Chapter 187

After hearing footsteps, Yuto Akiwara subconsciously raised his head and looked toward the open *shoji* door, but he was stunned as soon as he looked.

A woman with a slightly slender figure, wearing a blue *yukata*, walked in—she had her hair up, revealing a slender neck and small ears; her features were delicate, her eyes were exceptionally bright, and she had an independent and confident temperament.

Yuto Akiwara originally wanted to say goodbye, but for some reason, his heart stirred, and he stopped his movement.

The woman in the *yukata* walked in and, facing the little girl who had run in earlier, frowned and said, "Mina, there is a guest, mind your manners."

Then she turned to Yuto Akiwara, bowed her head, and signaled, "Hello, I am Miho Toyama. Nice to meet you, please treat me well."

Yuto Akiwara came back to his senses and immediately returned the greeting, "I am Yuto Akiwara. Nice to meet you, please treat me well."

Just now, for some reason, his heart suddenly skipped a beat; this was something that had never happened since he traveled to this world.

But he thought about it carefully and felt that his thoughts were very inappropriate. If he liked someone just by seeing them once, wouldn't that be lust at first sight?

As of now, besides her name, he knew nothing else about her.

"Mr. Akiwara, this is my eldest daughter, Miho Toyama," Shuichi Toyama on the other side said with a smile, then patted the little girl's head, "This is my youngest daughter, Miho Toyama."

Shuichi Toyama said again, "Miho has already passed the independent admissions for the Faculty of Letters at the University of Tokyo. On the day the cherry blossoms bloom next April, she will go to Tokyo to attend university and settle down."

After saying this, he sighed faintly, "Poor me, this old father."

"Dad, isn't there still me?" the 15-year-old little girl said with dissatisfaction, showing an expression of disgust.

"Yes, yes, there is still Miho," Shuichi Toyama smiled and touched her head again.

Yuto Akiwara heard this news and couldn't help but admire her.

The University of Tokyo was Japan's top institution of higher learning, with a status equivalent to Tsinghua and Peking University in his home country. In his past life, even if he had worked himself to death, his grades would have just barely met the minimum score line for that key university of his.

If it weren't for the memories of those past-life works in his mind, the gap between him and her would probably be truly worlds apart.

Just at this moment, Miho Toyama also walked in, knelt beside the *tatami*, and asked in a puzzled tone, "Mr. Akiwara? May I ask if you are the author of *The Devotion of Suspect X*?"

She had suspected that it might be the same name when she heard the name Yuto Akiwara just now, but when she heard her father call him "Teacher," she was 70-80% sure.

Yuto Akiwara nodded and frankly admitted his identity.

"That's great," Miho Toyama smiled, and the smile made Akiwara stunned for a moment again.

But he immediately heard, "Mr. Akiwara, I am a fan of your books and really like your writing style. I have written an article myself and hope you can give me some pointers."

After Akiwara nodded, she stood up and left the tea room.

Yuto Akiwara saw this action and couldn't help but look at Shuichi Toyama, who was teasing his youngest daughter, and gave him a puzzled look.

The other party said he would introduce his daughter to him, but after she came, he hadn't mentioned this aspect at all; what did this mean?

Shuichi Toyama also showed a helpless expression on his face.

His eldest daughter, Miho Toyama, had a very independent and strong personality. After rejecting his suggestion that she go to Kyoto University, she went to the University of Tokyo to take the independent exam herself.

If he had said anything unnecessary in front of her just now, it probably wouldn't look good on his face now.

So he hoped that Yuto Akiwara would work hard himself after seeing how excellent his daughter was...

Following the sound of footsteps in the corridor, Miho Toyama came back with a stack of paper, then knelt on the *tatami* and said politely, "Mr. Akiwara, I hope you can take a look."

Yuto Akiwara hesitated for a moment but still took the manuscript.

Her performance didn't look like a fan of his at all; instead, it was more like a student asking a teacher for advice.

In other words, if another writer had come today, this Miho Toyama would probably also say she liked the other person's work and then ask them to give her some pointers.

Forget it, since she had entrusted him like this, he would just be a tool for once; besides, it wouldn't take much time.

Just at this moment, Shuichi Toyama suddenly coughed, then took his youngest daughter, Miho Toyama, and left, saying he wanted to see how her homework was going. The latter, although unwilling, was still dragged away.

For a time, only Yuto Akiwara and Miho Toyama were left in the tea room.

Yuto Akiwara didn't think too much, but picked up her manuscript and felt its thickness; it was estimated to be over 30 pages, about 10,000 words.

He first looked at the title and found it was called *The Deceased Mother*.

In Miho Toyama's nervous gaze, he turned over the title page and continued reading.

"The story takes place in a slum in Osaka. The police received a report from a resident of an apartment building saying that a foul smell was coming from the room next door, and there was no response to knocking on the door.

After receiving the report, the police rushed over and found the apartment manager to open the door. Immediately after, they discovered the corpse of an elderly person who had hanged themselves.

The police didn't think too much; suicide incidents among the elderly in Japan have always been endless, so it was not worth much attention.

So they just simply comforted the neighbor who reported it and notified the elderly person's daughter.

But among these police officers, a newly hired police officer felt that something was not quite right about this matter.

According to people in the know nearby, the elderly person's daughter would come to visit and take care of the elderly person every once in a while, but why was the other party unaware even when the corpse had already started to smell?

Besides this, a notebook was found at the scene, but except for the name of the elderly person's daughter, it was basically blank. But besides this, there was a piece of paper on it that was incomplete.

These two suspicious points made this newly hired police officer struggle. But just when he told his superiors about these things, he was told that it was obvious that the elderly person had hanged themselves, so it was better to avoid trouble.

The new police officer was indignant and decided to investigate privately. After a series of tracking and investigation, he finally learned the truth.

Because the elderly person's daughter could not bear the hardship of taking care of the elderly person, she quietly wrote "I hope the elderly person commits suicide" in her notebook. Besides this, she even placed the rope and other tools in a corner of the kitchen where the elderly person could discover them.

Just like this, in order not to drag down her daughter, the elderly person directly chose to end their own life and used the rope to end their own life.

After obtaining evidence and confessions, the new police officer immediately reported these to his superiors and arrested the elderly person's daughter.

But just when the prosecution was preparing to appeal and sentence the elderly person's daughter for "induced suicide," the new police officer learned a new piece of news from the hospital.

That was that the day before the elderly person committed suicide, they had already learned from the hospital that they were suffering from cancer. In order not to add a burden to her daughter, she decided to end her life...

And the rope she used to commit suicide was also purchased by herself, not provided by her daughter.

But at this time, the charges had already been confirmed and could not be changed.

The superior warned the new police officer that if he dared to do such unnecessary things again, he would be dismissed or transferred.

Facing his own interests, this new police officer who firmly believed in "justice" fell into hesitation...

Yuto Akiwara finished reading the whole story, and there was an indescribable feeling in his heart.

This newly hired police officer insisted on justice at the beginning, even going against his superiors, and through constant effort, sent the murderer in his eyes to prison.

But the facts he investigated were all wrong. The real reason for the elderly person's suicide was very likely decided by herself, not the result of her daughter's inducement.

But by this time, the prosecution had already made the corresponding verdict based on the suspect's confession provided by this new police officer. If the verdict were changed, everyone, including the new police officer, would have to bear considerable responsibility.

In short, this work was more of a satire than a detective story.

In it, it included the perfunctoriness of the Metropolitan Police Department, the impatience of children in taking care of the elderly, and the protagonist's hesitation when dealing with others' justice and his own interests.

Miho Toyama saw that Yuto Akiwara had finished reading the work, looked at it carefully for a few times, and then asked cautiously, "Mr. Akiwara, do you think this work can be debuted?"

Yuto Akiwara hesitated for a while and then gave an objective answer, "It's enough to debut, but I think there are still some problems."

Miho Toyama became serious and then asked, "Please give me some pointers, Mr. Akiwara, don't worry about my feelings."

Yuto Akiwara nodded and began to express his point of view.

"Regarding the protagonist, he is too abrupt in terms of humanity, and there is a feeling of inconsistency. For example, at the beginning, he can uphold justice, but when it comes to his own interests, he falls into hesitation, so you should add a background for him."

Miho Toyama nodded in confusion, waiting for Yuto Akiwara to continue.

"For example, if the theme of this work is a mother, then you can add a background for this police officer of a mother who has a good relationship with him and is suffering from a serious illness. At the beginning, he thinks of his mother, so he keeps pursuing the murderer. But in the end, he has to consider the trouble his unemployment might cause his mother, so he falls into hesitation; in this way, everything is very reasonable."

Miho Toyama listened very seriously; after all, although her father was a professor in the Faculty of Letters, he only had deep research into literary theory. Regarding specific literary creation, his level was actually limited.

After finishing talking about the protagonist, Yuto Akiwara talked about the design technique of the trick, pointing out that the idea of this woman letting her mother commit suicide through a diary was too abrupt and should be supplemented with a step-by-step process. For example, the relationship between mother and daughter has always been good, the mother cannot bear to see her daughter suffer, the mother's own background, and other aspects.

In this way, readers can recognize this induced murder trick in their hearts.

Miho Toyama was completely convinced. She had thought that after much deliberation, this work was foolproof, but she never expected so many flaws to be pointed out.

It seemed that compared to a well-known author like Mr. Akiwara, she still had a long way to go. His guidance had saved her a great deal of effort.

However, was there any way to get him to guide her more?

Miho Toyama hesitated for a moment before immediately making a decision. She knelt with her knees together, and then, to Yuto Akiwara's surprise, she performed a *dogeza*.

"Mr. Akiwara, although it is very abrupt, I would like to ask you... could you take me on as your disciple?"