Chapter 64

Akiwara Yuto woke up in bed, feeling his head heavy and muddled. He subconsciously covered his head and gave a wry smile.

If I had known, I wouldn't have drunk so much... I really brought this suffering upon myself.

After the contract was signed yesterday, both sides were delighted, and the film company even took the initiative to invite Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi, Akiwara, and Asano to go to a nearby izakaya for drinks together.

Akiwara Yuto naturally agreed immediately. After all, he knew a thing or two about the importance of social networking.

But he hadn't expected the subsequent developments to exceed his imagination.

Upon arriving at the izakaya, everything was fine at first; both sides were just drinking and chatting normally. The man from the film company, Mr. Shima Ryo, even took the initiative to reveal quite a bit of content regarding the screen adaptation of the work, which Akiwara Yuto found very beneficial.

But unexpectedly, as they drank, Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi clearly got too tipsy and began to take charge. He kept pouring drinks for himself and then clinking glasses with the two people across from him. After finishing, he would continue to pour and clink, forcing both people across from him to drink until they collapsed.

Seeing that the others were unconscious, the red-faced Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi muttered "how boring," and then set his sights on the "friendly forces," namely Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko.

Akiwara Yuto didn't want Asano Aiko to drink too much. Aside from considering that it was unsafe for a woman to get drunk while out, he also didn't want to have the experience of being vomited on all over again, so he was forced to fend off the tipsy Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi.

After a few more rounds, the two of them finally "perished together."

In a daze, Akiwara Yuto felt himself being supported by a soft arm, and when he woke up, he found he was already in the bed in his bedroom.

He sat up straight and suddenly heard the sound of the front door being opened by a key downstairs, followed by the "clatter-clatter-clatter" of footsteps.

After a while, his responsible editor, Asano Aiko, appeared in the room.

"Akiwara, how are you feeling now?"

After saying this, Asano Aiko walked up and took the initiative to place the back of her hand against the forehead of Akiwara Yuto, who was still sitting on the bed. After feeling that the temperature was fine, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Akiwara Yuto was a bit confused; he didn't have a cold or a fever, so why was she touching his forehead? He thought for a moment and decided to tease her, so he let out a long sigh and said, "Sigh, I still feel so awful~"

Sure enough, upon hearing this from Akiwara Yuto, Asano Aiko's expression became tense, and she asked with concern, "Where are you uncomfortable? Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?"

She was genuinely worried. Yesterday, Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi had also wanted her to drink, but Akiwara Yuto had taken the initiative to take over and drank her share as well.

This made her feel a bit touched and also a bit self-reproachful, while at the same time, she worried about Akiwara Yuto's health, fearing he might have damaged his body, as a hangover was certainly not a good thing.

Akiwara Yuto stretched his arms and, under Asano Aiko's worried gaze, patted his stomach. "It's very 'uncomfortable' here; it's empty right now."

He smiled and joked, "Asano, I think I need a hearty breakfast to cure this illness of mine."

Hearing this, how could Asano Aiko not know she had been fooled again? Thinking of his previous record of saying he wanted to "surrender," she suddenly had the urge to ignore him.

However, she softened in the end, opened her small bag, took out a piece of baumkuchen and a bottle of Musashino milk, and handed them to him. "I just bought these at a nearby convenience store; I don't know if they suit your taste."

"I am deeply grateful for the editor's kindness."

Akiwara Yuto smiled as he took the bread and milk, then stood up and walked to the small square table nearby, sat down, and started eating. He was truly famished; he didn't even have time to brush his teeth.

Asano Aiko watched him wolfing down the food, but she had other plans in mind.

Is it really okay to go on like this? Should she tell him her true thoughts?

While Akiwara Yuto was eating breakfast, the eleventh issue of *New Fiction* began distribution, which also meant that Akiwara Yuto's serialization was coming to an end.

To avoid the chaotic situation from before, the editorial department and the distribution bureau held several departmental meetings before the release, deciding to set the initial print run at 60,000 copies and the reprint volume at 40,000 copies each time.

In this way, even if it sold 140,000 copies like before, there would be no need to worry about losing customers due to insufficient stock.

But regarding these initial and reprint numbers, some people in the distribution bureau held opposing opinions, believing that many critics had recently reduced their coverage of related articles, so sales for this issue should partially decline.

They suggested that the initial and reprint numbers should be lowered.

However, after Kikuchi Tai argued his case, the distribution bureau finally determined the print numbers according to the original plan. After all, if sales exceeded stock again, the relevant personnel would undoubtedly have to take responsibility.

But the distribution of this issue was far from what Kikuchi Tai had imagined.

On the day of release, the sales of *New Fiction* were 33,000 copies, slightly lower than the previous issue. By the second day, because Miyagawa Yosuke did not comment this time, many critics did not follow up further. This caused sales to begin a sharp decline, falling to only 21,000 copies.

According to the statistics department's estimates, at this rate of decline, the final sales of *New Fiction* this week might not even be able to maintain 110,000 copies.

Hearing this news, Akiwara Yuto was a bit surprised, but after careful consideration, he felt it might have something to do with the quality of the manuscript he had submitted.

The manuscript he published in this issue was called "The Park Under the Sunset of the Past," which was only about 2,000 characters long and was considered by many to be the most boring piece in the *ZOO* series.

It tells the story of a child playing in a park who discovers that the park's sandbox has no bottom, and suddenly finds hands inside grabbing him, so he runs away in fear. Later, when the park was demolished, he realized that the sandbox was very shallow and clearly couldn't bury anything.

Although many people thought it was boring, Akiwara Yuto included it out of respect for the integrity of the original work. After all, he had his own thoughts and believed that there might be a different, deeper meaning within this story.

When the little boy chose to escape instead of confirming if someone was calling for help after discovering hands grabbing him, wasn't that a kind of perverse indifference? As for discovering later that the sandbox was shallow, it might just be the little boy's own inner comfort due to his anxiety.

Although that was what he thought, most readers in the market did not agree. Besides that, the fact that the story was too short was also an indisputable fact.

After all, the fewer the words, the harder it is to attract readers to immerse themselves deeply. Therefore, the decline in *New Fiction*'s sales could be considered within reason.

Just as Akiwara Yuto and the editorial department were mentally prepared for the decline in sales, the time quickly arrived at Wednesday, and an event that happened on this day brought a turning point to everything...