Chapter 12: House Hunting and Bar

Akiwara Yuto knew nothing about Asano Aiko's frustration. He was looking at houses at this moment, preparing to change his residence.

Three days after signing the contract, Mantan Society's finance department transferred the manuscript fee to his account.

After receiving the money, Akiwara Yuto took out 100,000 yen, first paid the rent, and then bought a thank-you gift for the manager.

During this period, his writing speed also accelerated. It only took him 5 days to write stories like "Seven Rooms" and "SOFAR" in the serialization series, and the speed was fast enough to surprise himself.

With enough manuscripts, he decided to leave himself a few days to deal with trivial matters. After all, the rent of the current residence was cheap, but the environment was too bad, seriously affecting his sleep and work.

So in order to write better, he often went to that writer-specific office of Mantan Society during this period and also met a normal friend he could talk to.

But this was not a long-term solution, so he went directly to the real estate agency he saw before.

After clarifying his budget and needs, the real estate agency sent a suit-wearing agent, who took him to a detached house on a street in Bunkyo Ward.

Arriving at the destination, the agent pushed open the courtyard door and said politely: "Akiwara-sama, please walk this way."

Akiwara Yuto nodded, stepped in, and began to look around.

This detached house was a traditional Japanese housing "detached house," consisting of a small courtyard plus a parking lot, and a 3-story building.

The courtyard didn't look very big, and the side facing the street was particularly narrow, extending only to the back, appearing very long and narrow. Some flowers and plants were planted inside, but it seemed a bit messy because no one took care of them carefully.

On the left was the home garage, built of red bricks, not large in area, estimated to be able to hold a car and a motorcycle. But for Akiwara Yuto, it was just to be used as a utility room for now.

He looked around and looked up at the street again, finding that there were no vehicles coming and going, so it was considered relatively quiet.

The agent standing on the side saw the expression on Akiwara's face and breathed a sigh of relief. Now the economy was bad, and housing prices fell every day. Not only did no one buy houses, but there were also few people renting houses, and their performance pressure was a bit high.

However, he still had to work harder. He quickly piled up a face of smiles, opened the residential door, and smiled: "Akiwara-sama, please take a look at the house type here."

Akiwara Yuto nodded, took off his shoes at the entrance, put on foot covers, walked in, and listened to the introduction.

The actual area of this house was about 90 tsubo. The first floor was the entrance, corridor, bathroom, toilet, and stairs. The second floor was the living room and dining room. As for his bedroom, he had to climb the stairs to the third floor.

It sounded very good, but it was still a bit troublesome to think about it. After waking up, if he wanted to go to the toilet, he had to walk from the third floor to the first floor, not to mention going up and down in the house every day, which was estimated to take a lot of physical strength and time to climb the stairs.

However, the environment here was also considered relatively quiet, and the rent was considered acceptable.

The agent saw that Akiwara Yuto was hesitant and couldn't help but feel nervous.

He thought about it and decided to take out the trump card, so he persuaded: "Akiwara-sama, if you decide to rent this house, we can come forward to coordinate with the landlord and give a reduction in the gift money."

Hearing this condition, Akiwara Yuto was a bit moved.

In Japan, when renting a house, besides signing a new rental contract, one also has to pay the landlord "gift money" and "deposit" of unknown meaning.

"Gift money" is completely literal, giving a sum of money to the landlord as a gift to obtain the qualification to move into this house, equal to 1-2 months of rent.

And "deposit" is the security deposit, and the amount is not much different from the gift money. When moving out, if the landlord sees that the house is damaged, he will deduct the repair part from the deposit and return it.

After the previous spending, Akiwara Yuto now had a total of only 160,000 yen in savings.

Although it was said that after the official serialization, he would soon get the subsequent manuscript fees, but as far as the current situation was concerned, saving one sum is one sum.

Akiwara Yuto indicated to the other party that he understood, and then said tactfully that he would consider it again. He planned to find a few more real estate agencies and look at a few more houses before making a decision.

In the regretful eyes of the agent, he said goodbye politely and walked toward the station, preparing to take the train home.

Today's manuscript writing task hadn't been completed yet, so he still had to hurry up.

"Akiwara-san, there is a call for you."

Akiwara Yuto was just stopped by the manager uncle when he walked downstairs. He didn't even go upstairs and followed the other party to the management office.

Who was it this time? He couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart.

Picking up the receiver, he heard the noisy music from the other side. Thinking about it, he asked politely: "Hello, I am Akiwara Yuto, may I ask who you are..."

"Akiwara-san, I... didn't fight for promotion for you... I'm sorry."

A familiar female voice came from the other side. It was Asano Aiko, only the other party's voice sounded a bit drunk.

What promotion? Akiwara Yuto was confused, but knew that this was not the time to explore this, so he probed: "Ms. Asano, have you been drinking?"

"Yes, in a bad mood... drank a little in a bar."

"Are you with friends?"

"No... only... me alone."

Akiwara Yuto was a bit worried. A beautiful girl running to a bar to drink alone, although he could guess that she was frustrated at work, this was a bit worrying.

He immediately asked: "Ms. Asano, where are you now?"

The other side was silent for a while, "Akiwara-san, are you worried about me... I'm very safe here..."

"Not really, I have important work to connect with you now, so I need to see you immediately." Akiwara Yuto interrupted her words directly.

After saying this, he waited for a while with the receiver, and when he was a bit anxious, he heard the voice from the receiver.

"Sorry, Akiwara-san... I was a bit dizzy just now. I am at the Winebar in Nishi-Shinjuku 5-chome, Shinjuku Ward... But it's better to find me to connect with work tomorrow. I'm afraid I can't handle it well now."

"No, this work is more important now."

After finishing this sentence, Akiwara Yuto hung up the phone, thanked the manager, and walked out again. If the other party really got drunk in a place like a bar, there would really be trouble.

He walked to the nearest main road, waved to call a taxi, and rushed to the destination Asano Aiko said—the Japanese taxi fare was so expensive that his heart ached, but he couldn't care about this bit of money now.

After experiencing a 20-minute ride, he finally arrived at the destination.

As soon as he got out of the car, he saw a sign hanging "Winebar," and under the sign was a passage leading to the basement.

He muttered in his heart, followed the passage, and walked into the interior of this bar.

This bar didn't look conspicuous from the outside, but the space inside was not small.

Besides the wooden long bar and the green chairs in front, there were 20 tables and chairs placed. Against the background of the reddish-brown wall, it had a punk characteristic style.

Akiwara Yuto looked around and soon found Asano Aiko at a table in the corner. After all, the time was 3:00 PM now, and the whole bar was empty.

She leaned on the table, drinking wine one sip at a time, the whole person looked swaying, and looked a bit hazy—the bartender girl at the bar looked at her from time to time, seemingly very worried that she would vomit on the table.

Seeing this scene, Akiwara Yuto was relieved. No wonder the other party said she was safe. After all, except for him, there wasn't even a man in the whole bar now. It was estimated that if she got drunk, she would just lie on the table and sleep for a while.

Thinking about it, he walked over directly and sat opposite Asano Aiko. Although the latter found that he came, she still lay on the table, raised her head slightly and smiled reluctantly: "Akiwara-san... why are you here."

Akiwara Yuto was a bit speechless. He didn't expect the other party to even forget the reason he came to discuss work.

He observed Asano Aiko again. Not only was her makeup ruined, but her eyes were also swollen from crying. He really didn't know what kind of situation she had encountered.

Linking to the promotion she mentioned on the phone, he had a guess in his heart.

He didn't say anything, just took two tissues from the bar, took the initiative to help the other party wipe the makeup mixed with tears on her face. This move was a bit ambiguous, but the other party was drunk now and wouldn't mind, right.

Asano Aiko was indeed a bit drunk. She raised her face and let Akiwara Yuto wipe it.

After Akiwara Yuto put down the tissue, she sat up straight again, and said with a voice that was still a bit confused.

"Akiwara, the promotion plan I proposed was rejected... I'm really, really sad. I really want your work to be seen by more people. But, they said you are a newcomer, and said what you wrote is too dark... The editor-in-chief also made a decision..."

Speaking of this, Asano Aiko seemed to have put down something and cried out, which made Akiwara Yuto speechless, and he could only continue to comfort her.

He originally thought she was a workplace elite, but didn't expect that after drinking, she became like a little girl again.

He comforted the other party while guessing in his heart. It was nothing more than rejecting the promotion of his work because of seniority. However, he didn't care.

After all, he was a newcomer, and it was normal to follow the rules of the publishing house.

Regarding the seniority system in Japan, he had heard of it in his past life. It seemed that whether it was the workplace or the school, there was a tradition of seniority first. "Sound! Euphonium" filmed by Kyoto Animation had described similar situations.

However, what the hell is writing too dark? This made him a bit confused. There were plenty of Henkaku works of thriller type on the market, and no one said anything.

As far as he knew, even the slightly H "Redo of Healer" could be sold openly to all ages in bookstores. Could it be that the national conditions of the parallel world are different?

When Akiwara Yuto was lost in thought, Asano Aiko stopped sobbing, as if she was a bit tired of crying, and fell asleep directly on the table.

Akiwara Yuto was both angry and helpless. He secretly guessed that after she woke up, if she recalled her performance now, would she feel social death?

Looking at Asano Aiko who was unconscious now, he couldn't help but ponder another problem.

Then, what should he do now? ===== CHAPTER 13 =====