Chapter 84: A Letter

After learning the specifics of self-publishing from Imamura Yuto, Akiwara Yuto declined his offer to go play pachinko together and waved him off as he left the cafe.

He walked along, lost in thought.

As it stood, there was a funding gap of a full 5.5 million yen, roughly equivalent to half a year's salary for a high-level white-collar worker.

This amount of money was neither too much nor too little.

If he were willing to ask acquaintances like Imamura Yuto or Seto Tamae, he could surely borrow it.

But he genuinely did not want to borrow money; after all, once money was borrowed, the relationship between him and the other party would subtly change.

Furthermore, because of what Seto Tamae had said at the awards ceremony, he already owed her a significant favor, making him even more reluctant to disturb her.

Besides that, what other avenues were there?

Just then, he suddenly saw a billboard for a host on the street, featuring five men dressed in a non-mainstream style, using poses they thought were handsome to flaunt their "male charm."

His mouth twitched as he suddenly recalled reports he had read, which stated that the annual income of hosts in Japan reached tens of millions of yen, with many earning several million in a single night—far more than his own royalties.

Akiwara Yuto grumbled to himself, then saw a bank below the billboard, and a thought suddenly popped into his head.

Right, could he take out a loan from a bank?

Although his contract stipulated that his "ZOO" series could only be entrusted to Mantan Publishing for distribution within three years, the copyright of the works still remained in his hands.

In other words, he could bypass Mantan Publishing and directly mortgage the copyrights he held to the bank in exchange for the funds he needed.

He lowered his head to think, and the more he pondered, the more feasible it seemed.

Once certain, his mood relaxed, and he walked to a nearby post office to mail a letter he had written at home earlier.

The recipient of this letter was Asano Aiko, and his purpose in sending it was to let her understand his determination to keep striving together.

To be honest, doing this was a last resort, as he currently couldn't reach her through phone calls or messages.

He hoped she would understand his meaning from the content of the letter.

After mailing the letter, he hurried back home.

Next, he had to consider which work to write.

……

After returning home, Akiwara Yuto ate a simple bowl of instant noodles, then sat at the table, spread out paper, and picked up his pen to start thinking.

Before this, his goal had been serialization, so he had been debating whether to write a short story collection or a long-form novel.

But now, if he were to self-publish, there was no need to consider; it had to be a long-form novel, and it had to be one that had previously been a bestseller in Japan.

After all, adapting foreign works not only required more time and energy, but he also didn't know if they would suffer from "culture shock" in the Japanese market.

Akiwara Yuto thought for a long time and wrote down "The Train," "The Devotion of Suspect X," "Journey Under the Midnight Sun," "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders," and "The Decagon House Murders" on the paper. After pondering for a long time, he crossed out most of the titles, leaving only "The Train" and "Suspect X."

He naturally had his own reasons for keeping these two works.

"The Train" was a work by Miyabe Miyuki, published in 1992, which was not far from the current time and had received high praise.

"The Devotion of Suspect X" was a work by Higashino Keigo; although it was only published in 2005, the background it depicted was the 1990s, so he didn't need to worry about readers finding it jarring.

Therefore, both of these works should sell well.

But then again, which one should he choose?

Akiwara Yuto thought for a while and finally decided to write "The Devotion of Suspect X." After all, in terms of economic benefits, although "The Train" had been adapted for film and television, its box office and number of remakes were far inferior to "Suspect X," and that was a significant source of income.

Recalling the content of the books he had read in his past life, Akiwara Yuto began to write, albeit a bit clumsily.

"At 7:35 a.m., Ishigami left his apartment as usual. Although it was already March, the wind was quite cold, and he buried his chin in his scarf as he stepped out. Before stepping onto the road, he glanced at the bicycle parking area. There were a few bikes there, but not the green one he was looking for."

As Akiwara Yuto wrote, he kept recalling details; since his memories were a bit distant, he could only imitate the general outline, and some plot points relied on the film version to fill in the gaps.

By the next morning, he had only written about 10,000 words. At this pace, he would need about two weeks to finish the entire "The Devotion of Suspect X."

To facilitate his "seclusion," he declined all invitations to go out, leading the outside world to wonder if something had happened to him. Even Seto Tamae called to comfort him, leaving him momentarily speechless and amused.

……

8:00 a.m., at the Asano residence.

Mrs. Asano looked at her daughter eating breakfast, wanting to speak but hesitating, a trace of worry appearing in her eyes.

Recently, her daughter seemed like a different person, having become much more silent, not even saying much, as if she had encountered some problem.

Could it be that her relationship with Akiwara had hit a snag?

She knew that he had been calling frequently, but Aiko kept finding excuses to avoid answering.

Sigh, what should she do?

Mrs. Asano thought for a long time but gave up on the idea of comforting her; after all, for matters like this, it was better to let the person involved figure it out for themselves.

Just as her thoughts were in turmoil, the sound of a bicycle bell came from outside, followed by a "clatter." Mrs. Asano knew that was the sound of the mailbox lid at their front door being opened.

She was momentarily puzzled; hadn't the newspapers she ordered already arrived? Why would a postman be delivering something?

She walked out, opened the mailbox, and was surprised to find a letter addressed to Asano Aiko, with the name "Akiwara Yuto" clearly written in the sender's field.

Holding the letter, Mrs. Asano fell into confusion.

Why would Akiwara write a letter?

Should she give it to Aiko? It seemed she hadn't wanted to have any contact with Akiwara lately...

On the other side, Asano Aiko finished breakfast, cleared the dishes, and walked out to see her mother holding a letter in confusion. She asked, "Mom, who is that letter from?"

Mrs. Asano hesitated for a moment before handing the letter to her daughter. "Aiko, this is a letter from Akiwara."

After saying this, she returned inside, sighing to herself: Forget it, let the young people solve their own problems.

Asano Aiko took the letter and saw the name "Akiwara Yuto" on the envelope; a complex emotion suddenly welled up in her heart.

After what Takei Kohei had said, she had decided not to be a "burden" that caused trouble for Akiwara Yuto, which was why she had hung up the phone after telling him the truth she knew and had cut off contact with him since then.

But to her surprise, for what could be considered an act of "betrayal," Akiwara not only didn't mind but kept calling every few days.

Although she had asked her mother to politely decline these calls, she had to admit that her heart had been deeply touched.

Even so, she remained firm in her thinking—if it weren't for her, Akiwara would surely be able to climb higher in the literary world!

Asano Aiko stood there, struggling for a while, until after a long time, she finally tore open the letter to read it.

The letter contained only two short lines of text:

"A faint thunder, a cloudy sky, but I hope for rain, so I can keep you here; a faint thunder, a cloudy sky, even if it doesn't rain, I shall remain here."

Just these two simple sentences, Asano Aiko read them over and over, and her heart could not be calm for a long time...