Chapter 277: Akiwara Yuto's Lecture: Chapter 280: An Open Plot

Once Akiwara Yuto made his decision, he began to carefully prepare for the lecture.

After all, this lecture was not just about the so-called board member position; more importantly, he needed to win some "face" for himself in the traditional literary circle.

Otherwise, some traditional literary writers would call him "teacher" to his face, while cursing him behind his back as a "high school graduate who never went to college."

One must know that in his past life, he was a graduate student in the literature department of a top-tier university, and his grasp of literary theory far exceeded this era.

After some thought, he sat at his desk and began to draft a lecture script suitable for himself.

One week before the lecture, he decided to put aside other work and seriously write a lecture script to prove his literary theory.

……

While Akiwara Yuto was writing furiously.

Kanno Takuro was sitting in an izakaya with a friend, discussing Akiwara Yuto’s membership and lecture.

"Professor Kanno, regarding Akiwara Yuto’s position as an association board member, neither I nor Iwama and the others agree. After all, not only is his educational background too low, but he is also just a newcomer."

"So in my opinion, this position should be yours."

The man sitting next to him, wearing a loose black garment, said.

After finishing this sentence, he downed the shochu in his hand and poured a glass for each of them.

Kanno Takuro took the glass and said in a deep tone, "But my teacher thinks very highly of him, believing he can bring a different future to traditional literature."

As he spoke, his hand was clenched tightly.

To an outsider, one could even see the veins bulging on his hand.

He himself was very unwilling; the board member position of the Classical Literature Association rotated every five years, and logically, it should be his turn this year.

But he hadn't expected that his teacher, who served as the vice president, would actually recommend Akiwara Yuto during the association meeting.

And once Akiwara Yuto took this position, as a member of the Yoshikawa Yuichiro faction, he would, by convention, have to give up the chance to serve as a board member.

However, he was deeply unwilling!

The man in black shook his head and said, "Teacher Yoshikawa is getting on in years, isn't he? Perhaps his judgment is clouded; after all, in terms of traditional literature, Akiwara Yuto is just a newcomer."

Kanno Takuro let out a "humph," "But it is this newcomer who broke the slump in traditional literary sales this year."

"There are even many people saying he will bring about a revival of traditional literature!"

Hearing this, the man in black was speechless.

Although he looked down on Akiwara Yuto’s education and status, in terms of sales, Akiwara Yuto’s works were indeed second to none in the traditional literary world.

By now, he even had quite a few loyal supporters.

And many of these supporters believed that Akiwara Yuto could bring change to traditional literature.

The man in black thought for a moment, didn't continue on this topic, but shifted gears and asked, "Regarding Akiwara Yuto’s lecture next week, is there some hidden meaning behind it?"

"What do you think?" Kanno Takuro glanced at him.

The man in black frowned and pondered for a while, then said, "Three days after the lecture, the association will hold its routine meeting to decide on the next board members based on a vote."

"So, this lecture is also meant to give Akiwara Yuto a chance to show himself, right? After all, it seems many members still don't approve of his educational background?"

Kanno Takuro nodded, then shook his head.

"You’re only half right. The lecture is indeed a chance for Akiwara Yuto to show himself, but the real decision-making power still lies in the hands of those old writers who have the right to vote."

"They won't care about Akiwara Yuto’s education; they only care about whether Akiwara Yuto is sincere and committed to literature."

"So this lecture depends on how Akiwara Yuto chooses to handle it."

"Choose?" The man in black was somewhat confused.

Kanno Takuro laughed and said, "Did you, as I told you, specifically leak the rumors about the association’s internal discrimination against Akiwara Yuto’s education to Ms. Akiyama Emiko?"

The man in black nodded and said, "Yes, but I didn't understand why you wanted to specifically tell her."

The discrimination against Akiwara Yuto’s education did exist, but he still found it strange to tell Akiyama Emiko for no reason.

Kanno Takuro took a small sip of his drink.

"The more people lack something, the more they want to prove it, and there is clearly a connection between Akiwara Yuto and Akiyama Emiko."

"So, upon learning that someone in the association looks down on his education, won't Akiwara Yuto bring out some of his literary theories to prove himself?"

The man in black was puzzled, "Isn't he the type of gifted writer who never went to college? Can he even write any literary theory?"

Kanno Takuro gave him a look of disdain and said, "Did you not know he co-authored a paper with Toyama Shuichi from Kyoto University, which even discussed the writing technique of non-linear narrative?"

The man in black answered hesitantly, "Did he really write that?"

Academic padding or fraud is nothing new in the Japanese academic world, or indeed the academic world at large.

Therefore, he believed that Toyama Shuichi had "gifted" an article to Akiwara Yuto for the sake of building a friendship.

After all, there were rumors that Toyama Shuichi’s daughter had become Akiwara Yuto’s student.

Kanno Takuro shook his head and said, "Regardless of whether he wrote it, he can certainly find some theoretical knowledge to use in his lecture. And as long as he goes out of his way to show off these theories, he will undoubtedly achieve the goal I want."

"This?" The man in black didn't quite understand.

Discussing literary theory at a lecture didn't seem like anything new.

How could this achieve any goal?

Kanno Takuro continued to explain, "Didn't I say? To those old men in the association, they don't value literary theory. What they value more is the mindset of the person, Akiwara Yuto."

He paused, met the man in black’s gaze, and said earnestly, "You must know that this lecture is set at the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Letters, and the main audience is those students."

After hearing this, the man in black thought for a while, and a look of sudden realization appeared in his eyes.

"If Akiwara Yuto, in order to show off his knowledge, talks about high-minded literary theory, then he loses the educational significance of the lecture."

"At that point, he will undoubtedly be seen by the president and the others as too young and, consequently, too impetuous."

Kanno Takuro laughed, took another drink, and continued.

"This means that even with Teacher Yoshikawa’s recommendation, it is unlikely he will be chosen as a board member; he will only be able to become an ordinary member."

Everything he did was just to leak a little bit of news to Akiwara Yuto.

So let’s see if Akiwara Yuto will really go and show off some literary theory just to prove himself.

If he does that, he will undoubtedly forget the educational significance of this lecture, and even more so, forget to inspire those students to love literature more!

Akiwara Yuto, the choice is already before you; let’s see how you choose!