Chapter 21: Each one of You Possesses Extraordinary Skills

As they entered the theater, Shinji couldn't help but once again criticize the outdated movie equipment in Japan.

This Fuyuki City cinema, the only one in the city, only had five screening halls. Four of them could barely accommodate less than a hundred people each.

This hall showing FSN was the largest in the entire cinema, but it only had around 300 seats.

In order not to disturb the moviegoers, Shinji had arranged the seats for the production team members and invited guests towards the back of the hall. As a result, the first few rows were filled with audience members who had won the screening tickets.

The trial screening in Fuyuki City was quite simple. In addition to the production team members and fans, only a few staff members arranged by Bandai to collect audience reactions were present.

For the Tokyo screening, Bandai had also invited a few entertainment newspaper journalists to attend. However, most of these journalists were from small and local media outlets. Major newspapers like Kinejun wouldn't attend such events for lesser-known films.

As for film critics, after the lessons learned from Toho's trial screening, and considering that film critics generally didn't favor tokusatsu movies, Bandai decided not to invite them for publicity.

In reality, even if Bandai had invited them, those critics probably wouldn't be very willing to come. Bandai's promotional strategy for FSN was relatively conservative, and the compensation offered wasn't attractive enough to entice those greedy individuals.

Shinji couldn't have been happier about this. After all, those lofty old folks wouldn't enjoy FSN anyway, so there was no need for them to suffer by watching his movie.

Compared to them, those old critics who liked to nitpick were the least of Shinji's concerns. He was more interested in the reactions of the audience on-site.

Apart from the production team members and invited guests, nearly 230 regular moviegoers were invited to this trial screening in Fuyuki City. Their ages ranged from 15 to 45, with a decreasing proportion as the ages increased.

The age composition of the audience was based on Shinji's understanding of the demographic that consumed movies from his previous life, encompassing nearly all potential fans of FSN within that age range.

"We'll be starting in five minutes."

Sitting in his seat, Shinji adjusted his body. He turned to look at the heroic spirits from his team, warning them not to act out during the screening.

"All of you, don't cause trouble in the theater! Otherwise, when we get back, I'll use a command spell to make you all eat Kirei Mapo Tofu!"

Thanks to Kirei's relentless "promotions," Mapo Tofu had become the least favorite food among the heroic spirits. It was the most detested dish without exception.

"Hey, Master," Cu Chulainn immediately responded, "You know me. My premise for causing trouble is that I'm drunk. All we have here is cola, right?"

'What premise do you need for causing trouble?'

Medusa pushed up her glasses and patted the book on her thigh, saying, "Master, you know me. I only like reading books."

'It's so dark during the movie, can you really read anything?'

"Master, you know me. I don't generally cause trouble unless the golden king and Chu Chulain can't hold back and start to cause trouble."

This is the eagerly excited EMIYA.

Yan Qing knocked on his legs and innocently said, "Master, you know me. I absolutely won't cause trouble. Others are the ones who would."

'Are you planning to disguise yourself as someone else to cause trouble?'

Shinji's mouth twitched sharply.

"Hmph~"

"■■..."

With a disdainful silence from Gilgamesh and Heracles, they only gave Shinji a glance.

The former didn't bother to speak, while the latter squatting in the aisle couldn't speak.

"Master, you know me... I... um... I only like... um..."

Seeing Arturia still munching on popcorn while trying to speak, Shinji waved his hand repeatedly, "Alright, alright, just eat."

"Really... each of them possesses extraordinary skills. Are these people really here to watch a movie?"

Turning back around, Shinji massaged his temples in distress and happened to see the orange-haired girl on his left using her phone to write an email.

"Hmm? Aozaki-san, are you still working? You're really hardworking."

"No, I'm chatting with an acquaintance." Touko snapped her flip phone shut with a 'clap,' smiled at Shinji, "I recommended this movie to them."

"Well, thank you, Aozaki-san."

Touko's behavior contrasted sharply with those uncooperative heroic spirits behind her, which touched Shinji.

She raised the corner of her mouth and joked, "I'd rather get a raise than verbal praise."

"Well, that's not very likely. I'm basically working for free right now, and my living expenses rely on the allowance the Matou family gives me." Shinji's face turned bitter, "I remember you just finished a big project, didn't you?"

"But I've also spent a lot on costs. Many materials need to be repurchased."

"No problem, you can include those material costs in the film production budget later." Shinji winked cunningly.

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FSN Tokyo trial screening.

As a representative of Bandai, Udagawa Nao, along with a dozen of her colleagues, dispersed among the audience as observers.

Once the movie began, they would use pens to record the audience's reactions during the screening.

Actually, this kind of task didn't require Nao, a mid-level manager, to personally do it. However, FSN was the first major project she handled after transferring to the film and television department, and she had played a significant role in making it happen.

The company had invested a significant amount of money in this movie, and Nao wasn't entirely confident about whether it would be successful. Perhaps witnessing the fans' reactions firsthand would help her feel a bit more at ease.

"Um... excuse me."

Two young girls stood beside Nao. One had long red hair, while the other had short black hair.

"Could you move over a bit, please?"

The woman with red hair asked Nao.

"Sorry."

Nao quickly retracted her feet.

The red-haired woman hurriedly pulled the black-haired woman to the seat on Nao's right.

Perhaps the environment of the cinema made them less cautious. Once the two beautiful women sat down, they started chatting non-stop, as if they were alone.

Of course, most of the time, it was the lively red-haired girl who kept talking, while the black-haired girl would occasionally respond or ask brief questions.

Through their conversation and how they addressed each other, Nao learned that the red-haired woman was named Aoko Aozaki, and the black-haired woman was named Alice Kuonji.

"Lucky~"

The girl named Aoko happily put down her phone.

"It's really lucky to have a sister who's also an internal employee. Without Touko reminding me, I might not have been able to get a spot."

"Aoko..."

Seated on the left side, Alice, who had a somewhat literary girl vibe, whispered, "Why are you so interested in this movie? Didn't Touko not participate?"

"It's unrelated to my sister." Aoko giggled, "I just want to see what kind of movie my old man, who's an almost-dead director, has made."

"It's very likely to be a flop. I can't imagine how a mage would make a movie." Alice seemed worried, "I regret it now, Aoko. I shouldn't have come out with you."

"Don't say that. Anyway, it's a free movie, so we might as well watch it. Alice, just treat it as killing time. Come on, have some popcorn."

"You know I don't like this stuff."

Alice pushed away the popcorn that her friend had handed to her.

Hearing the conversation between the two girls, Nao smiled. Treating them as regular audience members, she thought they might be less interested in the movie due to the absence of big-name actors or renowned directors.

In reality, both of them weren't frequent moviegoers. If it wasn't for the strong impression Shinji left on Aoko at that party, she wouldn't have bothered going to the cinema.

As for Alice, she wouldn't have come to watch the movie if Aoko hadn't dragged her along. Alice disliked crowded places, and being in a closed space like a cinema, where people stayed for a long time, was even worse.

Nao didn't pay further attention to Aoko and Alice beside her, focusing on the other fans around her.

As more and more fans entered, the noise in the theater grew louder.

From these myriad sounds, Nao could tell that there were very few fans genuinely interested in FSN.

The audience was mostly made up of those who had applied for a chance to watch the new movie and were selected. They entered the theater with the attitude that since they had been chosen, they might as well not let the opportunity go to waste.

'If the reaction remains like this after the movie, it might spell trouble for the film.'

Nao sighed softly. Even though she had high hopes for FSN herself, at times like this, she couldn't help but let her imagination run wild.

Clap

The theater lights dimmed, and the big screen lit up.

"The movie is starting."

Aoko muttered, leaning back in her seat. She didn't stop sipping her cola and munching on popcorn. Her attention wasn't focused on the screen.

"Alice, if you're not going to drink your cola later, can I have it?"

Aoko shook her paper cup and found she had already consumed two-thirds of it, then turned to her companion to ask.

"Whatever."

Alice, who had her hand resting on the armrest, seemed quite impatient.

"Thanks."

Without ceremony, Aoko placed Alice's cola on the armrest to her left, then put the popcorn on her lap.

At this moment, the big screen had just displayed the logos of Type-Moon and Bandai. The movie was about to begin.

"The Holy Grail War, a battle among mages to obtain the all-powerful wish-granting device—the Holy Grail..."

The deep and solemn voice of Kirei Kotomine resounded through the theater's sound system, introducing the basic setting of the Holy Grail War to the fans.

"Mm-hmm..."

Aoko took a big gulp of cola, then grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it into her mouth.

"Hey, Alice. Have you heard of the Holy Grail War?"

Alice thought for a moment and said, "Yeah... the magecraft ritual in Fuyuki City? I've heard a bit about it. They abandoned it long ago because the Heroic Spirits' strength wasn't up to par."

"Really?!" Aoko continued stuffing popcorn into her mouth and commented, "That Matou kid is quite daring, huh? He actually dared to make something like this public?"

"Ha ha..."

Nao, sitting next to Aoko, had to hold back her laughter.

'Are these two girls still stuck in their chuunibyou phase? They're actually taking the movie's setting seriously? But they've really immersed themselves so quickly, haven't they?'

Nao glanced at Alice out of the corner of her eye.

'I didn't expect this quiet girl to be into fantasy. Although I've heard that seemingly introverted literary girls are quite imaginative, I didn't expect them to be so engrossed.'

Aoko and Alice remained oblivious to how others saw them as they continued discussing the movie content, still approaching it from the perspective of professional magus.

By this time, the movie had entered the middle of its prologue. Rin discovered the magecraft circle on the school rooftop, sensing the blood temple that covered the entire school.

"Interesting, but these types of barriers are usually more show than substance, right?" Aoko commented, "Absorbing magecraft energy probably only results in a tiny bit of conversion."

"Useless."

Alice succinctly summarized.

Before Aoko could continue, Lancer appeared on the screen, followed by the movie's first action scene.

Seeing Lancer and Archer collide on the school field, Aoko raised her eyebrows.

"I wonder about these Heroic Spirits..."

She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes fixed on the screen...

Alice beside her had almost the same reaction. Rather than slouching dejectedly in her chair, she straightened her back and placed her hands properly on her knees.

Alice wasn't a fan of movies. Her impressions of movies were limited to noisy, childish animations and artsy films that often involved unnecessary nudity.

She couldn't understand how two people intertwining their bodies and exchanging fluids could be considered artistic. The world of magecraft was filled with much more stimulating rituals.

Thus, she preferred reading books over watching movies. Reading, for her, was a form of spiritual communion with the authors.

However, Fate/stay night was unlike any movie Alice had seen before. There were no long dialogues, no dragging pace, no ambiguous shots—only gripping plotlines and spectacular battles.

More importantly, as an experienced magus, Alice was deeply fascinated by the magnificent, impossible-to-achieve magecraft displayed on the screen.

"Shinji Matou... for him to be able to create this kind of thing, he must be an excellent magus."

Alice murmured to herself, gazing intently at the screen.

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