Chapter 226

In Akiwara Yuto's view, although he had used Hehe's help to win over a judge from the social school to help him get shortlisted for the Uemura Prize, it was still very difficult to go further and win the award.

Among the current judges, the radical faction within the honkaku school accounted for a significant proportion, and due to the conflict with He Tian Xin, they would definitely not cast their votes for him.

Besides that, the social school and the Biange Sect also had their own ideas.

Therefore, although the outside world kept hyping that he had a great chance of winning, Akiwara Yuto knew clearly in his heart that his possibility of winning was very small, basically equal to zero.

So rather than passively waiting for the newspaper to announce the results, it was better to take the initiative himself.

Holding this thought, he specifically accepted the invitation from Dongjingwan Television.

The program began, and as the host, Mizuta Haruaki quickly started the warm-up, greeting the audience sweetly, and then exchanging pleasantries with Akiwara Yuto.

Akiwara Yuto's attitude was also very upright; after the program started, he smiled and thanked the audience for their support of all his works, thanked everyone for purchasing his standalone volumes, and for watching the "Furuhata Ninzaburo" series.

Mizuta Haruaki nodded with a smile, then asked routine questions according to custom, and Akiwara Yuto followed her lead, answering about his life experiences and his creative feelings since his debut.

After the routine questions were finished, Mizuta Haruaki quickly asked about today's topic.

"Mr. Akiwara, do you have anything you would like to say regarding this Uemura Prize?"

Akiwara Yuto held the microphone and said, "I am very grateful for the support of Professor Shuangzhu for my nomination for the Uemura Prize this time."

Professor Shuangzhu was the social school author among the judges for this Uemura Prize, and he was able to get the nomination this time through the other party's help.

Actually, the person he was most grateful to was Hehe, but it was not appropriate to say so on a television program.

Mizuta Haruaki was a bit confused.

According to convention, Akiwara Yuto should express gratitude to the judging committee rather than just thanking individual judges, otherwise, it might cause dissatisfaction among other judges.

She smiled and probed further, "Are there any others you would like to thank?"

Akiwara Yuto nodded, "I thank all the friends and readers who support me."

Mizuta Haruaki felt helpless and could only skip this topic, asking again, "Then, how much confidence do you have in this Uemura Prize?"

This question was actually a bit taboo, but it was indeed the question the audience cared about most.

And the program team had already communicated with Akiwara Yuto.

"To tell the truth, I don't have any confidence at all," Akiwara Yuto shook his head.

"That shouldn't be the case, right?" Mizuta Haruaki was surprised.

She discovered that Akiwara Yuto's answer had jumped out of her control again; generally speaking, as a candidate, one only needed to express some humility.

But for Akiwara Yuto to say he had no confidence at all was a bit too much.

Akiwara Yuto laughed and said, "Ms. Mizuta, I have great confidence in my works, but I have no confidence in some situations outside of the works."

Mizuta Haruaki was stunned.

Situations outside of the works—isn't that the judging committee? This is a naked insinuation!

The Uemura Prize judging committee is organized by the Literary Promotion Society and has the official endorsement of the Ministry of Education, making it the highest award in Nihon literature.

If you do this, don't you want to win the award anymore!

Akiwara Yuto naturally knew the consequences of saying these words; he had already clarified things with Hehe and others before coming.

The Uemura Prize judging committee, although it sounds very impressive, is actually a loose sand internally, with everyone having their own agendas.

Most importantly, this judging committee currently represents the interests of the radical honkaku faction!

Even if he didn't criticize them publicly, there were many people inside who were dissatisfied with him!

Since he had no hope of winning the award, it was better to take advantage of this nomination to launch an "attack" on them!

Mizuta Haruaki was just about to gloss over it, but she didn't expect Akiwara Yuto to continue.

"Among the 7 judges on the current committee, 3 are honkaku authors, 1 is a new honkaku author, while the social school, Biange Sect, and court school each have 1; the numbers are vastly different."

"So, the Uemura Prize in recent years has mostly been awarded to honkaku and new honkaku writers, which I think is very unreasonable!"

In Akiwara Yuto's view, the core philosophies of new honkaku and the honkaku school are basically the same, merely changing the outer shell. If new honkaku is listed separately as a school, it is actually unfair to other schools.

Mizuta Haruaki couldn't help but look at Akiwara Yuto twice, finding the expression on his face very firm, looking without a trace of hesitation.

She hesitated for a moment, then cooperated and asked, "Then what is your proposal?"

Akiwara Yuto smiled, "As a candidate, my proposal might not be very appropriate. But I believe that the selection of judges for the committee should undergo a certain degree of reform."

The current method of selecting judges is decided according to previous conventions, but this undoubtedly only benefits He Tian Xin and the radical honkaku faction behind him.

Only by carrying out reforms can it better align with the philosophies of Hehe and himself, which is to treat all works equally and give truly outstanding works a chance to stand out.

At this point, Mizuta Haruaki also heard it—that Akiwara Yuto wasn't saying this out of a fit of pique.

It was likely related to the struggle between factions, or the battle between new and old writers.

Although she wanted to gain Akiwara Yuto's favor, she didn't dare let him continue targeting this topic, so she could only guide it to some other topics, letting time quickly transition to the live interaction segment.

This segment was where the director connected hotline calls to the scene, allowing the audience to have a chance to talk directly with Akiwara Yuto.

For the calls that came in, Akiwara Yuto was very patient, listening carefully and answering in detail.

As for factional disputes and ideological conflicts, the interested audience was only a minority; the questions asked were more related to the works, such as the follow-up development of the "Furuhata" series, the design of Ishigami in "Suspect X," what would be written later, and so on.

But Akiwara Yuto was also prepared, because his previous words were mainly for the media and other specific people to see; after receiving his message, they would likely take action very quickly.

In this live interaction part, Mizuta Haruaki's duty was mainly to help Akiwara Yuto smooth things over.

But she found that she couldn't interject at all regarding some plot-related questions; after all, she wasn't a loyal reader of Akiwara Yuto, having watched at most two episodes of the TV series.

However, she found that Akiwara Yuto was very skilled at conversation, able to answer many questions easily, more than capable of handling them, and didn't need her at all.

At this moment, a viewer suddenly called in and asked a question.

"Mr. Akiwara, during the Modern Detective Literature Prize previously, some critics thought you were jealous of newcomers and didn't award the prize to Dagu Zhenghe. What is your view on this?"

Mizuta Haruaki finally found a topic she could interject in, so she prepared to smooth things over, but didn't expect Akiwara Yuto to answer directly.

"Just a bunch of incompetent people who hold positions without doing any work!"

Pausing, he added, "For example, these four: Takigawa Zouduo, Urano Yuta, Nagata Haruo, and Inaba Youki."

During the Modern Detective Literature Prize previously, he was considered by some to be "jealous of newcomers," and these four critics were the first to jump out and bark the loudest.

And according to inaccurate investigations, these people all had some connection with He Tian Xin to a greater or lesser extent.

After public opinion reversed, these people suddenly fell silent, as if the matter had never happened.

But Akiwara Yuto had long ago asked Satake to write their names in a notebook, and he was planning to find an opportunity to take revenge properly!

Realizing that the opportunity should not be missed, Akiwara Yuto said, "Takigawa Zouduo thought I manipulated the results of the award and believed Dagu Zhenghe's work had profound social significance, but facts have proven that his remarks were nothing but dog shit."

"Urano Yuta is much the same, and even thought I had exhausted my talent. But as a book reviewer who started as a writer, he has never published a book with sales over 100,000 copies in his life. I really don't know what he has the confidence to say?"

"As for Nagata Haruo..."

Mizuta Haruaki was dumbfounded; she intended to stop him, but was stopped by the director's gesture.

This kind of interview program needed such shocking words! Didn't you see the ratings were skyrocketing!

Besides, the one offending people was Akiwara Yuto, what did that have to do with their Dongjingwan Television.

Dongjingwan Television wasn't worried, and Akiwara Yuto cared even less.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; although his personality was gentle, he wasn't the type to just accept insults.

Now that the sales of "April Youth" had reached the top, he had already achieved his goal, and he didn't plan to hold back anymore.

So he talked for about 10 minutes, fiercely criticizing these 4 critics—and even used the dirt Satake helped collect to strip the four of them bare inside and out!

Since the other party said those things back then, it was only natural for him to take revenge!

Otherwise, everyone would think he was easy to bully!