Chapter 228: The Silence of the

Although Akiwara Yuto's remarks on the program had limited impact on the Uemura Prize, they were a significant problem for the four commentators he had singled out by name.

These four commentators, including Takigawa Kanata and the others, fell into categories such as book critics, news commentators, and senior journalists; while their specific fields differed, they could all be considered "public intellectuals" without exception.

For them, credibility was the most important thing.

Akiwara Yuto's words had truly and effectively caused their credibility to drop significantly.

After all, Akiwara Yuto's words were very reasonable, and even the four men's supporters could not say much in their defense.

During the previous awards incident, the four had published articles early on, arguing that Akiwara Yuto had awarded the prize to someone else out of jealousy, and they believed Akiwara Yuto should come out and "apologize."

But the series of events exposed later proved that their judgment was indeed flawed.

This led many of Akiwara Yuto's loyal readers, as well as other members of the public, to send letters to the newspapers or companies associated with the four, demanding they step forward to apologize publicly and take responsibility for their words.

But the newspapers naturally could not agree to this demand, as doing so would be a slap in their own faces.

However, due to various concerns, the columns associated with Takigawa Kanata and the other three were basically suspended.

According to convention, this behavior was just a way to lie low until the storm passed.

Once everyone forgot, they could come back out and continue being their "public intellectuals."

But for all of this, Wada Shin himself could not accept it.

Takigawa Kanata and the other three were "old friends" with whom he had a relationship, and this time they had publicly criticized Akiwara Yuto at his suggestion.

If he didn't take the initiative to say something, he figured his other old friends wouldn't come out to speak for him in the future either.

Under this concern and his anger toward Akiwara Yuto, Wada Shin spent three days writing an article, criticizing Akiwara Yuto from his character to his works, preparing to retaliate.

But just as he was preparing to find connections to publish this article, Takigawa Kanata learned of the situation and took the initiative to call and dissuade him.

"Mr. Wada... please don't do this for now."

Wada Shin was puzzled, but still asked with patience: "Why?"

Takigawa Kanata explained: "The trend of public opinion is already on Akiwara Yuto's side now. Publishing this kind of thing won't salvage anything, and instead..."

"Instead of what?" Wada Shin pressed.

"It will make some of the public think we are shamelessly refusing to admit our mistakes," Takigawa Kanata said helplessly.

He had already planned to lie low, intending to come back out and continue writing once the public forgot about this matter. If Wada Shin published this article, it would undoubtedly make his previous efforts go to waste.

"Then just let that kid Akiwara Yuto spout nonsense on television?" Wada Shin said with dissatisfaction.

Takigawa Kanata sighed and said: "As it stands... that is the only way."

He felt he had truly had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to have gotten involved in this kind of mess.

When Wada Shin had originally entrusted him to write a PR piece to "teach" the newcomer a lesson, he had agreed without a second thought. After all, in his view, public opinion was already completely tilted in their favor, and Akiwara Yuto had no room to turn things around.

But what surprised him was the exposure of the "ghostwriting" scandal, followed by the revelation of the inappropriate intentions toward parents in Okuki Masakazu's work.

However, since things had already happened, his regrets were of no use.

Wada Shin clenched his fists, trying to say something more, but eventually loosened them.

He wasn't stupid; he had wanted to write an article to "counterattack" in a moment of hot-headed excitement, but thinking about it carefully, the article wouldn't achieve much after being published.

He was silent for a while, then said slowly: "I'm sorry about this time."

No matter what, Takigawa Kanata and the others were only being criticized because they helped him; if he didn't say something, he figured this friendship of many years wouldn't have much left.

Takigawa Kanata feigned a few words of "it's okay" and hung up the phone.

As he hung up, he sighed deeply several times again.

He would never get involved in this kind of crap again!

Akiwara Yuto was not very concerned about the "concession" of Wada Shin and the others.

When he was recording the program, what he cared about most was the "Uemura Prize," and as for scolding those "public intellectuals" who helped speak for Wada Shin, it was just a side matter.

After discovering no one responded, he soon forgot about the matter.

He had other things to deal with.

5: 0 PM, Tokyo, the Shimbashi area of Minato Ward.

Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko got out of the car, told their bodyguards to wait downstairs, and walked into a high-rise apartment building with over 30 floors.

Under Asano Aiko's guidance, he took the elevator to the 19th floor, turned right, entered a large door, and began looking at the "new home candidates" Asano had chosen for him.

After touring all the rooms, he found that this apartment was actually quite good.

It was about 100 tsubo in size, with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 entryways, and a private elevator.

The walls were basically floor-to-ceiling windows, and because of the "L" shaped layout, one could overlook the surrounding city scenery at 270 degrees and see the Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay in the distance.

As for the interior decoration, it was basically "Western-style," and all furniture and appliances were already provided.

Akiwara Yuto felt it was much better than he had expected, and Asano Aiko asked worriedly: "Is this apartment okay, Akiwara?"

Akiwara Yuto thought it was good, but still asked: "About how much does it cost?"

Asano Aiko answered cautiously: "About 500 million yen."

Hearing this number, Akiwara Yuto was not calm.

Up to now, although there were no specific statistics, his various stand-alone books had already sold nearly a million copies.

After receiving a large amount of royalties and avoiding taxes through a foundation, his assets on the books were only about 1 billion yen.

Such an apartment would actually cost him about half of his net worth.

Asano Aiko added: "The price of this apartment four years ago would have been nearly 1. billion yen; compared to before, it has already dropped by about 700 million yen."

Hearing this price, Akiwara Yuto subconsciously began to think.

The peak of Japanese real estate prices was in 1990, and then, due to the contraction of financial and fiscal policies, it began to fall all the way.

At its highest, Tokyo real estate and land prices fell by 70%, and it wasn't until later that they recovered to 50% of their peak.

Looking at it this way, buying this apartment now wasn't a loss, though he didn't expect much investment value either.

Asano Aiko said again: "Akiwara, if this place isn't suitable, we can consider another property not far away, though the property management might be a little worse."

Akiwara Yuto waved his hand and replied: "No, let's just take this one."

Isn't the purpose of making money to spend it? Since his funds were still relatively abundant, he would buy this apartment.

Moreover, what he valued most was the property management and the security provided; with death threat letters, he still had to pay more attention to his personal safety.

Money could never be fully earned, and he still had many works in his mind that he hadn't brought out yet.

Since that was the case, putting himself in a dangerous situation to save a little money was undoubtedly the most foolish decision.

After Akiwara made his decision, Asano Aiko immediately called the owner of the property and the agent in charge of the procedures.

Because it was a full payment, Asano took the initiative to demand that the 500 million yen price be reduced by another 30 million yen, and included 3 years of property management fees.

Regarding this price reduction, the original owner hesitated for a moment and then immediately agreed, because real estate prices were falling, and he also wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Just like that, in less than two hours, both parties signed the transaction contract, and the rest was to go to the relevant departments to handle the transfer procedures.

As for the moving work, a specialized company was responsible for it, and it would be finished within two days.

After everything was completed, Akiwara Yuto stood in front of the window, looking at the Tokyo Tower in the distance under the sky, feeling a bit emotional.

After all kinds of storms over the past year, he finally had his own house; it really wasn't easy!

However, the higher he stood, the more problems he had to consider; he still couldn't slack off!