Tn: I forgot to upload chapter 59 and went straight to chapter 60, thanks for pointing it out.
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Late at night, Matou residence, Shinji's room.
"Ha~~~"
Shinji sat in front of his desk, letting out a long sigh.
Although the shooting plan was laid out in front of him, Shinji's thoughts were not focused on it at all. His gaze frequently shifted to the wall on his right.
Behind that wall was his sister Sakura's room, and now, three freshly bathed beautiful young ladies were gathered there.
Shinji wasn't interested in the girls who had just taken a bath. His concern was that Cloris might say things to Sakura and Arturia that she shouldn't.
"Grandpa, really..."
That dirty Matou was thorough in his departure. Not only did he leave himself, but he also took all the Heroic Spirits who were staying at the Matou residence, leaving only Sakura and Arturia behind.
Apparently, That dirty Matou had prepared thoroughly, eliminating all possible sources of interference.
As for why Sakura and Arturia weren't taken away...
'He's probably worried that Sakura can't be commanded and afraid that Arturia will overpower him... Really, Grandpa! Couldn't you have taken everyone away? Then, I'd have a reason to keep Lissy out.'
With these thoughts, Shinji once again worriedly looked at the wall.
"Is Lissy okay with Sakura...?"
Shinji felt that he probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Meanwhile, in Sakura's room just a wall away from Shinji's:
Sakura, Cloris, and Arturia were sitting together in their pajamas, engaged in a "girls' pajama talk."
Initially, Arturia's first reaction to such a conversation was to refuse, but she was bribed into staying with three bowls of pork cutlet rice by Sakura.
"Um, Flora-san. I'll get straight to the point."
As the initiator of the conversation, Sakura dived right into the topic.
"What kind of relationship do you have with my brother?"
Cloris smiled in response, "Shinji and I~ should I say we're like-minded comrades or business partners with mutual interests?"
"Is— is that so?"
Sakura curiously tilted her head.
"But," Cloris pointed her index finger at her lips, proudly saying, "that doesn't mean I don't feel Shinji's charm as a man."
"Eh?"
Sakura froze at this statement.
Arturia calmly asked, "So, you like Master?"
"If we have to categorize it as liking or disliking, Shinji is definitely in the liking category. However, in terms of the aspect that interests you, he probably has no such intentions."
Pouting, Sakura said, "That's right. Although my brother isn't picky about girls, he won't consider anyone who's not within his range."
"Master is, after all, Master. Although he's fickle, he values his career more than women." Arturia nodded slightly in evaluation.
Cloris looked at the golden-haired King of Knights curiously and asked, "I also want to ask, Miss Pendragon, what kind of relationship do you have with Shinji?"
Arturia responded coldly, "He is my Master, and I am his Servant, nothing more."
"Nothing more... Miss Pendragon, have you and Shinji ever shared a bed?"
"Shared— shared a bed?"
This sentence seemed to have opened a floodgate in Arturia's mind, and her ahoge stood up.
"Sharing a bed is too impure! Master and I only have a Master-Servant relationship! Besides, I don't care at all about someone as misbehaving as Sir Lancelot!"
Arturia wasn't an ignorant girl who knew nothing about everything. She just had a somewhat stubborn attitude towards such matters.
Perhaps it was because of her emotional history during the Arthurian era that Arturia detested playboys.
Arturia would protect Shinji because of the Master-Servant contract, but she would never want to share a bed with him.
'Huh, I thought she had been riding her motorcycle a lot lately and wanted to try something different, like riding a Master. Unexpectedly, the King of Knights has an unexpectedly innocent side.'
Due to Arturia's consistently flat demeanor, Sakura thought she didn't have similar concepts, but now it seemed that she cared.
'Compared to the seemingly stable but actually battle-hardened King of Knights, the other one…'
Sakura looked at Cloris and said in a gentle tone, "I don't know much about Flora-san yet. I hope we can get to know each other better in the future."
Cloris smiled faintly and gently stroked Sakura's head.
"It seems like dealing with this little sister will be quite a challenge. Please be gentle."
"Can you talk to me about it?" Sakura asked, "About Flora-san and my brother."
"Sure."
Cloris naturally wouldn't miss an opportunity to get closer to Sakura. She looked up at the ceiling and began to tell the story of how she met and became familiar with Shinji.
...
Back in Shinji's room:
"Ugh– I can't hear anything!!"
Shinji, pressing his ears tightly against the wall, wore a distressed expression.
There was a time when he was very satisfied with the soundproofing in his room, but now he wished it weren't so perfect.
"No, I can't just leave it like this."
After careful consideration, Shinji decided to go to Sakura's room and drop a hint.
"If Lissy said something she shouldn't say to Sakura like with Rin before, it would be troublesome! I have to give Lissy a hint to stop at the right time."
Shinji walked through the corridor and directly knocked on Sakura's door.
"Yo~ ladies, I'm coming in."
Shinji exposed a brilliant smile like sunshine and warmly asked the girls in the room, "Lissy, are you used to wearing Japanese-style pajamas? Let me take a look—"
Suddenly, the three figures in front of Shinji transformed into female tyrannosaurs.
"Women's talk, men, get out!"
"Master, this is not gentlemanly behavior!"
"Brother! Hurry up and go to sleep!"
"Wait a minute—"
Shinji was forcibly sent out of the room by a strong wind, and then the door slammed shut with a loud "bang!" and was magically locked from the inside.
"I hope... they don't plot against me in the middle of the night..."
Shinji murmured humbly, curled up in bed.
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Shinji's greatest concern, his younger sister, did not attempt to murder him after communicating with Cloris.
Moreover, despite Cloris' presence in Fuyuki City, she didn't come to see Shinji for personal reasons after the first day.
Time Group has invested money in FZ just like Bandai, and of course Cloris will not interfere with the normal filming process for her own sake.
Nevertheless, Shinji still chose to delay leaving work, making himself the last to leave the film set.
While part of the reason was to avoid Cloris, it was more for work.
He gathered the various departments for a short meeting to confirm the progress of everyone's work and plan for the upcoming tasks.
As the core of the film crew's operation, directors are never idle during the filming of a movie. If you want an easy job, don't become a director.
If there's a director with an easy job, then his movie is ninety-nine percent likely to be a flop. The only exception is if the director has been completely marginalized by the entire crew, which is even more embarrassing than making a bad movie.
Currently, Shinji focused most of his energy on filming the crucial battle where the Heroic Spirits gathered at the dock.
This battle is the most important scene at the beginning of the Fate/Zero script and the climax of the first segment of the movie's plot.
To shoot this scene effectively, Shinji set up two sets—one large set for the battlefield where the Heroic Spirits fought and another for Kiritsugu's observation point.
Setting up such a large scene is usually time-consuming and demanding, but it's much easier than filming on location at the dock. After all, the dock has a huge flow of cargo transportation every day, making it impractical for filming.
Even though the production cost of Fate/Zero is several times that of Fate/stay night, Shinji cannot afford unlimited extravagance.
The scene of the dock battle in Shinji's plan requires at least 300 shots to be filmed, so there is a lot of work for the film crew.
Especially now, nearing the start of the Clock Tower's school year, Kenneth has to return to England and finish his filming quickly.
It's a very challenging task, and when the crew is busy, there's no time to go to the cafeteria for meals, so EMIYA brings lunch to the set.
But Shinji's emphasis on this scene is justified. As the first action scene of the entire movie, Shinji needs it to be as exciting as possible to captivate the audience.
Especially for the future audience of Fate/Zero, most of them are fans who have already seen Fate/stay night. To keep these no longer novice viewers excited about the movie, Shinji must do even better than in Fate/stay night.
Inside the studio, two cameras are set up on the same side. Shinji and EMIYA each operate one. The main camera controlled by Shinji will slide along the track, capturing close-up shots of Saber, while EMIYA will stay in place to control the secondary camera, shooting full-body shots of the two Heroic Spirits.
This is the latest discovery by Shinji that Heroic Spirits can take on a new role in the film crew—photographers.
Compared to ordinary photographers, the hands of the Heroic Spirits are extremely steady, and the situation of the lens shaking due to hand movements rarely appears in the footage captured by them.
But unfortunately, compared to specialized photographers, Heroic Spirits lack training in aesthetic composition, and the shots they take lack dynamism and appear a bit rigid.
"It seems that in the future, not only do I need to summon a musician to create music, but I also need to summon an artist for photography," Shinji sighed. "Why are so many technical personnel among the Heroic Spirits Casters? It makes me unsure how to allocate my slots."
"Just summon more times then," EMIYA grinned. "I just wonder if your Mystic Code is sufficient for it."
"Why wouldn't it be? Don't I have you?" Shinji sincerely said. "I haven't tried summoning with the Noble Phantasm you project."
"Let's not talk about whether my projected Noble Phantasm can be considered a Mystic Code. Even if it can, I can only project weapons. Do you need the Mystic Code of a technical Heroic Spirit to have a weapon?"
"Why not?"
Shinji picked up a book from beside him.
"If this is Leonardo da Vinci's manuscript, and you project it, I can summon Mona Lisa, right?"
"What kind of weapon is that?!"
In response to EMIYA's questioning, Shinji didn't waste words. He threw it with a "whoosh."
"Ah!"
Passing by, Cu Chulainn was hit head-on, colliding with Heracles in front of him.
"■■!"
Heracles slapped Cu Chulainn into the pile of discarded props with one hand.
"You see, isn't this a weapon?"
"This is more like a murder weapon!"
EMIYA looked at Cu Chulainn, who only exposed one foot, and commented.