Chapter 214: So-called Fairness and Stance

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

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

Should he really accept this request to serve as a judge?

Generally speaking, when a writer is invited to be 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 were also 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 to obtain some inside information for his disciple!

He walked over to the telephone and dialed the committee number on the invitation.

After waiting a moment, the call was quickly answered: "Hello, I am Akiwara Yuto. May I ask if this is the Modern Mystery Newcomer Award Judging Committee?"

"Yes, it is," a young female voice came from the other end.

The voice asked again: "Mr. Akiwara, have you decided whether to accept our invitation?"

Akiwara Yuto did not answer the question directly, but instead 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 voice hesitated for a moment, but still said: "The ones currently confirmed are Wada Shin, Morioka Yuho, Takada Tomohisa, and Seto Tamae."

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

He looked at the four names on the paper, feeling a bit embarrassed; he hadn't expected it to be so easy to get the names of the committee members.

However, from this point, one could see that the "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award" did not carry much weight.

If it were the "Mystery Writers Newcomer Award and Association Award," he estimated that no matter how he asked, the association would never reveal the name of a single judge before the official evaluation, not even to the other judges.

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

Then again, this oversight by the "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award" had made him a beneficiary.

After obtaining the list of specific personnel for the judges, he could 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 Mystery Writers Association gathering; the man was quite old, and his hair was already gray.

Although he was old, his presence was imposing, and he had an air of being pedantic; he was a spokesperson for the radical faction within the orthodox school.

Morioka Yuho, a rare female mystery writer.

He heard that she was a judge when he won the Newcomer Award, but it seemed her stance was also quite extreme, belonging to the same faction as Wada Shin.

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

Seto Tamae, a moderate within the orthodox school and an old acquaintance; no need to overthink this one.

After carefully analyzing the stances and backgrounds of everyone on the committee, Akiwara Yuto frowned.

If this was the committee, Toyama Miho winning this Newcomer Award was likely just a moon reflected in the water—an unattainable dream.

He had read her work; although it was written brilliantly, it was essentially a social-school piece. But among the five judges on this committee, three were already confirmed to be orthodox-school writers.

Among them, Wada Shin and Morioka Yuho were radical orthodox-school writers who would certainly not cast their votes for her.

As for Seto Tamae, the moderate orthodox-school writer, she held the view that works from all factions were much the same and valued the quality of the work more.

The one most likely to vote for her would be 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 wanted to win, she would have to secure the other 3 votes from the five judges after being shortlisted.

But to achieve this, the committee would need to invite one more judge who was impartial and only valued the story quality of the work itself.

But such a thing was not so easy!

Should he step in himself?

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

In Akiwara's view, as the vice-chairman of the Mystery Association, the other man was quite clear on the ins and outs of these things.

After the call connected, Akiwara Yuto exchanged pleasantries with Kawai Shinta and then raised his doubt: "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 words in his mind and said: "It's like this: I have an acquaintance who was recently invited by an award organizer to serve as a judge, but there are some issues involved."

"What issues?" Kawai Shinta guessed it was Akiwara Yuto's own trouble the moment he heard the word "acquaintance."

Akiwara Yuto continued: "That acquaintance's disciple is also participating in this award, and if nothing goes wrong, there is a high chance of being shortlisted 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: "Mr. Akiwara, I would like to ask your acquaintance: if his disciple's work quality is truly not up to par, would he still cast his vote for the disciple's work?"

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

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

"But doesn't this require avoiding suspicion?"

Kawai Shinta shook his head and explained: "Mr. Akiwara, the mystery literature circle isn't as big as you think. Many people have all kinds of relationships—some are master and disciple, some are friends, and some are even family. If everyone were to avoid suspicion like you say, the organizers probably wouldn't be able to pick a result in half a month."

After thinking for a while, Akiwara Yuto found that what Kawai Shinta said was indeed reasonable.

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

And many senior writers who had debuted for years had 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.

But this was clearly unreasonable!

Kawai Shinta sighed and added: "Mr. Akiwara, actually, I would like to ask: is there something wrong with the award your disciple is participating in? Is that why you want to serve as a judge?"

Akiwara Yuto showed an awkward smile; he hadn't expected Kawai Shinta to be so blunt, exposing the "acquaintance" excuse directly.

He didn't hesitate much and told him the cause and effect of his plan to accept the invitation.

Kawai Shinta nodded in understanding: "Mr. Akiwara, 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 a work can win, rather than the faction the work 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 conversation had reached this point, and there was nothing more to say. But just as he was about to hang up, Kawai Shinta added: "Mr. Akiwara, if possible, pay attention to Mr. Wada Shin and avoid any conflict with him."

Wada Shin—isn't he just an older senior 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 hung up the phone.

Immediately after, he picked up the receiver again and called the "Modern Mystery Newcomer Award Judging Committee" to indicate that he 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 provide a fair stage. As for whether you can win, it will only depend on the standard of your own work!