RBCT Chapter 148 The Truth Behind the Nonsense
Chapter 148 The Truth Behind the Nonsense
Chapter 148 The Truth Behind the Nonsense
Perhaps Maishiro Kyosuke's complaints had an effect, or perhaps fate was on his side.
Or perhaps Genjiro Noma wanted to get Kyosuke Maijo to focus all his energy on the "hard-boiled mystery" competition with Hisayuki Nishimura.
In conclusion, the book signing event for the "Collector's Edition" of "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" held at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Ginza has finally come to an end after ten days of operation.
However, it's over, but it's over.
Since the "Collector's Edition" of "The Tokyo Zodiac Murder Mystery" has a print run of 50,000 copies, even if Maijo Kyosuke had eight arms, it would be impossible for him to sign all 50,000 copies within ten days.
So, Maijo Kyosuke, along with Eri Ryumi, Uyama Hideomi, and Mikoshiba Yasunori, drove to "Longevity Bath" and moved all the unsigned books there.
After Maijo Kyosuke personally signs it, it will continue to be sold in the bookstore.
After two hours of busy work, the four of them finally managed to pile all the books into Maijo Kyosuke's room.
Sitting on the sofa on the right side of the deluxe suite, Yu Shan Hideaki rubbed his lower back and said with a pained expression, "Finally finished moving everything! If there had been another ten thousand books, it would have been the death of me!"
Mikoshiba Yasunori sat next to Uyama Hideomi, smoking a cigarette and also covered in sweat.
But after spending some time together, he'd lost his previous air of authority. He reached out and poked Uyama Hideomi's ribs, a teasing expression on his face: "Uyama, your body isn't so great either, is it?"
"How come someone in their thirties doesn't have as much energy as me, a forty-five-year-old?"
When Uyama Hideomi heard Mikoshiba Yasunori's words, he was about to refute them.
Jiang Liu Meili, who was sitting opposite the two drinking a Ramune soda, asked with some surprise, "Huh? Mr. Yushan is over thirty?"
Upon hearing Jiang Liu Meili's words, Uyama Hideomi became unusually flustered and hurriedly retorted, "Thirty-nine years old! Although I look a bit older, I'm actually only thirty-nine!"
"You guys don't think I'm over forty, do you?"
"what?"
Jiang Liu Meili looked at Uyama Hideomi with some surprise, and then at Mikoshiba Yasunori sitting next to Uyama Hideomi.
To be honest, if you didn't tell people in advance, most people would think that Hideomi Uyama is older than Yasunori Mikoshiba.
Although Jiang Liu Meili thought this way, she couldn't say it out of consideration for Yu Shan Hideomi, the "elderly editor-in-chief".
In order not to embarrass Uyama Hideomi, Eri Ryumi could only change the subject to Maishiro Kyosuke sitting next to her.
"Mr. Mai, the autograph session you hated is finally over. What are your plans for the future?"
Upon hearing Jiang Liu's beautiful question, Mai Shiro Kyosuke pondered for a moment before replying, "The plan—first, I'll write 'The City That Never Sleeps,' the 'hard-boiled mystery' I'll be competing against Nishimura Toshiyuki."
"If I have some free time during this period, I will write a few more short mystery stories to prepare for their publication in the Top Hat magazine."
"I haven't thought about the rest."
"Everything will be arranged after the competition ends."
Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Jiang Liumei advised, "Mr. Maishiro, I think you should just focus on writing 'Never-Sleeping City' right now."
"You don't need to publish your work in every issue of Top Hat magazine."
"I know you did this to help me promote Top Hat magazine."
"But—I think your health is the most important thing. I'm really worried about you, Ms. Maishiro, with such a high intensity of writing."
Jiang Liumei frowned and bit her lower lip, her face showing a very worried expression.
This is not Jiang Liumei exaggerating. In fact, the competition in the Japanese mystery literature scene is more intense and more brutal than that in the Japanese pure literature scene!
This resulted in many Japanese mystery writers having very short careers.
For example, Koji Sakai, the "medical crime deduction genius" who promoted Edogawa Ranpo, passed away at the young age of thirty-eight.
Kyusaku Yumeno, who wrote "Brain Hell," and Mushitaro Oguri, who wrote "The Black Death Mansion Murder Case," both had short lives despite their genius!
This is inevitably related to a lot of writing!
There are two main reasons for this situation: firstly, it is to maintain a high level of exposure in the Japanese mystery literature scene and market.
This is to make their future works sell better, attract more attention from publishers, and gain more publicity.
Secondly, there have been too many "monsters" and "geniuses" in the Japanese mystery literature scene in the last thirty years!
Before us was Seicho Matsumoto, the "father of social mystery," who founded his own school of thought.
Later came Jiro Akagawa, the "master of humorous mystery".
Among them are "King of Hard-Hard Mystery" Hisayuki Nishimura and "Giant of Social Realism" Seiichi Morimura.
The "Big Three" of travel mystery writers: Kyotaro Nishimura, Misa Yamamura, and Yasuo Uchida, along with Shinichi Hoshi, known as the "King of Minimal Short Stories" in the "SF setting mystery" genre!
In the Japanese mystery literature scene, where masters have established their own schools, geniuses are constantly rising, and countless veteran giants exist in between, if you don't put in 200% effort to write and compete with these people, even if you write a masterpiece that becomes a sensation, you will still be squeezed out by other writers!
Although—this may sound sensational, the Japanese mystery fiction scene is indeed cruel and cold-blooded.
Etsuko Niki, who won the 3rd Edogawa Rampo Award in 1957 with her novel "Only Cats Know" out of 400 submissions, is a prime example.
It's worth noting that Etsuko Niki debuted around the same time as Seicho Matsumoto, and Niki's "Only Cats Know" was a work that competed with "Points and Lines" at the time!
Seicho Matsumoto represents a school of social mystery novels with elements of orthodox mystery.
Etsuko Niki represents the social reasoning aspect of orthodox mystery novels.
Under these circumstances, Etsuko Niki could have become a grandmaster on par with Seicho Matsumoto, establishing her own school of thought.
However, due to a thoracic spine disease, Etsuko Niki is paralyzed on one side and can only use a wheelchair.
Even though subsequent surgeries were successful and allowed her to stand up again, the disease still affected her literary career.
This resulted in her publishing only ten novels, ten short stories, and two fairy tales in the twenty-three years from her debut in 1957 until 1980.
Therefore, even though each of her works has sold more than 200,000 copies.
However, in terms of fame and social influence, he is not even comparable to Seicho Matsumoto, let alone Sasazawa Saho.
After all, Sasawa Saho wrote nearly four hundred works throughout his writing career, even though none of his books ever reached the level of fame that "Only Cats Know" did, nor did he win any special awards.
But thanks to his ability to write quickly, Sasazawa Saho constantly increased his fame and influence, making him the most popular mystery writer among women in the 70s!
Although Sasazawa Saho's nearly four hundred works sound daunting, when discussing fast-writing authors, two other writers who seem to be writing with their lives on their hands must be mentioned.
One of them is Kyotaro Nishimura, one of the "Big Three of Travel Mystery," who created 600 works in his lifetime, as if he had dedicated his entire life to mystery novels.
Similarly, there is Jiro Akagawa, the bestselling author in Japanese history, known as the "master of humorous mystery," who created more than 400 works and created more than 50 famous detectives in his lifetime.
Not only did he have the incredible feat of finishing a novel in just two days, but he also had the astonishing record of publishing twenty works in a single month!
There have even been instances where, out of the thirty best-selling books of the year, eight were works by Jiro Akagawa, a situation that was suffocating.
In this suffocating and cruel world of Japanese mystery literature.
Maijo Kyosuke dared not let his guard down and take a casual rest.
Because he kept publishing short mystery stories in the magazine "Top Hat," he not only wanted to help Jiang Liu Meili, who had been of great help to him.
Similarly, this is also a way to indirectly increase one's exposure and popularity.
It can be considered a form of mutual benefit and assistance.
After all, he currently seems to have a huge presence and high popularity in the mystery fiction market.
But what if you suddenly disappear from Top Hat magazine for a week without having published a full-length work?
Then readers will soon become impatient and turn to other authors, abandoning their own work.
This will not only cause your popularity to plummet!
It will also cause the sales of his next published work to be cut in half!
My journey to where I am today may seem easy, but it has actually been incredibly difficult.
Therefore, no matter what, Maijo Kyosuke cannot allow this situation to happen to him.
Not to mention, on the 24th of next month, I will be competing against "hard-boiled mystery" master Toshiyuki Nishimura.
The match against Nishimura Hisayuki was originally a gamble, and if his fame and influence decreased in these 24 days, his chances of defeating Nishimura Hisayuki would be even smaller!
Thinking of these things, Maishiro Kyosuke smiled and waved at Jiang Liu Meili: "It's okay, I know my own body."
"On February 11th, February 18th, and February 25th, I will publish short mystery stories in Top Hat magazine."
"Because I was able to get here not by myself, but because of Ms. Jiang Liu's trust, Mr. Yu Shan's help, and the strong support of Department Head Mikoshiba and President Noma!"
"I cannot take a break just because I am lazy."
Even if you all agree to let me rest, I won't give up this opportunity to increase my popularity. I will keep fighting!
Mikoshiba Yasunori was somewhat surprised by Maijo Kyosuke's words.
Based on my years of experience as a sales manager, I believe that Japanese mystery writers who have reached the position of Kyosuke Maijo are among the best of the best.
Many Japanese mystery writers do not aspire to become giants, masters, grandmasters, or literary giants.
Even worse, some people become mystery writers simply to win the prize money and sell as many copies as they can, without really understanding why.
Therefore, most mystery writers would be lucky if they could have a book like "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" that sold over 400,000 copies.
Then it's very likely that he'll start an "indefinite vacation" and begin a life of revelry.
Once the money runs out, I'll start writing again.
As Mikoshiba Yasunori pondered this, he realized that Maishiro Kyosuke's ambitions went far beyond this, and his appreciation for Maishiro Kyosuke increased considerably.
After all, young people are energetic, ambitious, and have outstanding abilities; such talents are truly admirable.
Even Yasunori Mikoshiba couldn't be sure how far Maijo Kyosuke would go in the brutal Japanese literary world.
But when Maijo Kyosuke said he would keep fighting.
Mikoshiba Yasunori was convinced that as long as Maishiro Kyosuke didn't give up, he would definitely put in a good word for Maishiro Kyosuke with President Noma.
As long as Maijo Kyosuke doesn't give up, I will always be there for him as he strives forward in the world of Japanese mystery literature!
Although Hideomi Uyama has been promoted to editor-in-chief of the Third Publishing Department of Kodansha's Literature and Art Bureau, he remains Kyosuke Maijo's exclusive editor.
Hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, he was filled with relief, inwardly shouting, "I, Uyama Hideomi, truly had a discerning eye; I didn't misjudge him!"
But a hint of worry still showed on her face: "Mr. Maicheng, I know you have drive and inspiration, and that you can continue to publish your work in Top Hat magazine."
"But you also need to pay attention to adjusting your rest time and avoid writing late at night every time. After all, four short stories a month is almost the same as a novel, and you still have to write a novel to compete with Nishimura Toshiyuki."
"Honestly, it's not just Miss Jiang Liu who's worried about you; I'm genuinely worried that you won't be able to handle it—"
Upon hearing Uyama Hideomi's words, Maishiro Kyosuke smiled and raised one eyebrow: "Mr. Uyama, since you're so worried about me, please bring some food and drinks to visit me when you have time."
"Although I was chosen by you, didn't you also get promoted to editor-in-chief of the publishing department because of me?"
"Don't only come to me when you need manuscripts! We're good friends, why be so calculating!"
Uyama Hideomi, Mikoshiba Yasunori, and Eri Misaki couldn't help but laugh when they heard Maishiro Kyosuke's unexpected witty remark.
Mikoshiba Yasunori even made a rare joke, standing up and sitting next to Maishiro Kyosuke, putting his arm around Kyosuke's shoulder and saying with a smile, "What's the point of having someone in their thirties who looks like they're in their fifties come?"
"We should have more girls!"
"Mr. Mai, that little girl Mitsuki has been pestering Kyoko and me every day, asking us to invite you to dinner. How about it?"
"Would you like to consider it?"
"Although with your current achievements and net worth, Mr. Maishiro, you don't need to consider the other party's conditions at all, she is, after all, the young lady of the Kenzaki Group. Not everyone can have this kind of opportunity."
Every word Mikoshiba Yasunori uttered made Jiang Liu Meili feel a sense of crisis!
The mention of the name Mitsuki made Jiang Liu Meili perk up her ears, and she couldn't help but move closer to Mai Shiro Kyosuke.
They were afraid of missing some important information.
Yu Shan Hideomi sat on the sofa opposite the three of them. He saw Jiang Liu Meili's ears sticking up and her eyebrows raised into an inverted V shape. She clenched her fists secretly, like an angry elf.
He knew that if he continued to talk about Mikoshiba Yasunori, something terrible might happen!
Thinking of all this, Hideomi Uyama could only reach out and grab Kyosuke Maishiro, who was surrounded by Misaki Eri and Yasunori Mikoshiba: "Mashiro-sensei, don't worry!"
"Just give me a call, and I'll skip work to bring it all to you!"
"Don't listen to Minister Mikoshiba. No woman is as fun as the two of us brothers drinking together!"
Uyama Hideomi's words cleverly defused the crisis.
This finally put Maijo Kyosuke's mind at ease.
Because last night, when I carried the drunk Jiang Liumei home...
Although he couldn't understand anything else Jiang Liumei said.
However, there was one sentence mixed in with the nonsense that Maijo Kyosuke heard very clearly.
"Ms. Mai, I like you."
>