Chapter 317: Uemura Prize Result

Sell *New*?

Akiwara Yuto looked at Seto Tamae with some surprise, and the latter explained unhurriedly.

"Akiwara, you also know that Mantanshe already has a *Tokyo Youth*, and it doesn't make sense to have another *New* with average sales."

"If you don't take it over, Mantanshe is prepared to announce its suspension, or sell it to some medium publishers."

Hearing this news, Akiwara Yuto subconsciously looked at her and asked: "Teacher Seto, are you speaking on behalf of Mantanshe's position today?"

Seto Tamae smiled faintly and didn't respond, but said: "This point is not important, right? The main thing is, are you interested?"

Akiwara Yuto pondered for a while and found that what she said was indeed reasonable.

Regardless of how Mantanshe plans, they are determined to transfer the operating rights of the magazine *New*.

Although this magazine has declined to a monthly magazine, there are still 20,000 readers buying it every month, so there are more than 200,000 sales a year.

But this sales volume, compared with *April Youth*, can only be considered a fraction, but looking at it as a monthly magazine, it can barely be considered okay.

But having said that, if he acquired this magazine, wouldn't he have to play against himself again?

You know, the *Furuhata Ninzaburo* series is still being serialized on *April Youth* under his name as the guiding author.

And because of the influence of the TV series, this work has always been at the top of the reader survey.

"Akiwara, have you thought about it?"

Seto Tamae continued to ask, and Akiwara Yuto shook his head and replied: "Sorry, let me think about it again."

"Okay, anyway, contact me as soon as you make a plan."

Seto Tamae nodded and said "See you tomorrow" and left.

She was actually entrusted by an acquaintance of Mantanshe to specifically find Akiwara Yuto.

Looking at her departing back, Akiwara Yuto vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Why would the sale of *New* specifically come to him?

He thought for a while and soon put this matter aside, ate something and continued to talk to others.

For him, the most important thing now is tomorrow's Uemura Prize.

The next evening at 7 o'clock, in a traditional auditorium in Kyoto, the Uemura Prize award ceremony was held.

Besides the batch of people at yesterday's gathering, many reporters with long guns and short cannons also came to the scene.

After they arrived at the scene, they aimed their equipment at the candidates sitting in the front desk to take pictures, among which Akiwara Yuto was the focus of their photography.

Compared with him, the other five candidates with shortlisted works seemed to have become the foil for posing, and could only sit on the side awkwardly.

"Teacher Akiwara, how do you view this award?"

"Teacher Akiwara, what do you think are your chances of winning?"

For a time, reporters kept trying to bypass the committee staff maintaining order and extend the microphone.

Seeing this scene, the staff maintaining order were also helpless. After all, this situation had never happened before the Uemura Prize selection.

Usually, there is a special reporter Q&A session after the award selection.

Akiwara Yuto saw this and could only walk up, bow slightly and say politely: "Please wait for the news from the judging committee, reporter friends."

Before the award results came out, he didn't intend to say any nonsense.

If he was rumored by this group of reporters that he had already won the Uemura Prize, it would undoubtedly cause a lot of trouble.

Hearing Akiwara Yuto's "official routine" method, two of the reporters were not satisfied and tried to come forward to ask.

However, 4 more staff members came soon, and they were quickly invited out.

Seeing this, other reporters became honest and just took pictures quietly.

Akiwara Yuto was also able to sit down and show a polite smile to the camera.

After 10 minutes, because the award ceremony was about to begin, other guests entered the venue one after another, and this group of reporters was driven to the location designated for them by the committee.

"Teacher Akiwara, you have already won this award, right?" said a candidate sitting next to him sourly.

His name was Takano Mogi, a traditional honkaku writer who had debuted nearly 30 years ago and had written over a dozen works.

And in his view, Akiwara Yuto could only be counted as a junior, and if it weren't for the recommendations of Hehe Xintai and others, he wouldn't even meet the age standard for joining the Detective Writers Association.

But it was such a junior who had already been identified by the outside world as the winner of this Uemura Prize.

Compared with the other party, he was completely ignored by the outside world.

Akiwara Yuto replied with a smile: "Teacher Mogi, I believe in the resolution of the judging committee."

The scene words still have to be said, anyway, the result is basically set, so give this "old senior" some face.

Otherwise, it would be too offensive to say directly that he had won the award.

And the candidate named Mogi Takano also understood this truth, hummed and didn't say much.

Just then, Hehe Xintai also walked over and asked kindly: "Akiwara, is the acceptance speech ready? Don't be shocking again."

Hearing this, Akiwara Yuto was a bit dumbfounded.

Hehe Xintai, as the vice president of the Detective Writers Association, didn't ask others but only asked him, which undoubtedly confirmed the rumor that he would definitely win the award.

Sure enough, hearing Hehe Xintai's words, the faces of other candidates looked ugly.

However, Akiwara Yuto didn't care. Among the other 5 candidates, 3 were traditional Honkaku writers, and it didn't make much sense to befriend them.

As for the remaining 2, they were social school and Biange Sect respectively, and it is estimated that they only knew the gold content of his work.

Akiwara Yuto stood up and said politely: "Don't worry, there is no big publisher blocking me now."

It's not like before, he is no longer the unknown writer who just debuted,

Even if the four major publishers joined forces, it would be impossible to block him.

Hehe Xintai nodded, exchanged greetings and left.

Because of the precedent, he was worried about whether Akiwara Yuto would take Jingfan Publisher to the knife again during the acceptance speech.

But in that case, neither he nor the judging committee would look good on the face.

After the episode, the Uemura Prize award ceremony officially began.

A female host in a black suit went on stage and said 15 minutes of scene words, and then invited the chairman of the judging committee — an old traditional Honkaku writer.

In the sight of hundreds of people at the scene, this old writer who was nearly 80 years old walked to the podium tremblingly, faced everyone, and read out the final result of this Uemura Prize.

"... Now announcing the winner of the 138th Uemura Prize, Akiwara Yuto's *All She Was Worth* wins this grand prize!" ===== CHAPTER 318 =====