Chapter 64: The Hand in the Sandpit

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

If he had known, he wouldn't have drunk so much... He really brought this suffering upon himself.

After signing the contract yesterday, both sides were happy. The film company even took the initiative to invite Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi, Akiwara, and Asano to go to a nearby izakaya to drink together.

Akiwara Yuto naturally agreed immediately. After all, he knew something about the importance of social interactions.

But he didn't expect the subsequent development to exceed his imagination.

When they arrived at the izakaya, everything was fine at first. Both sides were just drinking and chatting normally. Mr. Shima from the film company even took the initiative to reveal a lot of content about the film adaptation of the work, which benefited Akiwara Yuto a lot.

But he didn't expect that as they drank, Kikuchi Tai clearly got drunk and began to take charge. He kept pouring drinks for himself and then finding the two people opposite to toast. After drinking, he continued to pour drinks and toast, forcibly drinking the two people opposite him under the table.

Seeing that the other party was 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. Besides considering that it was unsafe for a girl to get drunk outside, he didn't want to have another experience of being vomited on all over his body, so he was forced to fend off the drunk Editor-in-Chief "Kikuchi."

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

In a daze, Akiwara Yuto felt himself being helped up by a soft arm. When he woke up, he found that he was already on the bed in his bedroom.

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

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

"Akiwara, how do you feel now?"

After saying this, Asano Aiko stepped forward and took the initiative to place the back of her hand on 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 fever, so why was she touching his forehead? He thought for a moment and decided to tease her, so he sighed and said: "Sigh, I still feel so uncomfortable~"

Sure enough, after hearing Akiwara Yuto's words, 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 really a bit worried. Yesterday, Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi also wanted her to drink, but Akiwara Yuto took the initiative to take over and drank her share as well.

This made her feel a bit moved and a bit self-blaming. At the same time, she was also worried about Akiwara Yuto's health, fearing that he would ruin his body by drinking, after all, a hangover was not a good thing.

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

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

Hearing his words, how could Asano Aiko not know that she had been fooled again? Thinking of his previous record of saying he wanted to "surrender," she suddenly had the thought of not wanting to deal with him.

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

"I am deeply grateful for the kindness of the Editor-in-Chief."

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

Asano Aiko looked at him wolfing down the food, but she had other plans in her heart.

Is it really okay to go on like this? Should I tell him my true thoughts?

While Akiwara Yuto was eating breakfast, the eleventh issue of *New Novel* began to be distributed, which also meant that Akiwara Yuto's serialization was about to come to an end.

In order to avoid the chaotic situation like before, long before the distribution, the editorial department and the distribution bureau held several meetings and decided to define the number of the first edition as 60,000 copies and set the number of reprints 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 the loss of customers caused by insufficient inventory.

But regarding such a number for the first edition and reprints, some people in the distribution bureau held opposing opinions, believing that many book reviewers had already reduced their reports on related articles recently, so the sales of this issue should partially fall back.

The other party suggested that the number of the first edition and reprints should be lowered.

However, under Kikuchi Tai's reasoned argument, the distribution bureau finally determined the printing number according to the original plan. After all, if sales exceeded inventory again, the relevant proposing 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 distribution, the sales of *New Novel* were 33,000 copies, slightly lower than the previous issue. By the second day, because Miyagawa Yosuke did not comment this time, many book reviewers did not follow up further. This caused sales to start to plummet, becoming only 21,000 copies.

According to the estimation of the statistics section, if it was such a decline, the final sales of *New Novel* this week might not even be able to maintain 110,000 copies.

Hearing this news, Akiwara Yuto was a bit surprised, but he pondered carefully and felt that it might be inseparable from the quality of the manuscript he published.

The manuscript he published in this issue was called *The Park Under the Sunset of the Past*, with only about 2,000 words, which many people considered the most boring one in the *ZOO* series.

It tells the story of a child playing in a park who finds that the sandpit in the park has no bottom, and suddenly finds a hand inside grabbing him, so he runs away in fear. Later, the park was demolished, and he realized that the sandpit was very shallow and couldn't bury anything at all.

Although many people thought it was boring, Akiwara Yuto put it up out of respect for the integrity of the original work. After all, he also had his own thoughts, believing that there might be a different deep meaning in this story.

After the little boy found someone grabbing his hand, he immediately chose to escape instead of confirming whether someone was asking for help. Isn't this a kind of perverted indifference? As for finding out later that the sandpit was very shallow, it might also be the little boy's comfort to his own heart because of anxiety.

Although he thought so, most of the readers on the market did not approve. Besides, 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 sales of *New Novel* can be considered reasonable.

Just when Akiwara Yuto and the editorial department were mentally prepared for the decline in sales, time soon came to Wednesday. An event that happened on this day brought a turning point to everything... ===== CHAPTER 65 =====