Chapter 100: Release and Diary

7:00 PM, Chiyoda Ward.

Akiwara Yuto opened his front door and stepped into the Xuanguan, when he suddenly heard a phone ringing.

Who would be calling me at this hour?

He was a bit puzzled, but quickly changed into his indoor shoes and picked up the phone: "I am Akiwara Yuto, may I ask who this is?"

"Akiwara-sensei, it's me." A familiar voice came from the other end, and Akiwara Yuto quickly recognized it as Ankutsu Goichi.

"President Ankutsu, is something the matter?"

On the other end of the line, Ankutsu Goichi said excitedly: "Akiwara-sensei, Tokyo Sales has contacted me. Because the trial reading event went so well, they are preparing to increase their order from 12,000 copies to 18,000 copies!"

"That is truly great news!" Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but clench his fist.

Of the 30,000 copies in the first printing, 6,700 were sold to over 30 partner bookstores through the trial reading event, and 18,000 were sold to the distributor, Tokyo Sales. As for the rest, there were only 5,300 copies left!

Immediately after, Ankutsu Goichi continued: "Akiwara-sensei, for the remaining 5,000-plus books, I plan to keep 1,000 as stock for now, and the other 4,300 will be sold through direct sales, entrusted directly to bookstores."

"I see, sorry for the trouble!" Akiwara Yuto nodded; after all, although he knew quite a bit about publishing, his understanding of distribution was still only superficial.

Therefore, it was best to leave professional work to the professionals.

"Don't be so formal, Akiwara-sensei. After all, we are partners in interest; the better the books sell, the higher the profits Anku Bookstore can earn."

Seeing Ankutsu Goichi say this, Akiwara Yuto stopped being polite, but he asked another question: "President Ankutsu, may I ask what stage we are at now? What is the specific release date for *The Devotion of Suspect X*?"

"Rest assured, it has already been entrusted to the printing plant and large-scale printing has begun. It is expected to be finished by Wednesday, delivered to Tokyo Sales and major bookstores on Thursday, and they will arrange for it to hit the shelves uniformly on Friday."

Hearing all this, Akiwara Yuto felt relieved. After all, his current savings were only a little over 600,000 yen, and in a while, he might have to go back to eating instant noodles.

After finishing the discussion, Ankutsu Goichi mentioned a few more things about post-release promotion before ending the call.

Akiwara Yuto put down the receiver, walked into the kitchen, took out the bento box from his briefcase, placed it in the microwave, set it for 3 minutes, and pressed start.

Watching the bento box rotate in the microwave, Akiwara Yuto began to think: should he go to a bookstore on the official release day to see how things were going?

……

While Akiwara Yuto was thinking, Satake Maki also returned home. She said "I'm home" at the Xuanguan and then trotted into the living room.

Mrs. Satake, who was cooking, heard the movement and poked her head out, saying: "Maki-chan, where did the octopus sausages from the top shelf of the fridge go? And why are there so many eggs missing?"

Satake Maki felt a bit embarrassed and replied: "Sorry, Mom, I used them to make a bento."

"A bento? Can you eat that much by yourself?" Mrs. Satake was a bit skeptical. She looked closely at her daughter's figure and found that she hadn't become very fat.

"That... anyway, I just used them up." Satake Maki didn't want to reveal the true purpose, so she stammered her way through it.

"Really, don't lie to me, okay?" Mrs. Satake looked at her suspiciously, then suddenly seemed to realize something.

"Is it for some male colleague!? Is it that Mr. Xidao? Last time, he even gave you a birthday present."

"So annoying, just focus on your cooking, or I won't eat dinner~"

Satake Maki was a bit shy, so she ran back to her room and slammed the door shut with a "thud."

Watching her daughter's flustered behavior, Mrs. Satake smiled and continued cooking. As she cooked, she thought somewhat "sentimentally."

Could it be that this Christmas, I'll be able to see Maki-chan bring a boyfriend home?

Sigh, the child has grown up~

……

On the other side, Satake Maki sat in front of the vanity in her room, looking at herself in the mirror.

In the mirror was a girl with light brown dyed hair. The girl's skin was fair, and her features could be considered pretty. But to be honest, it was only pretty for an ordinary person.

Facing the mirror, Satake Maki made a face, then opened the drawer, took out a black ink pen and a pink notebook, turned to a new page, and began to write.

She wanted to write down her feelings in the form of a diary.

"October 6th, Wednesday. As of today, it has been 35 days since I met Akiwara Yuto-sensei."

"However, sometimes I still feel like I'm dreaming. I never expected to have the chance to meet my favorite author; it's simply incredible."

"Could it be that the gods thought my life was too ordinary and gave me a bit of good luck? If so, thank you to all the gods on Takamagahara."

Writing to this point, she put down her pen, closed her eyes, put her hands together, and struck a prayer pose.

After a while, she finished her prayer and picked up the pen to continue writing.

"Sometimes, life might just be this wonderful, but what's even more wonderful is that it often isn't the way you think it is."

"Before meeting Akiwara-sensei, I thought that he, who could write works like *Seven Rooms*, must be a very gloomy or even dark person. After all, didn't many literary critics say he was a 'thriller genius'?"

"But after interacting with Akiwara-sensei, I discovered that he has a cheerful personality and is very gentle in his dealings with others. He greets me every day, says thank you when he takes the bento box, and even washes the bento box clean before returning it to me..."

"Although he is very gentle, it's not quite the image of a genius I imagined, which makes me a little disappointed."

Writing to this point, Satake Maki's movements paused. She thought for a moment, crossed out the line "a little disappointed," and changed it to "it doesn't seem bad either."

"In any case, being able to be so close to my idol makes me very happy. I hope I can keep this feeling forever."

"Looking at it now, the plan to deliver a bento every day has succeeded, but Akiwara-sensei's attitude toward me is still very distant. So for the next step, I will further close the distance and make him call me by my name!"

While Satake Maki was writing furiously, her room door was suddenly knocked, and her mother's voice came from behind the door: "Dinner's ready, hurry up and wash your hands."

"Got it, I'm coming!" Satake Maki replied in a crisp voice, wrote down the last sentence, closed the notebook, and stood up to leave the room.

What she had written was this sentence.

"I hope Akiwara-sensei's work sells well when it is released tomorrow!"