At last, as if she had finally worked up the courage, she suddenly called out loudly, "Thank you so much, Mr. Shinji!"
"Then I'll take that as a yes."
Shinji laughed heartily and waved as he headed toward the records room door.
"I'll be at the Clock Tower for the next little while. Come find me once you've finished packing."
"Of course!"
Ophelia stared blankly at Shinji's retreating figure. It took her a long while to come back to herself.
So this is what it feels like to be acknowledged... It feels wonderful.
Ophelia touched her slightly flushed cheeks, and the uncertainty in her eyes gradually gave way to determination.
"Heh-heh, Group A member acquired √."
Meanwhile, Shinji was in such a good mood that he began humming as he walked down the hallway.
Suddenly, a cold voice interrupted him.
"Having fun, Shinji? How does it feel to abduct an innocent young woman?"
"Lizzie! What are you doing here?!"
Seeing Chloe standing in front of him, Shinji was so startled he nearly scrambled up the wall like a cat.
Chloe sneered. "I came to the Clock Tower to discuss our upcoming collaboration with Waver. He told me you were here too, so I came to find you."
"How much did you hear?" Shinji asked nervously.
"Starting from 'You're really amazing.'"
"I think I can explain."
"Don't rush. We have plenty of time for explanations."
Chloe smiled as she put an arm around Shinji's shoulders, then opened the door to an empty classroom off the hallway.
"Wait..."
Chloe didn't give Shinji a chance to explain. She tossed him inside and slammed the door shut with a bang.
I Say, Sister Chloe, You've Got a Point
Neither of the two people involved, Shinji or Chloe, ever told anyone what had happened in that empty classroom that day.
After that, though Shinji still wandered around the Clock Tower, he never appeared alongside Chloe again.
The people most affected by the incident weren't Second Master himself, but Kenseth and Waver.
Since Chloe had come to discuss business with them, she spent most of her time in the Modern Magecraft Department. That greatly reduced the number of times Master Shinji came around to wreak havoc on them.
To outsiders, Matou Shinji's return to the Clock Tower had consisted of wandering through all the departments and striking up conversations with people at every opportunity.
He'd gone even further than the last time, when he'd confessed to every woman at the Clock Tower. This time, he wasn't even sparing the men!
Fortunately, Second Master himself had no idea what those people thought of him. Otherwise, he would have made them etch the name "Kind-Eyed Shinji-kun" into their DNA!
The reason Shinji was striking up conversations with everyone was, naturally, to abduct—or rather, recruit—mages nearing graduation for well-paid positions in Fuyuki City.
Besides Ophelia, whom Second Master had already earmarked as his secretary, quite a few other young mages were talked into moving to Fuyuki City.
The only thing Shinji regretted was that, although he later found Fat Director, the man turned down his invitation due to family obligations, saying only that there might be a chance to work together in the future.
With the wide release of FSN across Europe and North America drawing closer, Shinji stopped wandering around aimlessly and obediently waited for the results of the film's opening run.
During that time, Shinji attended just one event: Ophelia's thesis presentation, where he showed his support for his new Little Secretary.
Although the audience was sparse at the presentation, attended only by members of the Spirit Evocation Department, and Ophelia, who had only recently arrived in Britain from Germany, seemed rather shy, the content of her presentation was excellent. Her theories about the possibilities of Heroic Spirit Spirit Origins greatly inspired Shinji.
"I have some regrets."
After the presentation, Lufraeus Nazare Ulifis, Lord of the Spirit Evocation Department, came over to Shinji.
"Farnese is even more talented than I'd imagined. I should have kept her here."
"She chose to come with me, old man." Shinji's voice remained perfectly flat. "You can't blame me for taking advantage of an opportunity you overlooked."
Compared with Aozaki Touko's teacher, Shinji had only the respect that Lü Bu had for Dong Zhuo for the Three Giants member standing before him.
Not only was the man an old-school aristocrat, a staunch supporter of bloodline theory, and a famously stubborn traditionalist—in other words, the classic example of what Shinji called an "old geezer"—but he had once mocked Shinji's ancestor, Zolgen Makiri. He had publicly held up one of the man's papers on Heroic Spirits and called him a mage who loved to dream.
How could Second Master put up with that? The old geezer had publicly revealed the Matou Family's greatest secret!
"Boy of the Matou Family, do you intend to maintain long-term cooperation with our Spirit Evocation Department?" Lufraeus seemed not to notice Shinji's cool attitude and continued. "As your influence expands, people will inevitably keep studying your Heroic Spirit summoning ritual. Surely you'll need help refining it?"
Shinji reminded him, "I'm already working with the El-Melloi Family."
"Heh, don't put it like that."
Lufraeus spoke with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I know you hold a grudge against me. But you must understand that the pursuit of mystery is paramount to us mages. Personal grievances should give way to mystery, shouldn't they?"
Are you Suslov?
Shinji's eyelid twitched twice. He wasn't sure whether he should give this old immortal, who might be older than his grandfather, a good smack on the back of the neck.
Fortunately, Ophelia came over after finishing her presentation, and Shinji quickly ended the conversation with the old man.
"I'll consider your suggestion. I have something else to attend to, so please excuse me."
With that, Shinji bowed slightly and walked toward Ophelia.
When Ophelia saw Shinji coming to meet her, her shoulders relaxed and she smiled.
"Senior Matou!"
"Still calling me senior?" Shinji asked with a smile.
Ophelia tilted her head and called him, looking a little adorably bewildered, "Then... Lord Shinji?"
"Hss..."
Shinji drew in a sharp breath.
"Never mind. Just call me Boss."
Though a small part of him was secretly pleased, Master Shinji had chosen a relatively normal title for the sake of his image.
"All right, Boss."
Ophelia quickly changed how she addressed him, without insisting on her original choice.
"Good. Let's go."
Shinji nodded and turned toward the Modern Magecraft Department.
"Boss, where are we going?"
Ophelia hurried after him, clutching her documents.
"To sit on a server and play games."
"Huh?"
Shinji's answer left Ophelia baffled.
Fortunately, a few minutes later, she understood what he meant.
In the Modern Magecraft Department's conference room, Shinji, Kenseth, Waver, Touko, Chloe, and representatives from several Mage Families were gathered around a huge conference table.
As the secretary, Ophelia naturally didn't have a seat. She stood obediently behind Shinji with paper and pen in hand, ready to take notes during the meeting.
Everyone present looked serious, their eyes fixed expectantly on Chloe. Only Touko leaned back in her chair, smoking without a care and casually waving at Ophelia.
Most of this meeting concerned FSN, so it had little to do with her.
Once everyone had arrived, Chloe wasted no time and stood up. "The opening weekend box-office results for Fate/Stay Night are in. For ease of comparison, I've converted everything to U.S. dollars..."
At this point, Chloe glanced at the British mages present, as if gauging their reaction.
Kenseth said calmly, "Miss Flora, please continue. The figures will be easier to compare in dollars."
To be honest, Kenseth was somewhat displeased that they were using dollars instead of pounds.
But the Mage Families present weren't all British, and settling on dollars helped standardize things, so Kenseth had little to say.
It wasn't as if Britain could blame anyone but itself for falling behind.
Chloe didn't seem to notice Kenseth's displeasure. She cleared her throat and read the figures from the report in her hands.
"North America's opening weekend brought in 50.63 million dollars, Britain 6.89 million, France 5.87 million, Germany 7.52 million, Spain 3.21 million, and Australia 3.11 million... The first round of screenings has grossed over 72 million dollars."
The figures caused a stir among everyone present. They all marveled at FSN's impressive box-office performance.
Only Shinji seemed relatively calm, even a little disappointed.
After all, based on FSN's reception at film festivals, Shinji had already guessed that the film would do well.
Still, a North American opening weekend of only 50 million dollars wasn't bad compared with Hollywood blockbusters from around the same period in his memory, but it was nowhere near the very best.
Looks like we'll have to cultivate the market slowly.
As Shinji was thinking this, he heard the quiet discussion around him.
"That's incredible!"
"I wonder what the final box-office total will be?"
"We won't have to worry about this year's research budget now."
Though everyone's ultimate goal was the pursuit of mystery, the journey toward it required a great deal of money.
For the past two years, they'd worked hard to invest funds, use their connections, and gather in the Modern Magecraft Department, a place the rest of the Clock Tower had once ignored. Wasn't it all for the "land of plenty" Matou Shinji had promised them?
"Such ignorant country bumpkins."
Hearing everyone get so excited over just over 70 million dollars, Shinji shook his head helplessly.
"Honestly, this is the limit of their vision."
Ophelia, standing behind Shinji, heard him. She didn't think there was anything wrong with him being blunt; instead, she greatly admired his composure.
He's achieved such a dazzling result and still feels no excitement at all. He truly is an exceptional Boss!
After everyone had shared in the joy of the film's box-office success, it was time to assign each family their "homework."
"You all know I'm planning to make a second film," Shinji announced, resting his chin on his hands. "The new film will also be about the Holy Grail War, so I'll need your help collecting the catalysts for summoning Heroic Spirits. I've already written up the list of those to be summoned."
As Shinji spoke, Ophelia efficiently handed out the materials to everyone present.
"Besides the catalysts, this sheet also lists the Magecraft technology I might need for my next film."
Compared with FSN, FZ had a much grander scale, and the production would involve more techniques.
To ensure the quality of the film's special effects, Shinji naturally needed more advanced methods.
"I've already recruited some mages from the Clock Tower, but there still aren't enough people to solve these problems within three months. So I hope each of you can send a few people from your own families to join the mages I've recruited and form a dedicated technical team."
This so-called team was, of course, the prototype of the special-effects company Shinji had in mind. In his vision for the future, it would be an industry-leading powerhouse, first-rate in both magecraft and computer special effects.
Shinji continued.
"The team will be led by Aozaki Touko and will focus on solving technical problems related to film effects. As for any techniques developed, the credit will go to the individuals, but the profits they generate will go to the Modern Magecraft Department to support its development."
Although Magecraft was a very personal matter, some people were willing to share their techniques, especially those developed by teams, which were almost always made public at the Clock Tower.
Of course, those techniques weren't made public for free. Anyone who wanted to use them had to pay.
A few representatives wanted to object when they heard that the techniques would belong to the department, but one look at Director Kenseth's imposing presence made them quietly shut their mouths.
They all relied on the El-Melloi Family for protection. They might as well let the boss have this small benefit.
"Lastly, we can't neglect the film's publicity campaign."
As the meeting came to a close, Chloe reminded everyone, "Although FSN's poor critical reception didn't stop our film from doing well at the box office, it's hard to say whether the critics will succeed next time. Their influence on film promotion can't be ignored."
"So, to fight back against those nuisances, we need to establish a platform of our own! If the critics don't like us, then we'll let the audience who do like us review our films!"
"Our Jidai Group has created a website dedicated to reviewing films. I hope you'll contact as many media outlets as possible to endorse this new website and build its credibility with the public!"
Before you continue