Chapter 213: An Invitation Letter

For Akiwara Yuto now, fame is no longer lacking. In terms of status in the literary world, he has already reached the ranks of veteran writers.

After having many works, no one dares to view him as a newcomer writer anymore; after all, the series of works he has written can be considered outstanding in both quantity and quality.

However, within the ranks of veteran writers, his accumulation is still relatively weak, and the most important point is that he has not won many well-known industry awards.

Therefore, after much consideration, he has set winning more awards as his next stage goal.

But for now, he still needs to help continue the tour signing events, and the nominations for some heavyweight awards have not yet begun.

So Akiwara Yuto intends to put this thought aside for now and let Satake Maki take the initiative to collect some information to make the corresponding preparations.

……

Amidst the busyness, February passed quickly.

During this period, "Furuhata Ninzaburo" aired another 4 episodes. Because of the high-quality plot and the exploration of human nature, the ratings for this show began to rise in a straight line.

The average minute-by-minute rating for the second episode was 16. %, the third was 16. %, the fourth was 17. %, and the fifth was 17. %.

However, "Detective Kamimura," also a detective drama, still firmly held "Furuhata Ninzaburo" down, with an average minute-by-minute rating of about 20% for the four episodes.

With these two shows exerting their influence, other programs in the same time slot basically had no audience, let alone ratings. Because of this, many television stations adjusted their program schedules one after another, using that time slot to air some trash programs to avoid becoming cannon fodder.

This situation attracted the attention of many drama critics and media, so they stared at the two shows to discuss them and wrote many articles.

Besides discussing ratings, they also discussed which of the two shows was more exciting, which male lead was more moving, and later, they even discussed which writer, Akiwara Yuto or Furuya Masaaki, was more formidable.

The heat generated by these topics also spread to the publishing market—the sales of the two magazines "April Youth" and "Tokyo Youth" began to advance by leaps and bounds, taking advantage of the heat.

……

Aichi Prefecture, 6: 0 PM, mountain inn.

Akiwara Yuto, who had just finished a signing event, returned to this inn. Just as he was preparing to return to his room to rest, he suddenly saw an acquaintance—his disciple, Toyama Miho.

Toyama Miho was still wearing her high school uniform today. She stepped forward two paces, bowed respectfully to greet him, and then said, "Master, I learned your address for today from Asano Aiko. I hope I haven't disturbed you."

Akiwara Yuto waved his hand, signaling that he didn't mind. "It's noisy here; come to my room and let's talk."

Then, the two walked into the room one after the other and sat down around a low table.

Akiwara Yuto took the initiative to pour tea for his disciple and then asked, "Toyama-chan, is there anything you're here for today?"

He found it a bit strange; although Aichi Prefecture is close to Kyoto, it still takes some time to get here.

Toyama Miho took the tea, said "Thank you," then set down the teacup and took a journal titled "Neon Film Literature" from the bag she was carrying, handing it to Akiwara Yuto.

"Master, my father asked me to come. He wanted me to inform you that the paper you co-authored with him has been published in the journal, on page 11."

Akiwara Yuto took the journal and opened it to page 11 to read.

The title above read "Discussion on the Multiple Narrative Techniques of Invisible Guests," by authors Akiwara Yuto and Toyama Shuichi, and the content below was about 4, 00 words, with the main content being what he had previously lectured on.

He read it once and felt quite satisfied in his heart.

As long as he can continue to publish papers, he estimates that he can gradually remove the "formulaic author" label that the media has crowned him with.

In the selection of some awards, if some judges consider him a formulaic author, he will often suffer quite a few losses.

Akiwara Yuto put down the journal and asked Toyama Miho, "Thank your father for me, but actually, you could have just sent it by courier; you didn't need to make a special trip here."

Toyama Miho shook her head and said earnestly, "Master, besides this matter, there is one more thing I would like to ask your advice on."

"Hmm? Go ahead."

Toyama Miho took another newspaper from her bag, spread it out on the table, pointed to a piece of information on the newspaper, and said, "Master, I want to participate in this 'Modern Mystery Newcomer Award.' Do you think it's okay?"

Akiwara Yuto did not answer immediately but looked in the direction her finger was pointing.

After reading it carefully, he discovered that this literary newcomer award was organized by the "Mystery Literature" journal and co-hosted by the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.

He glanced at Toyama Miho and asked in a puzzled tone, "If you participate, do you intend to submit the work you wrote last time?"

Toyama Miho nodded, "Yes, I have already made comprehensive revisions to that article according to your advice, Master."

Akiwara Yuto closed his eyes, recalled the content of that article, and found that the possibility of winning was not small.

The article Toyama Miho wrote before was a social-school mystery that exposed social ills, and the irony contained within it was so amazing that even he felt impressed when he read it.

Besides that, "Mystery Literature," as an academic journal, is the organizer of this award, which means the level of this award will not be very high.

In other words, in terms of the number of participants and the difficulty of winning, it certainly cannot compare to the "Mystery Literature Newcomer Award" organized by the Mystery Writers Association.

Akiwara Yuto pondered for a long time and felt it would be good to let his disciple try, so he encouraged her, "Then go and try. Remember to send the article to me to look at again before submitting it."

"Yes, I understand!" Toyama Miho nodded earnestly.

After finishing this topic, Akiwara Yuto had a waiter bring food and treated his disciple to a hot spring meal. Then he had the front desk arrange a private car to drive Toyama Miho home directly.

Watching the car body disappear into the night, Akiwara Yuto clenched his fists.

His disciple knows to win an award and debut as soon as possible; he cannot be too far behind!

……

Tokyo, the conference room of the "Mystery Literature" journal editorial department.

A group of people gathered around the conference table to discuss the upcoming "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award."

"Besides the four teachers we have already decided to invite—Wada Shin, Morioka Yuho, Takada Tomohisa, and Seto Tamae—which other writer should we invite as a judge?" said a man with graying hair.

Someone suggested, "How about Teacher Nakata Keito? His recent serialization in 'Tokyo Literature' has received praise from many book critics."

Another person retorted, "That's not very appropriate, is it? Teacher Seto Tamae is already an author for 'Tokyo Literature.' Inviting him again would raise suspicions of duplication, and I've also heard that the relationship between these two teachers is not very good."

Someone took over the conversation, "Then what about Teacher Furuya Masaaki? His work 'Detective Kamimura' has a very high viewership rate now."

The white-haired man shook his head, "I tried to contact him before, but his editor-in-chief indicated that he has no interest in these things."

He actually concealed some information, which was that this Teacher Furuya Masaaki had once requested an appearance fee of 2 million yen, but this request was rejected by him.

Hearing this, the people at the scene offered their opinions one after another.

"Why don't we ask the Mystery Writers Association to see if they have any suitable candidates to recommend?"

"That's not very appropriate, is it? After all, we aren't hosting the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award!"

"Then why not find literature professors from Tokyo University or Kyoto University to serve as judges?"

"I think that's inappropriate; after all, the existing judges are all writers."

"Isn't there no suitable candidate? Then what do you suggest?"

The white-haired man cleared his throat, then coughed and said, "I think, why don't we invite Teacher Akiwara Yuto, the author of 'Furuhata Ninzaburo'?"

He paused and continued to add, "First, his age has a certain gap with teachers like Wada Shin, which can better reflect the word 'modern' in the literary award. Second, his work has also been filmed into a movie/drama, and he has a certain degree of popularity among the public."

The people at the scene stirred for a while, then discussed whether Akiwara Yuto's qualifications were sufficient, and finally made a decision—to invite Akiwara Yuto to be the fifth judge of the newcomer award.

Soon, an invitation letter was mailed to Akiwara Yuto's home...