Chapter 40: Honkaku, Bunkaku, and Social

Akiwara Yuto put down the newspaper, walked out of the house, went to a family restaurant near his home to solve lunch, and then went to a slightly further post office to send the script of *Seven Rooms* to Ikawa Akemi.

After everything was done, he returned home, spread out the manuscript paper, and thought about submitting to the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award, whether it is better to write Honkaku, Bunkaku, or Social (in fact, there are some other small classifications).

The division of these three major categories is actually very simple. Give a simple example, for example, a woman died in a secret room with a knife wound on her body.

The Honkaku school would write like this: The detective investigates the clues in this secret room, discovers how the murderer killed the victim step by step, and finally points to the culprit: "The murderer is you."

The Social school would investigate the woman's interpersonal relationships and find that besides her husband, she also had a married lover, and this lover's wife was very jealous of the deceased. The detective investigated all the way and found that there was a fourth person who killed the woman for his own purpose.

The Bunkaku school is relatively bizarre. For example, the body disappeared after the woman died. After investigation, it turned out that her husband was the murderer. He killed his wife and ate the body. And the reason he invited the detective to investigate was that he wanted to kill the detective and eat him too.

Akiwara Yuto was a bit worried. If he wrote a Social school work and submitted it, but the judges were all writers from the Honkaku school, would he be directly rejected?

Submit Honkaku or Bunkaku? It seems that such a possibility cannot be ruled out.

He thought about it and felt that this kind of thing was not something he could predict, so he shouldn't consider too much.

Actually, if possible, he would directly write Agatha's works. Agatha is a world-recognized queen of mystery novels, and her works have been translated into 103 languages, published in 157 countries, and sold more than 2 billion copies. In the Japan of his past life, there were also a large number of fans.

He could completely choose a suitable one from those works of the other party, change the foreign factors inside into Japanese local elements, as long as he retains the appropriate mystery core.

If he submits a work chosen this way, as long as the judges are not blind, the probability of winning an award is eight or nine out of ten. But for a mere newcomer award, would it be a bit wasteful?

He stood up, paced back and forth, walked for a while, and a story suddenly popped into his mind—

A man returned home and found that his wife and daughter had killed and buried the body. After knowing the truth that his wife and daughter were self-defense, he decided to help his wife and daughter escape the crime and began to play a battle of wits with the police...

He pondered, sat down, took out paper and pen, and tried to write a part first. The pen tip swept across the manuscript paper quickly.

"Takamatsu Daito is a mystery fan, and his hobby is reading all kinds of mystery books. This day, after finishing his business work, he returned home as usual, but found that the house was a mess. What happened?"

But unexpectedly, retelling this story was harder than he wanted. Until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he only completed less than 10,000 words, far below his expectations.

He put down his pen, prepared to rest for a while, and suddenly heard the doorbell.

He went downstairs to open the door, and as a result, when the door opened, a man and a woman in suits appeared—Takei Kohei and another woman he didn't recognize.

They saw Akiwara Yuto open the door and immediately greeted: "Akiwara-sensei, sorry to bother you."

Akiwara Yuto looked at the "politician-style" smile on the other party's face, and felt a disgust in his heart. He intended to drive people away, but the two sides hadn't torn their faces after all, and they were in the same publishing house.

Forget it, let's see what kind of medicine they are selling in the gourd.

Holding this method, he welcomed the two into the living room to sit down and poured water for the two.

Takei Kohei took the water cup and said with a smile: "Akiwara-sensei, I heard that your work has been praised by many people recently. I express my congratulations here."

Akiwara Yuto saw Takei Kohei's style, but he couldn't say anything. After all, as the deputy editor-in-chief, in the case of the editor-in-chief not caring, he was the most influential person in *Tokyo Literature*.

He also politely expressed his gratitude, thought about it, and decided to get straight to the point, directly testing: "Takei-editor, you must be busy, so what is the matter with you coming here this time?"

Takei Kohei heard this sentence, and the smile on his face suddenly converged. He turned his head and suddenly shouted at the woman kneeling next to him: "Misaki, it's time for you to apologize!"

The woman in the suit next to her heard this sentence and said "Yes."

Then she turned to Akiwara Yuto's direction, knelt directly on both knees, put her forehead on the ground, and shouted: "Akiwara-sensei, I'm sorry, please forgive me!"

Her action was dogeza, and the way of expression was prostration, which is often used in occasions of apology or request. Usually, this action is regarded as a great shame.

Seeing her move, Akiwara Yuto was a bit surprised. He didn't know why the other party did this, and asked suspiciously: "May I ask what this is?"

This woman continued to put her forehead on the ground and said in a deep voice: "Akiwara-sensei, I am Misaki Sawako, an assistant editor of *Tokyo Literature*, who was responsible for reviewing manuscripts before."

Akiwara Yuto heard Misaki Sawako's self-introduction, but still didn't know the reason for her doing so. He wanted to help her up, but knew that doing so didn't quite meet the etiquette.

Misaki Sawako didn't raise her head and continued to face the ground.

"At that time, Takei-editor transferred your manuscript to me, hoping that I could review the manuscript well, but I handed over my work to Asano for personal reasons, missing your excellent manuscript!"

"For this, I express my deepest apologies. But I still hope you can consider *Tokyo Literature* again!"

Akiwara Yuto didn't know how to respond for a while. He subconsciously looked at Takei Kohei and tested: "Takei-editor, is this also your meaning?"

Takei Kohei adjusted his sitting posture slightly, coughed lightly, and took over the conversation.

"Akiwara-sensei, if you can transfer to *Tokyo Literature*, I can guarantee that the editorial department will focus on you later, which is good for everyone, whether it is for you, *New Novel*, or *Tokyo Literature*."

After a pause, he continued: "Akiwara-sensei, you should also know the importance of the Mantanshe Newcomer Award, right? If you become a writer for *Tokyo Literature*, the editorial department will recommend you to participate in the selection of the award. Don't talk about the Gold Prize, even the Grand Prize might be possible... In addition, in terms of manuscript fees and royalties for standalone volumes, we can all make greater concessions, which will definitely satisfy you."

His attitude now can be said to be very sincere, which is a world of difference from when he first met Akiwara Yuto—but he didn't feel that there was anything wrong with doing so.

Japanese society pays attention to the strong being respected. The other party has already proved his value, so it is natural for his attitude to change. If the other party needs him to kneel down to be satisfied, then he can immediately satisfy the other party's request.

He is now at a critical period of running for editor-in-chief. In order to advance his career, he can discard many things. As for dignity, what does it count for?

He has already learned through other channels that Akiwara Yuto will be sent by *New Novel* to participate in the Gold Prize selection. Once it reaches this step, the fact that he missed this genius writer will undoubtedly become a reason for other factions to attack him.

Hearing these conditions, Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but feel a bit trance. For himself, the basic problem of food and clothing has been solved, and the rest is how to go further. The money and future that *New Novel* can give him are indeed not as good as what the other party can provide.

And he also has a very subtle feeling. A person who once didn't put him in his eyes is now so sincerely asking him.

He was silent for a while, then raised his head slightly, looked at Takei Kohei's eager face, and gave his answer... ===== CHAPTER 41 =====

Moreover, he also had a very subtle feeling; someone who once didn't even look at him was now requesting him so sincerely.

He was silent for a while, then slightly raised his head, looked at Takei Kohei's eager face, and gave his own answer...