Chapter 191: Why Don't You Revise It Again?

The next day, as the alarm clock rang, Akiwara Yuto got up early, washed his face and brushed his teeth, then changed into the expensive suit he had used for his previous lecture, layered a thick cashmere coat over it, and walked out of his hotel room in high spirits.

For today's autograph session, he estimated he would have to meet at least a thousand fans and readers, so he had to be fully prepared.

He checked out at the hotel front desk and prepared to leave, but just as he was about to step out the main entrance, a familiar voice came from behind, "Master, good morning."

Hearing this form of address, Akiwara Yuto immediately realized the person was Toyama Miho; he turned around and greeted her.

Today, Toyama Miho was wearing a dark blue sailor uniform with a red ribbon tie, a black skirt that reached below her knees, and leather shoes; it was clearly her school uniform.

Akiwara Yuto stopped in his tracks, turned around, and asked in confusion, "Why are you here?"

Toyama Miho bowed slightly and said, "You are leaving Kyoto, so I came to see you off."

After saying this, she handed a souvenir she was holding to Akiwara Yuto, "This is Yatsuhashi mochi I bought from the shopping street; I hope you have a pleasant journey, Teacher."

Akiwara Yuto took the souvenir and said, "You went to the trouble; go back early."

Toyama Miho nodded and then asked, "Master, can I continue to write letters to ask for your guidance later?"

She had finally managed to become his apprentice and was eager to learn as much as she could. But she also knew that Akiwara Yuto was a famous author and could not stay in Kyoto forever.

So, she planned to follow the example of other author-apprentice pairs in the literary world and continue seeking guidance through letters.

Akiwara Yuto had no objections; he had taken her on as an apprentice partly with the hope that she would successfully debut and become famous, so naturally, he would not refuse such a small request.

"As for my mailing address and email, just ask your father directly."

He looked up at the clock in the hotel lobby, felt that it was about time, and waved as he walked out, "That's all for now, see you next time."

"Goodbye, Master." After receiving a satisfactory reply, Toyama Miho bowed again to Akiwara Yuto's back and watched his figure walk away.

After saying goodbye to Toyama Miho, Akiwara Yuto, carrying his luggage, hurried to the nearest station and boarded the Shinkansen to Osaka.

Osaka is located in the Kansai region of Japan, right below Kyoto, so the train ride took less than 20 minutes.

Yet for this trip of less than 20 minutes, the ticket cost nearly 1, 00 yen.

After getting off at the station in Osaka, he hailed a taxi on the side of the road to head to the location specified by Asano Aiko, and 30 minutes later, he reached his destination: the entrance of a large bookstore.

He got out of the car and looked at the main entrance of this large bookstore; his mind couldn't help but recall an article he had read in his past life—it discussed the history of the evolution of Japanese bookstores.

With the gradual increase in economic income, more and more Japanese salarymen were no longer satisfied with buying books at small, unimpressive bookstores on shopping streets; thus, large and super-large bookstores covering over a thousand tsubo and located in bustling city areas sprang up one after another.

Under the dual pressure of large bookstores and the decline of shopping streets, medium-sized bookstores in Japan faced a "wave of closures." For instance, bookstores like the Ankyu Bookstore would not have been able to sell many books at all if not for their publishing businesses supporting them.

Although many large bookstores closed down after a few years due to the subsequent economic crisis and the slump in the publishing industry, a significant portion of them survived and became the mainstream for book buyers in Japan.

The famous Tsutaya Bookstore from his past life was one of them.

However, after the 21st century, accompanied by the impact of the internet industry and the rise of the e-book market, these large bookstores also faced a wave of closures, just like the bookstores before them.

Replacing them were the more vibrant Amazon and the second-hand bookstores on shopping streets.

It seemed his home country in his past life was following the same old path. Akiwara Yuto looked at the bookstore in front of him, which was set up like a shopping mall, and couldn't help but drift off into thought.

He was dazed when suddenly his shoulder was tapped. He turned around in confusion and saw Asano Aiko and Awazu Hideki, who were dressed in professional attire.

"Akiwara, the autograph session is scheduled for 1: 0 PM, and the venue has been set up," Asano Aiko stepped forward, prepared to take the luggage from Akiwara Yuto's hand, and then added, "The editorial department of *April Youth* has also booked a hotel for you. Why don't you go to the room to rest for a while and come back later?"

Akiwara Yuto handed her the luggage quite naturally; there wasn't much in it, just the souvenir and a bag containing some manuscripts.

He waved his hand and said, "No need, just keep the items safe for me. Running back and forth from the hotel to here is too much trouble."

Asano Aiko nodded and did not continue to persuade him; her current role was as Akiwara Yuto's assistant, and she only needed to do her support work.

"By the way, where is Editor-in-Chief Dajo?" Akiwara Yuto looked around and found no sign of her; according to what was said before, Dajo Rika would also come in person.

Awazu Hideki immediately took over, "Akiwara-sensei, Editor-in-Chief Dajo was delayed by something, but she will come over in the evening."

He paused and said politely, "Would you like to see the venue? Or go to a nearby cafe to sit for a while?"

"A cafe, then." Akiwara Yuto thought about it; autograph session venues were all the same, and no matter how good they looked, it would be meaningless if no one came.

Compared to that, promotion was the most important part of an autograph session.

Awazu Hideki nodded, took out his phone to make a call, and then a black business sedan drove up, taking the three of them to a high-end cafe nearby.

It was called a high-end cafe, but in reality, it just had better decor, and the prices were twice as expensive as an ordinary cafe.

Akiwara Yuto sat in his seat, signaled for Asano Aiko to take out paper and a pen from his luggage bag, and began to create the next manuscript for *Furuhata Ninzaburo*, titled "The Kabuki Actor Murder Case."

"The Kabuki Actor Murder Case" was the second episode of the Furuhata series and was called by some the most classic episode among the regular ones.

The plot was roughly as follows: Before a performance, the famous Kabuki actor Nakamura Ukon had a dispute with a security guard who had previously taken bribes from him to help cover up the time of his car accident. During the dispute, the security guard hit his head on the corner of a table and died.

Nakamura Ukon hid the body in the dressing room, then went on stage to perform as if nothing had happened, and after the performance, moved the body to the basement. When no one was around, he used a lift to move the body above the stage, pushed it down, and staged it as a fall to his death.

After receiving the report, Furuhata brought his assistant, Imaizumi, to the scene and encountered Nakamura Ukon, who was trying to slip away. Furuhata pretended to be a fan of the other party to fish for information and expressed confusion as to why the security guard would have climbed up to the rafters.

Nakamura Ukon explained that many wild cats had recently settled in the theater, and perhaps he had fallen while trying to catch a cat. But when explaining why the deceased had gone up to the rafters without a flashlight, Nakamura Ukon's explanation made Furuhata even more suspicious...

Immediately after, the two began a battle of wits and courage, each according to their own schemes...

After about 3 hours, Akiwara Yuto wrote the entire plot from scratch, totaling about 25 pages, or roughly 10, 00 characters.

During this stage, Asano Aiko and Awazu Hideki did not speak, only lowering their heads to work or read—not disturbing an author while they are creating is a major rule for editors.

"It's finished," Akiwara Yuto put down his pen and handed the manuscript in his hand to Awazu Hideki, "Editor Awazu, this is the manuscript for the next issue."

Awazu Hideki, who had been working, saw the thick stack of manuscripts Akiwara Yuto handed over and opened his eyes wide in surprise. Asano Aiko, who had some understanding of Akiwara's writing speed, showed a faint smile after seeing Awazu Hideki's expression.

Awazu Hideki still couldn't believe it; he thought Akiwara Yuto just wanted to write a draft first, but he didn't expect him to finish an entire issue's article directly. This was too terrifying, wasn't it?

Then again, was the quality of a manuscript rushed out like this guaranteed?

He hesitated as he took the manuscript and said helplessly, "Akiwara-sensei, why don't you revise it again and give it to me the day after tomorrow?"

He was still not quite at ease; after all, the subsequent serialization of *April Youth* still relied mainly on this work of his. If Akiwara Yuto provided a perfunctory piece, it was very likely to ruin the reputation of the *Furuhata Ninzaburo* series!

By then, let alone becoming the industry leader, he would likely be hung out to dry and criticized by readers and book reviewers!

"Editor Awazu, take a look first; if you think there are any problems, I will revise it," Akiwara Yuto was very confident; after all, everything was in his brain, and he was just doing a manual copy-paste.

The speed at which he wrote Japanese now was countless times faster than when he had just transmigrated!

Seeing that the other party had said so, Awazu Hideki could only nod, then focused and began to flip through the manuscript. He made up his mind that if Akiwara Yuto was really just being perfunctory, he would not accept this manuscript, even if it meant suspending the serialization for the next issue!

Time passed bit by bit, and after about 20 minutes, Awazu Hideki finished reading the manuscript in his hand.

But after finishing it, he couldn't help but be stunned. The story progressed very smoothly, the reasoning tricks were set up very reasonably, and even the "psychological warfare" between Furuhata and Nakamura Ukon was depicted vividly.

For such a work with excellent plot and writing, other authors might take a week, but Akiwara-sensei actually only took 3 hours?!

He looked down at the manuscript, then looked up at Akiwara Yuto, who was drinking coffee nonchalantly, and a bigger question popped into his mind.

How exactly is this person's brain wired!