After the celebration banquet ended, everyone gradually dispersed after exchanging farewells with Kamiyā Yuu. Aside from Morishita Aoi driving the drunk Yūki Chinatsu and Kirigami Ruri back to the company's little apartment, nothing particularly interesting happened.
When drunk, Yūki Chinatsu became even more lively and uninhibited, while Kirigami Ruri reverted completely to her chūnibyō state. Even when facing Kamiyā Yuu, she maintained the persona of the "Fallen Saint Black Cat of Chiba."
As for Kamiyā Sora, after drinking only a few cups of sake, she quietly stayed by Kamiyā Yuu's side the entire time. Even while he was driving home, her small hand tightly clutched the corner of his suit jacket and refused to let go. The blush on her cheeks made it impossible to tell whether it came from embarrassment or intoxication. Her normally calm and cool gaze had become uneasy and shy, and she didn't dare meet Kamiyā Yuu's eyes. She looked no different from a bashful girl in love.
"How are you feeling? Is your head still spinning?" Kamiyā Yuu slowed the car and asked with concern. One hand rested against her forehead to check her temperature. Ever since earlier, it had felt as hot as when she had a fever.
"Mm."
Sitting in the passenger seat, Kamiyā Sora tugged anxiously at his suit and nodded before shaking her head.
"A little," she replied softly.
Kamiyā Yuu gently rubbed her silver-white hair.
"Then don't drink alcohol anymore in the future, Sora. When we get home, I'll prepare some hot water. Take a bath and go straight to sleep. You'll feel much better after you wake up."
"Yuu."
"What is it?"
Pouting, Kamiyā Sora asked in a teary voice,
"Miss Busujima is very beautiful, isn't she? She's not clumsy like me, she can drink alcohol, she can help you more with work, and she's athletic too."
Kamiyā Yuu glanced at her.
She was obviously jealous.
The way she looked now was completely different from her usual self. Normally, she either bottled things up or shot him a cold glare and acted a little petty over something insignificant.
Being careful while pretending to sound casual, he answered,
"Yeah."
Not receiving any comforting words, Kamiyā Sora froze.
After thinking for a moment, she muttered unwillingly,
"Yuu, you're bullying me."
Looking at the road ahead, Kamiyā Yuu shook his head with a smile.
"Weren't you the one who didn't want to talk about this kind of thing? Besides, no matter how outstanding she is, it has nothing to do with Sora."
"Is that supposed to be comforting?" Kamiyā Sora tilted her head and asked.
"Probably. Because to me, Sora is special."
Hearing those words, Kamiyā Sora revealed a warm smile. Then she snorted lightly in dissatisfaction.
"Yuu only knows how to say pretty things."
Kamiyā Yuu laughed awkwardly and didn't answer.
Back at the apartment, Kamiyā Sora quickly fell asleep in her room after taking a bath.
Kamiyā Yuu, meanwhile, carried his laptop into the office and continued his great undertaking of writing the 'Fate/Zero' novels.
The final side story among the seven Heroic Spirit character novels, Lancelot's Berserker-class story, 'Knight's Elegy,' was released immediately after the finale of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica.'
Although its impact wasn't even one percent of that generated by 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' it still sparked an extremely strong reaction among light novel readers.
What surprised Kamiyā Yuu was that the release of 'Knight's Elegy' gave rise to a large number of "King-hater" readers.
They strongly disagreed with Artoria's chosen path as king, believing that she herself had destroyed the kingdom and ruined the lives of Lancelot and Queen Guinevere.
Naturally, large numbers of Saber fans stepped forward to defend the king's reputation, triggering a wave of chaos in Chiyo Bookstore's light novel discussion forums.
Kamiyā Yuu liked Saber, but from the perspective of an animation producer, he had become much more detached about such debates.
If a character could generate this level of controversy, it only proved that he had successfully created Artoria's character.
Because all seven character side-story novels had been published consecutively, and because Kamiyā Yuu had previously stated in interviews that each novel only took around five days to complete, the entire light novel industry was left ashamed.
As a result, he unexpectedly acquired another nickname:
"The Human Printer."
...
After the conclusion of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio became much livelier.
More accurately, the entire street where the studio was located became much livelier.
When Kamiyā Yuu went to work, he would occasionally encounter fans who had traveled from other regions. Upon spotting him, they would enthusiastically surround him, asking for photos and autographs, leaving him both amused and helpless.
During this period, the animation production departments became considerably more relaxed.
In contrast, the previously idle operations department began working overtime every night, taking advantage of the anime's peak popularity to launch various promotional campaigns and commercial collaborations.
For example, they partnered with jewelers to release magical-girl-themed necklaces.
A normal diamond necklace would simply have its diamond replaced with a pink diamond and be marketed as "Madoka Pink," allowing the price to increase several times over. Yet sales ended up dozens of times better than before.
In the anime, Sakura Kyōko loved eating apples.
Not long after her debut, several agricultural prefectures in Japan's District 11 had already approached them, hoping to use Sakura Kyōko as a promotional spokesperson for their apple products.
Ordinarily, these licensing revenues would belong to the production committee.
However, 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was an original work created by 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio, and no production committee members had invested in it.
Therefore, aside from BD sales, Kamiyā Yuu also owned all profits generated by 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica.'
These commercial partnerships naturally brought another enormous wave of revenue to 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio.
Ironically, BD sales—the metric most animation studios cared about—had become relatively insignificant.
Morishita Aoi had already commissioned factories to begin BD production.
The discs would likely be officially released in mid-to-late July, with first-week sales figures becoming available near the end of the month.
Just how many times higher would the first-week BD sales of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'—a work that had created a ratings miracle in this world—be compared to its performance in his previous world?
No matter how massive the social impact of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' became, 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio still had work to do.
An animation studio couldn't survive forever on a single anime.
Every work shared the same characteristic: no matter how sensational it was at its peak, things would calm down after a few months.
For example, the trend of fans traveling specifically to take photos on the street where the studio was located would probably fade within a month.
Operations were left to Morishita Aoi.
Kamiyā Yuu shifted his focus back to animation production.
The fourth anime produced since the establishment of 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio, 'Fate/Zero,' officially began airing one week after 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' concluded.
The seven Heroic Spirit side-story novels had all been completed, and serialization of the main novel had begun.
The main novel progressed in sync with the anime, serving as supplemental material that expanded upon the animated content.
The seven-character novels also served as explanations of the Type-Moon world setting.
They clarified the definition of magi, the difference between magecraft and true magic, the nature of the world itself, and numerous other settings.
Naturally, the first episode of Kamiyā Yuu's rebooted version of 'Fate/Zero' was likewise devoted to explaining the world.
Most anime viewers in this world didn't read light novels, and the adaptation also needed to accommodate audiences unfamiliar with ACG culture.
No matter how exciting or excellent an anime might be, if the majority of viewers couldn't understand it, then by definition it was a failed work.
...
While the conclusion of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' had a significant impact on 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio, something interesting also happened with 'Fleet Girl Collection,' the game operated by the 'Mirror Flower, Water Moon' Game Studio.
As the anime ended, the collaboration event between 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' and 'Fleet Girl Collection' was also approaching its conclusion.
At that point, however, a very awkward situation emerged.
After the anime finished airing, Kaname Madoka's popularity skyrocketed.
Having obtained the title of "Madoka God," she ascended to the pinnacle of all magical-girl popularity rankings.
The animated-CG-level Mental Model unit 'Madoka God,' personally illustrated by Kamiyā Yuu for 'Fleet Girl Collection,' could only be obtained through paid gacha draws during the final phase of the collaboration event.
Countless players who had previously thought, "I don't like this character anyway, so there's no need to grind for her," instantly regretted their decision.
Madoka's rising popularity indirectly created a huge wave of heavy spenders within the game.
Many Madoka fans even started playing 'Fleet Girl Collection' solely to obtain the character.
These players were all aiming for the guaranteed pity reward of 'Madoka God,' which required spending two million yen.
Their spending frenzy immediately propelled 'Fleet Girl Collection' to first place on Japan's mobile game revenue rankings, earning more than ten times the revenue of the second-place game.
Since Japanese players were essentially unmatched worldwide in terms of gacha spending, this also meant that 'Fleet Girl Collection' had become the highest-grossing game in the world.
News stories about Japanese players spending over a hundred million yen on games before quitting were commonplace.
To limit predatory monetization practices, the Japanese government had even passed laws requiring games to implement pay-to-play systems.
This month alone, players spent 10,286,352,764 yen in 'Fleet Girl Collection.'
Converted into U.S. dollars, that amounted to roughly one hundred million dollars.
That figure was comparable to the total sales revenue of a major AAA title.
Meanwhile, the development and operating costs of 'Fleet Girl Collection' were relatively low, whereas an ordinary AAA game required years of development and budgets measured in tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.
At this point, the total profits generated by 'Fleet Girl Collection' exceeded the combined profits of several AAA games.
Players around the world were dumbfounded, unable to understand how a mere browser game could generate such terrifying revenue.
Ironically, being a browser game was also its greatest limitation.
Kamiyā Yuu had originally chosen that format simply for convenience.
Now, however, 'Fleet Girl Collection' had become one of the primary sources of income for 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio.
His attitude toward the game had shifted from a hobby project to a serious business endeavor.
Some time ago, he had allocated a large amount of funding to the 'Mirror Flower, Water Moon' Game Studio, ordering them to improve their company structure and develop both a PC client and a mobile app version of 'Fleet Girl Collection' as soon as possible.
Once completed, it was destined to become one of the most famous games in the world.
Android smartphones also existed in this world, and overall mobile technology was roughly equivalent to that of 2014 in his previous world.
It was also the period when mobile gaming was experiencing its most explosive growth.
The game's profits in China were equally impressive.
Because Chinese players vastly outnumbered those in Japan, total spending exceeded Japan's revenue despite the average player spending considerably less.
The Chinese player base exhibited extreme polarization.
On one side were ultra-rich whales who could casually throw tens of thousands of dollars into the game without blinking.
On the other side were hardcore grinders who had never spent a single cent since launch yet possessed combat power comparable to wealthy players.
This was the result of Kamiyā Yuu drawing inspiration from the game systems of his previous world.
A game that catered exclusively to whales or exclusively to free players would satisfy neither group.
The most important thing was balance—allowing different types of players to enjoy different forms of fun.
Aside from differences in setting, 'Fleet Girl Collection' was fundamentally different from the original in terms of gameplay.
In the original version, players could not choose targets during battle; once combat began, they merely watched a cutscene play out.
Kamiyā Yuu changed this system entirely.
Players could freely select targets and organize formations.
Different enemies required different tactical approaches.
Destroyers, light cruisers, heavy cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers, and other ship classes each possessed distinct roles and abilities.
When properly combined, they could produce remarkable effects against different opponents.
As a result, no ship class became useless, unlike the situation where light cruisers served little purpose.
The strategic depth of combat was comparable to the mind games found in card games.
The PvE system was already close to perfect.
Meanwhile, the recently introduced battlefield system—essentially PvP—had quickly become the game's most popular feature.
Because of the tremendous variety within the combat system, even players who had fully completed the game could easily be defeated by ordinary players if they made a mistake.
It was somewhat similar to 'Hearthstone.'
Even if a player possessed every legendary card in golden form, they could still get beaten senseless by a cheap T7 Hunter deck composed mostly of common cards.
Compared to luck-based games like 'Hearthstone,' however, 'Fleet Girl Collection' PvP placed far greater emphasis on skill and strategic planning.
The game's systems were already highly polished.
Without fundamentally changing the gameplay model, there was little room left for major improvements.
As a result, the primary responsibility of the 'Mirror Flower, Water Moon' Game Studio was to collaborate with artists and introduce new Mental Model characters, as well as implement the various game events planned by Kamiyā Yuu.
Their goal was to ensure that players experienced something new every month.
Just like 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' no matter how popular a game became, it would eventually lose its novelty.
Because games and anime required different operational strategies, 'Fleet Girl Collection' could only maintain its vitality through continuous updates.
A perfect example was the most popular game in Kamiyā Yuu's previous world: 'League of Legends.'
Every season brought changes.
Major revisions occurred annually.
Even when players complained, Riot Games persisted.
They understood that failing to update the game would only cause even more players to leave.
At present, 'Fleet Girl Collection' has become the game with the largest dōjin community in Japan.
Its popularity even surpassed that of its counterpart in Kamiyā Yuu's previous world.
At recent conventions, the most common cosplay characters were either from 'Fleet Girl Collection' or from 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica.'
Any booth selling 'Fleet Girl Collection' dōjinshi would quickly be sold out by convention attendees.
After seeing the fleet girls he had personally designed become material for dōjin works, Kamiyā Yuu couldn't help feeling a strange sense of resistance deep inside.