otherwise she'd definitely be scared to tears."

Recalling the silver-haired little devil from his memory, Shinji couldn't help but grin.

"No, I think she might just run up and kick it."

"It's possible..." Thinking of his sister's mischievous nature, Shirou nodded in agreement.

"But you don't have to envy your dad." Shinji slapped Shirou on the shoulder with one hand and gave a thumbs-up with the other. "After we finish filming here, I'm going to wreak havoc at the Eizenbern Castle in the mountains."

"Uh... please be merciful."

Seeing his troublemaking friend's excited expression, a cold sweat trickled down Shirou's temple.

Fortunately, although the Emiya Residence was an important plot location in the movie, the filming shots weren't too numerous.

After Shinji messed around there for a few more days, he finally finished filming and led the crew into the mountains of Fuyuki City to cause trouble at the great tycoon's castle.

"We're here, this is it."

Three vans and two minibuses stopped at the main entrance of Eizenbern Castle.

The first person to jump out of the bus was Shinji. He directly shouted, "Hurry up and unload the equipment, let's try to get some shots before sunset to see the effect!"

And so, King Arthur, Artoria, the Gorgon Medusa, the fierce dog Cú Chulainn, and the great hero Heracles, along with other heroic spirits, now had new identities: stevedores.

Shinji discovered another benefit of using heroic spirits as actors: they could serve as free labor for the crew.

Even if these heroic spirits couldn't fight in the Holy Grail War, their physiques were truly impressive compared to ordinary people. Moving things and doing heavy labor was completely effortless for them.

"Making heroic spirits move things, Shinji-kun, you really come up with new tricks."

Irisviel, who was standing at the castle entrance to greet them, chuckled as she watched the heroic spirits carrying things in and out.

"Can't be helped, gotta be thrifty~"

Shinji replied with a smile.

"Shinji, long time no see."

Kiritsugu Emiya nodded at Shinji as a greeting.

"Uncle Kiritsugu, hello."

Shinji extended his hand to Kiritsugu and greeted him politely.

Snap.

Kiritsugu clasped Shinji's hand. However, while shaking hands, Kiritsugu also whispered a warning in Shinji's ear.

"Shinji, there's something you'd best pay attention to," Kiritsugu warned. "Work is work, but you'd best keep your distance from Illya."

"I... I understand."

Shinji's lips twitched slightly, his expression a little stiff.

Although Shinji himself had no intention of making a move on Illya, hearing it from Kiritsugu's mouth felt a bit... off.

[Uncle Kiritsugu, you have no right to say that, you who eloped with your employer. Have you forgotten how you got your wife?]

Shinji grumbled inwardly.

Due to the decline of mystery, the artificial human technology of the Einsbern family wasn't as amazing as Shinji remembered; they couldn't achieve the level of normal activity like humans.

In this world, Irisviel's identity was that of a genuine young lady of the Einsbern family, and she also held the status of family heir.

Logically speaking, in this timeline where the Fuyuki City Holy Grail War wasn't held, Irisviel and Kiritsugu Emiya shouldn't have had a chance to meet.

But the story that unfolded in the Emiya household made Shinji have to sincerely praise, "Fate, how wondrous~"

Eleven years ago, during an outing, the Einsbern family hired Kiritsugu Emiya, who was a mercenary at the time, as a bodyguard.

It was truly destined love. Within a few days, Irisviel fell in love with this mage mercenary and eloped with him. They fled to Japan under the pursuit of the Einsbern family.

Finally, after a moving and heroic battle to protect their love, Kiritsugu Emiya was finally welcomed into the Einsbern family, married a beautiful and wealthy woman, and reached the pinnacle of his life.

As a side note, from what Shinji knew, Kiritsugu Emiya adopted the young orphan Shirou because he believed he would remain single his entire life and was preparing to raise Shirou for his old age.

Less than a year after adopting Shirou, Kiritsugu eloped with Irisviel.

This made Shinji have to marvel at the power of the Counter Force's inertia.

"Indeed, fate is truly a magical thing."

Shinji muttered softly.

Fortunately, Kiritsugu had only heard about Shinji's formidable achievements at the Clock Tower and was afraid he might do something outrageous.

After warning Shinji, Kiritsugu no longer bothered him and went with Irisviel to greet the rest of the crew.

However, someone wasn't prepared to let Shinji off the hook.

"Heh heh."

Just as Shinji was about to direct the set construction, he heard a sarcastic cold laugh from behind him.

"Good deeds never go beyond the door, bad deeds travel a thousand miles. Even Uncle Kiritsugu knows about your little escapades at the Clock Tower."

Shinji turned around and saw a certain red twin-tailed demon smirking at him with her arms crossed.

Chapter 5: Tohsaka, The Eternal Mechanical Idiot, Rin

A red top worn over a beige winter coat, her slender waist evoking tenderness, and her legs encased in black stockings beneath a black skirt.

Her shoulder-length raven hair was tied into neat and capable twin tails, and her beautiful face remained radiant even in the dry winter.

Anyone would give this twin-tailed girl a score of 90 or higher, the only deduction being her underdeveloped chest.

Without a doubt, she was one of FSN's three main heroines, the esteemed Miss Tohsaka Rin.

"Hmph, hmph~ Shinji," Rin said, crossing her arms and looking at Shinji with a cold sneer. "Uncle Emiya knows about your dirty business at the Clock Tower, and you're still shameless."

Questioned, Shinji's lips curled, and a cunning glint flashed in his eyes, as if he had thought of something amusing.

"Yo, isn't this the so-called 'Fuyuki's machine idiot,' the one who makes machines explode just by touching them, the walking machine nemesis, the eternally poor young lady, a typical negative example? Good children should absolutely not learn from Rin-san~ Remember to stay away from the filming equipment later, or you'll add unnecessary expenses for the crew."

"..."

The string of adjectives made the surrounding crowd's eyes twitch, and their gazes towards Rin turned strange.

A blush spread across Rin's face. She had only intended to tease Shinji using Kiritsugu's words, but she hadn't expected to be hit so hard by him.

"It's not like I wanted machines to explode!!"

The twin-tailed girl, dazed by Shinji's direct blow, let out a tragic scream.

"Ooh! Brother, is this Japanese manzai?"

Seeing Shinji and Rin's crosstalk-like performance, the silver-haired loli beside him couldn't help but laugh.

Shirou covered his forehead with a headache. Shinji's flippancy was something he was well aware of, but it was quite something that the honor student Rin would also get drawn in by him.

"Illya, good children don't learn these boring things."

"Eh??"

Illya bit her finger, a very disappointed expression on her face.

"Come on, let's go find Mom and Dad, okay? We haven't seen them in days, they should have a lot to say to us."

Shirou cajoled and tricked his sister into leaving this place of trouble.