Chapter 218: Jealous of a Newcomer?

One week after the Modern Detective Literature Newcomer Award review ended, Akiwara Yuto returned to his normal work and life, including attending book signing events and going to Fuji TV to discuss scripts and other miscellaneous matters.

But just when he had almost forgotten about this person Wada Shin, he received a phone call from Dacheng Lixiang.

"Teacher Akiwara, I have something to tell you."

Akiwara Yuto was stunned and asked, "Editor-in-Chief Dacheng, what happened?"

"Have you seen the news? When Teacher Wada Shin was interviewed, he believed that because you were jealous of the talent of the newcomer Oonuki Masakazu, you pushed the Modern Detective Literature Award to be given to a worse work."

Akiwara Yuto was a bit suspicious. He had just gone to cast a vote; how did he become jealous of a newcomer?

"Teacher Akiwara, please take a look at the newspaper."

Dacheng Lixiang said a few simple words and then hung up the phone.

Akiwara Yuto was now the face of *April Youth*, and the attacks on him also had a significant impact on the magazine sales of *April Youth*.

So she also had to handle a lot of related work to cope with this public relations crisis.

Akiwara Yuto put down the receiver and called Satake Maki, asking her to immediately collect the relevant news on the market and bring it over. The latter received the task and quickly went to the newsstand to purchase a pile of newspapers and brought them over.

"Akiwara, these are all the newspapers from the past two days. I have already circled the relevant news." Satake Maki handed several newspapers to Akiwara Yuto.

Akiwara Yuto took the newspapers and started reading.

First was the article in the first newspaper. This piece was written by Wada Shin, titled *The Former Victim, Now the Oppressor*, taking up about half a page.

In this article, Wada Shin said he was invited to participate in the "Modern Detective Literature Newcomer Award" selection and was distributed two manuscripts by the committee.

Among the two manuscripts, he found that the second article, called *The Duet of Death*, was written very well, far exceeding his expectations.

But just when he thought this manuscript would definitely win the award, the committee actually gave the award to the other one, which made him feel it was very incredible, so he believed that there must be a huge dark secret in this award ceremony.

Akiwara Yuto finished reading everything, and his face turned completely gloomy.

Although Wada Shin didn't give a specific reason for the dark secret, in this article, he repeatedly mentioned a young writer who had been very popular recently, and also told some cases of writers being jealous.

Many readers, after reading it, would very likely think that this young writer was the mastermind.

In fact, as long as interested people check the list previously published by the committee, they can discover that the young writer was himself, and the reason he did this was jealousy of the newcomer's talent.

Akiwara Yuto put down this newspaper and looked at another newspaper, discovering that this newspaper spent several pages posting the original texts of both *The Duet of Death* and *The Deceased Mother*.

Then, regarding the two articles, a book reviewer published separate evaluations: for the former, he offered high praise and considered it a rare masterpiece, while for the latter, he merely said it was not bad.

Although the whole text didn't mention a single extra word, under such a comparison, many readers would probably also think that *The Duet of Death* should have won the award.

Besides these two newspapers, book reviewers from other newspapers also published their views one after another, but the vast majority were standing on Wada Shin's side.

Akiwara Yuto frowned, discovering that this matter was indeed not good for him.

Currently, the "Furuhata Ninzaburo" series is still being broadcast, and the "April Youth" magazine as well as his own standalone volumes are selling well, putting him in a state of complete upward momentum.

But if the negative news that he manipulated the selection because of jealousy was exposed, it would inevitably make some people feel disgusted with him, and they might even choose to give up watching and buying his related works.

This would interrupt the upward momentum of the *Furuhata Ninzaburo* series.

Not only that, some competitors with conflicts of interest also had a very high possibility of kicking him while he was down! Adding fuel to the fire!

No, he must conduct crisis public relations as soon as possible; otherwise, the longer it drags on, the greater the loss will be.

Just when Akiwara Yuto was thinking about countermeasures, a phone rang. Akiwara Yuto picked up the phone and discovered it was Seto Tamae calling.

"Akiwara, have you seen the relevant reports?" Seto Tamae's voice came from the receiver.

"I've basically read most of it," Akiwara Yuto replied, "The editorial department is currently helping me handle some negative news."

He paused and added, "However, I still don't quite understand. His statement clearly doesn't hold water; after all, I'm not the only judge, and I'm also the one with the lowest qualifications. Will the public believe him?"

"Teacher Akiwara," Seto Tamae said helplessly: "Sometimes, the public is often stupid."

She continued to add, "The public is not a person in the literary circle after all and doesn't understand the situation inside. In their view, as a famous writer, you have the ability to manipulate the award."

She sighed, "Under the promotion of Wada Shin's faction, it is estimated that more and more newspapers will report news unfavorable to you."

Akiwara Yuto frowned and said, "Three people make a tiger, right?"

Japanese society has always had the habit of "reading the air," so the views of most people are often considered correct. By that time, even if some discerning people see that something is wrong, they can only be drowned in the consensus statement.

Seto Tamae added, "Teacher Akiwara, don't worry too much. During this time, Chairman Kawai, Teacher Miyagawa, and I will all come forward to help support you. After all, we have a significant responsibility for this matter."

"Then I'll trouble you all," Akiwara Yuto nodded and didn't refuse her proposal.

After all, Wada Shin taking him as a target this time inevitably included the meaning of killing the chicken to warn the monkey.

It is estimated that in the other party's eyes, he was just that "chicken," and the moderate faction represented by Chairman Kawai was the "monkey."

The two discussed countermeasures again and then hung up the phone.

After this, Akiwara Yuto called Asano and Satake over, instructing them to take a portion of money from the foundation to contact several large public relations companies, letting the latter start laying out on the internet, newspapers, and other media as soon as possible.

At the same time, he also turned down some recent public activities to avoid contact with the media.

After all, contact at this time would very likely lead to negative related reports.

After all, the media are grass on the wall, only following the public opinion.

He didn't think that when many media were singing his downfall now, there would be any media speaking justice for him.

Even if there were, besides business partner media, they would only be a very small minority.

Just on the third day after Akiwara Yuto arranged the tasks, an unexpected visitor came to his home.

"Master, sorry for the disturbance." Akiwara Yuto brought a souvenir and said to Akiwara Yuto.

Akiwara Yuto took the souvenir and then brought her to the living room to sit down, "Yuto, why are you here?"

Akiwara Yuto took the tea, looked at Akiwara Yuto, and said timidly, "Master, this time I was able to win the award, did you really not do anything?"

She had read the newspapers these two days and learned about the criticism of Akiwara Yuto by Wada Shin and other book reviewers, feeling very incredible in her heart.

Because regarding the matter of serving as a judge, Akiwara Yuto had never told her.

This made her feel whether Akiwara Yuto was just like what the newspaper said, manipulating the result of the award.

She knew she should be grateful to her master, but for some reason, she still felt a bit disappointed in her heart.

Akiwara Yuto held the tea and took a sip, then asked back, "Do you think I would favor you during the selection just because you are my disciple?"

Akiwara Yuto didn't know how to answer and lowered her head without saying a word.

Akiwara Yuto sighed. He knew that this disciple of his had been influenced by public opinion, so she thought too many messy things.

He was silent for a while and explained, "I cast my vote for you completely because I think your work is better, that's all. Besides, I didn't manipulate the award."

He originally thought he would have to spend more words, but to his surprise, Akiwara Yuto instead let out a long sigh of relief.

She stood up and bowed deeply, "Sorry, I misunderstood you, Master!"

Akiwara Yuto asked suspiciously, "Don't you need me to explain further?"

Akiwara Yuto shook her head, "No need. Since Master said no, then it must be no!"

Akiwara Yuto heard this from his disciple and showed a gratified expression.

Discovering his disciple's trust in him was the only thing worth being happy about these days.

Speaking of which, besides his disciple, how many people would believe him? ===== CHAPTER 219 =====