Chapter 33: Department Head?

Akiwara Yuto left the club gracefully. He had vented his anger thoroughly today, and he didn't even have time to say a proper goodbye to Imamura Yuto when he left.

But he figured the other party would understand.

He went to the station closest to Ginza, took the train back home, and collapsed on the sofa, trying to calm his still-excited mood.

As a result, after a while, the phone rang.

He went downstairs again and picked up the receiver: "I am Akiwara..."

"Akiwara-san, why did you leave me and just walk away?" Imamura Yuto's voice came from the other side of the receiver, sounding slightly helpless.

"You don't know, after you left, Kadowaki Yuzhen's face looked so ugly, you could tell at a glance that he was particularly angry."

Akiwara Yuto was happy instead. Now he and Kadowaki Yuzhen had become bona fide "enemies," and the more uncomfortable the other party was, the more satisfied he was.

If possible, he would be willing to curse a few more times, preferably until the other party had a sudden high blood pressure attack and was hospitalized.

The voice came from the receiver again: "Akiwara-san, you have to be careful. That guy Kadowaki definitely won't let it go."

"I know, don't worry."

In fact, even if Imamura Yuto hadn't reminded him, he could probably guess that the other party would want to retaliate against him.

However, he was now writing manuscripts at home every day, and even the manuscripts were collected by Asano Aiko, so the possibility of a direct conflict with the other party was not high.

Imamura Yuto heard his indifference and sighed: "Akiwara-san, this matter is more complicated. In short, it's best to communicate with your editor again."

Akiwara Yuto was a bit confused. Wasn't Kadowaki Yuzhen just an ordinary writer? Although his qualifications were a bit old, what could he do?

If he really had a background, would he need to come and grab the cover himself?

However, Imamura Yuto meant well, so he accepted the favor and expressed his gratitude to the other party.

The two chatted briefly and then hung up the phone.

After pondering for a while, he picked up the receiver again and called Asano Aiko's house—it was quite late now, so she should have left the editorial department and gone home.

After a while, he felt the call go through and immediately said: "Asano, I am Akiwara..."

"It's Akiwara-kun." A familiar voice came from the phone, and Akiwara Yuto immediately reacted that the person holding the receiver now was Asano Aiko's mother.

"Akiwara-kun, it's been a long time since you came to visit our house. Is it because the food I cook doesn't suit your taste~"

Akiwara Yuto quickly indicated that it wasn't, making excuses that he had been too busy recently to find time.

After saying this, he praised the bento that Mrs. Asano had made before, directly praising it as the most delicious bento he had eaten since coming to this world (in a way, he wasn't wrong).

Mrs. Asano was amused, and laughter kept coming from the other end of the phone.

But she also knew that the other party had something to do with her daughter, so after a few polite words, she called Asano Aiko and let the latter take the receiver.

"Akiwara, it's so late, is there anything wrong?"

Seeing that the main person had arrived, Akiwara Yuto told her about what happened tonight, including how he went to the Ginza club, how he was approached by Kadowaki Yuzhen, and how he finally cursed the other party.

Asano Aiko listened carefully and responded from time to time. She didn't know that Akiwara Yuto had encountered such a thing, and she didn't expect Kadowaki Yuzhen to directly make such an excessive request.

But she felt that this matter was not that simple and kept pondering whether others were involved behind the scenes. After Akiwara Yuto finished speaking, she said with a firm tone: "Akiwara, you didn't do anything wrong in this matter."

After all, the other party started the matter, and Akiwara Yuto's actions were understandable. Moreover, since he had already offended the other party, there was no need to be hesitant.

She prepared to comfort Akiwara Yuto so as not to affect his writing state because of this kind of thing.

Akiwara Yuto nodded. His thoughts were the same as Asano Aiko's. The other party was rude first, and his retaliation was reasonable.

If he had just agreed to the other party's request, surely everyone would think that he, Akiwara Yuto, was a persimmon that was easy to squeeze, and everyone would come to step on him.

So he didn't have any regrets in his heart.

Seeing that Asano Aiko also supported him, Akiwara Yuto's mood relaxed. After thinking carefully, he asked with a confused tone: "Asano, does Kadowaki Yuzhen have a different background?"

He still wanted to understand clearly what gave the other party this confidence. If the other party had a backup plan, he would also have to make a plan and make a comprehensive counterattack.

"Let me think, it seems I haven't heard much..." Asano Aiko was also a bit confused, but after a while, she said with an uncertain tone: "I heard that the other party seems to be pursuing the department head's daughter, but this is just a rumor, and its authenticity remains to be verified, so don't take it to heart..."

Akiwara Yuto took a deep breath. He didn't expect there to be such a rumor. Thinking of the department head, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

The department head could already be said to be a high-level executive of Mantanshe, and the power he held was naturally not to be underestimated. Even Kikuchi Tai and Takei Kohei had to bow their heads when facing him...

Asano Aiko was worried that he would think too much, so she said in a persuasive tone: "Akiwara, you don't need to take this to heart for the time being, after all, it's just rumors. And even if it's the department head, he can't directly interfere with the internal affairs of the editorial department without a proper reason."

She said this from the bottom of her heart. Although Kadowaki Yuzhen was the signature writer of *New Novel*, his appearance, uh, didn't quite meet her aesthetic standards as a woman, so the thing about him and the department head's daughter should just be a rumor, right?

Of course, even if Kadowaki Yuzhen was really with the department head's daughter, she didn't think the other party could rely on this relationship to directly influence the internal affairs of the editorial department, because doing so would easily leave gossip.

After all, in terms of results, the reader feedback for Akiwara Yuto's two issues of work completely exceeded the works of *New Novel* in the same period, and he could be called the well-deserved number one.

Akiwara Yuto knew Asano Aiko's good intentions, but he felt that this matter was not as simple as she thought. After all, if there was really no trickery, such things would not be spread out.

He thought for a while and told Asano Aiko that he knew, letting this topic end here so as not to worry her.

Thinking that Akiwara Yuto had no concerns, Asano Aiko breathed a sigh of relief. She talked about the recent sales statistics of *New Novel*, which made Akiwara Yuto's slightly depressed mood cheer up.

After Yashiro Toshihiro's half-page book review promotion, in addition to the first edition of 40,000 copies of *New Novel* being sold out, the subsequent reprint of 20,000 copies also sold more than 5,000 copies, with great momentum.

According to the calculations of the statistics department, although the trend of increasing sales was slowing down, by the end of the month, it was estimated that nearly 50,000 copies could be sold, which was a full double the sales of the same period before!

The popularity of the second issue also drove the sales of the first issue. Many people, after reading *Sofar*, wanted to see Akiwara Yuto's earlier published *Little Ornament and Yoko*, so they went to bookstores to inquire and buy, causing some bookstores without stock to call the publishing house again.

This situation was noticed by some small and medium-sized newspapers. After reading Akiwara Yuto's work, the book reviewers of these media also gave high evaluations and believed that he had a strong sense of social responsibility.

This series of good news made the editorial department collectively spirited. Kikuchi Tai held a meeting to analyze as usual and found that the situation later was also very optimistic—relying on Akiwara Yuto's series of works, *New Novel* not only sold well in Tokyo but also added a certain number of readers in Yokohama, which could be said to have opened up a new market.

After repeated confirmation, Kikuchi Tai made a new decision to mainly use all monthly promotional resources to promote Akiwara Yuto's works and would specifically invite relevant design companies to handle the covers later.

On the day of the meeting, Matsushima Kazuhiro didn't say a word, but it could be seen that his face was very ugly.

She finished telling these news one after another, and it was almost 11:30 at night. Seeing that it was getting late, Akiwara Yuto was worried about affecting Asano Aiko's rest, so he said "rest early" and took the initiative to end the call.

He was in a great mood now and couldn't sleep. So he returned to the living room, took out paper and pen, and began to think.

He was undoubtedly the writer most supported by the editorial department now, so Kadowaki Yuzhen must be jealous.

But shouldn't things between writers be decided by their own pens and words?

Thinking of this, he became even more disdainful of the other party.

He drew on the paper with a pen, preparing to continue his previous plan—after completing the script as soon as possible, he would immediately write an article to submit to the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award, trying to see if he could win an award.

Having made the decision, he immediately began to write furiously.

Just as he was working overtime, the third Monday of July arrived quietly, and the new issue of *New Novel* began to be sold, and Akiwara Yuto's *Seven Rooms* was about to face readers... ===== CHAPTER 34 =====