After finishing lunch, Akira returned to his bedroom for a half-hour nap. When he woke up, he didn't go back to the living room; instead, he sat at the computer desk by his bed and turned on the computer.
This was the bulky CRT desktop computer he had bought along with his furniture and appliances. It was equipped with the latest operating system, Windows 98.
The appearance of the 'big head' monitor was fine; at least he had seen them in his elementary school's computer lab in his previous life. As for the operating system...
The first computer his family bought in his previous life already used Windows XP.
However, the Windows 98 desktop looked much like those of later generations, just a bit more primitive.
And it was prone to the Blue Screen of Death.
As for the internet, since this era was still in the age of dial-up, he was naturally equipped with an independent dial-up phone line.
The internet fees weren't cheap: a monthly membership fee of 1,500 yen, plus a timed communication fee of 10 yen per minute. An hour online would cost 600 yen.
...Wait.
The internet cafe he went to before seemed to be 300 yen for half an hour, and it even came with a free cup of coffee.
Why does it suddenly feel like going to an internet cafe is cheaper?
That being said, if you're surfing at home, you can actually use some clever tricks.
Since the internet fee is charged by the minute, when browsing a webpage, you can disconnect immediately after a page finishes loading to read it offline.
Once you've finished reading that page, you reconnect to load the next one and repeat the process. This saves a significant amount of money.
This was a money-saving tip the sales clerk had quietly shared with him when he purchased the internet service.
His family's computer had used dial-up when he was a kid, but by then, broadband services were already on a flat monthly rate, so this was the first time he'd heard of such a technique.
He was quite impressed after hearing it and had given the clerk a silent thumbs-up.
It had to be said that when it comes to saving money, nothing beats the wisdom of the common people.
Back to the point.
He hadn't turned on the computer this time to play.
After the login screen finished loading, he created a new Word document on the desktop and fell into deep thought.
He had initially decided to become a mangaka to earn money and fulfill the Original Owner's dying wish.
The reason he chose to adapt FSN into a serialized manga was that he valued the earning power of the Type-Moon Series IP.
But since it's called the Type-Moon Series, it obviously couldn't be sustained by "Fate/stay night" alone, or even by the Fate series alone.
Of course, the most profitable part of the entire Type-Moon Series is the Fate Series, and the most profitable part of the Fate Series is the mobile game FGO—there was no doubt about that.
But that didn't mean the other series were useless.
"Mahoutsukai No Yoru," "Tsukihime," Kara no Kyoukai... Though their money-making potential wasn't as high as the Fate series, they were still indispensable components of the massive Type-Moon IP.
Therefore, since the serialization of "Fate/stay night" was already on the right track, he should consider creating other works.
As for which work to write first this time, there wasn't much need for careful consideration.
Choosing FSN for serialization was initially based on both commercial performance and personal preference, but this time he didn't need to worry about commercial results.
After all, based on the situation in his previous life, compared to the fate series, the commercial results of these three weren't really worth mentioning.
In that case, he would just choose according to his own thoughts.
Thus, he began typing the title of the work into the Word document—
Kara no Kyoukai.
In the hearts of many Type-Moon fans, Kara no Kyoukai could be called Nasu Kinoko's peak work in terms of writing style, holding a very high status within the Type-Moon Series.
Not only that, but Kara no Kyoukai was also the peak work designated by Nasu himself.
The work tells the story of Ryougi Shiki, a girl possessing the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, and her various entanglements with many magi, depicting profound themes such as humanity, Origins, emotions, contradictions, body and soul, and so on.
Kara no Kyoukai also refined and sublimated the Type-Moon worldview, providing a relatively complete and detailed explanation of the settings regarding Origins and the Root.
Of course, some people felt that the setting of this work was too abstract, the text was filled with obscure and difficult-to-understand terminology and expressions, and the plot descriptions were very roundabout, making one's head spin.
But many fans actually loved exactly that, calling Nasu Kinoko's unique narrative style 'Kinoko-speak'.
As for him...
He was still in junior high when he first encountered Kara no Kyoukai. He could only say that he really couldn't understand 'Kinoko-speak' back then—and of course, he still couldn't sometimes even now.
However, that 'I don't understand it, but it feels amazing' style actually appealed to him during his chuunibyou phase, tricking him into the pit all at once and making him a Tsukihime Fan.
But after being fed a lot of crap, he finally came to his senses and awakened as a noble 'Anti-Moon' gentleman, lurking long-term within the Tsukihime Fan community.
Back to the point.
The reason he chose to write Kara no Kyoukai this time was simply because it was his entry work; the second book would be a tribute.
Furthermore, just like Matou Sakura in the plot, Asagami Fujino had also been treated with malice by the 'Fungus.' As an anti-moon gentleman, he naturally had to step up and set things right!
Now, time to start typing—
"
Chapter 1: Overlooking View
That day, I chose a wide boulevard for my way home.
Such a whim was actually quite rare for me.
I walked blankly through the unchanging commercial building district,
Before long, someone suddenly fell,
It was a'splat' sound that one doesn't often have the chance to hear,
It was obvious... someone had fallen from a building and died.
...
...
—The head was bent, transforming the remains into something like a fetus,
As I saw it.
It probably looked like a snapped lily.
...
..."
Unlike drawing manga, writing was entirely his old profession. Hitting the keys felt just like coming home.
But he soon discovered that things were still a bit different from what he had imagined.
First, the information density of Japanese is lower than that of Chinese; the same sentence requires typing more characters.
Secondly, the input methods of this era weren't as smart as those of later generations. Sometimes you had to flip through many pages to find a single character or word.
Finally, the keyboards of this era weren't very nice to use either.
With these factors combined, he found his typing speed to be much slower than expected.
But it wasn't a big deal.
The total word count of Kara no Kyoukai was only a few hundred thousand words. He wasn't short on time and wasn't in a hurry to publish the novel; he could just type slowly whenever he had time every day.
Speaking of which—
After "Fate/stay night" began its serialization, an anime adaptation should only be a matter of time.
Given his personality, it would be hard for him to feel at ease handing over the full production of the FSN anime to an animation company. So when the time came, his intervention would likely be inevitable.
Considering the future release of the mobile game FGO, which was also inevitable, as well as Kara no Kyoukai he was currently writing...
Anime, Comic, Game, Novel(ACGN)...
If things keep progressing like this, wouldn't he become a 'Master of All' in the ACGN field?