Chapter 214

Akiwara Yuto had just returned home from Aichi Prefecture when he discovered this invitation letter in his mailbox.

After reading the content of the letter, he looked at the line "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award Judging Committee" on the letter and fell into deep thought.

Should he accept this request to serve as a judge or not?

Usually, when a writer is invited to serve as a judge, it is often a recognition of their qualifications and achievements; if they were still considered a newcomer, no one would invite them at all.

But if Toyama Miho is also going to submit a work, would it be inappropriate for him to serve as a judge?

However, come to think of it, he could perhaps use this invitation letter to obtain some inside information for his disciple?!

He walked to the phone and dialed the committee number on the invitation letter.

After waiting for a while, the call was quickly connected, "Hello, I am Akiwara Yuto, may I ask if this is the Modern Mystery Newcomer Award Judging Committee?"

"Yes," a young female voice came from the other end of the line.

The female voice asked again, "Akiwara-sensei, have you decided to accept our invitation?"

Akiwara Yuto did not answer the question directly, but said, "I am still considering it, but I would like to ask, which other teachers are currently serving as judges for the newcomer award?"

The female voice hesitated, but still said, "Currently, the four teachers confirmed are Wada Shin, Morioka Yuho, Takada Tomohisa, and Seto Tamae."

Akiwara Yuto wrote these four names on the memo pad by the phone, then said "Thank you," and hung up the phone with the excuse that he needed to consider it further.

Looking at the four names on the paper, he actually felt a bit embarrassed; he didn't expect it to be so easy to ask for the names of the judging committee members.

However, from this point, one can see that the gold content of the "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award" is not high.

If it were the "Mystery Writers Newcomer Award and Association Award," he estimates that no matter how he asked, the association would not reveal the name of any judge before the formal judging, even to other judges.

After all, doing so would allow some judges time to collude, making it easier to manipulate the results of an award.

Come to think of it, this oversight by the "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award" has also made him a beneficiary.

After obtaining the specific list of judges, he can predict the results of this award.

Akiwara picked up a pen, circled all four names on the memo, and recalled the relevant information about these judges in his mind.

Wada Shin, he had met him once before at a gathering of the Mystery Writers Association; the other party was very old, and his hair was already gray.

However, although he was old, his momentum was very strong, with a sense of being old-fashioned, belonging to the radical faction of the honkaku school.

Morioka Yuho, a rare female mystery writer.

It is said that she was a judge when he won the newcomer award, but it seems her stance is also relatively extreme, belonging to the same faction as Wada Shin.

Takada Tomohisa, a social-school mystery writer; he had also met him once at the association, but they hadn't really talked much.

Seto Tamae, a moderate in the honkaku school, an old acquaintance, no need to think too much about this one.

After carefully analyzing the stance and background of everyone on the judging committee, Akiwara Yuto frowned.

If this is the judging committee, Toyama Miho wanting to win this newcomer award can only be like a flower in the mirror or the moon in the water.

He had seen her work; although it was written brilliantly, it essentially belonged to the social-school genre. But among the 5 people on this judging committee, 3 were already confirmed to be honkaku writers.

Among them, Wada Shin and Morioka Yuho are radical honkaku writers and certainly won't cast their votes for her.

And Seto Tamae, as a moderate honkaku writer, holds the view that works from all factions are much the same, and values the quality of the work more.

The one most likely to vote for her is that social-school mystery writer, Takada Tomohisa.

Akiwara Yuto thought for a long time and felt that his top disciple would likely end in failure this time; after all, if she wants to win the award, she must win the other 3 votes from the five judges after being nominated.

But to achieve this, it would require the judging committee to invite another judge with a fair stance who only values the story quality of the work itself.

But how could such a thing be so easy!

Should he step in himself?

Akiwara Yuto hesitated for a while, picked up the receiver again, and made a call to Kawai Shinta.

In Akiwara's view, as the vice-chairman of the Mystery Association, the other party is quite clear about the ins and outs of things.

After the call was connected, Akiwara Yuto exchanged pleasantries with Kawai Shinta, then raised his doubts: "Chairman Kawai, it's like this, I would like to ask you a question."

Kawai Shinta, holding the receiver, didn't mind and said with a smile, "Go ahead."

Akiwara Yuto organized his language in his mind and said, "It's like this, I have an acquaintance who was recently invited by the organizer of an award, hoping he would serve as a judge for this award, but some problems have arisen."

"What problem?" Kawai Shinta guessed it was Akiwara Yuto's own trouble when he heard the words "acquaintance."

Akiwara Yuto continued, "The disciple of that acquaintance also participated in this award, and if nothing goes wrong, there is a good chance of being nominated and selected."

He added, "So that acquaintance is considering whether he should refuse the invitation to serve as a judge from the perspective of avoiding suspicion."

Kawai Shinta said, "Akiwara-sensei, I would like to ask your acquaintance, if his disciple's work quality is indeed not good, would he still cast his vote for his disciple's work?"

"No, my acquaintance is a person with relatively firm beliefs; he will only use the quality of the work as the standard for the award selection," Akiwara Yuto said firmly.

"Then what's the problem? Since you won't make a wrong choice because of selfishness, then just go and serve as a judge."

"But doesn't this require avoiding suspicion?"

Kawai Shinta shook his head and explained, "Akiwara-sensei, the mystery literature circle is not as big as you think; many people have all kinds of relationships with each other—some are master and disciple, some are friends, and some are even family. If everyone were to avoid suspicion like you said, the organizers probably wouldn't be able to select a result in half a month."

After Akiwara Yuto pondered for a while, he found that Kawai Shinta's words indeed made sense.

With Kawai Shinta's status as the vice-chairman of the association, he can be considered half-friends with most of the writers in the association. Besides that, he also has disciples and grand-disciples.

And many veteran writers who have debuted for many years have interpersonal networks like Kawai Shinta's.

If they had to avoid suspicion, these writers probably wouldn't be able to participate in any award selections either.

But this is clearly unreasonable!

Kawai Shinta sighed and added, "Akiwara-sensei, actually I would like to ask, is there any problem with the award your disciple participated in? That's why you want to serve as a judge."

Akiwara Yuto revealed an awkward smile; he didn't expect Kawai Shinta to be so straightforward, even exposing the excuse of an "acquaintance" directly.

He didn't hesitate much and directly stated the cause and effect of his intention to accept the invitation.

Kawai Shinta nodded knowingly, "Akiwara-sensei, so you want to give your disciple a fair competition, right?"

"Yes," Akiwara Yuto said, "If I serve as a judge, I will inevitably use the quality of the work as the standard for judging whether the work can win the award, rather than the faction the work itself belongs to!"

He continued firmly, "In my view, this point is far too unreasonable."

Kawai Shinta said with a smile, "Then just do as you think."

Akiwara Yuto nodded subconsciously; the words had already been spoken, and there was nothing more to say. But just as he was about to hang up the receiver, Kawai Shinta added, "Akiwara-sensei, if possible, pay attention to Wada Shin-sensei and avoid any conflict with him."

Wada Shin, isn't he just an older veteran writer? Why should he pay attention to him?

Akiwara Yuto was a bit puzzled, but felt that he was only going to serve as a judge and shouldn't have any fundamental conflict with the other party, so he agreed and then hung up the phone.

Immediately after, he picked up the receiver again and made a call to the "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award Judging Committee," indicating that he had accepted the invitation.

After chatting for a few sentences, Akiwara Yuto put down the receiver, looked at the list on the memo, and thought of other things.

Toyama, the most I can do for you is to provide a fair stage. As for whether you can win the award, it will only depend on the standard of your own work!