Chapter 306: A New Pinnacle of the Social School

Because it had to be published before the submission deadline for the jury selection, Akiwara Yuto’s *All She Was Worth* was rushed to market after proofreading.

Even the cover used a standard template to save time.

The initial print run was also unusually small at only 70,000 copies, not matching the 100,000 copies of his previous mystery works.

However, the many bookstore managers in Tokyo who cooperate with Akiwara Yuto were full of joy at his return to mystery writing, even though the traditional literary works he wrote previously had also sold well.

But in terms of audience, traditional literature is still far inferior to mystery.

Therefore, at the preview event, 40,000 of these 70,000 copies were quickly cleared out, which is equivalent to each bookstore selling about 400 copies from their stock.

As for the remaining 30,000 copies, half were handed over to each of the two distributors, Tokyo Sales and Neon Sales.

But this did not mean that the attitude of these two distribution giants had changed.

In fact, when Tsutaya Bookstore was settling the accounts, it unsurprisingly still faced difficulties from the other side, which delayed the payment time.

Generally speaking, book trading companies like distributors usually need to possess financial functions.

When they order books from a publisher, they first pay a sum as an advance, then sell the ordered books to bookstores and collect all the payments.

Only after the payments are collected and a certain amount of time has passed will they remit the remaining funds back to the publisher.

Akiwara Yuto did not take these "disgusting" tactics to heart.

After all, after *Memories of Murder* was released, the funds collected from the box office greatly supplemented the amount in the account, so Tsutaya Bookstore Publishing was currently not short of money.

And after half a year, when his plan was truly implemented, he would kick these two distributors to the curb and completely realize direct connection with bookstores nationwide.

However, despite this interlude, the 70,000 copies of the first edition of *All She Was Worth* were successfully launched and entered the display tables of various bookstores.

……

Yokohama, Hodogaya Ward, Akari Bookstore.

Uesugi Sonoko, as usual, began to look for the mystery works she liked to read.

Passing by the literary books section, she lowered her body and began to look through them step by step.

"Sigh, why is it still this same batch I've already seen? Are there no new mysteries?"

As a student of the Literature Force, Uesugi Sonoko had her own requirements for mystery works.

She required that works must be based on a certain degree of literary quality, highlight brilliant tricks, and ensure the story design was not cliché.

But to be honest, there were fewer and fewer books on the market that could satisfy her taste.

Among orthodox mystery works, traditional orthodox ones were basically rigid locked-room murders and detective-solving tropes.

Although they highlighted tricks, they inevitably had the suspicion of repetition.

Some works even just changed the time and place and then used similar methods to fool readers.

Although New Orthodox had new ideas, it hadn't developed for many years, and works with earth-shattering murder methods like Akiwara Yuto’s *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* were still very few.

Among social school works, except for the works of a few excellent writers, most other works were too dismissive of tricks, making people feel it was a bit of an insult to their intelligence.

Uesugi Sonoko frowned, browsed the display table in a hurry, and then couldn't help but sigh.

When she first became addicted to mystery, she read everyone's mysteries with relish and could even immerse herself in them.

But as her reading experience grew, she could no longer read ordinary books.

Even when reading some works, she could tell who the murderer was just by looking at the beginning.

And in the past two years, due to the rise of Akiwara Yuto, her taste for mystery works had become even more picky.

Among social school works, *The Devotion of Suspect X* stood head and shoulders above the rest; among New Orthodox works, *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders* was an inseparable masterpiece.

Besides that, in the courtroom and bizarre schools, Akiwara Yuto also had good representative works.

It had to be said, after finishing a series of Akiwara Yuto’s works, whenever she looked at other people's works, she would subconsciously compare them and then feel they were somewhat dull.

Sigh, why did Mr. Akiwara go to write traditional literature? Couldn't he continue to write mystery?

Uesugi Sonoko thought helplessly.

She glanced at the display table again and prepared to leave.

But just then, a bookstore clerk pushed a cart over and placed a stack of books in the center of the display table.

Seeing the clerk's actions, Uesugi Sonoko stopped and felt curious.

The center position of the literary section display table was usually reserved for the most popular and hot books, but she hadn't heard of any popular writer releasing a new work recently?

After the clerk finished placing the books and left, she stepped forward to look, and then saw the cover of the books.

On the cover, the text "*All She Was Worth*, by Akiwara Yuto" was written.

Seeing the author's name, Uesugi Sonoko showed a surprised expression.

Akiwara Yuto actually released a new book; this made her very happy!

And according to the copy on the book band, this book was also a mystery!

She did not hesitate, immediately picked up a book, hurried to the front desk to pay, and after paying 2000 yen, she walked out of the bookstore with the book, found a nearby coffee shop, and sat down.

To be honest, she couldn't wait to see what this book was about!

Tearing open the packaging, she lowered her head and began to read.

Time passed bit by bit, and soon 2 and a half hours had passed.

But during this time, her posture was like a freeze-frame; except for the almost instinctive page-turning, she basically didn't notice anything happening in the outside world, and even the coffee she ordered had cooled down.

"Crash!"

A cup in the hand of a coffee shop clerk accidentally fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Uesugi Sonoko was startled, only then realizing that her arms and torso were numb from reading.

But she couldn't care about her own feelings, as she was genuinely very excited from the bottom of her heart.

"This work by Mr. Akiwara is in no way inferior to *The Devotion of Suspect X* that he wrote before!"

In her view, *The Devotion of Suspect X* was already the pinnacle of social school mystery works, especially the portrayal of human nature, which was brilliantly astonishing.

But this *All She Was Worth* by Akiwara Yuto introduced the background of the current era on top of the factors of human nature!

It depicted the helplessness and bitterness of people in this era to the fullest!

Thinking of this, she was very excited and couldn't wait to go online to post and recommend this book to other book friends!

Without a doubt, this work is the new pinnacle of social school mystery!