Chapter 225: Shortlisted for the Uemura Prize

Since he now knew about the death threat letter, Akiwara Yuto naturally could not sit and wait for death, and he quickly made arrangements.

He first found five relatively famous detective agencies, paid a deposit to each, and requested that they conduct investigations into Onuki Masakazu, Takei Kohei, and others respectively.

Although Onuki Masakazu was the most suspicious, the possibility of others could not be completely ruled out.

Akiwara Yuto also promised these detective agencies that he would allocate an additional 20 million yen to the detective who could identify the specific person who sent the letter. He believed that with this money, these detective agencies would be more proactive.

Although this sum of money was not small, compared to his current continuous monthly royalty income, it could only be considered a drop in the bucket.

In addition, Akiwara Yuto also specifically purchased a thin stab-proof vest through Asano Aiko's uncle at the Metropolitan Police Department to wear under his shirt.

He also asked Satake Maki to look for high-end apartments with large properties.

The "detached house" he currently lived in was mainly of wooden structure. If the murderer were to splash gasoline around and set it on fire, he estimated that a large fire could ignite the entire house very quickly.

However, it was indeed time for him to buy a house—the current detached house was particularly inconvenient every time he went up and down the stairs.

Besides these measures, Akiwara Yuto also contacted a professional bodyguard company and found one male and one female bodyguard to accompany him.

After arranging all this, another week passed.

But it was at this time that Akiwara Yuto learned of a piece of news that greatly excited him—several major newspapers announced the shortlist for the Uemura Prize, and "The Devotion of Suspect X" was on the list.

After this news broke, the public paid even more attention to Akiwara Yuto.

Because compared to other nominees, Akiwara Yuto was not only the youngest but also had the least experience.

In the data analysis of the five candidates, Akiwara Yuto's debut time was marked as less than a year, far lower than the 20-year average of the other candidates.

This contrast further solidified Akiwara Yuto's status as a "genius writer."

In Japanese society, which has a "cult of genius" and "cult of the strong," a large number of media outlets began to report on Akiwara Yuto, and some newspapers even exaggeratedly claimed that he was a "genius writer encountered once in 200 years!"

However, afterwards, Akiwara Yuto discovered that the newspaper that published this report had many business interests with Kejiaoguan, and belonged to the "one of our own" category.

Regardless, under the massive exposure, the sales of his stand-alone books, which had already been somewhat declining, began to skyrocket again.

As the nominated work, "The Devotion of Suspect X" went without saying; it was snapped up in less than a week and went directly back to the market with a reprint.

As for other stand-alone books like "Death of a Mystery Writer" and "The Invisible Guest," their sales also surged by 50 percent.

Seeing the stand-alone books selling well, Anjiu Bookstore's president, Anjiu Jingang, smiled until his face blossomed.

Besides Anjiu Bookstore, Kejiaoguan and Fuji TV also jumped on this express train, increasing their publicity by leveraging the news of the Uemura Prize nomination, and achieved satisfactory results.

The sales of "April Youth" rose by 15%, breaking through from 300, 00 copies to nearly 350, 00 copies, surpassing "Tokyo Youth" to become the number one literary journal in the industry! This allowed Akiwara Yuto to achieve his original goal!

The viewership rating of "Furuhata Ninzaburo" surged from 37% to 40%, further consolidating its dominant position in this time slot! It made many drama critics exclaim!

After confirming these good results, senior executives from both Kejiaoguan and Fuji TV sent messages, hoping to build a rapport with Akiwara Yuto.

But after attending a few cocktail parties, Akiwara Yuto politely declined subsequent ones...

Spending time drinking with those pot-bellied executives was a waste of time. He did not want to tie himself completely to these two big ships; if others could offer higher benefits, he would still make his own choices.

April 15th, Tokyo TV.

While attending the celebration party for the "Furuhata Ninzaburo" crew, Akiwara Yuto met with the crew members briefly, then left halfway through and took a private car to Tokyo TV.

He came this time because he had received a program invitation from this TV station.

When he had a dispute with Mantanshe, Tokyo TV had clearly taken money from Mantanshe and prepared to arrange a program to frame him. But due to Asano Aiko's "defection," this program instead became a joke.

However, Akiwara Yuto did not hold a grudge against this TV station. After all, when the program accident happened, the other party could have cut the signal immediately, but because of the ratings, they dragged it on for half an hour before ending the program.

This meant that Tokyo TV was just a neutral party taking money to do a job.

So there was no need for him to think too much. After all, this society was mixed with black and white. Since that was the case, it was better to have more friends and fewer enemies.

The program he was going to participate in was around 8 o'clock, which could be considered prime time, and when he arrived, there was still half an hour before the program officially started.

Tokyo TV attached great importance to Akiwara Yuto's arrival and even sent the female host, program director, floor director, and producer to the entrance to welcome him.

Generally speaking, welcoming someone in the hallway would have fulfilled the obligation of hospitality.

But Akiwara Yuto was a writer after all, and his status in Japanese society was very high. In addition, he was a "genius writer" nominated for the Uemura Prize—if he happened to win the Uemura Prize, he would undoubtedly be admired by even more people.

Under such circumstances, the TV station naturally dared not be negligent; otherwise, if Akiwara Yuto felt their attitude was poor and said something to the outside world, it would undoubtedly create a very bad impression.

In the end, several members of the program team waited at the entrance of the TV station early. When Akiwara Yuto got out of the car, they bowed in unison and said, "Akiwara-sensei, thank you for your hard work!"

Akiwara Yuto had met quite a few high-level figures by now, so he wasn't particularly surprised, but he still politely bowed in return and said, "Thank you all for your hard work."

Maintaining a humble attitude was still very important. Anyway, having a better attitude didn't cost a penny and could win the respect of others.

Upon seeing Akiwara Yuto's attitude, the few people on the scene breathed a sigh of relief; after all, the attitudes of many writers were very difficult to communicate with.

Seeing that Akiwara Yuto was so polite, there shouldn't be any major problems.

"It is a great honor for Akiwara-sensei to come to participate in the program," Mizuta Haruna, who was the female host, handed over her business card, "Please treat me well in the future."

When she said this, her eyes were smiling, and her attitude was very intimate.

In her view, Akiwara Yuto was young and had already been shortlisted for the "Uemura Prize," and he also had several best-selling works, so his net worth must be considerable.

Such a person was definitely a "golden son-in-law."

And the host job she was currently doing was, after all, a job that relied on youth; she would have to move behind the scenes when she got older. Since that was the case, it was better to hold onto this golden thigh and become a writer's wife.

Akiwara Yuto did not know the other party's intentions; he just smiled and took the business card, then exchanged business cards with the producer, director, and floor director, completed the Japanese-style meeting process, and then followed them with polite pleasantries to the program recording site.

Akiwara Yuto looked around curiously and found that the recording site had two rows of sofas, which could facilitate conversation between the host and the guest.

And surrounding the sofas was a pile of equipment and corresponding staff.

The program director and floor director went to the side to discuss work, while Mizuta Haruna walked up to "entertain" Akiwara Yuto.

For the title of writer's wife, she was prepared to take the initiative and be a "carnivorous woman," otherwise, if she missed this opportunity, she estimated she would regret it until her intestines turned green.

"Akiwara-sensei, please sit down and have some tea."

Mizuta Haruna invited Akiwara Yuto to sit on the sofa and handed him a cup of tea. Akiwara Yuto followed the flow, sat down, took the tea, and said "thank you."

Mizuta Haruna sat opposite him, briefly tested the microphone, and after finding no problems, began to chat—this belonged to the scope of work, but she could use this work scope to pave the way for her own plans.

As a host, she quickly figured out that Akiwara Yuto had an easygoing personality, and then they started chatting.

After chatting for a while, she pretended to be curious and asked, "Akiwara-sensei, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Not yet," Akiwara Yuto said, "Wait, the program won't ask these things, right?"

"Of course not, it's just my personal curiosity," Mizuta Haruna smiled, "A talented writer like you is actually still single."

She was actually deliberately flattering Akiwara Yuto. In her view, there was no man who didn't like being praised by women, especially a beautiful woman like her.

But regarding the fact that Akiwara Yuto was still single, she remained skeptical; she suspected whether he was saying this deliberately in front of her.

"I just haven't met the right person yet," Akiwara Yuto replied.

"Then..." Mizuta Haruna deliberately leaned in a little closer, letting her perfume be smelled by Akiwara Yuto, "What kind of woman do you like?"

"Probably a beautiful woman like you," Akiwara Yuto said with a smile.

He was indeed not lying; Mizuta Haruna, as a host, naturally had a figure and face that were one in a hundred, otherwise, she wouldn't be able to attract male viewers at all.

However, although he liked beautiful women, he didn't just look at the face; otherwise, he would have gone to pursue Asano Aiko long ago.

A female host like Mizuta Haruna looked like she was very good at "flirting," and he didn't know how many boyfriends she had changed; he had no interest in being the next one.

But he still deliberately flattered the other party; after all, the two of them still had a live interview later, and he would need her help then.

Mizuta Haruna was happy in her heart, thinking that Akiwara Yuto was hinting at something, so she said, "Actually, I don't have a boyfriend either..."

Just as she wanted to say that she liked talented men, there was very little time left before the program started.

The floor director immediately reminded the two loudly, interrupting what Mizuta Haruna wanted to say next.

Hearing the prompt, Mizuta Haruna's attitude changed immediately, and she prepared to record the program properly.

In her view, the "golden son-in-law" opposite had already expressed his attitude, so they could just talk carefully after the program ended; perhaps they could find a bar to chat more.

Akiwara Yuto also showed a "smile" and entered the state of recording the program.

He had no interest in female hosts or anything like that; he had a very important purpose for coming to this program today!