Chapter 172: The Shameless

Why, after waiting for so long, are there so few people?

At 10: 0 AM, Iwakiri Haru, dressed in a suit and tie, stood at the bookstore entrance, looking puzzled at the readers trickling in two or three at a time to the signing event.

It had already been an hour since the signing started, but in the hundreds of square meters of bookstore space behind him, there were a mere ten or so readers holding copies of *Literary Spring* in preparation for the signing.

In terms of numbers, there were even fewer readers than the staff members maintaining order on the floor!

Based on this volume, the total number of readers coming to the signing event today wouldn't exceed 200.

Compared to his estimate of at least 1, 00, it was a full 80% lower!

Iwakiri Haru subconsciously turned around and looked at Mr. Takeda, who was cordially shaking hands with readers at the signing table.

Watching the man's smiling face, he felt a deep sense of unease.

As the editor in charge, he understood Mr. Takeda's temper very well.

In his view, although Mr. Takeda appeared very amiable, he might already be furious in private.

No, he had to remedy this as soon as possible, otherwise, today's signing event would turn into a complete joke!

Iwakiri Haru walked to the staff room at the back of the bookstore and found the manager.

"Manager Yamada, could you mobilize the neighbors and friends from the nearby shopping street to come and attend the signing event?"

Hearing this request, the bookstore manager's mouth twitched.

"Mr. Iwakiri, isn't that a bit inappropriate? Wouldn't there be a suspicion of fraud?"

He had originally hoped to use this signing event to boost the bookstore's sales. He hadn't expected that after waiting for over an hour, so few people would show up.

Iwakiri Haru looked around, and upon discovering no one else was nearby, he bowed and said sincerely.

"I am truly at my wit's end, which is why I am asking for your help. If things continue like this, the signing event will have to end early."

He paused and emphasized: "We won't let you help for nothing. Keihan Publishing will provide extra support for all additional favor-related costs, and the venue rental fee for today will also be increased by 5 percentage points."

He was truly desperate; after all, the location for this signing event was in Yokohama, not in the heart of Tokyo.

If it were in Tokyo, he could just make a few phone calls and immediately find a large group of part-timers.

The bookstore manager hesitated for a moment, but eventually agreed.

Seeing the bookstore manager make the call, Iwakiri Haru finally breathed a sigh of relief, but then another problem occurred to him.

Logically speaking, he had already greeted the student council at Yokohama National University and had the members post notices on the bulletin boards. Why shouldn't there be more people?

Could it be that Yokohama National University had scheduled some last-minute event today?

Damn it, was his luck really that bad?

Iwakiri Haru frowned, paced a few steps, then walked to the other side of the bookstore and made a call.

"Hello, is this the Yokohama National student council? I am Iwakiri Haru. Let me speak to your President Nagata."

"Mr. Nagata, it's me. Have the flyers I sent you earlier been posted on the bulletin boards?"

"You posted them? Are you sure? I don't have many students coming to the signing event here! Please ensure there hasn't been a mistake; we have already paid a fee, after all."

"What? There's a *Youth of April* signing event at the gymnasium? Akiwara Yuto?! Please, explain briefly."

It took over ten minutes for Iwakiri Haru to hang up the phone. By now, he had roughly understood the reason—their signing event had collided with *Youth of April*!

He subconsciously gritted his teeth, wishing he could rush over to the other side's event and cause a scene right now!

In his view, the *Youth of April* side was simply too shameless!

If it were just a simple scheduling conflict, Iwakiri Haru wouldn't have much of an opinion; after all, everyone was working hard for their own journals, and such things were unavoidable.

But *Youth of April* had also set their signing location at Yokohama National University! It was hard to believe that was just a coincidence!

Not only that, according to the news he got from the student council, *Youth of April* not only specifically arranged the signing venue inside the school gymnasium but also hired a large number of part-timers to distribute flyers at the school gate, letting everyone preparing to leave campus know about the signing event inside the gym.

In this way, many readers who originally intended to come here would choose to go to the gymnasium first due to the distance!

And for those students, the name Akiwara Yuto, which had appeared frequently in the news, had become a great gimmick!

Damn it, what should he do now! Iwakiri Haru subconsciously frowned.

During last week's staff meeting, he had told everyone in the editorial department that *Youth of April* and Akiwara Yuto were nothing to fear, yet now, he had been completely outmaneuvered by them!

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps approached. Iwakiri Haru looked up and saw his assistant editor.

The assistant editor said urgently: "Deputy Editor-in-Chief Iwakiri, this is bad! *Youth of April* has also organized a signing event and scheduled it for the same time!"

Iwakiri Haru raised an eyebrow. "I know."

"You know?" the assistant editor asked in surprise. "Then should we do the same as them and organize a batch of giveaways?"

"Giveaways? What are those?" Iwakiri Haru hadn't expected to hear this and became puzzled again.

"According to what's on the promotional list, as long as you collect 10 signatures, you can get a chance to enter a raffle, and the prizes include various textbooks!"

Hearing this, Iwakiri Haru immediately realized what was happening.

Due to copyright and other issues, textbooks in Japan are often extremely expensive, sometimes costing tens of thousands of yen. For students who have to buy them on their own, that is not a small sum!

And Keikajikan, to which *Youth of April* belongs, started out specifically by publishing textbooks.

So the giveaways the other side brought out were very likely just inventory that had been piling up!

Using old books from their inventory to promote their journal—shameless, *Youth of April* is simply too shameless!

Damn it! What should he do now!

Thinking that he would have to take responsibility for the failure of today's signing event, Iwakiri Haru couldn't help but feel his vision go dark...

On the other side, at the Yokohama National University gymnasium.

Akiwara Yuto sat at the arranged signing table, cordially wrote the name "Akiwara Yuto," and handed it to a girl in a short skirt in front of him.

After receiving the signed book, the girl in the short skirt showed a bright smile and bowed, saying: "Akiwara-sensei, I will always support you!"

Immediately after, under the arrangement of a Keikajikan staff member, she walked toward the exit of the venue.

Akiwara Yuto flexed his wrist, which had become stiff from constant writing, then looked up at the long line of people still waiting and subconsciously sighed.

This really is a sweet "trouble"!

Before this, he thought this signing event would be like the one at Anjiu Bookstore, held in a bookstore of about a hundred square meters.

But to his surprise, *Youth of April* had actually contacted the Yokohama National school administration directly and rented the gymnasium.

He roughly estimated that the gymnasium was at least a thousand square meters.

For a signing event, it could be said to be unimaginably large!

But even with such a large area, it was now packed with people, which made Akiwara Yuto wonder: did he really have such a large influence?

"Akiwara, have some water."

Just then, Asano Aiko, acting as his assistant, brought over a bottle of mineral water and placed it in front of Akiwara Yuto. Seeing this, the staff member stopped the next reader who was about to step forward.

"Thanks," Akiwara Yuto thanked her and then picked up the bottle to drink. Since the signing event started, he had been signing constantly and hadn't had a moment to rest.

After taking a big gulp, he handed the water back to Asano Aiko. "Asano, how many people do you estimate are here today?"

"About 4, 00 or so?" Asano Aiko looked around and said in an uncertain tone.

"That many!" Akiwara Yuto was startled.

The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt. As far as he knew, Yokohama National had only 20, 00 undergraduate and graduate students, yet now over 4, 00 had come, accounting for one-fifth of the entire school!

No matter how he thought about it, it was a bit too much!

According to his original estimate, 2, 00 people would have been the absolute limit.

Asano Aiko smiled. "Akiwara, the more people, the better. Just focus on signing."

She actually knew some of the specific reasons, namely that *Youth of April* had specifically applied to Keikajikan for a batch of textbooks that were to be disposed of, using them as special giveaways for this signing event.

Although the number of these giveaway textbooks was less than 500, the students didn't know the specific odds of winning, so they all rushed to the scene to get signatures.

Because one needed 10 signatures to get a raffle entry, many people banded together, bringing their classmates or club friends to get signatures as well.

This had resulted in the bustling, heated atmosphere at the signing site.

Asano Aiko looked around and began to guess in her heart.

According to her conjecture, the readers among these people who were truly interested in Akiwara Yuto and *Youth of April* might not even be a quarter of the total, right?

However, as long as *Youth of April* sold copies, that was enough. As for the process, she shouldn't probe too much.

Asano Aiko shook her head, then remembered one more thing.

It seemed that Keihan Publishing's *Literary Spring* also had a signing event nearby today. She wondered how many people they had there?