Chapter 337: Rin: Even as a Maid, I Can Still Improve!
The uproar—or rather, the chaos—caused by the Hanging Gardens had far exceeded Shinji's wildest expectations.
He had never imagined people would go this insane over a flying hunk of metal.
Forget the conspiracy theorists—even the ordinary rubberneckers, the everyday gossip-loving citizens, were completely obsessed with the skyborne castle.
It had become the topic of the moment. Everyone and their grandmother was talking about it.
How famous was it?
Well… let's just say its popularity was about on par with the D4vd scandal.
Online comments were overflowing:
[MY GOD!! Since when did amusement rides get this insane?! This thing's too freaking cool! ∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ]
[After all these years, is Fuyuki City finally taking tourism seriously? Thank you, Director Matou! (T▽T)]
[Anyone here a Fuyuki native?—tell us your story!]
[I wanna go on that flying castle so bad! If I can't, I'm gonna die! (rolling on floor)]
[That castle's insane… it's gonna become Fuyuki's new landmark for sure.]
[A landmark's supposed to be on the ground! This thing's in the sky—it's a skymark!]
[Wonder how much tickets will cost. If it's under 5,000 yen, I'm definitely going!]
[I'd go even if it's 10,000 yen! It's the only flying castle in the world! If some guy proposed to me up there—no, even just asked me out—I'd say yes on the spot! So romantic!]
[10,000? I'll pay 12,000!]
[15,000!]
[20,000!]
[Oi!? Are we bidding for tickets now!? This isn't an auction, people!! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻]
—And just like that, a simple online discussion turned into a full-on circus.
Somehow, the internet had collectively decided to start a bidding war over the price of Hanging Gardens tickets.
There were even maniacs publicly offering 200,000 yen for a single trip.
"These people have lost their damn minds! It's just a mobile flying Ferris wheel! What's so special about it?!"
Shinji slammed his desk in disbelief. He couldn't, for the life of him, understand their obsession.
He had assumed all those commenters were just keyboard warriors talking big for laughs—but within days, Type-Moon's office was flooded with calls.
And every single one of them said the same thing:
"We want to go on the Hanging Gardens!"
"Please let us ride it!"
"I'll pay extra—like, a lot extra!"
Some were even offering 500,000 yen per ticket.
"These carbon-based lifeforms must have brain damage," Shinji groaned.
"If you're paying that much just to fly around for a few minutes, there's gotta be something wrong with your neurons."
Now, if someone had wanted to rent out the entire Hanging Gardens for a lavish party or an over-the-top wedding, he could at least understand the expense.
But no—they just wanted to buy regular tourist tickets for a "normal" ride.
"I priced the thing at a few thousand yen, tops!" he complained. "How did it turn into a luxury auction?!"
In Shinji's eyes, these people were like Athena during her monthly divine mood swings—completely out of their minds.
Still, if you looked at it from the fans' perspective, it wasn't hard to see why.
To Shinji, the Hanging Gardens was nothing more than a giant Ferris wheel.
Sure, it had once been a powerful Noble Phantasm, but after Shinji's heavy "adjustments" (read: budget cuts), it was now just a big, beautiful, completely impractical showpiece.
A gorgeous ornament that could float.
Perfect for a theme park ride—but at the end of the day, still just a glorified blimp.
Yet to the fans, this was something divine.
To them, the Hanging Gardens wasn't just a machine—it was a symbol.
A manifestation of the same kind of faith that surrounded Yokohama's life-sized, moving Gundam statue built by the Gundam Factory.
And compared to that Gundam—whose "movement" was mostly just posing for photos—the Hanging Gardens was the real deal.
It could actually fly.
Cool, majestic, and fulfilling humanity's dream of soaring through the sky—this castle wasn't just a machine.
It was the ultimate status symbol.
Forget private jets—nothing screamed "I'm awesome" louder than a flying fortress drifting above the city lights.
Of course, all this madness was before the Fate/Apocrypha movie had even premiered.
Once the film came out—and fans had an emotional connection to the Hanging Gardens's backstory—Shinji was sure the prices would skyrocket even more.
Still, he knew part of this hype came from another reason: he hadn't actually released any official details about the Hanging Gardens's tour program.
So some hardcore fans were deliberately jacking up prices online, hoping to buy their way in for an early experience.
Once the Hanging Gardens tours became more common, people would calm down.
Nobody stays crazy forever—especially when their wallets start crying.
Shinji's lack of understanding was, in truth, just a side effect of hanging around Heroic Spirits and magi for too long.
He'd long forgotten how ordinary people reacted to something as fantastical as this.
As Illya once teased him, "Stay in this circle long enough, and you'll stop being human."
Still, even if he didn't get the fans' obsession, Shinji was a very generous man—especially when there was profit to be made.
Seeing how passionate (and loaded) these fans were, Shinji immediately reworked his original tourism plan.
He decided to open a limited batch of tickets for the Hanging Gardens—half to be won by lottery, half to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The winners would be invited aboard the Hanging Gardens on New Year's Day, to watch the first sunrise of the year from the sky.
Sending a group of people up into the freezing night air for a holiday event like that…
Yeah, it took a special kind of lunatic to come up with something so "romantic."
Good thing Shinji himself was no ordinary carbon-based lifeform.
He was a magus—and the Hanging Gardens wasn't built by normal hands either.
Despite its open, wind-leaking design, the Hanging Gardens's interior was perfectly stable.
Thanks to the wonders of magecraft, only the top terrace was exposed to the elements—every other section was protected from the kind of icy winds that could turn your face into a frozen pancake.
Aside from a gentle sensation of weightlessness, the atmosphere inside was about as comfortable as a five-star hotel suite.
Naturally, in public materials, Shinji credited all this to cutting-edge air filtration technology.
After all, everyone from the magical side of things knew what "technology" meant when it came out of Shinji's mouth.
After dumping the "New Year Sky Sunrise Experience" project onto the operations team, Shinji dove straight back into his film work.
Before the end of the year, he had to wrap up post-production for Fate/Apocrypha, and also bring the Garden of Sinners film crew to completion.
No small task, even for him.
The Hanging Gardens's night shoot had finished in a single evening, but the rest of the reshoots were far from simple—tedious, time-consuming, and mentally exhausting.
Shinji didn't have to micromanage everything, but both Fate/Apocrypha and The Garden of Sinners were at critical stages of production.
Even the job of overall supervision and coordination drained an incredible amount of focus and energy.
Not to mention he was also juggling producer roles on several side projects, and making key executive decisions for Type-Moon's larger plans.
Working late into the night had become his new normal.
Sometimes he got so absorbed that he'd forget to eat, drink, or even go to the bathroom—which was why Rin the Maid had taken it upon herself to remind him.
Having followed Shinji through weeks of this relentless schedule, Rin finally understood just how insanely busy this man could be.
Before this, she'd only ever worked with him as a co-star—sharing a film set or a few interviews here and there.
Back then, her impression of him was… let's just say, not flattering.
To her, Shinji Matou had always been the epitome of a decadent rich boy—the kind who dumped all the hard work on others while he spent his time flirting with girls, teasing maidens, and playing the charming playboy.
"Wait—so in your mind, I literally spend all day thinking with my lower body?"
Shinji's voice was half exasperated, half amused.
Rin, in her crisp maid uniform, nodded solemnly.
"Pretty much. Up until about a month ago, that's exactly what I thought."
She said it without hesitation—brutally honest, as always.
"But I've been watching you work lately," she added, softening her tone a little. "You've been running yourself ragged. You even have dark circles under your eyes."
Rin leaned closer, pointing at his face.
"Look at you. Even if you wanted to go hit on some girl right now, nobody would take you seriously. You look like a man with kidney failure."
"…Is it that obvious?"
Shinji's voice dropped into a half-dead murmur.
Shinji rubbed his tired eyes.
Working late every night was starting to wear him down.
"Just a little longer," he muttered. "Once the Fate/Apocrypha post-production is completely wrapped, I can finally focus on The Garden of Sinners."
Rin shook her head slightly and handed him a cup of tea.
He accepted it, taking a slow sip. The rich aroma of black tea lingered on his tongue.
Watching him sink back into his chair, exhaustion written all over his face, Rin's expression softened for a moment.
Then, wordlessly, she reached out and began gently massaging his temples.
"…You actually learned how to do this?"
Shinji blinked, a little surprised. Her technique was leagues better than the last time she'd tried.
He closed his eyes, letting himself relax into the rhythm of her hands.
"Risei-jii-chan taught me," Rin said matter-of-factly. "You complained last time that I didn't know how to do it properly, so I went to him for lessons."
"…Wait, the old man knows massage techniques?"
Rin gave a small, proud smirk. "Risei-jii-chan's a master of Chinese martial arts. You think he wouldn't know a little acupressure?"
"He's never mentioned that to me."
"Please," Rin snorted. "You didn't even have the patience to finish basic training. Why would he bother telling you?"
"..."
Shinji awkwardly rubbed his nose.
She wasn't wrong.
He'd given up on martial arts ages ago. Sure, it looked cool, but the amount of effort it took to get good at it? No thanks.
His talent in combat was maybe one ten-thousandth of what it was in magecraft—and his time was already consumed by film work and Type-Moon projects.
At best, he'd picked up a few flashy moves from old man Risei—just enough to scare off a couple of street thugs if things ever went sideways.
Rin, on the other hand… this maid could probably solo an entire gang if she wanted to.
"You learning massage is great news," Shinji said lazily. "From now on, I'll be counting on you."
He didn't even try to hide his sense of entitlement.
Rin raised an eyebrow, her tone turning sly.
"Oh? Since you're that satisfied, then about my salary—"
"Go talk to Ophelia," Shinji cut her off without missing a beat. "She handles payroll."
"Ugh, you schemer!" Rin stomped her foot in frustration.
Talk to that one-eyed woman about a raise? And the reason would be 'I got better at massaging the boss'?
Yeah, Rin could already imagine Ophelia's expressionless reply:
"Isn't that just part of a maid's basic skillset?"
The massage lasted only about thirty minutes before Shinji had to get back to work.
There was still too much left to do for him to indulge in being spoiled all night.
But in the back of his mind, Shinji was already thinking that once things settled down, he'd make sure to schedule regular "massage sessions."
After all, with Rin's dedication, something interesting might just happen one of these days… Hehehe~
Fortunately, the Fate/Apocrypha post-production went smoothly.
After several days of sleepless effort, the editing phase was finally done—only sound mixing and voice recording remained.
Meanwhile, The Garden of Sinners had entered a new phase of production—it was time to film the scenes for the main antagonist, Asagami Fujino.
Which meant the actor who'd been quietly observing the set and studying the script for months—Yu Mei-ren / Hinako Akuta—was finally going to step in front of the camera herself.
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