Chapter 309: Preparations for "The Garden of Sinners"
Inside a Western-style restaurant in Tokyo, Alice cut into her steak, while her thoughts drifted back to the latest episode of Magical Illya.
Unlike the previous episode, which had been a nonstop battle from start to finish, this week's installment split things in half. The first part showed how Illya finally managed to defeat Saber, while the second half slipped into the usual slice-of-life rhythm.
Because of her excessive use of magical energy, Illya caught a mild fever and stayed home to rest. That was when she discovered Miyu working as a maid in Luvia's mansion—naturally, she dragged Miyu over to her house, which led to all sorts of, let's say, "suspiciously close" situations.
Fortunately, Shinji still remembered that Magical Illya was a weekend slot anime aimed at children. Sure, there were plenty of yuri undertones, but nothing too explicit.
Still, among their circle of young magi, Shinji's… tastes were already an open secret.
After all—what kind of "normal guy" knows the ins and outs of maid outfits in such obsessive detail? Not only the categories and subtypes, but also the function of every ribbon, every frill, every piece of lace—he could lecture on them like an expert!
"This isn't Magical Illya anymore," Alice sighed, popping a piece of steak into her mouth. "This is Maid Costume Lecture: Fashion Studies Edition."
Shinji, of course, had no idea that at that very moment a girl was sighing over his commentary on maid uniforms. If he had known, he would have laughed heartily.
Maid outfits? Child's play. He could go on about shrine maiden garb, police uniforms, kemonomimi girls, competitive swimsuits… the list went on. Shinji wasn't the type to specialize.
Yet, more than Shinji's eccentricities, what Alice cared about was his research in magecraft.
"Never forget your original goal. Stay true to the path, and only then can you reach the end."
That was the belief she held close to her heart. She had never forgotten why she admired Shinji Matou in the first place—and only the Shinji who ceaselessly pursued progress in magical research was worthy of her admiration.
Earlier today, after the main episode of Magical Illya ended, Alice and her friends caught sight of a commercial. It was for the very same PROPLICA Ruby Wand that Aoko had been obsessing over.
The advertisement explained its features in detail, and Alice couldn't help but frown in thought.
The main selling point, apparently, was that the wand's tip could freely transform into things like blades and cannons.
To the average viewer, that might look like something incredible. But with her sharp eye as the heir of the Kuonji family, Alice immediately recognized the material: Shinji's "Slime" magecraft construct.
Derived from the El-Melloi family's Volumen Hydrargyrum mystic code, Shinji had refined it into something far more practical. True, compared to the original, its combat potential had been greatly reduced. But in exchange, it became vastly more malleable and easier for magi to control—a far better cost-performance ratio.
Alice herself often used Slime in her magical experiments as a convenient assistant.
To apply it to toys? To the mundane masses, that might look like sorcery. But to magi like Alice, it was hardly worth batting an eye at. At most, she found herself wondering how Shinji had managed to calibrate the mana controls so perfectly.
What truly puzzled her, however, was something Aoko had mentioned before the show even started: a "revolution in magical incantation."
Yet throughout the entire commercial, Alice had seen almost nothing related to spellcasting. The only thing that came close was a voice-command gimmick—once the wand recorded the player's voice, it would process it and automatically play back a transformation chant… in the player's own voice.
Although the commercial claimed it was the latest in voice synthesis technology, Alice knew immediately that this had to be magecraft.
She was no longer the clueless girl of a few years ago, the one who didn't understand a thing about modern electronics. Yes, current technology could process a person's voice once given a sample, but the output was choppy, robotic—the kind of distorted nonsense you'd only see in meme videos.
There was no way it could sound as natural as the demonstration in that advertisement.
Of course, knowing that much was easy. But how Shinji intended to use this for a revolution in incantation magic… that was something she simply couldn't puzzle out, no matter how hard she tried.
"…Should I just ask him directly?"
The thought itched at her heart like a kitten pawing from inside her chest. She pulled out her phone, opened her messenger app, and stared at the screen for a moment.
Then, in her capacity as the president of Shinji Matou's fan club, she sent him a message. She asked about the true magical core behind that so-called voice processing system.
Alice was confident that if she could just grasp the principles behind it, her intelligence would be enough to deduce Shinji's true aim.
Unfortunately, no reply came. From her experience with the mage-director, Shinji Matou, she figured he had likely been swallowed up by work again.
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Shinji is scouting for location.
After returning from Italy, he had handed off the promotional campaign for Ultraseven X to Cloris—after all, Time Group had plenty of experience distributing award-winning films. Meanwhile, he himself took several key staff members from the The Garden of Sinners production team to Mifune City, where the story was set.
Over the course of the next week, guided by locals, Shinji carefully surveyed the city that would serve as the backdrop for The Garden of Sinners. He made note of its geography, atmosphere, and urban details.
He did not, however, find a certain apartment complex named Ogawa, nor did he discover a girl named Asagami Fujino lying in a hospital, nor bump into a monk obsessed with reaching the Root.
Likewise, without Touko's presence, there was no "Garan no Dou" workshop in this city.
The Asakami family still existed here, though their decline had come even earlier than in the original The Garden of Sinners timeline. They had never been swallowed by their branch family, the Asagami, which meant they still clung to the final tatters of noble dignity.
As such, the head of the Asagami family had never adopted a girl named Fujino.
Shinji did, however, sit down with the family head and explain that their surnames—Asagami and Asakami—would be used in the film.
The man, though not himself part of the World of Magecraft, longed for its recognition. He declared with enthusiasm:
"To become a dog of the Matou family would be the greatest honor of the Asagami Asakami!"
—Cough. That wasn't quite it.
What he meant was: "To serve as material for Director Matou's film is the greatest honor of the Asakami family!"
Yes. That sounded better.
Leaving the Asakami estate behind, Shinji and his staff held discussions about set design and filming logistics. In the end, they agreed: exterior and long shots would be filmed here, while interior and close-up scenes would be handled in the Fuyuki City studios.
Cost-cutting was secondary. The real advantage was that Fuyuki's facilities and crew were far more complete, which would save them an immense amount of preparatory hassle.
By the time they returned to Fuyuki, the first round of wide-scale auditions was already underway. Touko and Medea were overseeing those; Shinji himself would only step in for the second round, and only for the main roles.
After all, with the leads already decided, the minor characters hardly warranted his personal time.
There was still much work to be done—far more than he could entrust to others. Props, for example.
And not just any props, but ones with merchandising potential. With commercial spin-offs in mind, Shinji had to ensure every item in the film could later be marketed as consumer goods.
So, while unlike the Ultraman teams—who started by designing toys and then built shows around them—Shinji still had to think several steps ahead. Every weapon, every tool, every costume: all of them had to be crafted not only as film props, but also as products that fans would buy.
The first prop up for discussion was Ryougi Shiki's dagger.
Shirou and Archer had brought in several concept sketches and prototype models, only for Shinji to reject every single one of them outright.
"Archer, you have to understand—this isn't just a weapon. This is a toy line in the making."
Standing at the front of the conference room, Shinji jabbed his finger at the projection screen with all the authority of a seasoned director.
"These versions may all be different, sure—but they're too plain. What I want is a dagger with instant brand recognition. Something iconic, not just some dime-a-dozen murder tool."
"A proper killer doesn't carry around some gaudy trinket," Archer grumbled, his brow furrowed in disgust.
Still, he knew what Shinji was aiming for. Complaints aside, he returned to his drafts and began revising the design.
Shinji clarified his vision:
"My ideal dagger is a marriage of subtlety and extravagance. Think of it as the lovechild between Excalibur and Hassan's throwing knives."
"…Does that even still count as a knife?"
Archer's eyebrow twitched twice, like he'd just swallowed a crest worm.
Shinji knew he was asking for the impossible. But he had no choice.
The truth was, The Garden of Sinners had very few obvious merchandising hooks. After racking his brain, he could only come up with a handful.
Shiki's kimono? Sure, but it was too expensive; hardly anyone would buy it.
Kokutou's glasses, or Touko's? They could maybe partner with an eyewear company, but glasses had zero instant recognizability. And let's face it—neither Kokutou nor Touko were main characters.
Which left… Shiki's dagger.
No matter how the original novel had described it, in Shinji's film adaptation, that weapon would be the signature item.
With the project officially greenlit, Shinji shifted fully into work mode. This wasn't going to be like Magical Illya, which he had filmed in relatively easy spirits.
The Garden of Sinners: Remaining Sense of Pain demanded massive investment—and more importantly, its success or failure would decide the fate of the entire series.
So Shinji treated it with the same seriousness he had once given Fate/Apocrypha.
This was, after all, a Japanese supernatural thriller. Turning it into the next Fate-level mega-hit wouldn't be easy. Every step had to be perfect; there was no room for carelessness.
And Shinji Matou was nothing if not professional. If he was going to make a film, he would pour in everything he had.
Producing Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero had already taught him a harsh lesson: watching films and making films were two very different worlds.
Because the The Garden of Sinners prep work was eating up so much of his time, Shinji had temporarily shelved all post-production tasks for Fate/Apocrypha. The rough cut was left in the hands of the editors for now—he'd look at it later, when he could actually breathe.
Instead, his immediate focus was the stack of progress reports piled high on his desk, each one detailing some aspect of the Garden of Sinners' pre-production.
As the director overseeing the entire project, Shinji had to know not just the overall schedule, but also the small details—otherwise, how could he even set a firm shooting date?
Yes, he entrusted the nitty-gritty grunt work to Touko, his secretary, and the rest of his staff. But in the end, the final review had to pass through his hands. If he let others do everything, then what was he but a mascot director with no authority?
Between reading reports, Shinji also paid visits to the new Fuyuki film studio. There, a massive set was under construction: the underground parking garage that would serve as the stage for the movie's climactic battle.
According to Shinji's specifications, the lot would measure about 80 meters long, 40 wide, and 15 high. A little small by actual parking standards, but for a film set, it was plenty.
Alongside the concrete and steel, the crew was also installing twelve industrial wind machines and four water pumps. These would be used to simulate the typhoon raging outside during the fight.
After all, even if the two women were brawling indoors, a proper blockbuster couldn't not have the environment collapsing around them. If the set wasn't in ruins by the end, was it really a Shinji Matou production?
Naturally, the cars in the garage would also take center stage—specifically, in being smashed to pieces.
But Shinji was holding off on commissioning prop cars for now. After all, there was a chance a real automobile company might step in with sponsorship. No sense wasting money if Toyota or Nissan might hand him a fleet to wreck.
While Shinji was pouring himself into Garden of Sinners, another project with his name attached was about to be greenlit.
After countless rounds of discussion, Waver had finally relented: he agreed to let Shinji produce a TV drama centered on him—The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II.
To keep the Fate brand hot, Shinji had already drawn up a timetable: at least one film and one TV series every year.
This year's drama slot had been filled by Magical Illya. Next year's movie would be Apocrypha, while the series slot would be taken by Case Files.
Originally, Shinji had wanted to do Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. But after thinking about how often the Fate/Stay Night cast had already appeared in the past two years, he decided it was smarter to give the audience a fresh flavor.
Enter Waver Velvet, the Clock Tower's #1 walking stomach ulcer.
Of course, there was no way Waver himself could appear in the show—he was far too busy being, well, Waver. Which meant Shinji would have to cast an actor to play him.
What Shinji didn't expect was that not only would Waver decline to appear, but the actress he had in mind for the female lead also flatly refused.
"I don't think this drama is interesting. And besides, my personality doesn't suit some weak, timid girl. So I won't audition."
That was Arturia Alter, speaking with her trademark bluntness.
Once again, it was one of Type-Moon's internal "appreciation gatherings"—half social party, half business meeting. The main reason Shinji had squeezed out time to attend, despite his insane workload, was sitting right in front of him: two versions of the King of Knights.
And both of them—Arturia Alter and the original Arturia herself—had rejected the idea of playing Gray in Case Files.
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