Chapter 95: Sales of

Mantansha Headquarters, Editorial Bureau conference room.

"Department Head Kihara, the first volume of *Searching Footsteps* published by Teacher Yuma Kadowaki has exceeded 50,000 copies in its first week. According to the Statistics Division's projections, monthly sales could exceed 120,000 copies."

A man wearing glasses stood up and reported to everyone in the conference room.

If Akiwara Yuto were present, he would realize this is Yuma Kadowaki's editor-in-charge, and the new editor-in-chief of *New Novel*, Kazuhiro Matsushima.

At the center of the conference table, Daigo Kihara nodded, "This result is not bad."

Just as Kazuhiro Matsushima breathed a sigh of relief, Daigo Kihara coughed and pressed further: "Editor-in-Chief Matsushima, can you explain the recent sales of *New Novel*? Why have the weekly sales been falling?"

"If I recall correctly, a month ago, the weekly sales of *New Novel* still exceeded *Tokyo Literature*, yet now it doesn't even reach half of *Tokyo Literature*."

Hearing this, Kazuhiro Matsushima broke into a cold sweat.

But to be honest, he had been prepared for this questioning from the department head.

In the month or so since Akiwara Yuto stopped his serialization, the sales of *New Novel* had been on a downward slope.

For the first two weeks, readers continued to buy *New Novel* out of habitual reading patterns and expectations for Akiwara Yuto's work. Therefore, the sales decline was not yet obvious, and it managed to stay around 150,000 copies.

But by the third and fourth weeks, the readers' patience was quickly worn thin, and sales began a sharp decline. As of the latest data released by the Statistics Division, it showed only about 120,000 copies.

According to the collected reader feedback and bookstore reactions, the subsequent trend remains precarious; it is not ruled out that it will slide further, and it would not be strange if it fell below 100,000 copies after a while.

Facing the questioning from Department Head Daigo Kihara, Kazuhiro Matsushima could only bow deeply: "I am deeply sorry for the decline in *New Novel*'s sales."

*Slap.*

Daigo Kihara struck the table heavily with his palm. "I want a remedy. Editor-in-Chief Matsushima, I recommended you as the new editor-in-chief of *New Novel* not to listen to you apologize here."

Hearing this, Kazuhiro Matsushima felt great disdain in his heart. I only obtained this position because Tai Kikuchi was used as a scapegoat, right?

If he had known he was taking over such a mess, he would never have agreed.

Long before the announcement of this Mantansha Literature Award, Kazuhiro Matsushima had been called into the office by Daigo Kihara, who expressed his favor for him.

At the time, Kazuhiro Matsushima was very excited, thinking he had latched onto a powerful backer. As long as he had support from above, his replacing Tai Kikuchi as editor-in-chief of *New Novel* would only be a matter of time.

But the reality was unexpected. While he was still thinking about how to climb up step by step, a series of events suddenly occurred—Yuma Kadowaki replaced Akiwara Yuto to win the Gold Prize, Aiko Asano was transferred to the Proofreading Department, and Tai Kikuchi was exiled to the Shikoku region.

Immediately following this, a transfer order came down from above, and under Daigo Kihara's recommendation, he was appointed as the new editor-in-chief of *New Novel*, taking over Tai Kikuchi's position.

Logically, after obtaining this position he had always longed for, he should undoubtedly be ecstatic.

But he felt not a shred of excitement in his heart, only suspicion that he had been dragged into some factional struggle. After all, everything was too strange.

Soon, rumors related to Kohei Takei spread within Mantansha, and he was also instructed by Daigo Kihara to keep the *New Novel* editorial department in check to prevent anyone from discussing it in private.

However, these things actually had little to do with him; currently, what gave him the biggest headache was undoubtedly the continuous decline in *New Novel*'s sales.

If he didn't handle it well, he would undoubtedly become the next Tai Kikuchi.

Kazuhiro Matsushima maintained his bowing posture and replied: "Regarding the sales decline, the *New Novel* editorial department has already formulated a relevant plan."

Daigo Kihara frowned. "Explain it briefly."

"Understood." Kazuhiro Matsushima straightened his body and continued: "In addition to existing writers, we are increasing our search for new writers. Besides that, we hope the Editorial Bureau can increase its support for *New Novel*."

"Increase support?"

"Yes, we hope that on top of the existing 1.5 pages of newspaper advertising, an additional 15 million yen can be allocated for promotions in bookstores, on the radio, and by book critics."

After finishing this sentence, Kazuhiro Matsushima bowed again. "I hope the Editorial Bureau can reconsider."

This proposal of his was actually a bit of a tall order. But he had no choice; after all, wanting to find a genius writer like Akiwara Yuto and then making *New Novel* a bestseller again was undoubtedly a pipe dream.

After all, geniuses aren't cabbages; you can't just find one anywhere.

So he made this suggestion, with the subtext being: if you don't give me support, I have no way to turn things around.

Sure enough, upon hearing this request, Daigo Kihara immediately understood his intention. He rubbed the stubble on his chin with his palm, did not respond, but instead asked: "Editor-in-Chief Matsushima, is there still no word on Teacher Akiwara's new work?"

"Sorry, Teacher Akiwara says he has no inspiration."

Although Kazuhiro Matsushima appeared respectful, he felt great disdain in his heart.

In his view, because of these actions by Daigo Kihara and Kohei Takei, if Akiwara Yuto were to continue writing for *New Novel*, it would undoubtedly release a signal to the outside world—that even if he were treated unfairly, he wouldn't care.

But would Akiwara Yuto be willing to accept that?

He had his own confidence, after all. As the biggest contributor to the surge in *New Novel*'s sales, some book critics had already dubbed him a genius writer.

And because he had been slow to release a new work, there were even rumors outside that a rift had appeared in his cooperation with *New Novel*.

According to his understanding, literary journals from the other three major publishing houses currently all had people wanting to contact him, or even poach him.

Daigo Kihara was very dissatisfied with this answer; after all, the decline in *New Novel*'s sales also had a significant impact on him. To be honest, if he had known there would be such serious consequences, he should have considered things more carefully at the time.

"Editor-in-Chief Matsushima, please inform Teacher Akiwara that as long as he continues to serialize his work, the *ZOO* series volumes will be published as soon as possible. Additionally, his manuscript fees and royalties will be appropriately increased."

Kazuhiro Matsushima nodded, indicating he would go and talk to Akiwara Yuto.

Daigo Kihara told him to sit down, then turned his head to the side and said: "Deputy Editor-in-Chief Takei, please report on the sales of *Tokyo Literature* this week."

"Understood. Looking at this week, the sales of *Tokyo Literature* are 210,000 copies, slightly higher than last week..."

Regarding the subsequent agenda, Kazuhiro Matsushima did not continue to listen carefully; he was thinking about how to approach Akiwara Yuto.

According to the report from the editor-in-charge newly assigned to Akiwara Yuto, the other party was often not at home now, and could not even be reached by phone.

So the question is, what exactly has Akiwara Yuto been doing lately?

(PS: There will be another chapter later.)