Chapter 213

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

With so many works to his name, 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 terms of both quantity and quality.

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

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

However, he still needs to help continue the tour book-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 show's ratings began to rise in a straight line.

The average minute-by-minute rating for the second episode was 16.1%, the third was 16.7%, the fourth was 17.1%, and the fifth was 17.5%.

However, "Detective Kamimura," also a detective drama, still firmly held the lead over "Furuhata Ninzaburo," with its four-episode average minute-by-minute rating reaching around 20%.

With these two shows exerting their influence, other programs in the same time slot had basically no audience, let alone ratings. Because of this, many television stations adjusted their program schedules, 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, who began to discuss the two shows 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 capable.

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, riding the wave of popularity.

Aichi Prefecture, 6:00 PM, mountain inn.

Akiwara Yuto, having just finished a book-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 took two steps forward, bowed respectfully to greet him, and then said, "Master, I learned your address for today from Lady Asano, 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 the 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 very close to Kyoto, it still takes some time to get here.

Toyama Miho took the tea, said "Thank you," then set down the teacup, took a journal titled "Nihon Film Literature" from the bag she was carrying, and handed 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 flipped to page 11 to read it.

The title above read "A Discussion on the Multiple Narrative Techniques of 'The Invisible Guest'," authors Akiwara Yuto and Toyama Shuichi, and the content below was about 4,000 words, with the main content being what he had previously lectured on.

He read through it once and felt quite satisfied.

As long as he can continue to publish papers, he estimates he can gradually peel off the "typecast author" label that the media has pinned on him.

In the selection of some awards, if some judges consider him a typecast author, he will often suffer quite a bit.

Akiwara Yuto put down the journal and asked Toyama Miho, "Help me say thank you to your father, but actually, sending it by courier would have been fine, there was no 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, and pointed to a piece of news on the newspaper, saying, "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 based on your advice, Master."

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

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

Besides that, as "Mystery Literature" is an academic journal and the organizer of this award, it 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 ahead and try, remember to send the article to me to read once more before submitting it."

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

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

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 fall 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 Nakata Keito-sensei? His recent serialization in 'Tokyo Literature' has received praise from many book critics."

Another person countered, "That doesn't seem appropriate, does it? Seto Tamae-sensei is already an author for 'Tokyo Literature,' inviting him again would raise suspicions of repetition, and I've also heard that the relationship between these two teachers isn't very good."

Someone took up the conversation, "Then what about Furuya Masaaki-sensei? His work 'Detective Kamimura' currently has high viewership."

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

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

Hearing this, the people at the table began to offer their own opinions one after another.

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

"That doesn't seem appropriate, does it? After all, we aren't holding the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award!"

"Then how about finding literature professors from Tokyo University or Kyoto University to serve as judges?"

"I don't think that's appropriate, after all, the existing judges are all writers."

"Isn't that because there are no suitable candidates? Then what are you going to do?"

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

He paused and added, "First, his age has a certain gap with teachers like Wada Shin, which can better embody the word 'modern' in the literary award. Second, his work has also been adapted into a film and television drama, and he has a certain level of popularity among the public."

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

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