Chapter 320: Too Many Choices

Akiwara Yuto pondered for half a day, then took out paper and pen and began writing down several backup options.

"How about light novels?"

It seemed feasible; since it was 1994, the light novel market had already begun to sprout and possessed a batch of loyal readers.

In the history of Japan, it is generally accepted that light novels originated in 1975 with the publication of *Space Battleship Yamato*.

Following this, *Legend of the Galactic Heroes*, *Royal Space Force*, and *Galaxy Express 999* were also released, and were subsequently adapted into manga, anime, and other formats.

The development of these science fiction light novels laid the foundation for the *Gundam* series and *Steins;Gate*, which would later become well-known to the public.

There is even no lack of works where one can see the shadows of these science fiction light novels.

However, after the 90s, because the economy turned from good to bad, the market's preference for light novels underwent a huge change, which also led to the light novel market beginning a drastic transformation.

During the 90-94 period, the light novel market shifted from rigorous settings and a heavy sense of history to being primarily focused on relaxation and entertainment.

Building on the previous foundation of science fiction, many works added fantasy elements; distinctive works such as *Slayers*, *Patlabor*, *Lost Universe*, and *The Twelve Kingdoms* were published one after another.

And the now-famous Dengeki Bunko was also officially established in that era.

Akiwara Yuto recalled the background of the era he was currently in and discovered that Keihan Publishing was indeed the same as the Kadokawa Shoten of his past life, having already begun to establish a library to enter this field.

But they seemed to be investing little energy at the moment and were still focusing on science fiction light novels; could he cut in, use his works to crush them, and occupy the market first?

However, a huge problem was that for light novels to sell well, they often had to rely on the promotion of anime adaptations.

Furthermore, light novels did not fit his positioning and differed significantly from the existing business of Tsutaya Bookstore.

Akiwara Yuto weighed this for half a day and finally decided to list light novels as a backup option for now.

Then he took a sip of coffee and used his pen to write the four characters for "popular literature" on the paper.

So-called popular literature is the category corresponding to the pure literature represented by traditional literature; specific genres include romance, mystery, science fiction, suspense, and so on.

And sales volume decreases from front to back due to the size of the audience.

Romance, naturally, goes without saying; with a massive female base, it can easily sell at a very high volume. This market even has tens of millions in sales a year, several times larger than the mystery market.

As for mystery, although it is called the national genre, there are at most ten million true mystery fans, and many of them only watch film and television works.

As for science fiction, it overlaps a bit with the light novel market, so the market share is not easy to calculate, but if one only evaluates pure science fiction works, there are still a few million-copy phenomenal bestsellers every year.

As for suspense, it overlaps with the mystery market. And compared to watching horror, the locals in Japan seem to prefer going to the cinema.

After struggling for a while, he sighed.

There are too many choices; he really didn't know which one would be better to do next.

He thought for a moment, then made a phone call: "Satake, are you free to come to my house?"

At one o'clock in the afternoon, as the doorbell rang, Akiwara Yuto opened the door, and outside was Satake Maki, wearing a light blue skirt and black pantyhose.

"Akiwara, you finally called me to your house alone."

Satake Maki stepped forward twice, moving close to Akiwara Yuto, and as she drew near, Akiwara Yuto even smelled the faint scent of perfume on her.

Satake Maki looked up and asked with a smile: "Is there something you want to discuss with me?"

Akiwara Yuto smiled, then led her to the living room to sit down and poured her a cup of tea.

"I have a few directions for the future development of the publishing house that I would like to explore with you."

He paused and added: "I hope you can use a different perspective to judge what business is more suitable for us to do."

Akiwara Yuto already understood the thoughts of Asano Aiko and Nishijima Sota quite well, but in his view, many of their ideas overlapped too much with his own.

On the contrary, Satake Maki could judge things better as an outsider.

After hearing Akiwara Yuto's several directions, Satake Maki hesitated and said: "Akiwara, can you write all these types of works?"

She was a bit skeptical; after all, Akiwara Yuto had always been a mystery writer.

Although he later wrote in the traditional field, the span between the two fields was not very large.

But if he were to cross from mystery to romance or science fiction, she still felt it sounded unreliable.

"I'm just trying it out for now," Akiwara Yuto said, "If I write these works, I might use the pen name Akihara, so even if I fail, it won't be much of a problem."

Satake Maki was stunned for a moment.

Isn't the English word Akihara just a translation of Akiwara? So isn't this the same as not using a pen name at all?

However, she thought about it and soon understood Akiwara Yuto's intention.

She was only able to see it at a glance because she was biased, but if one saw the pen name Akihara on a romance or science fiction book, one would probably never guess it was Akiwara himself.

This is the common "darkness under the lamp" psychological effect.

"Then how about science fiction?" she suggested.

Akiwara Yuto asked in confusion: "Why?"

Not to mention the bright future of light novels, even romance had a market share far larger than pure science fiction; why would Satake Maki suggest he write science fiction?

Satake Maki replied: "After all, you're just trying it out, aren't you? And the science fiction market isn't large, so even if you fail, there won't be any major problems."

After saying this, she stretched, showing off her soft and beautiful figure in front of Akiwara Yuto.

But soon, she felt it was a bit inappropriate, so she immediately sat up straight, lowered her head silently, and said in a resentful voice: "You don't even understand my feelings; can you really write excellent love stories?"

Akiwara Yuto was speechless. A full year had passed since Satake Maki confessed to him, but even now, he had not given her an answer.

But his purpose in calling her over today was only to discuss the publishing house's business.

Just then, Satake Maki made up her mind.

At this moment, there were no obstructive people like Asano Aiko or Toyama Miho; there were only herself and Akiwara Yuto.

If she missed this opportunity again, there would be no next time!

She stood up, sat down next to Akiwara Yuto, rested her head on his shoulder, and whispered into his ear.

"Akiwara, do you really not like me?"