The next day was still an afternoon shift, but Mochizuki Akira left an hour early to find an internet cafe near Akihabara.
In 1999 Japan, the manga cafes that would later be everywhere didn't exist yet, nor were there simple internet cafes like those in China, but the 'internet-capable cafe' format had already begun to appear.
For a minimum price of 300 yen for a cup of coffee, you could go online for 30 minutes; staying longer required additional fees, making it quite expensive.
Writing up to this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name. It's quite cozy to read Taiwanese novels during leisure time.
Although Mochizuki Akira had occasionally hung out in internet cafes with friends in his previous life, he would never have spent such wasted money this time if it weren't for something he wanted to confirm.
Fortunately, after spending the money, he did find the result he was looking for.
"It seems it really doesn't exist."
Mochizuki Akira looked at the blank search interface before him and sighed, but he didn't feel anything special; he had simply resolved a doubt in his mind.
After the sudden idea last night to adapt Fate/stay night, another question had occurred to him—
Did Nasu Kinoko and Takeuchi Takashi exist in this world?
According to his past life's memories, in 1998 Nasu Kinoko and Takeuchi Takashi formed the doujin circle Takehouki and began serializing the novel the garden of sinners on their personal website.
But that was his previous life's timeline, and it seemed Nasu Kinoko and Takeuchi Takashi didn't exist in this world, or perhaps they hadn't started creating the garden of sinners yet.
Of course, neither case would prevent him from adapting Fate/stay night.
Having finished that, there was still some internet time left, so he surfed the web for a bit.
Currently, the largest portal site on the Japanese internet was Yahoo! Japan; clicking in revealed a screen full of text links, divided into sections like search, news and weather, finance and stocks, entertainment and communities, and a collection of free services—full of the atmosphere of the era.
Although the internet content of this era was far more sparse than in the future, as a member of the digital native generation, he felt a long-lost sense of peace and comfort the moment he connected.
Browsing aimlessly, he would click into a chat room to watch the silly netizens chat; even just doing that felt quite interesting to him.
Furthermore, compared to the future internet environment where abstraction, chaos, and extremism coexisted, the current environment was undoubtedly much simpler and more innocent.
When the waiter reminded him that his time was almost up, he stood up and left with a sense of lingering interest, ready to begin today's part-time job.
Once he had money, he definitely had to get himself a computer first.
He suddenly had a new goal.
...
...
Aside from the manager Sakamoto Kayo, he wasn't that familiar with the others in the shop, including the assistant manager. So, after the peak customer hours passed and things quieted down, Mochizuki Akira let his mind wander, continuing to think about last night's problem.
The original game of Fate/stay night didn't exist in this world, so logically, no one would complain no matter how he changed it.
In that case, a lazier approach would be like the 2014 Unlimited Blade Works anime, taking content from only one route, or even just copying the Unlimited Blade Works anime directly.
Moreover, the story of the Unlimited Blade Works route fit the tone of Shonen Jump very well.
But he felt this approach was a bit wasteful; after all, the content of the other two routes wasn't bad either.
Therefore, what he was considering now was how to maximize the content of Fate/stay night while ensuring quality and success.
In Fate/stay night, although the three routes have a fixed play order, they are three parallel storylines that do not interfere with each other, and Nasu Kinoko clearly stated that the endings of all three routes can be considered true endings.
The Fate route serves as the beginning, with Artoria as the heroine, telling a standard Holy Grail War without too many surprises or twists, establishing the worldview and basic values.
This route focuses on the shared ideals and beliefs of the protagonist Emiya Shirou and Artoria, with the core being the 'persistence and inheritance of ideals.'
During the battle, the two saw the light in each other and the heavy fate they bore, understood each other, and finally achieved mutual redemption. Saber accepted her past self and found peace; Shirou became more firm in his ideals. It showcases a pure, idealistic heroic sentiment.
The Unlimited Blade Works route features Tohsaka Rin as the heroine and introduces Archer—Emiya Shirou from the future—deeply questioning and analyzing the ideal of being an 'Ally of Justice,' with the core being the'self-reflection and choice of ideals.'