Chapter 127: It

Early the next morning, Chiyoda Ward, Akiwara Yuto's home.

He was wearing pajamas when he received a call from Anju Bookstore.

Anju Jin Gangyi's familiar voice came through the receiver: "Akiwara, *Adachi Shimbun* called. A reporter says they hope to interview you."

"An interview? Me?" Akiwara Yuto was a bit confused.

Generally speaking, book reviewers write reviews and publish them directly in newspapers or journals. There's no logic in interviewing the author; it's like thinking sushi tastes good and then insisting on seeing the chef who made it.

Seeing Akiwara Yuto's confusion, Anju Jin Gangyi said: "The other party is named Sakaguchi Keito. He says he's a reporter for the *Adachi Shimbun* Social News Department and wants to interview the author of *The Death of a Mystery Novelist*, Akiwara Yuto."

After a pause, Anju Jin Gangyi asked again: "Akiwara-sensei, did you write a book called *The Death of a Mystery Novelist*?"

While saying this, he felt a bit uneasy. Was Akiwara Yuto planning to collaborate with other publishers or go to a major one? Otherwise, why hadn't he told him about this?

Akiwara Yuto was actually surprised to hear this. He had thought his online serialization of *The Death of a Mystery Novelist* had ended in failure; he hadn't expected it to attract anyone's attention.

However, upon hearing Anju Jin Gangyi's question, he admitted it quite frankly: "It's a serialization I previously posted on a website, and I plan to have Anju Bookstore publish it later."

Although he intended to hand it over to Anju Bookstore for publication, he felt the contract's revenue-sharing terms needed to be changed.

After all, the book already had online exposure and could be considered a steady stream of income; there was no need for Anju Bookstore to invest a large amount in advertising fees, so conceding 5% was the absolute maximum.

Upon hearing Akiwara Yuto's words, Anju Jin Gangyi was still confused about why he had serialized it online, but his heart settled. He replied: "Akiwara-sensei, what about the interview? Should we accept?"

Akiwara Yuto thought for a moment and decided to agree. After all, more exposure was for the best, even if it was just so-called social news.

"Please provide my address to them and say the time is scheduled for 9:00 AM the day after tomorrow."

"Understood," Anju Jin Gangyi replied, then ended the call.

Putting down the receiver, Akiwara Yuto went to the dining room, took some bread bought from a convenience store out of the refrigerator, and began reading the newspaper he had received that morning while eating.

At this moment, he saw a headline that interested him: "Mystery Writers Association Award and Mystery Literature Newcomer Award Shortlist to be Announced Soon"—Akiwara Yuto put down his bread and began to read carefully.

"According to members of the Mystery Writers Association, the submission process for this year's Association Award and Newcomer Award has concluded and is about to enter the initial screening phase. Works that pass the initial screening will be submitted to five judges for the final round of selection to determine the winning work..."

After finishing the content, Akiwara Yuto fell into deep thought.

When he first started collaborating with *New Novel*, Asano Aiko had informed him of the importance of winning awards, so he had considered other channels to win one to increase his fame in the literary world.

At that time, he chose this Newcomer Award competition and adapted a work from his mind to submit.

You must know that to adapt this work, he had even entrusted Asano Aiko to use her connections to find an insider at the Metropolitan Police Department to inquire; furthermore, he had read quite a bit of relevant material at the library.

It could be said he had put in quite a lot of effort!

But unexpectedly, after submitting, he hadn't received any reply, making him think the adapted work wasn't a good fit and had sunk without a trace.

As it turned out, it was only just entering the initial screening!

The administrative efficiency was truly slow.

However, it seemed he couldn't say that; after all, this was a national-level award, and it was normal for it to be slow while reviewing manuscripts from all over the country.

Looking at it this way, he still had hope of winning this heavyweight Newcomer Award...

Akiwara Yuto put down the newspaper, feeling a bit excited.

But soon he told himself not to expect too much; after all, the setback he encountered with the Mantanshe Literature Award was still hard to forget.

Forget it, he should just focus on preparing for the interview the day after tomorrow.

Time quickly reached 9:00 AM the day after tomorrow. Akiwara Yuto was sitting at his desk organizing *The Death of a Mystery Novelist* into a manuscript when he suddenly heard the "ding-a-ling" of the doorbell downstairs.

He went downstairs and opened the door, finding a young man in a suit standing outside. The man had a light brown complexion and didn't look much like a Japanese person.

Upon seeing Akiwara Yuto, the young man bowed politely and greeted him: "Nice to meet you. I am Sakaguchi Keito, a reporter from the Social Department of *Adachi Shimbun*. Please treat me well."

After finishing this sentence, he straightened up and respectfully handed over a business card.

Akiwara Yuto took the card, introduced himself politely, and invited the other party into the house.

Sakaguchi Keito nodded, said "Excuse me," changed into slippers at the entrance, and followed Akiwara Yuto to the living room on the second floor.

After taking the tea Akiwara Yuto handed him, he said "Thank you" and asked: "Akiwara-sensei, can we start the interview now?"

Akiwara Yuto nodded and sat down cross-legged.

The two sat around a tea table and began their face-to-face conversation.

Sakaguchi Keito took out paper and pen and said: "Before the interview, I would like to understand your personal background first. Could you briefly elaborate?"

Akiwara Yuto nodded and replied: "I was born in Hokkaido, an orphan who grew up in a welfare academy."

Then, he repeated the story he had told Asano Aiko when he first submitted his work, describing the tragedy of his childhood.

After all, this was the original body's true experience, so it wasn't a lie.

Moreover, the more tragic the background, the more it tended to arouse the sympathy of readers, which could serve as a motivation for them to purchase the work.

Sakaguchi Keito took notes while thinking to himself.

If he was from an orphanage, then there was no way to confirm whether Akiwara Yuto was Ainu, but his facial features were prominent, and he was from Hokkaido...

However, his skin tone was a bit different... Could he be mixed-race...

He thought for a moment and continued to ask: "The purpose of coming here this time is to interview you, Akiwara-sensei, about why you put the article *The Death of a Mystery Novelist* on the internet. Could you briefly talk about that?"

The corners of Akiwara Yuto's mouth twitched unnaturally.

The purpose of putting it online was just to drive traffic. If he had known the traffic-driving effect would be so poor, he might not have put it up in the first place.

But he couldn't say it like that; he had to think of a more high-sounding reason.

Akiwara Yuto was silent for a while, then answered with a feigned air of profundity.

"It's for society!" ===== CHAPTER 128 =====