Chapter 25: Inexplicable Guilt

The next day, Akiwara Yuto took out cleaning tools, preparing to clean the bedroom, living room, and kitchen from top to bottom.

This was not because he wanted to show anything in front of Igawa Akemi, but just that cleaning the environment was the respect due to the guests who came to the door.

As a single man, he was usually too lazy to organize his home: eating relied entirely on bento from convenience stores, laundry relied entirely on nearby coin-operated laundromats, and sundries were all thrown on the ground. Only the desk area was clean—after all, it was the place where he worked, so it was better to tidy it up.

However, it was better not to let outsiders see this scene.

He looked around, immediately took action: put all the dirty clothes into the dirty clothes basket in the toilet, packed all the garbage and put it in the corner, and then used a rag to wipe all the furniture, which made it look a bit like a place where a person lived.

After such a toss, 2 hours passed.

He had just slumped on the floor and rested for less than two minutes when he suddenly heard the sound of the doorbell ringing.

It seems Igawa Akemi arrived, but it seems a bit earlier than the agreed time.

He stood up, patted the clothes on his body slightly, tidied up his personal appearance, and then walked to the yard, preparing to open the door to welcome the other party—is this going to talk about the stage play script next?

Opening the door, he saw an unexpected person—his responsible editor Asano Aiko.

The other party was wearing a dark green knitted shirt, carrying a box of souvenirs, and politely greeted him.

Akiwara Yuto was a bit surprised, but it was different from what he thought, but he immediately reacted, opened the door to welcome her in, and smiled: "Asano, why are you here?"

Asano Aiko noticed the wrongness of his expression just now and asked suspiciously: "Because I couldn't get through to your phone recently, so I came directly to the door. Why, is it inconvenient?"

The box of pastries she was holding in her hand was printed with the two characters "Tamaya," which she specifically bought from the matcha rice cake shop on the Toyama shopping street near her home.

Akiwara Yuto took the gift handed by the other party, said a polite word, and let the other party come into the room to sit down.

He poured a cup of tea for the other party, sat opposite, smiled and said: "If it's not an urgent matter, you can send me an email; you don't have to come to the door specifically."

Asano Aiko's expression became even more suspicious; she suspected that Akiwara Yuto really had some "little secret," but she didn't intend to investigate it now; after all, she came to talk about business today.

She took a light sip of tea, then put down the cup, took out a stack of newspapers from her light gray handbag, handed them to Akiwara Yuto, and said excitedly: "Akiwara, there is good news; your article has been commented on by the "Tokyo Daily News" again."

She added: "This time it's different from last time; it's a full half page!"

Akiwara Yuto was confused instead, and for a moment, he was a bit unable to figure it out; did the editorial department shift the promotion resources to him?

You know, half a page costs quite a bit of money.

Doubts aside, he still took the newspaper handed by Asano Aiko and looked at it, finding that it was indeed as the other party said.

Nearly half of a newspaper page was basically a book review related to him; above was a big headline "Sofar: Let's Talk About the Relationship Between Parents and Children," and below was an article of nearly 4,000 words.

He continued to read, preparing to see what the other party wrote.

This article first cited a previous report, telling the news of a little boy who suffered from psychological illness due to domestic violence, and then led to the article "Sofar."

Between the lines of the article, the praise for "Sofar" was overflowing; it praised Akiwara Yuto for having a high sense of social responsibility and even called on everyone to buy "New Novel" to read.

Next to it was a sidebar, interviewing a psychological expert, who stated that the content in "Sofar" was not exaggerated at all and fully conformed to the psychological effect of children.

In short, judging from the existing newspaper content, this book reviewer named Yashiro Toshihiro showed great recognition of the novel's content and was also very looking forward to the future serialized content.

It is conceivable that this book review can completely play a good pulling effect on the sales of "New Novel."

Akiwara Yuto didn't expect that this article "Sofar" would be involved with such a little boy abandoned by his parents, and what was even more surprising was that this book reviewer named Yashiro Toshihiro actually thought that he wrote this article specifically because of this little boy's deeds.

This made him feel like he was eating human blood buns.

Asano Aiko on the side saw Akiwara Yuto's expression solemn and felt even more puzzled in her heart; it was clearly good news, why did he put on such an expression.

"Asano, how much is my manuscript fee for these two issues recently? Can you help me calculate it." Akiwara Yuto's expression was very serious, and he said to Asano Aiko with a straight face.

Asano Aiko was stunned after hearing this request, but she still calculated it in her heart, and it was only after a while that she responded: "The total manuscript fee for the 80 pages of manuscript paper for this issue's "Sofar" and the next issue's "Seven Rooms" should be about 560,000 yen."

She paused and asked puzzledly: "Do you think the manuscript fee is too low?"

"No, that's not the reason." Akiwara Yuto looked at Asano Aiko and said in a solemn tone: "Ms. Asano, please inform the finance department to donate these two manuscript fees anonymously to this child."

He thought clearly; even if he denied that his inspiration came from this little boy. But this book review has now been published, and it will inevitably lead many people to buy "New Novel," which made him a beneficiary.

But whether it was in the past life or now, he was unwilling to build his own interests on the pain of others, not to mention that the other party was just a minor who suffered psychological trauma.

Since the remaining manuscript fees before could barely maintain life, then he would advance a part of his future income; the other party might need this money more now.

Although this might be a drop in the bucket, he could only do this much now.

Asano Aiko saw Akiwara Yuto's expression serious, and even used honorifics, so she attached importance to it. She straightened her posture and promised: "Akiwara, I will handle this matter well, don't worry."

Akiwara Yuto nodded, expressing his gratitude.

After a while, he felt that the atmosphere in the living room was a bit heavy, feeling that he might have been too serious just now, so he smiled, took the box of pastries printed with the two characters "Tamaya" and opened it on the table, and said in a lighter tone: "It looks quite good; you really worked hard, Editor-sama."

Seeing the atmosphere return to normal, Asano Aiko also breathed a sigh of relief, rolled her eyes at Akiwara Yuto, pretended to "sigh" and said: "As long as Writer-sama can write manuscripts well."

The two joked with each other, and each picked up a piece of pastry to taste the taste. After all, the relationship had become familiar, so there was no need to be serious.

At this time, a doorbell sound came from downstairs, and Akiwara Yuto realized that Igawa Akemi had arrived.

Looking at the female editor sitting opposite, he didn't know why he felt a bit inexplicably guilty... ===== CHAPTER 26 =====