Chapter 109: Serialization and Conspiracy

After lunch, Akiwara Yuto declined Satake Maki’s suggestion to leave the dishes behind, choosing instead to wash them himself before handing them over to her.

Then, he said "goodbye" to Satake Maki and left the Ankyu Bookstore.

After a journey of over 40 minutes, Akiwara Yuto arrived once again at the internet cafe he had visited previously.

He sat down in front of a cubicle computer and opened the post he had published earlier, "Death of a Mystery Novelist."

While waiting for the page to load, he lowered his head and began to think...

The weekly sales for "Suspect X" last week were around 4,000 copies; the number didn't look large, but in fact, it was 500 copies more than the 3,500 copies Ankyu Tsuyoshi had estimated.

So, online traffic redirection was actually somewhat effective?

Though it was hard to say for sure; perhaps President Ankyu had simply miscalculated.

At this moment, the slow webpage finally loaded. Akiwara Yuto dragged the mouse and began to scroll from top to bottom.

Huh, this was somewhat unexpected.

From top to bottom, there were already over a hundred replies, the vast majority of which were urging the "original poster to update," while others replied with "dissatisfaction," and only a very small portion were guessing who the real killer was.

Akiwara Yuto wasn't surprised; he had only updated the first part of the original work, so being urged by so many people was normal.

After all, no matter which world it was, leaving people hanging would always cause dissatisfaction.

But if he didn't do this, he might not be able to help drive traffic to "Suspect X."

Akiwara Yuto whispered an apology in his heart and decided to stick to his plan—continuing to update step by step to ensure the post's popularity.

After making this decision, Akiwara Yuto looked at the posts guessing the killer for a while longer and found that the replies were a mess, yet no one believed that this mystery novelist had truly committed suicide.

After a quick glance, Akiwara Yuto continued to tap on the keyboard, inputting the second part of the story for "The Mystery Novelist."

After confirming that the last person to see the deceased alive was the caregiver, the detective immediately summoned her and briefly learned about her background.

He discovered that this female caregiver was an Ainu from the Qiandaoqundao, an ethnic group that had long been subjected to discrimination by mainstream Japanese society, with school enrollment and employment rates far below the social average.

But after a conversation, the detective found that the caregiver had a very gentle personality and had a good personal relationship with the deceased, even being told about various family conflicts by him.

Besides this, the caregiver had one very well-known weakness: once she lied, she would vomit uncontrollably.

After thinking for a moment, the detective began his interrogation.

At this moment, a series of images flashed through the caregiver's mind.

On the night of the incident, she and the mystery novelist were playing shogi when, suddenly, the novelist overturned the board, causing everything on the table to fall to the floor, including the two small medicine bottles the caregiver had prepared.

The caregiver then picked up the bottles and injected the novelist, but after the injection, she realized she had grabbed the wrong bottle, administering 100 grams of morphine to the novelist instead of the intended medication.

If nothing went wrong, the novelist would be poisoned to death within 10 minutes.

The caregiver immediately opened the first-aid kit to look for an antidote, but she couldn't find it anywhere, and she burst into tears in her panic.

But just as she was about to call for an ambulance, the novelist snapped the phone line and said, "Leave me alone. If I die, I don't want you to go to prison. We must come up with a plan to clear you of suspicion right now."

In just a few minutes, he proposed a plan.

It was for the caregiver to leave through the front door first, then return to the third-floor bedroom where they were currently located via an outdoor ladder, change into his clothes, go downstairs without exposing her face, and ensure others noticed her. After doing all this, she would change back into her own clothes and leave.

In this way, the caregiver would have a perfect alibi.

When the caregiver heard this suggestion, she was still wavering, but seeing her hesitation, the novelist took a 30-centimeter-long Japanese short sword from a drawer, slit his own throat, and sprayed blood all over the floor.

Seeing everything that had happened, the caregiver tightly covered her mouth to keep from screaming.

In order not to let the novelist's plan go to waste, and also because she didn't want to go to prison, the caregiver had no choice but to start acting immediately.

After inputting this part, Akiwara Yuto checked it carefully twice.

After confirming there were no issues, he closed the computer, left the internet cafe, and started on his way home.

Chiyoda Ward, Mantan Society Headquarters, Editorial Bureau Office.

Kihara Daigo sat on the sofa, picked up his teacup for a sip, and then asked Takei Kohei, who was sitting diagonally across from him, "Takei, regarding the previous proposal, what is your opinion?"

Takei Kohei continued to wear a "politician-style" smile and replied, "Director, regarding the position of Editor-in-Chief, I still hope you can recommend me."

Before this, he had gone to great lengths to obtain the position of Editor-in-Chief.

To ensure his competitors had no grounds to attack him, he tried every method to poach Akiwara Yuto: first using Kikuchi Tai to change the results of the literary award, then finding a way to transfer Asano Aiko, thereby causing a rift between Akiwara Yuto and "New Novel."

After that, he personally visited and offered better terms, attempting to get Akiwara Yuto to join "Tokyo Literature."

But he hadn't expected that Akiwara Yuto, disregarding the interests of his own unreleased "ZOO" collection, would directly cooperate with another small publisher without a word.

At the same time, rumors quite unfavorable to Mantan Society had even begun to circulate.

If things continued this way, his chances of becoming the Editor-in-Chief of "Tokyo Literature" were undoubtedly becoming slimmer.

The only way was to cling even tighter to the Department Director, just like Matsushima Kazuhiro!

Kihara Daigo put down his teacup, tapped the tabletop lightly with his knuckles, and replied, "Takei, don't push your luck. You should know that I spent a lot of effort suppressing those rumors last time."

Takei lowered his head and responded with a "Yes," but in his heart, he felt nothing but disdain.

If those rumors hadn't been suppressed, wouldn't they have eventually been traced back to you anyway...

Kihara Daigo was silent for a moment, then continued, "Your situation is different from Matsushima Kazuhiro's. At that time, Kikuchi Tai had already left, and 'New Novel' needed someone who could take over immediately, and his qualifications were suitable. But in your case, you aren't the only Deputy Editor-in-Chief; a rash promotion wouldn't convince the staff."

He paused, then added, "However, I can give you a chance."

Kihara Daigo had thought it through: if he wanted Takei Kohei to keep working hard, then giving him some benefits was appropriate. Moreover, if the other party rose to power, it would also have some benefits for himself.

"A chance?" Takei Kohei was stunned, but quickly reacted, "Please, tell me."

"Although I cannot directly promote you to Editor-in-Chief, I can suggest to the Vice President that we postpone the decision for the Editor-in-Chief of 'Tokyo Literature' due to the current unsuitable circumstances. You should understand the rest yourself."

Takei Kohei thought for a moment and immediately understood Kihara Daigo's proposal: it was to retreat in order to advance.

The aftermath of the Mantan Society Literary Award incident had not yet dissipated; even if he became Editor-in-Chief now, there might be significant criticism.

Rather than that, it would be better to maintain the status quo; after a year or so, everyone would likely have forgotten about this matter.

By that time, if he campaigned for it again, the difficulty of getting the position would undoubtedly be much lower.

Thinking of this, he stood up and bowed deeply, "I understand your meaning, thank you very much!"

Kihara Daigo waved his hand, "Alright, let's not talk about this for now. Regarding my previous question, tell me your plan."

Takei Kohei straightened his posture, nodded, and bent down to take a stack of papers from his briefcase, laying them flat on the dark gray coffee table in front of the sofa.

"Regarding the influence caused by Akiwara Yuto, I believe we should do this..."