Chapter 2: Submission Visit

The next afternoon, Akiwara Yuto tidied himself up, took his manuscript, and walked out of the apartment briskly.

It was only 1:00 PM, still early for the appointed time, but the submission was of great significance to him, so it was better to leave early.

He walked all the way to the nearest station, boarded the train to Bunkyo Ward, and arrived at today's destination—the Mantan Society office building—at 2:10 PM.

He looked up and observed.

This building was a gray structure that looked less than 10 years old. The entire building was over 20 stories high, appearing exceptionally tall and imposing against the backdrop of a bunch of low buildings nearby.

At the main entrance of the building, men and women in black suits were coming and going from time to time.

Following the crowd, Akiwara Yuto walked into the lobby, headed straight for the reception desk, and said politely to the female staff member at the front desk: "I am Akiwara Yuto, here to submit a manuscript. May I ask how to get to the 'Tokyo Literature' editorial department?"

Hearing his inquiry, the female staff member at the front desk showed a standardized professional smile: "May I ask if Akiwara-san has an appointment?"

"I have already made an appointment with the staff of the editorial department for 3:00 PM."

Although it was still early, he planned to wait first; after all, he was asking for help, so it was better to maintain a good posture for now.

"Okay, please wait a moment." The female staff member nodded at him, picked up the internal phone, asked a few questions in a low voice, then looked up and smiled: "Akiwara-san, the 'Tokyo Literature' editorial department is on the 16th floor. Please follow me."

She stood up, then smiled and led Akiwara Yuto to a conference room on the 16th floor, arranging for him to sit and wait.

This conference room was not large, with only a long table and chairs placed on both sides. Akiwara Yuto had a judgment in his heart, guessing that this was a place specifically used to receive submitters.

Subsequently, the female staff member poured him a cup of tea, brought a registration form for him to fill out, and turned to leave the conference room.

Akiwara Yuto sat on the office chair, placed the manuscript flat and neat on the table in front of him, and began to fill out the registration form, completely filling in his personal information and contact details.

After filling out the form, he straightened his sitting posture and calculated his speech for a while. Seeing that no one had come yet, he couldn't help but pick up the manuscript and quickly go through it again.

But to his surprise, this wait lasted for more than 3 hours.

The tea was finished, his mouth was dry, and he had been lost in thought for a long time, but the other party didn't even have a shadow, which made him feel a bit angry.

He intended to just leave, but felt that if he left like this, the time spent before would become a sunk cost. After repeated consideration, he decided to stay.

He really needed money now. If he made another appointment to submit to other publishing houses, time might really be too late...

Having made this decision, he waited for another half day, even going to the restroom twice.

Just as he couldn't help but want to go to the editorial department on the same floor, a middle-aged man in a suit walked in.

This man was about forty years old, with a tall posture, wearing a well-fitting suit, and having a square face.

But on this face hung a smile that didn't fit his temperament, very much like those politicians on TV.

He pushed the door open, walked in with big strides, sat directly opposite Akiwara Yuto, and then said: "Sorry for the wait, I am Takei Kohei, an editor of 'Tokyo Literature'."

Seeing that he had finally waited for the editor he was to meet, Akiwara Yuto let out a sigh of relief; he immediately stood up, bowed, and introduced himself.

This male editor named Takei Kohei just nodded, signaled Akiwara Yuto to sit down, then picked up the registration form he had filled out before and began to read it word by word.

Seeing the smile on the other party's face gradually fade, Akiwara Yuto had a bad premonition.

After a short while, Takei Kohei finished reading the registration form and put on that "politician-style" smile again.

"Akiwara-san, is this your first time submitting to Mantan Society? May I ask if you have had any experience submitting to other magazines or winning awards before?"

He asked this for a reason. In the current Japanese literary world, there were only two ways for new writers to debut: either participate in a competition and win a newcomer award, or submit directly to a publishing house.

If it were the former, he would value the other party's manuscript no matter what, but if it were the latter, the submitted manuscripts were basically unsatisfactory, so he wouldn't bother wasting time.

Akiwara Yuto didn't know the intention behind the other party's question, but he knew that both his education and other aspects were hard flaws, so the plan he made for himself was to let the other party review the manuscript as soon as possible.

After all, the article he wrote was a boutique selected from many works of his past life, and he believed that the other party would definitely be convinced after reading it.

Thinking for two seconds, Akiwara Yuto decided to speak frankly: "Sorry, I am just a newcomer. Although I have no award-winning experience, I hope you can take a look at my manuscript."

Hearing this, Takei Kohei couldn't help but feel disappointed.

After reading Akiwara Yuto's personal registration form, he already understood the other party's education and background. He didn't believe from the bottom of his heart that a high school graduate from that poor place in Hokkaido could have any outstanding writing skills.

At such an age, he didn't know if the other party had even finished reading the works of famous masters on the market, let alone how much life experience he had. What could be good about what he wrote?

Did he really think he was a genius?

Hurry up and go back to study for two more years!

He was too lazy to think carefully. He had seen plenty of such idiots since he became an editor, especially after the economic crisis, when more people wanted to submit manuscripts to make a living, which increased his workload quite a bit.

You must know, he still had to go to Ginza tonight to drink with a bestselling author; he was in no mood to deal with such small fry.

Although he was disdainful in his heart, he still wore that "fake" smile and said: "Akiwara-san, I understand your situation. Can you leave your work? I would like to carefully read your article."

He had no intention of reading it at all. As the deputy editor-in-chief of "Tokyo Literature," his time was very precious. If it weren't for the publishing house's rule that submissions were on an editor rotation system, he wouldn't waste time sitting here with a newcomer.

Akiwara Yuto didn't expect that the other party wouldn't even have the patience to read the manuscript on the spot, and his heart sank.

He was a bit dissatisfied, but still decided to try, so he persuaded: "Editor Takei, my article..."

Before he could finish, Takei Kohei interrupted him: "I'm really sorry, Akiwara-san. I hope you can understand the hardships of our profession. In short, please leave the manuscript."

After a pause, he added: "After reading the manuscript, I will reply to you as soon as possible."

He planned to just throw the manuscript to his assistant to handle later and write a rejection letter as soon as possible to let the other party give up.

A country bumpkin from Hokkaido should just honestly go home and catch fish; what kind of writer dream was he having?

Akiwara Yuto intended to speak again, but seeing Takei Kohei sitting opposite him already looking at his watch, it was completely a "guest-sending" meaning.

Helplessly, he had to accept the facts. After all, repeated persuasion would only cause resentment, so he could only hope that the other party would fulfill their responsibilities properly later.

"Then excuse me."

He stood up, bowed, and left the conference room, leaving behind his manuscript—this was just a copy; the original was in his own hands.

Japan was very strict about copyright protection. As a major publishing house that could be counted on, Mantan Society would be a huge scandal if it were exposed for misappropriating manuscripts, so there was no need to worry about risks in this regard.

It was just that after waiting for most of the afternoon today, he was kicked out without saying two words, which left a bit of a shadow in his heart.

This society was very realistic; the weak without status could only suffer such treatment forever!

7:00 PM.

Mantan Society "New Novel" Editorial Department.

Asano Aiko held a cup of instant coffee, leaned on the office chair, looked at the words "Akiwara Yuto" on the file bag in front of her, and sighed with some distress.

She was a magazine editor who had been on the job for 3 years, and her main work was to plan topics and recommend excellent manuscripts.

But for some reason, the editor-in-chief had never arranged for her to be a contact for specific writers, only letting her dig for newcomers herself.

Those potential new stars who won newcomer awards, which one wasn't eyeing literary magazines with more influential circulation?

For a small magazine like "New Novel" with a weekly circulation of less than 30,000 copies, it was a long time before someone would come to submit a manuscript, and it was often unsatisfactory.

She opened the file bag in front of her, preparing to briefly go through the manuscript and then write a rejection letter.

This was actually not her main job, but a task requested by a friend working in the "Tokyo Literature" editorial department on the same floor.

Just as Asano Aiko was about to get off work and go home, the other party ran over, put their hands together, and smiled and requested: "Asano-chan, can you help me write a rejection letter? I have a very important date tonight. I'll treat you to a sundae next time."

And then she confusedly had an extra job.

Although she was not very willing, work was work after all.

An editor's duty was to correct newcomers, let them write things that adapted to market demand, and at the same time dig out "geniuses" with real talent.

Like the manuscript in her hand, it was said that it was not recognized by Takei Kohei, the deputy editor-in-chief of "Tokyo Literature," so it must still have some problems.

Based on her responsibility as an editor, she carefully took out the manuscript, placed it gently on the table, and prepared to read it once and then write the rejection letter as tactfully as possible.

But as she watched, she couldn't take her eyes off it.

Was such an article really written by a newcomer?! ===== CHAPTER 3 =====