Chapter 192: The Enthusiastic Osaka Public

After handing over the manuscript, Akiwara Yuto followed Awazu Hideki to a nearby Western-style restaurant to grab lunch.

He didn't dare eat too much, lest he feel sleepy during the autograph session—Japan had no custom of taking afternoon naps, so he couldn't ask others to accommodate him, especially since the schedule was already set.

It was past 1: 0 PM when he finally returned to the large bookstore, the site of the autograph session, in the black sedan arranged by Awazu Hideki.

Unlike the situation in the morning, the street in front of the bookstore was now lined with an "L"-shaped queue.

Akiwara Yuto made a rough estimate and found that the number of attendees exceeded 600 and was still increasing.

Not only that, but two police cars were parked on the road next to the crowd, and three patrol officers in uniform were waving their batons and shouting, "Maintain order."

Akiwara Yuto was very puzzled by this scene; after all, there were quite a few people at the Tokyo autograph session, but they hadn't deployed police, right?

But Awazu Hideki immediately explained that the Metropolitan Police Department had issued an order requiring local police stations to strengthen social precautions to avoid stampede accidents like the one in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture.

A stampede accident?

Akiwara Yuto recalled the recent news and remembered the reports on the incident—because the order at a fireworks festival had collapsed, two streams of people had intersected and trampled each other, ultimately resulting in the deaths of 9 children and 2 elderly people...

That was indeed quite unfortunate...

Akiwara Yuto understood the situation, sighed inwardly, nodded, and followed Awazu Hideki through the back door into the bookstore, where he sat at the signing table.

Immediately after, Awazu Hideki informed the bookstore staff to announce the start of this autograph session.

This autograph session lasted from 1: 0 PM until 10: 0 PM, with a constant stream of people coming over throughout the duration.

In addition to the main focus of the session, *Youth of April*, fans also brought the individual volumes Akiwara Yuto had previously released, hoping to get them signed. Akiwara Yuto naturally agreed to all of the fans' requests.

To speed up the progress of the autograph session, Awazu Hideki shortened the individual talk time for each fan and avoided their dissatisfaction by giving out gifts.

They even provided steaming hot tea to the fans waiting in the cold wind.

But even with the increased speed, there were still many fans who hadn't received signatures by the time the session ended.

To appease these fans, the editorial department, acting as the organizers, sold a batch of pre-prepared signed books to them at a 30% discount. Staff members in work uniforms even bowed and apologized to them repeatedly.

By the time they left at 10: 0 PM, whether it was Akiwara Yuto, Awazu, Asano, or the bookstore staff and temporary hires responsible for on-site order, not a single person didn't feel exhausted.

To reward everyone on site, Akiwara Yuto bypassed the editorial department and took the initiative to pay for everyone to have a meal at a nearby teppanyaki restaurant before they dispersed.

After saying goodbye to everyone, Akiwara Yuto returned to the hotel booked for them by the *Youth of April* editorial department with Asano Aiko.

Both of their rooms were on the 18th floor, 1801 and 1802 respectively, right next to each other.

Akiwara Yuto took the suitcase from Asano, said a simple goodbye, and returned to his room. He threw his luggage on the floor and lay straight down on the large bed in the room.

Looking at the ceiling of the room, he sighed.

Today's autograph session was just too tiring!

If it had just been simple signing and handshaking, it would have been fine, but the fans here in Osaka were "enthusiastic" to an unimaginable degree.

The fans he met at the Tokyo autograph sessions had all just smiled politely and shaken hands simply, at most saying a few words of encouragement, with rarely any other unnecessary processes.

But the fans here in Osaka, in addition to the steps above, would often grab his hand and not let go during the handshake, and would even demand photos or hugs...

It would be fine if it were young female readers, but those making these requests were often middle-aged women.

Akiwara Yuto closed his eyes, and recalling "their" enthusiasm, he couldn't help but think of a post from his past life about how Tokyo citizens viewed Osaka residents.

According to this Tokyo citizen's description, Osaka citizens generally loved to run red lights, loved to argue in the streets using "Kansai dialect," spoke loudly in public, had terrible service attitudes, and were particularly impolite—the representative "Osaka aunties," in particular, loved wearing leopard print, were all tough, and loved to take advantage of others.

Although there was a lot of "regional prejudice" in this post, some of it was true, such as the enthusiastic Osaka aunties, of whom he had seen quite a few today.

A headache; it seemed there was another autograph session near Osaka University the day after tomorrow... hopefully, those who come will be students.

Akiwara Yuto sighed again.

Forget it, wash up early and go to sleep; tomorrow he could have a good rest.

Just as he was planning to bathe, there was a knock on the room door, and Asano Aiko's voice came from outside, "Akiwara, is now a convenient time?"

Akiwara Yuto was a bit puzzled; could there be something else?

He hesitated for a moment, but still got out of bed and opened the door.

Under the dim hallway light, Asano Aiko stood at the door holding a bottle of red wine. She looked like she had just showered and changed into a different outfit, her hair draped directly over her shoulders.

Asano Aiko bit her lip and said in a vague tone, "You said once when you drove me home... that I could come to you if I wanted to drink, so is now okay? This bottle of wine was given to me by someone..."

Akiwara Yuto hesitated for a moment, but still agreed, "No problem, come in."

The two walked into the room one after the other, closed the door, and sat at the table by the window; on this table, a corkscrew and wine glasses were all ready.

Akiwara Yuto used the corkscrew to open the oak stopper on the red wine bottle, waited for the red wine to "breathe" in the bottle for a while, and then poured a glass for both of them.

After clinking glasses and taking a sip, Akiwara Yuto glanced at Asano Aiko and asked the question in his heart: "Asano, is there a problem with work?"

Just after asking, he noticed Asano Aiko was a bit distracted and found it even stranger, "Is it the Anjiu Bookstore side? Or the *Youth of April* side?"

It was hard for him not to think so, because the last time Asano Aiko wanted to drink, it was because of problems with her work at Mankan-sha.

Asano Aiko shook her head: "There's no problem at Anjiu Bookstore; I only need to coordinate with Ms. Satake now, and there's no trouble. It's the same here at *Youth of April*; Editor-in-Chief Dacheng has basically arranged everything."

She paused and sighed, "I'm just feeling a bit sentimental."

"Sentimental about what?" Akiwara Yuto was a bit puzzled, took another shallow sip of red wine, and subconsciously smacked his lips.

Actually, he couldn't appreciate red wine; he purely drank it like water. Even in his past life, he usually only liked to add Sprite to red wine before drinking it.

Asano Aiko looked at him, "Akiwara, how long have we been working together?"

"Half a year, I guess," Akiwara Yuto frowned; to be honest, he didn't think Asano Aiko would forget how long they had been working together.

"Half a year, huh," Asano Aiko sighed and fell into memory, "At that time, you were just an unpublished writer, and I was still a fringe person at *New*. But I didn't expect that you would have reached this point now, and could be considered a success."

Akiwara Yuto thought she was just being sentimental about the past, so he self-deprecatingly said: "Success is still a long way off; I haven't won the Uemura Prize yet, and I haven't had a work that has sold over a million copies."

Asano Aiko nodded silently, then finished the red wine in her glass. She looked at Akiwara Yuto's confident face, which was looming in the room's light, and suddenly felt a strange sense of distance in her heart.

From the time she met Akiwara until now, the gap between the two had grown larger and larger, and she had watched him go from obscurity to today.

Especially the fiery scene at today's autograph session, which made her witness how hot he was right now.

And she herself, however...

To tell the truth, as the work burden became smaller, she felt more and more that the high-paying job she had now was like charity given to her by Akiwara Yuto...

When she was feeling down, Akiwara Yuto smiled and spoke again: "Asano, do you still remember the poem I wrote for you back then?"

"Of course," Asano Aiko hesitated for a moment, then slowly recited it: "A faint thunder, cloudy skies, but I hope for rain to come, so I can keep you here. A faint thunder, cloudy skies, even if there is no rain, I will still remain here..."

While reciting the poem, a different feeling welled up in her heart.

Akiwara Yuto held his wine glass, took a sip, leaned back in his chair, and said with a smile: "Asano, although I don't know why you are feeling a bit down, this poem represents my thoughts and also represents my original intention. If possible, I hope to solve problems with you."

He put down his wine glass, looked at Asano Aiko, and said softly: "Tell me what's on your mind; have you really encountered any problems?"

From the moment Asano brought the red wine to find him, he felt something was wrong. So he had been probing, trying to get her to open up.

After all, although their status had changed from partners to superior and subordinate, he had never forgotten her help in the beginning.

But to his surprise, Asano Aiko shook her head and then revealed a bright smile, "You're overthinking it, there's no problem, I just came to find you for a drink."

After hearing these words from Akiwara Yuto, the knot in her heart had now been mostly untied.

She felt that she was really overthinking it; after all, wasn't her original idea to make a bestseller with Akiwara Yuto? As for the rest, why consider so much?!

As an editor, this was all she could do; why consider or even be jealous of him?!

She drank the red wine in her glass in one gulp, then stood up and stretched.

She looked at the somewhat confused Akiwara Yuto and couldn't help but pat him on the shoulder with her hand, wanting to say "You are really great," but felt embarrassed and didn't say it.

So she just picked up the red wine bottle in front of her and poured two-thirds into Akiwara Yuto's empty glass.

Forget it, anyway there was no work scheduled for tomorrow, so today she would just get this culprit who was causing her trouble drunk!