Chapter 311: The Chief Designer of Type-Moon's Toys, Mr. Emiya Shirou (Archer)
As for the fate of his life-sized body pillow, Shinji couldn't care less.
Whether Lissy decided to hang it up as a punching bag, toss it onto the bed as a stress-relief tool, or even use it as some kind of curse effigy, Shinji was perfectly fine with it.
Right now, just preparing The Garden of Sinners was already eating up all his time and energy. Even just reviewing a few character costume designs had cost him countless sleepless nights.
Unlike the Fate movies, The Garden of Sinners' art design required his direct involvement in almost every detail.
After all, characters like Ryougi Shiki and Asagami Fujino weren't like Servants who came with ready-made appearances.
Servants were heroes enshrined in the Throne of Heroes, their designs based on their historical or legendary forms—plus a bit of subconscious embellishment from humanity.
That meant their battle-ready looks could be summoned as-is, with only minor tweaks needed for cinematic framing.
But The Garden of Sinners's characters were different. With no preexisting image to rely on, he had to design them from scratch.
Sure, he had already decided that Shiki would wear a red jacket over a teal kimono, but when it came down to the exact color codes, the cut of the fabric, the patterns, whether special coatings were needed to enhance on-screen contrast… All of that required endless adjustments.
Unlike his wild, larger-than-life Fate films, Shinji wanted The Garden of Sinners to lean toward realism. Overly flashy magecraft wouldn't appear here.
If Fate's success came from dazzling spectacle aimed at the masses, then The Garden of Sinners would be something different—more grounded, more restrained.
The difference in tone was a bit like Marvel's Iron Man compared to Nolan's Batman.
Shinji never thought one style was inherently superior; only that each suited different stories.
Fate dealt with humanity's fantasies and heroes from history—it needed to be bold and flamboyant, so the audience could feel the weight of that legacy.
But The Garden of Sinners was different. Smaller in scope, it was Nasu Kinoko's definitive work in the "hidden magic" stage, focusing on its characters, their subtleties, and the delicate emotions between them.
Otherwise, Nasu wouldn't have emphasized "Origin" so strongly in The Garden of Sinners, using it to dig deep into each character's essence.
If he tried to film it with the same glittering style as Fate, the entire flavor of the story would be lost.
And so, buried in work, time slipped by faster than ever. The entire month of September was consumed by frantic preparation.
During this period, Cloris had hoped that with the Venice Film Festival as an excuse, their relationship might advance to the next stage.
But aside from receiving a life-sized Shinji pillow to use as a punching bag, she hadn't gotten much else from him. Their relationship hadn't moved forward in any meaningful way.
At the end of the day, things between Shinji and Cloris could never be pure. The Flora family and Time Group were immovable obstacles between them.
No matter what, Cloris was still both a Time Group employee and heir to the Flora family. When it came to business interests, she might yield a little to Shinji—but never endlessly.
And Shinji was the same. There was no way he'd willingly hand over Type-Moon's rights. If he did, Waver back in England would be the first to have his head.
If their relationship was ever going to truly progress, it would have to wait until Type-Moon and Time Group merged completely.
But before that merger happened, the two sides would inevitably spend ages bickering over who would take the lead.
The level of hassle and entanglement would rival Shinji and Cloris's nightly battles over who got to be on top in bed.
Ahem!
In short, this beast called Shinji was actually quite satisfied with how things were right now.
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Of course, while Shinji's heart was always ready to play harem-king, his body was surprisingly obedient—his focus stayed firmly on work.
After surviving the hellish grind of three Fate films and several drama series, The Garden of Sinners's production—though tedious—was nothing Shinji and his team couldn't handle.
After all, this movie's cast of characters didn't even add up to a full set of Masters for a Holy Grail War. How complicated could it really get?
By late September, the prep work for the crew was finally nearing completion.
According to the schedule, the first scenes to shoot would be outdoor locations in Mifune City. Even something like the parking lot for the final showdown could be constructed alongside filming.
During this period, thanks to Shinji's feedback, Archer had drafted six completely different designs for Shiki's dagger.
From these, Shinji finally found the one he was looking for.
Archer had worked with Shinji for years—he knew exactly how to meet his picky demands with professional precision.
Under Shinji's guidance, he created several designs that weren't overly flashy, yet still carried a strong sense of iconic presence.
One of them even emitted rainbow-colored light when used, looking suspiciously like a pocket-sized, youth-friendly version of a Star Wars lightsaber.
If Shinji hadn't already committed to The Garden of Sinners's realism-first approach, he honestly would've been tempted to use it.
Not for artistic reasons—just because the toy version could easily sell a special "reflective edition."
Hmm. That sounded suspiciously like something Bandai would do.
As Professor Luo Xiang once said, "The more law you study, the less human you become."
And the longer Shinji mixed with Bandai, the less conscience he seemed to have.
The final design Shinji selected resembled a miniaturized version of Kanshou and Bakuya.
Normally, it appears as an unremarkable black blade. But when Shiki activated her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, it transformed into a dazzling white with extreme reflectivity.
Yes—Shinji had skipped the lightsaber, opting instead for Gundam-style Phase Shift Armor.
But he had his reasons. Daggers were small; if they didn't shine somehow, audiences would never notice them on screen.
Low-key design was one thing—but being visible on camera was another matter entirely.
Because the dagger included this color-changing gimmick, it was a bit complicated to manufacture.
Shinji decided to first have Archer project a prototype using his tracing magecraft, then get Touko to replicate it with a more realistic magical technique.
According to the plan, Shiki herself would even learn a bit of magecraft theory, so that during filming she could actively trigger the dagger's color-change on cue.
"I never dreamed Archer would actually manage to design a dagger that perfectly met my requirements… and yet, here it is. Honestly, maybe I should send him to Bandai for training. That way, not only would he be a cinematographer, he could also be our in-house Hikari designer."
That was Shinji's glowing review of the black-and-white dagger. He was more than satisfied with Archer's work.
Of course, Shinji wouldn't let Archer work for free. Aside from a healthy design fee, Archer would also get a share of the future merchandise profits once the dagger went on sale.
As for Archer himself, he didn't particularly care about the money.
After all, he didn't have much to spend it on. The only time he ever loosened his purse strings was during the Matou family's bulk shopping trips.
And what exactly did that money go toward…?
Naturally, all that money still ended up being spent on the Matou household.
Aside from the dagger, the film also needed vehicles for Touko and the Ryougi family. Toyota came in as a sponsor, providing several of their latest models for Shinji to choose from.
On top of that, to promote their products and secure screen time, Toyota gifted Shinji one business van and one sports car.
But Shinji had no interest in cars. Sports cars didn't thrill him, and he already had a business van.
So, he casually passed them on as gifts to Ryougi Shiki and Mordred.
The moment Mordred got her hands on the sports car, her joy exploded. Every day she sped around town, carving her name into the urban legends of Fuyuki's nighttime street racing scene.
After all, where else could you see sports cars and motorbikes tearing down the road at over 200 km/h?
Shinji, of course, remained calm.
Every Servant under him was a walking disaster zone. Compared to that, Mordred burning rubber with her "dad" late at night was practically wholesome.
And giving Mordred the sports car was also Shinji's way of "borrowing flowers to offer Buddha"—a reward for passing Gray's audition.
That's right: after several auditions, Mordred had finally beaten out Jeanne and secured the role of Gray.
The main reason Shinji picked Mordred was because she could channel her emotions toward Arturia so well, perfectly capturing Gray's shy, conflicted expressions.
That was also why Shinji didn't bother stopping the nightly "father-and-son" solo races between Mordred and Arturia.
After all—it was good acting practice.
As for Arturia, ever since she turned down the Case Files project, she'd been stuck idle at home.
Giving her a channel to vent all that extra energy? Shinji couldn't be happier.
And anyway, Arturia's legendary appetite wasn't his problem. Archer was the one buying groceries, and with the new paycheck in hand, he could afford it.
"Keikaku doori~"
The sleazy producer Shinji Matou gave thanks while chewing on Archer's home cooking.
Immediately afterward, several Servants responded in kind with the international gesture of goodwill: 🖕.
Yes, the middle finger.
But Shinji's face was as thick as armor—such trivial attacks couldn't possibly pierce it.
Not only was he unfazed, he even added fuel to the fire by producing a stash of spicy Mapo Tofu he'd picked up from Kirei. He declared it would serve as the prize for their midnight races—loser eats.
That very night, the citizens of Fuyuki witnessed the bizarre sight of cars and motorcycles flying so fast down the streets they looked like they were skimming just above the ground.
Even Shinji himself was impressed.
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