Chapter 226: A Bunch of Incompetent People!

In Akiwara Yuto's view, although he had secured a nomination for the Uemura Prize through the help of Kawai Shinta in lobbying a judge from the Social School, it was still very difficult to actually win the award.

Among the current judges, the radical faction of the Orthodox School held a significant proportion, and due to his conflict with Wada Shin, they would certainly not cast their votes for him.

Besides that, the Social School and the Heterodox School also had their own agendas.

Therefore, although the outside world kept hyping up his high chances of winning, Akiwara Yuto knew clearly in his heart that the possibility of him winning was very slim, 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 Tokyo TV.

The program began, and as the host, Mizuta Harumi quickly started the warm-up, greeted the audience sweetly, and then exchanged pleasantries with Akiwara Yuto.

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

Mizuta Harumi nodded with a smile and then asked routine questions according to standard practice, 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 Harumi quickly asked about today's topic.

"Akiwara-sensei, do you have anything you would like to say regarding this year's Uemura Prize?"

Akiwara Yuto held the microphone and said, "I am very grateful to Endo Taiki-sensei for his support in allowing me to receive a nomination for the Uemura Prize this time."

Endo Taiki was the Social School author among the Uemura Prize judges, and his ability to receive a nomination this time was indeed through the other party's help.

In truth, the person he was most grateful to was Kawai Shinta, but it was not appropriate to say so on a television program.

Mizuta Harumi was somewhat puzzled.

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

She smiled and tried to guide him, "Are there any others you would like to thank?"

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

Mizuta Harumi felt helpless and had to skip this topic, asking instead, "Then, how much confidence do you have for this year's Uemura Prize?"

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

Moreover, the production team had already communicated this with Akiwara Yuto.

"To be honest, I don't have any confidence at all." Akiwara Yuto shook his head.

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

She realized 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 much.

Akiwara Yuto laughed and said, "Mizuta-san, I have a lot of confidence in my work, but I have no confidence in the circumstances outside of the work."

Mizuta Harumi was stunned.

Circumstances outside the work—wasn't that the judging committee? This was a naked insinuation!

The Uemura Prize judging committee was organized by the Literature Promotion Society and had the official endorsement of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture; it was the highest award in Japanese literature.

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

Akiwara Yuto was naturally aware of the consequences of saying these words; he had already clarified things with Kawai Shinta and others before coming.

The Uemura Prize judging committee might sound very impressive, but internally it was actually a loose sand, with everyone having their own hidden agendas.

Most importantly, this committee currently represented the interests of the radical Orthodox School!

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, it was better to use the momentum of the nomination to launch an attack on them!

Mizuta Harumi 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 Orthodox School authors, 1 is a New Orthodox author, while the Social School, Heterodox School, and Courtroom School each have 1; the numbers are vastly disproportionate."

"Therefore, the Uemura Prize in recent years has mostly been awarded to Orthodox and New Orthodox writers, and I think this is very unreasonable!"

In Akiwara Yuto's view, the core concepts of the New Orthodox and Orthodox schools were basically the same, merely wearing a different shell. If the New Orthodox were listed as a separate faction, it was actually unfair to other factions.

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

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

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

The current method of selecting judges was decided according to previous conventions, but this undoubtedly only benefited Wada Shin and the radical Orthodox faction behind him.

Only by carrying out reforms could it better align with the philosophy of Kawai Shinta and himself—that is, to treat all works equally and allow truly excellent works a chance to stand out.

At this point, Mizuta Harumi also heard it—Akiwara Yuto was not 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 on this topic, so she could only guide the conversation to other topics, letting time pass quickly to the live interaction segment.

This segment involved the director connecting hotline calls to the studio, allowing the audience to have a chance to speak directly with Akiwara Yuto.

Regarding the incoming calls, Akiwara Yuto was very patient, listening carefully and answering in detail.

As for factional disputes and ideological arguments, only a small number of viewers were interested; the questions asked were more related to his works, such as the future development of the *Furuhata* series, the design of Ishigami in *The Devotion of Suspect X*, and what he would write next.

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

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

But she found that she couldn't interject at all on questions related to the plot; after all, she wasn't a loyal reader of Akiwara Yuto, having watched at most two episodes of the television drama.

However, she found that Akiwara Yuto was very skilled at conversation, able to answer many questions with ease, handling them more than adequately, and having no need for her at all.

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

"Akiwara-sensei, during the Modern Mystery Literature Prize, some critics believed you were jealous of newcomers and didn't award the prize to Onuki Masakazu. What is your take on that?"

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

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

After a pause, he added, "For example, those four: Takigawa Kanata, Urano Yuta, Nagata Haruo, and Inaba Yokitaka."

During the previous Modern Mystery Literature Prize, he was considered by some to be "jealous of newcomers," and these four critics were the first to jump out and the loudest in their accusations.

Moreover, according to inaccurate investigations, these people all had some connection to Wada Shin to a greater or lesser extent.

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

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

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

"Urano Yuta is much the same, even thinking that I had exhausted my talent. But as a book critic who started as a writer himself, he has never published a book with sales exceeding 100, 00 copies in his life. I really don't know what he has to be so confident about?"

"As for Nagata Haruo..."

Mizuta Harumi was dumbfounded; she had intended to stop him, but was stopped by the director with a gesture.

This kind of interview program needed such shocking remarks! Didn't they see that the ratings were skyrocketing!

Besides, the one offending people was Akiwara Yuto, and what did that have to do with their Tokyo TV.

Tokyo TV wasn't worried, and Akiwara Yuto cared even less.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; although he had a gentle personality, he wasn't the type to just take things lying down.

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

So he spent nearly 10 minutes criticizing these 4 critics severely—and even used the dirt Satake helped collect to expose all four of them inside and out!

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

Otherwise, everyone would think he was easy to bully!