Tokyo: Oreimo

"After reading the first three chapters, I take back the word 'ordinary'. I was completely blown away. The writing style, narrative pacing, atmosphere creation, and character dialogue were all top-notch, just like a commercially successful magazine."

"That female protagonist, Ryougi Shiki, is just perfect! The design of those eyes is so captivating! And that line, 'As long as it's alive, I'll kill even a god for you to see,' I've bought a lot of fanfiction, but I've never seen anything like it before."

"Attached images: cover and the first few pages of the first chapter."

The picture isn't very clear, but the comic cover and the text inside are still faintly discernible.

Ryougi Shiki's silhouette is shown holding a short sword in the moonlight, with a line of cold lines printed next to her.

Mao Gokou was drinking her third cup of coffee when she saw the post and clicked on it on a whim.

Then she never closed the page again.

The replies started exploding from the very first page.

"Reserving seats in the front row, waiting for the class representative to give their summary."

"I took one look at the picture, and the quality of this cover illustration is a bit ridiculous. Can a doujin circle really produce this level of work?"

"The painting is indeed good, but the poster is praising the writing, right? Let me take a look first."

"Damn, after reading the preview in the picture, this description, 'Her eyes did not see the wound itself, but the root of the wound', is so moving."

"Has anyone bought it yet? Is it worth the money? I'm thinking of queuing up for the SAO demo tomorrow, and if I can buy this book on my way, I'll go to Dongsi."

"I bought it! I can vouch for the OP, they weren't exaggerating! This was the best bargain I found all day! The guy at the booth who was signing copies was definitely not an ordinary person; his aura was completely different. I got him to sign it, and his handwriting was so beautiful."

"A man? The author is a man? I thought this writing style was written by a female literature major."

"Whether the author is male or female doesn't matter; what matters is that the plot is just so perfect."

"I searched for 'Waseda University Manga Research Club,' and it seems they weren't very well-known before. Is this their first time participating in Winter COMI?"

"We've found a genius this year."

"Is no one discussing the world-building? Although it borrowed the framework from FSN, the concept of 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception' wasn't even explored in the original work. Is this an original setting created by the author? The level of completion is too high."

"Indeed, I even went through the Type-Moon artbook and couldn't find the source of this idea at all, which means it was entirely the original author's own idea."

"Just how deep must the author's understanding of the Type-Moon universe be to write something like this..."

Of course, not everyone is convinced.

When the building reached fifty or sixty stories, some voices of doubt began to emerge.

"No way, aren't you exaggerating? A fan-made magazine from a university club, how can it be better written than a commercial magazine? It's probably just the stall owner using a fake account to market it."

"+1, the title is such a bait, like 'I was completely blown away,' these kinds of marketing posts happen every year during the Winter COMI season."

"Those of you in front, go to the Dongsi Pavilion and look through the trial editions to see if it's a marketing ploy. Those trial editions are so worn out from being read so many times, you have to wait in line to get a copy."

"I've already read it and bought it. Anyway, it's 800 yen a book, so it's a good deal. I'll come back and bookmark this post after I finish reading the second chapter."

"I'm back, and I'm here to confirm as well. It really is unglossy gold. By the way, the blonde girl at the booth was gorgeous. Did anyone take a picture? She looks like a staff member, not a cosplayer."

"Blonde girl? I saw her this afternoon too! Was she the one in the beige coat? I bumped into her in the passageway of the East Fourth Hall and almost thought she was a voice actress browsing the exhibition."

"Bumped into her +1. She seemed to be helping the stall organize the original artwork. Her movements were so efficient, like a professional artist."

It's human nature to veer off-topic, but the most amazing thing about this thread tonight is that even when it occasionally veers off-topic to the blonde beauty, someone always manages to bring the topic back to the work itself.

"Which stall did you buy it from? When I went there, they told me it was sold out!"

"Sold out?! My friend asked me to bring him a copy tomorrow!"

The vendor said they'll be printing more tomorrow and delivering it to your stall in the morning. They suggested arriving early to queue, as I feel it will be even harder to get a copy tomorrow.

"These buildings are getting taller and taller. If I go early tomorrow to queue up, I should still be able to get a ticket..."

Gokou Mao put down her teacup and looked at the heated discussion in the thread, along with the occasional pop-up notifications of favorites and reposts.

She knew who wrote "Kara no Kyoukai".

The club called "Waseda University Manga Research Club" set up a booth at Winter COMI this morning. The booth was located at the entrance of the passageway between East Building 4 and East Building 5.

Five hundred copies of the doujinshi sold out in less than two hours, and an additional eight hundred copies were urgently printed and will be delivered tomorrow.

The author's name is the name of the community, but Mao knows better than anyone else on this forum who actually wrote it.

Because of the novel that Ryosuke Takagi wrote after joining the manga club, Ayano had complained to her more than once in the chat room, saying that her brother had been "neglecting his duties" lately, "working as a laborer for a university club," and "writing fan fiction until midnight."

At the time, Mao even replied, "Are you worried about his health or are you jealous of the club?" Ling Nai chased after her and scolded her for three whole pages of chat history.

Mao rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment. She then took out her phone and took a screenshot of the post, imagining how Ayano would react if she sent it to her.

You'd probably get a response like, "Hmph, isn't that obvious?"

Then come a series of repetitive comments like "It's infuriating," "It's actually not bad," "But it's just fan fiction," and "Don't tell him I'm telling you this."

That idiot is probably at home right now bragging to Ryosuke, "I knew this would happen."

Forget it, I won't send her the screenshot. Let her get a good night's sleep.

She leaned back in her chair, watching the replies constantly refreshing on the screen. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, and a tiny, almost imperceptible smile appeared on her lips.

"so good."

Please take one day off.

Chapter 255 You'll be reprinting it, right? (Chapter closed)

At 6 a.m., the unloading area of ​​Tokyo Big Sight was already full of vans from logistics companies.

On the second day of Winter COMI, before the sun had fully risen, there were already a few staff members moving supplies in the passageway outside the East Hall.

Tian Zhongxue stood at the unloading passage of the side gate of the East Fourth Hall, wrapped in the dark blue winter coat that had faded a bit from yesterday's washing, with a layer of morning mist covering his glasses.

He had been waiting for twenty minutes before the print shop's van slowly pulled up in front of him.

The driver rolled down the window and handed over a receipt.

"Waseda Manga Research, reprint 800 copies, let's count them."

Two neatly wrapped cardboard boxes were unloaded from the carriage. Tian Zhongxue squatted down, opened the first box, counted the contents with his fingers, then opened the second box. When he finished counting the last box, he let out a long breath of white air.

"That's right, eight hundred books."

The driver retrieved the signed receipt, closed the door, and the van drove away from the unloading area.

Tian Zhongxue returned to the stall carrying two cardboard boxes. Ayumi was already tidying up the table, setting up the roll-up banners that she had put away yesterday, flipping to the cleanest pages of the sample books, and even re-attaching the price tags with transparent tape.

"Ayumi, you're here so early."

"The president is early, he sent a message before six o'clock saying the goods have arrived."

"It's because I'm worried."

He placed the cardboard box at his feet, took out a convenience store rice ball from his coat pocket, bit open the packaging, and while chewing, took out his phone and scrolled through it a couple of times.

Then the rice ball almost fell out of my mouth.

"Ayumi".

"Ok?"

"Look at this."

He turned his phone screen around.

It's the account "Akihabara no Lost Child" that posted a recommendation for "Kara no Kyoukai" on the forum last night.

This person has updated again.

"I woke up to find that the post had been pushed to the top of the trending section, with 300 replies overnight. Since so many people are paying attention, I'll add a few more words."

"First of all, let's make it clear that this fanfiction is not a typical derivative of the FSN universe. Instead, it is a completely new and independent story built using the Type-Moon framework. The female protagonist Ryougi Shiki's character design has no basis in the original work. It is purely original and highly complete. I do not recommend skipping any of the psychological descriptions."

"One last thing that's just asking for a beating: those who bought it yesterday, you really hit the jackpot."

The latest replies to the post have already filled five pages.

"Can this poster please stop bragging? The more they brag, the more I regret not going to Dongsi Museum yesterday."

"I missed Dongsi yesterday because I was queuing for the SAO demo, and the first thing I did today was to rush to play this game."

Does anyone know the booth number? Specifically, where in the Dongsi Hall?

"Go back upstairs, it's near the entrance to the East 5th Hall in the East 4 Hall, booth number East 4-127b, 'Waseda University Manga Research Club,' the club flag is black with white lettering that says 'Moonlight Fantasy Creation,' it's easy to find."

"Received, head straight to the start."

"I'll go for +1 right from the start, hopefully we won't sell out too quickly today."

Tian Zhongxue swallowed the rice ball.

"Ayumi, this post was posted at 8 pm last night, and it's already got almost 300 replies."

"Let me see."

Ayumi took the phone.

She was slightly calmer than Tian Zhongxue, but only slightly.

Scrolling down the forum page, in addition to the analysis post by "Akihabara's Lost Child", three or four other new posts discussing "Kara no Kyoukai" also appeared. One of them was a spoiler post from a reader who bought the doujinshi yesterday, showing an illustration of Ryougi Shiki holding a sword under the moonlight, with the title "Best illustration of the entire event, bar none".

There are already over forty replies below, with the top comment being: "Do you have the illustrator's ID? I'd like to follow them."

Ayumi returned the phone to Tian Zhongxue, sat back in her chair, placed her hands on her knees, and remained silent for about five seconds.

"what happened?"

"It's nothing," Ayumi said, her voice a little tense, "It just suddenly feels a little unreal."

"Right! I knew it! I knew that what Gao Cheng wrote was something special!"

Tian Zhongxue slapped his thigh, the sound echoing for several seconds in the empty East Fourth Building, drawing several eye rolls from other club members passing by.

Ayumi did not respond.

This book, "Kara no Kyoukai," wasn't just a product of Ryosuke's efforts.

Those illustrations were drawn by her, and they were revised after repeated discussions with Ryosuke and guidance from Ayano.

Ayumi took out her phone and opened the post she had made yesterday.