Chapter 193

Early the next morning, Yuto Akiwara sat in the buffet restaurant on the first floor of the hotel with dark circles under his eyes, looking "exhausted."

I don't know if it was because of the alcohol stimulation, but he didn't sleep well last night and didn't fall asleep until almost 5 AM.

Compared to him, Asano Aiko, who was sitting opposite, looked energetic. After drinking that bottle of red wine yesterday, she said goodbye and went back to sleep, and slept until dawn.

The two were eating breakfast on their plates when a female voice suddenly came from the side, "Good morning, Mr. Akiwara, Miss Asano."

Yuto Akiwara looked up and found that the person greeting them was Rika Dacheng, the editor-in-chief of *April Youth*.

After the two also greeted her with a smile, Rika Dacheng nodded with a smile, took her plate, and sat in the seat next to them, "Sorry, I suddenly had other work yesterday, so I delayed the time I came."

After saying this, she took out a list and placed it gently on the table.

Yuto Akiwara put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and then took the list to look at it.

The list had a series of regional names written on it: Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Mie Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture...

"This is?" Yuto Akiwara asked in confusion.

He vaguely guessed something in his heart, but still wanted to ask clearly.

"This is the tour signing event plan for the Kinki region." Rika Dacheng saw Yuto Akiwara's confusion and explained with a smile, "It is expected to complete about 1-3 signing events in one place every half a week and cooperate with local large and medium-sized bookstores and schools."

Yuto Akiwara frowned, "Editor-in-Chief Dacheng, after signing these places, there will be other regions, right?"

He was not ignorant of Japan's geography. If it were to be divided carefully, besides Kinki, Japan's administrative regions also had 8 administrative districts such as Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, with a total of 782 cities.

If he went to sign every one of them, his work pressure would be quite a bit greater.

"Yes," Rika Dacheng nodded, and then seemed to see Yuto Akiwara's worry, "Of course, not all cities will be visited, only some cities with a relatively large scale will be picked."

"But is this useful for sales?" Yuto Akiwara said, picked up his water glass and took a sip, then continued, "As far as I know, whether it is *April Youth* or other magazines, the main market for sales is still in Tokyo, right."

"Mr. Akiwara, you are right." Rika Dacheng did not deny it, but explained, "But the Tokyo market is currently the most competitive. Whether in terms of channels or public opinion, the four major publishing houses have spent a lot of money, and it is difficult to have new progress."

She paused and added, "And *Furuhata Ninzaburo* can only rely on word-of-mouth to ferment slowly at present. So we still hope to make full use of the sinking market of all medium-sized cities."

Yuto Akiwara hesitated and then said, "But this might delay my writing speed, which is not good for the serialization of the manuscript."

"Oh, is that so?" Rika Dacheng glanced at him and then said, "But according to the feedback from Editor Sudo and Miss Asano, Mr. Akiwara, your writing speed is very fast, and you can even write an issue in 3 hours. Of course, we have left 1-2 days between each signing event for you to rest and write."

Yuto Akiwara glanced at Asano Aiko after hearing this, and the latter showed a slightly awkward smile.

However, Yuto Akiwara also knew that this matter couldn't be blamed on the other party; after all, before the signing yesterday, he had already shown his fast writing ability in front of Hideki Sudo.

This could be considered lifting a rock to hit his own foot...

Just when Yuto Akiwara intended to use inspiration as an excuse to decline again, Rika Dacheng continued, "Mr. Akiwara, I know that the tour signing event might be very hard, but this will be of great help to the sales of *April Youth*. Not only us, but the other three major magazines have also had similar or corresponding plans recently."

"The editorial department will provide you with extra remuneration and arrange the best hotels and services for you during the trip."

"Besides this, I will also let Editor Sudo provide extra plans and funds to facilitate you to travel and play in various places during the gaps in the signing event."

Yuto Akiwara didn't expect there to be this condition and subconsciously looked up at her.

According to this way of saying it, his national signing tour could perhaps be considered a national tour. After all, there is often a gap of 1-2 days between two signing events, so it is completely possible to visit scenic spots or soak in hot springs and camp.

Thinking about it this way, it wouldn't be very tiring.

"Let me think about it," Yuto Akiwara said simply, then closed his eyes, leaned on the back of the chair, and pondered, considering the pros and cons of this matter.

According to Rika Dacheng's opinion, she hoped that he could go to all cities with some scale in the country once or twice. Even with a more conservative estimate, at a frequency of about 2 events per week, it would take about half a year.

And *Furuhata Ninzaburo*, besides the two issues already delivered, had more than 40 issues left. Even adding the special issues for holidays, it would take about half a year to finish serialization.

Calculated this way, when the tour signing event ended, his work would also be almost finished with serialization. The number of readers at that time would be almost the highest achievement *April Youth* could reach.

Yuto Akiwara opened his eyes, was silent for a while, and asked in a serious tone, "Editor-in-Chief Dacheng, if I cooperate with your work, can you ensure that *April Youth* becomes the first in the industry?"

"I cannot guarantee," Rika Dacheng did not avoid Akiwara's gaze and also answered earnestly, "But this is the best plan the editorial department can think of. After all, unless it can be visualized or filmed, it is already very difficult for the current layout publicity to push the magazine sales one step further."

Yuto Akiwara nodded after hearing this honest answer.

He actually knew that being first in the industry was not that successful. After all, it was not just *April Youth*, all other magazines were desperately exerting force from channels and publicity.

Although he was confident in the quality of *Furuhata*'s work, he couldn't deny that other magazines also had quite a few excellent authors. Like veteran writers such as Seto Tamae, other houses had 1-2 of them more or less.

However, Rika Dacheng's answer also made him very satisfied—the other party didn't lie to him about any nonsense like definitely being able to get first in the industry just to fool him into participating in the signing event.

"Let's do this, I agree." Yuto Akiwara put down the water glass in his hand and gave the reply Rika Dacheng wanted.

But just when she breathed a sigh of relief, Yuto Akiwara said he had some conditions, which made Rika Dacheng nervous.

"My requirement is that the signing events in all cities must be told to me one week in advance, and ensure that the signing event does a good job in publicity. Besides this, if I have something to do and cannot come, the editorial department must also agree to my request."

Yuto Akiwara paused and added, "Of course, if I have something to do, I will inform you 1-2 days in advance."

He had some plans in his heart, such as lectures, publishing books, or making connections, so naturally, he couldn't be busy with signing events all day.

Rika Dacheng thought it was some requirement, but didn't expect it to be just this, so she directly agreed with a smile.

Yuto Akiwara was not an employee of *April Youth*, so naturally, he couldn't always accept the publicity arrangements of the signing event.

In fact, she had already prepared a second plan, which was to sign one event every two weeks, and wait for the other party to reject the previous proposal before proposing it.

But she didn't expect that the other party would agree so easily.

Even so, she also saw Yuto Akiwara's idea of wanting *April Youth* to become the first in the industry. This made her a bit puzzled; what exactly did the other party experience at *New* to have this obsession?

She didn't say much, but lowered her head to thank him, "You've worked hard!"

The subsequent topic was not participated in by Akiwara, but by Asano, who came forward to discuss the details with Rika Dacheng, including specific remuneration and hotel standards, as well as guarantees for external safety—after all, Yuto Akiwara could be considered a celebrity and had the risk of being attacked by fanatical fans or black fans.

After the discussion ended, Rika Dacheng left, and the subsequent work would be coordinated by Hideki Sudo.

After she left, Asano Aiko looked at Yuto Akiwara worriedly, "Akiwara, do you want to consider this matter again? After all, if you have to go out often, it will still be very tiring."

Yuto Akiwara smiled, "It's okay, it's not very hard."

Compared to the 996 days in his past life, this kind of tour signing event where tourism and work each accounted for half was simply not too easy.

And in his view, as long as he got first place, what did it matter if he was a little tired!!