Chapter 74: Who is the Winner of the Grand Award?

On the afternoon of the Mantanshe Newcomer Award ceremony, Asano Aiko drove her light-colored small sedan and picked up Akiwara Yuto who was waiting at home.

She glanced at Akiwara Yuto, who had changed into a formal suit and had a refreshing hairstyle, and felt that he was a bit more handsome after dressing up, and couldn't help but feel hot on her face.

Akiwara Yuto didn't know her thoughts. He looked at the road the car was driving on and it didn't look like the direction to Mantanshe, so he asked: "Asano, isn't the announcement of the Mantanshe Literary Award at the headquarters?"

Asano Aiko immediately reacted, finding that she had forgotten to give Akiwara the specific itinerary, so she explained: "Akiwara, this Mantanshe Literary Award has been arranged at the YosugaNoSora Hotel in Tokyo Bay. First, participate in the conversation between writers, then the general manager's speech, and finally the announcement of the award and the award ceremony..."

Akiwara Yuto nodded and leaned on the seat to close his eyes and rest. He only remembered last night that he forgot to write the acceptance speech, and it was quite late when he went to sleep.

After a car ride of 30 minutes, the two reached today's target hotel and parked the car in the parking lot next to the hotel.

This hotel called YosugaNoSora is 15 stories high. The overall shape consists of white outer walls and glass. It is a square-style frame, and the appearance is relatively low-key.

Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko were greeted in by the waiter together and soon arrived at the multi-function hall on the top floor of the hotel. This place was contracted by Mantanshe and was holding a cold buffet.

Akiwara Yuto looked around and found that there were many acquaintances at the meeting, including editors of Mantanshe, signed writers, and some media workers who looked like—he was not surprised, as one of the giant publishing houses, Mantanshe always had some friendly media.

Asano Aiko said hello and separated from Akiwara Yuto. Today's cold buffet is a good opportunity to expand contacts, so naturally, it cannot be wasted.

Akiwara Yuto also nodded, picked up a glass of champagne from the table next to him, and walked in another direction—he had just looked at several "acquaintances."

After taking two steps, a grinning acquaintance appeared in front of him, it was his bad friend Imamura Yuto, who was wearing a floral suit today.

Imamura Yuto saw Akiwara and immediately leaned over, saying thief-like: "Akiwara, is the acceptance speech ready?"

"Ready, don't worry," Akiwara Yuto nodded.

Because he didn't know whether he could get the Grand Award or the Gold Award, he specially prepared two copies, but they were roughly the same, just slightly changed in some wording.

Imamura Yuto raised his eyebrows, imitating the tone of the Taiga drama and said: "I, Imamura Yuto, first congratulate Teacher Akiwara on winning the Mantanshe Grand Award! Please don't forget me in the future, Teacher Akiwara, and help me."

Akiwara Yuto's mouth twitched, rolled his eyes at him, and was too lazy to deal with this idiot. After all, the result is unknown now, don't poison me.

In the music of the hall, the two talked and laughed while eating. After all, when the award ceremony opens, it is not convenient to eat.

While Akiwara Yuto was chatting, a middle-aged woman in a black dress walked over. It was Seto Tamae. She held a glass of champagne and greeted Akiwara Yuto with a smile: "Teacher Akiwara, when will your next work be published?"

Akiwara Yuto clinked glasses with her and replied politely: "Still looking for inspiration, but it should be soon."

Although he said so, he actually had no clue now. After all, although he knew many works, he really didn't know which one was just a little better than the *ZOO* series and not so abrupt.

However, Editor-in-Chief Kikuchi, who had been urging him to open new works, had been quiet recently, which made him a bit confused.

Seto Tamae drank a sip of wine slowly and then said with a smile: "Teacher Akiwara, I am very looking forward to your new work."

As the most powerful competitor for this Grand Award, logically speaking, she shouldn't have asked these topics at this time, but to be honest, as an old person in the literary world, she had long ago not put her eyes on the award of Mantanshe's internal awards.

Compared with that, she cared more about what Akiwara Yuto's next work was.

Since Akiwara Yuto talked about the design method of the nine types of tricks at her house a few days ago, she was breathtaking at Akiwara Yuto's "genius," so she read the other party's previous works 3 more times, trying to study the deep meaning inside.

However, except for what the book reviewers said, she didn't see any other meaning, and didn't find many of the nine types of methods Akiwara Yuto said.

So she vaguely guessed that Akiwara Yuto might want to write some content that surprised readers in the later works.

Akiwara Yuto smiled. Facing this "kind and wealthy" literary female senior, he really didn't know how to respond, so he could only promise to release new works as soon as possible.

At this time, the music in the hall suddenly stopped, and the lights dimmed. Under Imamura Yuto's reminder, Akiwara and Seto looked at the ritual platform in front of the hall. The lights on it turned on, and a middle-aged man in a black suit walked to the microphone.

Imamura Yuto lowered his voice and introduced to Akiwara Yuto: "The one on the stage now is the general manager of all literary editorial departments, Kihara Daigo."

Akiwara Yuto heard his introduction and couldn't help but start to look at this middle-aged man on the ritual platform.

About 50 years old, with a straight posture, gray-black hair, wearing a custom-made suit, the whole person has a kind of temperament that is not angry and self-prestige, looking like the kind of person who has been giving orders for many years.

After the other party stood still, he looked around at everyone in the audience, then put his hands on the table, started to introduce himself to the microphone, and then used a low voice to give an opening speech for this Mantanshe Literary Award.

Akiwara Yuto listened to the other party's speech for a while and was a bit speechless.

Although the speech sounded very generous and exciting, it was actually the same old three sets, not much different from what he heard in the country in his past life, nothing more than "thank you for coming to this award ceremony," "Mantanshe's history is very long," "spare no effort in cultivating writers," etc.

Many people were sleepy while listening, but didn't dare to show it.

Everyone present was internal personnel of Mantanshe. If it was spread that they were sleepy listening to the general manager, it would not be good.

Who knows if the general manager's heart is big or not, and whether he will give himself small shoes to wear.

40 minutes later, the speech finally came to an end. After interviews with photographers and other media, another female host who looked quite iconic walked onto the ritual platform and handed a card to this general manager.

The general manager picked up the card, looked at it twice, then looked around, and said to the microphone: "Next, announce the Grand Award of this literary award..."

Hearing this, Akiwara Yuto couldn't help but feel nervous. He clenched his fists and stared at the top.

Asano Aiko on the other side was no better, her hands tightly crossed, praying silently in her heart.

In the anxiety of the two, this Kihara general manager slowly opened his mouth: "After the determination of the jury, the winner of this Grand Award is..." ===== CHAPTER 75 =====