Chapter 182: Cheers and Applause

On Monday morning, Ooshiro Rika announced the sales statistics for the previous period at the *April Youth* editorial department: a full 210, 00 copies, exceeding the original target of 200, 00 copies.

Not only that, but as the main competitor, *Literature Spring*, saw its sales continue to fall last week due to channel contraction, reaching only about 190, 00 copies.

This meant that the sales of *April Youth* had surpassed *Literature Spring* by a full 20, 00 copies, becoming the third-ranked literary magazine in Japan!

Upon hearing this news, the room erupted in cheers and applause; everyone in the editorial department finally felt secure, their faces showing excitement!

Ooshiro Rika nodded with a smile, then instructed everyone to go to the conference room to hold the regular Monday morning meeting.

At Ooshiro Rika's signal, Awazu Hideki began distributing a sales analysis report sent over by the statistics section.

This sales report clearly tallied the daily sales from Monday to Sunday: in addition to the 144, 00 copies sold from Monday to Thursday, about 76, 00 copies were sold from Friday to Sunday.

As the deputy editor-in-chief, Kawamoto Toshisuke looked at the changes in the sales curve, feeling a sense of disbelief.

After all, for a literary magazine, every 50, 00 copies is a threshold. But *April Youth* had actually returned to the 200, 00-copy level so quickly!

He had originally thought that returning to this position would require much more effort.

However, what should they do next?

His heart sank for a moment; now that *The Invisible Guest* had finished its serialization, if there were no follow-up manuscripts, sales might soon...

"Everyone, there is one more thing to announce here." Ooshiro Rika put down the document in her hand and cleared her throat.

"Akiwara Yuto has already provided a new manuscript titled *Police Inspector Furuhata Ninzaburo*. The plot is roughly like this..."

Immediately after, she recounted the general plot and added that this was a short story serialization series.

Kawamoto Toshisuke couldn't help but raise his eyebrows; a short story serialization, and a detective mystery series at that—this was truly a great asset!

If they could successfully manage this series, they wouldn't have to worry about the sales of *April Youth* for the next half year!

He thought for a moment and asked, "Editor-in-chief, what do you mean?"

Actually, this was an unnecessary question, as Ooshiro Rika had already announced the matter. If nothing went wrong, they would certainly use this work as the focus of their upcoming promotional efforts.

But he asked anyway, to test just how much support Ooshiro Rika intended to give.

Ooshiro Rika gave Kawamoto Toshisuke a meaningful look.

"For the next twelve weeks, the work of *April Youth* will focus on this piece. Beyond that, I have already formulated corresponding plans for public relations, distribution channels, and cover design."

"But for the specific execution, I will have to trouble everyone to put in the effort and work a bit more overtime recently."

She did not mention what Akiwara Yuto had said about wanting to become number one in the industry; in her view, it was enough that she knew about it.

Otherwise, if it spread to the outside world, who knew what kind of trouble it would cause...

She coughed and added, "By the way, Executive Sanqiao has already promised that at the end of this month, an additional bonus will be arranged for everyone in the editorial department."

Hearing this news, cheers erupted in the conference room once again!

While the *April Youth* editorial department was cheering, Akiwara Yuto made a phone call to Kawai Shinta to confirm that he would participate in the previously mentioned lecture.

After receiving the confirmation, Kawai Shinta provided him with a phone number and told him to contact the person upon arrival.

The next morning around 6: 0 AM, Akiwara Yuto took his prepared luggage, hailed a taxi to the station, and boarded the Shinkansen to Kyoto.

After more than three hours, he finally arrived at the destination of this lecture—Kyoto University.

Kyoto University is a comprehensive university located in the Sakyo Ward of Kyoto, a national university with a history second only to the University of Tokyo. Although it is a comprehensive university, the strength of its Faculty of Letters cannot be underestimated; in his past life, it had even produced multiple Akutagawa Prize winners.

And the Kyoto University of this world was much the same.

Akiwara Yuto walked through the school gate and continued along the road, feeling a bit surprised.

He had assumed that since this university bore the name "Kyoto," its overall style would be dominated by traditional Japanese architecture. But he hadn't expected that everything he saw along the way would be modern and Western-leaning.

Because he didn't know the specific location, he asked two female students for directions, and only then did he find the building he was looking for.

At the phone booth under the building, he inserted a phone card, dialed the number Kawai Shinta had provided, and contacted the coordinator named Toyama Shuichi.

After waiting less than five minutes, the man walked over quickly, bowed, and said, "Akiwara-sensei, sorry to keep you waiting. I am Toyama Shuichi. Nice to meet you, please take care of me."

Akiwara Yuto also bowed politely in return and handed over his business card. At the same time, he took a look at the man.

This professor named Toyama Shuichi was about 50 years old, wearing a light gray suit and silver-rimmed glasses, and carried a very easygoing air.

"Professor Toyama, the lecture is at 10 o'clock, right? Let's head over now."

Toyama Shuichi smiled politely and led the way, bringing Akiwara Yuto into a tiered lecture hall that could accommodate over 200 people.

Upon arriving at the lecture hall, Akiwara Yuto was surprised to find that it was already bustling and packed with people.

Some people, having no fixed seats, could only stand in the last row.

But whether sitting or standing, almost everyone held a notebook, seemingly well-prepared to take notes.

"Have all the students from the Faculty of Letters come?" Akiwara Yuto asked, slightly surprised.

"This is only a portion, but because there were too many applicants, we could only arrange for the upperclassmen," Toyama Shuichi explained apologetically.

"At the time, I didn't expect so many people would want to hear your lecture, so there wasn't enough time to apply for a larger auditorium."

Akiwara Yuto nodded; after all, this was his first time giving such an academic lecture, and he didn't mind how many people were there.

Just then, another middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes walked over and greeted Akiwara Yuto with a smile.

Under Toyama Shuichi's introduction, Akiwara Yuto learned that the man was the Dean of the Faculty of Letters, Sugimoto Yamato.

Sugimoto Yamato said in an apologetic tone, "Akiwara-sensei, I apologize for the lack of preparation for this lecture. But please, do not hesitate to share your insights."

Akiwara Yuto responded politely, "I will certainly give it my all."

He looked at the clock hanging on the back wall of the classroom and, seeing that it was almost time, walked up to the podium.

He scanned the room roughly and found that the audience included not only students but also some older-looking middle-aged people. If he wasn't mistaken, these people were also professors from the Kyoto University Department of Literature.

Although he was confident, seeing this scene made him feel slightly nervous.

If he wanted to further his reputation in academic circles, he had to convince the people sitting below; otherwise, he might even become a laughingstock.

He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and prepared to begin his speech.

Let him use the theories he learned in his past life to convince this audience!