Chapter 218: Jealous of a Newcomer?

One week after the judging for the Modern Mystery Literature Newcomer Award concluded, Akiwara Yuto returned to his normal work life, including attending book signings and going to Fuji Television to discuss scripts and other miscellaneous matters.

But just as he had almost forgotten about the person named Wada Shin, he received a phone call from Ooshiro Rika.

"Akiwara-sensei, there is something I need to discuss with you."

Akiwara Yuto was stunned for a moment and asked, "Editor-in-Chief Ooshiro, what happened?"

"Have you seen the news? In an interview, Wada Shin-sensei claimed that because you were jealous of the newcomer Oonuki Masakazu's talent, you pushed the Modern Mystery Literature Award to give the prize to an inferior work."

Akiwara Yuto was somewhat confused; he had only gone to cast a vote, so how did he become jealous of a newcomer?

"Akiwara-sensei, please take a look at the newspapers."

Ooshiro Rika said a few brief words and then hung up the phone.

Akiwara Yuto was currently the face of "April Youth," and the attacks on him were simultaneously causing no small impact on the magazine's sales.

Therefore, she also had to handle a lot of related work on her end to cope with this public relations crisis.

Akiwara Yuto put down the receiver and called Satake Maki, telling her to immediately go and collect the relevant news from the market and bring it over. After receiving the task, the latter quickly went to a newsstand, bought a pile of newspapers, and brought them back.

"Akiwara, these are all the newspapers from the last two days; I have already circled the relevant news." Satake Maki placed several newspapers in front of Akiwara Yuto.

Akiwara Yuto took the newspapers and began to read.

First was the article in the first newspaper, which was written by Wada Shin himself; the title was "The Former Victim, Now the Oppressor," and it took up nearly half a page.

In this article, Wada Shin claimed he was invited to participate in the judging for the "Modern Mystery Literature Newcomer Award" and was distributed two manuscripts by the committee.

Among the two manuscripts, he discovered that the second article, titled "Death Duet," 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 prize to another one, which he found very unbelievable, so he believed there must be a huge dark secret behind this award ceremony.

Akiwara Yuto finished reading everything, his expression turning completely gloomy.

Although Wada Shin did not state the specific reason for the "dark secret," the article repeatedly mentioned a young writer who had been very popular recently, appearing to be very concerned, and also recounted some cases of writers being jealous.

After reading it, many readers would very likely think that this young writer was the mastermind behind the scenes.

In fact, anyone with a mind to check the list previously released by the committee could discover that the young writer was him, and the reason he did this was jealousy of the newcomer's talent.

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

Then, targeting the two articles, a book critic published evaluations for each: for the former, he praised it highly and considered it a rare masterpiece, while for the latter, he only said it was not bad.

Although the full text did not mention a single extra word, under such a comparison, many readers would likely also think that "Death Duet" should have been the one to win the award.

Besides these two newspapers, book critics from other newspapers also published their views, but the vast majority stood on Wada Shin's side.

Akiwara Yuto frowned, discovering that this matter was indeed unfavorable for him.

Currently, the "Furuhata Ninzaburo" series was still a hit, and the "April Youth" magazine as well as his own standalone books were selling well, in a state of complete upward momentum.

But if the negative news broke that he manipulated the selection due to jealousy, it would inevitably make some of the public feel disgusted with him, and they might even choose to stop 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 would also have a very high probability of kicking him while he was down! Fanning the flames from behind!

No, he had to conduct crisis management as soon as possible, otherwise the longer it dragged on, the greater the losses would be.

Just as Akiwara Yuto was thinking of countermeasures, a phone rang. Akiwara Yuto picked up the phone and discovered it was from Seto Tamae.

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

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

He paused, then added, "However, I still don't quite understand; his argument clearly doesn't hold water. After all, I wasn't the only judge, and I have the lowest seniority. Will the public believe him?"

"Akiwara-sensei," Seto Tamae said helplessly, "Sometimes, the public is often foolish."

She added, "After all, the public are not people in the literary world and do not understand the situation inside. In their eyes, as a famous writer, you do have the ability to manipulate the awards."

She sighed, "Driven by Wada Shin's faction, I estimate that more and more newspapers will report news unfavorable to you."

Akiwara Yuto frowned and said, "Three men make a tiger, is that it?"

Japanese society has always had the habit of "reading the air," so the views of the majority are often considered correct. By that time, even if a portion of clear-eyed people saw that something was wrong, they could only be drowned out in the chorus of unanimous opinion.

Seto Tamae said again, "Akiwara-sensei, don't worry too much. During this time, I, along with Chairman Kawai and Miyagawa-sensei, will come forward to help speak up for you. After all, we bear no small responsibility for this matter."

"Then I will trouble you all," Akiwara Yuto nodded, not refusing her proposal.

After all, Wada Shin using him as a target this time inevitably included the intention of killing the chicken to scare the monkey.

It was 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, then hung up the phone.

After this, Akiwara Yuto brought in Asano Aiko and Satake Maki, instructing them to take a portion of money from the foundation to contact several large public relations companies, letting the latter begin to lay out their strategy 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, making contact at this time would very likely lead to negative related reports.

After all, the media are fence-sitters and will only follow the public's opinion.

He did not believe that with so many media outlets badmouthing him now, there would be any media left to speak up for him.

Even if there were, besides business partner media, they would be very few.

On the third day after Akiwara Yuto arranged the tasks, an unexpected guest arrived at his home.

"Master, sorry to disturb you." Toyama Miho brought a gift and said to Akiwara Yuto.

Akiwara Yuto took the gift and then led her to the living room to sit down. "Toyama, why have you come?"

Toyama Miho took the tea, glanced at Akiwara Yuto, and said timidly, "Master, regarding my winning the award this time, did you really not do anything?"

She had read the newspapers these past two days and learned of the criticisms of Akiwara Yuto by Wada Shin and other book critics, and she found it unbelievable in her heart.

Because Akiwara Yuto had never spoken to her about serving as a judge.

This made her wonder if Akiwara Yuto had manipulated the results of the award just like the newspapers said.

She knew she should be grateful to her master, but somehow, she still felt a little disappointed in her heart.

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

Toyama Miho did not know how to answer and lowered her head, saying nothing.

Akiwara Yuto sighed. He knew that his disciple had been influenced by public opinion, and therefore had thought too much about all sorts of things.

He was silent for a while, then explained, "I voted for you entirely because I thought your work was better, nothing more. Furthermore, I did not manipulate the award."

He had thought he would need to spend more words, but to his surprise, Toyama Miho let out a long sigh of relief instead.

She stood up and bowed deeply, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you, Master!"

Akiwara Yuto asked in confusion, "Do you not need me to explain further?"

Toyama Miho shook her head: "No need. Since Master said you didn't, then I suppose you didn't!"

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

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

Come to think of it, besides his disciple, how many people would believe him?