Chapter 217: Voting, Results, and Factional Disputes

"Mr. Wada, your proposal is not very appropriate."

Akiwara Yuto raised his head and met Wada Xin's gaze.

In his view, there was neither a "request" nor a "please" in what Wada Xin had just said; it was entirely the tone of a superior commanding a subordinate.

Therefore, his attitude also became much colder.

Wada Xin seemed not to hear the coldness in Akiwara Yuto's words and continued on his own: "Akiwara-san, what is inappropriate about this? Do you not think that 'Duet of Death' is a brilliant work?"

"I do not think otherwise, but I believe 'The Deceased Mother' is also very well written."

Wada Xin seemed to have heard a joke, a mocking expression appearing on his face. "Heh, Social School?"

After a pause, he added: "That work has such a crude design for its murder trick, how can it even be considered mystery?"

Akiwara Yuto's face turned cold.

This work had been revised by him many times, and he had not expected it to be mocked like this.

However, he also saw that this Mr. Wada Xin, as a radical of the Orthodox School, completely looked down upon works of the Social School.

Wada Xin continued on his own: "Akiwara-san, do you know how you won the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award back then?"

Akiwara Yuto was about to mock the other party, but not expecting to hear this, he could only say with a cold attitude: "I would like to hear the details."

Wada Xin glanced at him, then said with a nonchalant attitude: "The reason your work was able to win the championship back then was the result of the votes from Morioka Yuho and Takaoka Haruto. I won't say anything more."

He stood up, looked down at Akiwara Yuto, and said bluntly: "I hope you consider the afternoon vote carefully."

In his view, Akiwara Yuto was a smart person and would naturally make a reasonable choice.

Akiwara Yuto watched Wada Xin's departing figure and fell into deep thought.

Morioka Yuho was also one of the judges this time, and he had met Takaoka Haruto once before.

But the stances of these two people seemed to be radicals of the Orthodox School, believing that the award should be given to works of the Orthodox School.

He had once disdained this philosophy himself, but he had not expected to be a beneficiary of this very philosophy.

To be honest, without those two votes, his chances of winning back then would likely have been slim.

So, Wada Xin's meaning was likely that he should return the favor, but...

Akiwara Yuto put down his knife and fork, wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and then made a decision.

2: 0 PM, conference room.

The white-haired person in charge of the judging committee, after confirming that all judges had finished reading the manuscripts, said to the five judges below the stage: "After you have filled out the forms, please hand them directly to the staff."

Immediately after, a man in a suit handed the forms to the five people.

After Akiwara Yuto finished writing, he handed the form back to him, and the latter, after collecting all the forms, submitted them to the person in charge.

The person in charge counted them and then announced the result: "This vote is non-anonymous. 'The Deceased Mother' received votes from Mr. Akiwara Yuto, Ms. Seto Tamae, and Mr. Takada Tomohisa; 'Duet of Death' received votes from Mr. Wada Xin and Ms. Morioka Yuho."

"Therefore, the work that has won this Modern Mystery Literature Newcomer Award is 'The Deceased Mother'."

Just then, a "slap" sound came from the conference room, attracting everyone's attention.

Akiwara Yuto looked up and found that it was Wada Xin's hand slamming heavily onto the conference table, even knocking over a teacup.

The person in charge was just about to step down, not expecting to be interrupted like this.

He hesitated for a moment and said in a polite tone: "Mr. Wada Xin, do you have any objections?"

After all, Wada Xin was a judge and the oldest among this group of writer-judges, so he could only ask in a polite manner.

Wada Xin was about to say something, but Ms. Morioka Yuho, who was sitting next to him, coughed lightly.

Upon hearing the cough, Wada Xin seemed to realize something and waved his hand. "Apologies, excuse me."

The person in charge breathed a sigh of relief inside before continuing.

After some official pleasantries, the selection for this Newcomer Award was officially declared over.

Under the bowing send-off of the person in charge and the staff, the five judges, including Akiwara Yuto, stood up and left the conference room one after another.

Akiwara Yuto and Seto Tamae prepared to go to a nearby izakaya for a drink.

His disciple being able to win the award this time was inseparable from that key vote by Seto Tamae.

And the other Social School writer, Takada Tomohisa, would certainly not have cast his vote for "Duet of Death," which promoted negative human nature.

But inviting Takada Tomohisa would be a bit abrupt; after all, the other party did not know that the work he voted for was written by his disciple.

Just as the two were about to leave the first-floor entrance, Akiwara Yuto noticed that Wada Xin and Morioka Yuho were standing at the entrance together.

Akiwara Yuto realized that the other party had come with ill intent, but he still walked up with Seto Tamae and gave a simple greeting.

Wada Xin did not respond to Akiwara Yuto's greeting but instead questioned him.

"Akiwara-san, why didn't you cast your vote for 'Duet of Death'? This is not what we agreed upon, is it?"

Akiwara Yuto's attitude also turned cold, and he said: "Wada-san, I don't believe I ever promised anything, did I?"

The other party had never addressed him as "Mr." from start to finish, so he couldn't be bothered to maintain such superficial etiquette.

Upon hearing this, Wada Xin "hmphed," then glanced at Akiwara Yuto with an arrogant attitude, said "suit yourself," and left with Morioka Yuho.

Seto Tamae looked at him with concern and then asked Akiwara Yuto: "Mr. Akiwara, what happened between you two?"

Akiwara Yuto did not hide anything and told her everything that had happened.

However, he was not very worried; after all, although Wada Xin had deep qualifications and was an old senior in the industry, it was impossible for him to do anything to him like the Man-dan Publishing House, and blacklisting him was even more impossible.

But to his surprise, Seto Tamae said, "Mr. Akiwara, you should still be careful."

Akiwara Yuto frowned and pondered, remembering that Chairman Kawai had also warned him to be careful of this person. Could it be that the other party had something special?

He raised his doubts and asked: "Ms. Seto, I remember that this Wada Xin hasn't had any notable works in the last few years; it seems he just debuted earlier than others."

Seto Tamae shook her head and explained: "Mr. Akiwara, debuting early is inherently a huge advantage."

Then, she began to elaborate, which gave Akiwara Yuto a deeper understanding of Wada Xin.

Wada Xin himself had debuted for over 50 years and served as a visiting professor at many universities. Because of this connection, many writers in the literary world had a master-disciple relationship with him.

Not only that, he also used strategic planning to build good relationships with various associations and politicians, giving him significant influence in both political and cultural circles.

In order to promote and popularize Orthodox School works, he not only served as a columnist and book reviewer for several major newspapers but also frequently participated in the selection of various awards, only awarding them to Orthodox School works.

This also meant that some works of the Social School and other factions, no matter how excellent they were written, could not win the grand prizes of these award selections.

Akiwara Yuto frowned. "Ms. Seto, isn't this an academic clique?!"

The so-called academic clique refers to individuals or groups that control and monopolize interests through power. For their own interests, academic cliques can often use any means to make exclusionary choices.

Seto Tamae nodded and then sighed. "Mr. Akiwara, do you remember when we invited you to join the Mystery Writers Association, Mr. Miyagawa said it wasn't all good things?"

Akiwara Yuto frowned and recalled; it seemed he had indeed heard that statement at the time.

However, he didn't take it to heart then; after all, in his view, such disputes between factions were still very far from him.

Seto Tamae continued: "After you were recommended by the three of us to join the association, you were already labeled as a moderate. And the radical faction to which Wada belongs is very dissatisfied with Chairman Kawai's recent efforts to promote the development of works from all schools."

She paused and then added: "Therefore, asking you to vote for 'Duet of Death' this time was a test for you."

"A test?" Akiwara Yuto asked in confusion, then realized. "Ms. Seto, you mean they wanted to see if I would stick to Chairman Kawai's point of view, right?"

Kawai Shinta's point of view was to treat works of all schools equally. But the radical faction's point of view was to only promote the Orthodox School and suppress other factions.

By rejecting Wada Xin's voting proposal, he had naturally rejected the radical faction's stance.

Seto Tamae said worriedly: "Mr. Akiwara, you should be careful in the future; I suspect Wada Xin will not let this go easily."

Akiwara Yuto thought about it and found that he did not regret it.

After all, this award was related to his disciple's debut, and he also had major disagreements in philosophy with the radical faction represented by Wada Xin.

And he was no longer that unknown newcomer writer without connections; what could the other party do to him?

He smiled and waved his hand, comforted Seto Tamae, and suggested going to the izakaya now.

The two of them, one after the other, sat into the high-end business car that had come to pick them up.

But to Akiwara Yuto's surprise, Wada Xin's revenge came even faster than he had imagined...