Chapter 136: Results Released

Morioka Yuho lowered her head and fell into deep thought, deducing the whereabouts of the corpse in her mind.

She is a bit interested now.

Generally speaking, many mysteries are often set with suspense at the beginning, then guide the reader to discover clues step by step, and then solve the mystery.

But this *Negligent Homicide* did not reveal the whereabouts of the corpse until the end.

Undoubtedly, this can bring challenges to readers, and challenges often mean fun!

She closed her eyes and began to constantly recall the content in the article.

At the beginning, there was a conversation between the police officers, that the building of the police box was very old.

But when the Takamatsu Daito family was locked in the interrogation room of the police box, it was mentioned that the walls and equipment of the police box were brand new.

Is this a text error?

No, it is very likely the author's trick.

These two police boxes are not the same police box, or, the police box where the Takamatsu Daito family was locked in is a newly constructed police box.

But when was the corpse transferred?

Morioka Yuho thought about it and opened the front of the work again, finding a detail.

On the night of October 3rd, after the male lead got off the bus, he took a taxi to the shop and took out a large piece of luggage from the warehouse.

Seeing this line, Morioka Yuho couldn't help but smile.

It seems that as I expected, the corpse was indeed buried somewhere in the police box!

She thought about it and admired the design of the work even more, and had a higher evaluation in her heart.

It seems that this *Negligent Homicide*, in addition to the ingenuity of the trick design, also played a trick game with readers using text...

This is no longer the same level as the other two works.

Not to exaggerate, this work can only get the Newcomer Award instead of the Association Award, which is simply a bit aggrieved.

At this point, her vote no longer needs to be considered much.

Morioka Yuho closed the work in her hand, looked at Takaoka Haruto who was already idle in the upper right corner, and nodded.

Takaoka Haruto saw her action and immediately understood Morioka Yuho's plan, and also smiled.

When the two judges of the Honkaku school and Neo-Honkaku looked at each other, Ninomiya Ryota, who was the representative of the Social school writer, also happened to close the work *Negligent Homicide*.

By now, he had almost finished reading the three books.

And this also made him fall into entanglement, which work should he vote for.

*Spiral Staircase*?

This work uses visual errors to construct murder tricks, which has great ingenuity, but the description of society is very weak, and there is no discussion of human nature.

So it mainly belongs to the work of the Neo-Honkaku school and is not within his consideration.

*The Third Person Behind*?

This work has its merits. The murderer tries to hide the criminal fact of killing his girlfriend by hunting a series of girls.

Because it is random murder, it is difficult for the police to find the truth.

In terms of human nature, it depicts a very extreme high school boy, and it seems that the description is not bad.

In terms of sociality, it also supplements the incompetence of the police, as well as the panic of the public, etc.

The Hard-boiled school and the Suspense school might vote for this?

Back to the point, should he also consider it?

As for the work *Negligent Homicide*...

Ninomiya Ryota frowned and fell into entanglement.

From the ingenuity of the trick, this work is even better than *Spiral Staircase*, adopting a variety of trick design methods, including time, memory, as well as the handling of evidence and corpses.

From the perspective of society and human nature, there are also a variety of conflicts inside, the class opposition between the Takamatsu family and the Ito family, the conflict between judicial justice and protecting family members, and the Takamatsu couple and the Ito couple caring for their children equally.

So although this work has elements of the Honkaku school, it does not lack the shadow of the Social school.

From the perspective of story design, it is also very reasonable and makes people feel happy.

But this ending, in the end, actually escaped legal punishment... will it be a bit inappropriate...

Only this point makes him very unhappy.

Ninomiya Ryota began to entangle.

If there were pure Social school works shortlisted this time, he wouldn't have to be so entangled now.

The problem is, should he vote for *The Third Person Behind* or *Negligent Homicide*?

Time passed bit by bit, and soon it was 6:00 PM. Kawai Shinta, who presided over this review meeting, raised his head and looked around, seeing that everyone had put down the works in their hands.

Kawai Shinta coughed, and after attracting everyone's attention, said: "Dear teachers, everyone should have finished reading the three works completely, so I will announce the entry into the next link."

After finishing this sentence, Kawai Shinta saw that no one objected, so he called two assistants, one holding a gray ballot box with both hands, and the other distributing a piece of paper to each of the 5 writers on the field.

Kawai Shinta saw that the distribution was completed, so he said: "Now please write down the works you think are worthy of winning on the paper and cast them into this ballot box."

He paused and added: "As for the results, they will be announced on the spot after all votes are collected."

Hearing these words, Morioka Yuho moved her pen, wrote the line *Negligent Homicide* on the paper, and folded the paper after writing. She looked around and found that others had also finished writing.

To be honest, regarding the current voting rules, she feels a bit cumbersome.

A few years ago, whether it was the Mystery Writers Association Award or the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award, they adopted the form of public discussion and public voting.

But after the new president of the Mystery Writers Association took office, he proposed to be as fair and just as possible and avoid struggles between factions and cliques.

Therefore, the subsequent award selection adopted the form of blind review and secret voting.

Morioka Yuho was thinking about things, when the assistant in a black suit holding the ballot box walked to her. She thought about it and cast the vote in her hand into the box.

After collecting all the votes, the assistant returned to the position where he started with the ballot box and placed the ballot box in the direction of the front table of the conference room.

In this direction, everyone can see clearly.

Kawai Shinta stood up from his seat and walked to the ballot box. "Okay, everyone, now I will start counting the votes for these three shortlisted works. If there is any objection, you can raise it to the Mystery Writers Association after the statistics are completed."

After finishing this sentence, he prepared to take out these 5 ballots. On the other side, the assistant had already taken out paper and pen, ready to conduct statistics.

Which work can win this Newcomer Award? Kawai Shinta is actually a bit curious in his heart.

*Spiral Staircase*, Honkaku school work, mixed with some suspense elements.

*The Third Person Behind*, Suspense school work, contains a certain sociality.

*Negligent Homicide*, both a Honkaku school work and contains the exploration of human nature.

And the five writers on the scene have Honkaku, Neo-Honkaku, Social, Suspense, and Hard-boiled respectively.

No matter how you look at it, this voting election, the secret confrontation and prediction are no less than a wonderful mystery.

Let me reveal this ending.

Kawai Shinta thought about it, reached in, took out the votes one by one, and began to count.

After a while, he put the votes back and coughed: "The final result is..."

Kawai Shinta specially looked at the people under the stage and felt a bit boring after finding that everyone's expression was indifferent.

But he still continued: "*Negligent Homicide* 3 votes, *The Third Person Behind* 2 votes, *Spiral Staircase* 0 votes."

Hearing this result, the expressions of the people on the field changed slightly, and Morioka Yuho's hand on the table gripped tightly.

Very good, *Negligent Homicide* won this Newcomer Award.

This means that this Mystery Literature Newcomer Award is another Honkaku school work.

She was excited for a moment, but a bit confused.

Except for herself and Takaoka Haruto, who cast the other vote?

On the other side, Kawai Shinta, who announced the voting results, walked to the front of the conference room, turned to everyone and said: "The work for this Mystery Literature Newcomer Award is *Negligent Homicide*, and the author's name is Akiwara Yuto. In short, before the award ceremony, I hope everyone can keep it secret."

Hearing this name, Morioka Yuho began to recall in her mind.

Akiwara... Yuto..., this name seems very familiar.

By the way, didn't he write a series of Suspense school works before?

Morioka Yuho was surprised for a moment.

A Suspense school writer changed to write Honkaku school, and he could write so well, which is really unbelievable. ===== CHAPTER 137 =====