I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 144: The End of "Border", the Climax of "Secret", and What's West of the Sun (Two in One)

3月18日上午8点，1996年3月号的《文艺》正式于全国各个书店同步发售。

There are probably over one million readers across Japan who are eagerly waiting, eager to see the final outcome of "Hatsu" and Shimamoto.

On March 3, if you walk into any large bookstore in Tokyo, you will see this scene:

One copy of "Literature and Art" after another was quickly taken away from the bookshelf, and box after box of new goods were delivered non-stop and were snapped up by readers as soon as they were opened.

The "Five Bodies Are Not Satisfied" that was originally placed on the sales counter was moved to the corner. The brand new hardcover paperback edition looked out of place among a pile of old books, and no one was interested in it.

In a few days, New Trend and All Stars will be released. As always, the former stays out of the matter and only attracts its readers who are politicians and literary young people.

The latter is in a miserable situation. Its sales just suffered a setback last month. This month, it wanted to cheer up, wipe out the slump, and piece together the carcass that had been eaten away.

However, unexpectedly, before the preheating for the new issue of the magazine even started, the topic's popularity was snatched away by the final chapter of "Border" and Yomiuri Okamoto's cheating incident.

What Shueisha finds most difficult to accept is that Dango Shiro's "Parent-Child Meal" has snatched away many of their loyal readers. In order to allow this novel to continue to lick the corpse of "All Stars", "Wenyi" actually moved it to the front in this issue!

Even the magazine cover squeezed out a small space to promote it.

The slogan is "Strange? Heavy? No, this is just a young man's fantasy journey!"

If you think about it carefully, this slogan is just short of slamming the words "Readers of "All Stars", come and read this novel" in Shueisha's face.

At this time, the only thing that can rival the popularity of the final chapter of "Border" is Yomiuri Okamoto's scandal. How ironic!
Now everyone wants to see the expressions of Noma Sawako, Ueno Toru and Arima Yoshiyoshi.

Unfortunately, at this point, the three of them simply pretended to be sick and dead, and refused all interviews. The head of the public relations department only kept using clichés to perfunctory curious citizens and reporters.

They can hide behind the company's public relations department, but Yomiuri Okamoto can't!

These days, the entrance of his house is crowded with curious people coming in continuously.

Since Yomiuri Okamoto was unwilling to be interviewed, the reporters turned their attention to his wife Hitomi Okamoto.

Okatake Hitomi, who had long been dissatisfied and angry, accepted interviews from dozens of TV stations at once.

As Hitomi Okamoto continued to reveal information, more and more details about Yomiuri Okamoto's cheating were dug up by reporters.

Among Yomiuri Okamoto's 53-person "cheating list" are various women including his caregivers, secretaries, fans, etc.

It is said that his first cheating partner was his personal assistant.

At that time, Yomiuri Okamoto was not yet famous. In order to make it convenient for him to move around outside, his family specially hired a professional life assistant to assist him with his work.

Once he attended an internal writers' exchange meeting organized by the editorial department of "Qun Xiang". After going to the toilet, when his life assistant helped him to pull up his pants, he suddenly asked, "I want to do it with you."

The life assistant did not refuse, but asked for high compensation and higher salary.

Okatake Yomiuri readily agreed and promised that he would never replace her if he became famous in the future, and let her enjoy his royalties together with him.

From then on, whenever he went out, he would bring this beautiful life assistant with him so that she could meet his physical needs at any time.

There were more and more such small stories, and together with Tanaka Aoi's revelations, they filled the entertainment gossip sections of various newspapers and magazines.

Hitomi Okamoto also told reporters that Okamoto Yomiuri's so-called optimism and strength are actually just a disguise.

He has always been sensitive and inferior in his heart.

His physical disability did not change his despicable character.

Regardless of his virtuous wife who had taken care of him for many years without any regrets, he kept cheating on him, and then used his perverted desires to satisfy his physical imperfections!

Okamoto Hitomi said that she would take her son back to her parents' home and divorce the scumbag Okamoto Yomiuri as soon as possible!
Regardless of whether what Okatake Hitomi said is true or false, her frequent interviews may be seen as an attempt to take advantage of others' misfortune.

In short, Yomiuri Okamoto was completely finished. "Five Bodies Are Not Satisfied" went from being a hot seller to a slow seller, and was removed from all bookstores within a few days.

Also being targeted by reporters and a group of busybodies are the internal affairs of Kodansha and whether there is any fishyness in the joint essay contest.

This time, Noma Sawako failed to gain anything and experienced the feeling of being pushed down by everyone.

Shizuko Kawaide, who had been bullied, took decisive action.

She proved with her own strength why she was able to become the president of Kawaide Shobo against all odds after her father's death, and also revealed her little-known side to all her colleagues and the Japanese literary world.

The new head of the Kawaide Group spent a ton of money, prompting all the busybodies to step up their efforts. Don't stop, don't stop, just destroy Kodansha.

Kitagawa Hideto was shocked by Shizuko Kawaide's terrifying vengeful character.

If other people didn't know this, they would think that you and Kodansha had a grudge against each other for murdering your father. This is too exaggerated!

Beichuan Xiu secretly felt lucky that the boss was not his anti-fan, otherwise he would be in big trouble.

In addition to making great efforts to promote Kodansha, in the past few days, Shizuko Kawaide has also contacted TV stations and asked them to produce some small literature-related programs at a lightning speed, focusing on the theme of "Who are the outstanding new writers worthy of the public's respect and learning?"

The format of the small show is also very simple.

Invite a few male and female hosts who are slightly famous in the industry, and then invite some well-known writers of the older generation in the literary world, let them sit together, eat and drink, and chat.

This type of small show like the fireside chat was very popular with the audience in the 90s, similar to the warm-up activities before the start of various competitive competitions in later generations.

This thing quickly became popular in the Internet age, but it is quite novel in this era, and because it is centered on conversation content, it can be easily transplanted to radio stations.

Don't underestimate the power of Japanese radio stations in the 90s.

Many elderly people who have survived the pre-war era still keep the habit of listening to the radio. Middle-aged men who don't like to watch boring family soap operas with their wives in the evening will often go to the car to listen to the car radio to relax.

These people are the invisible readers of pure literature magazines. They rarely speak out, but their spending power is terrifying!
It has to be said that although Shizuko Kawaide's literary aesthetics are a bit poor, she is extremely talented in some aspects.

For example, the original "No Need to Apologize" oolong tea, and the cat advertising slogan "Every cat you raise can save one of us from choking to death on rice cakes."

To date, these two items are still the best-selling products in literary peripherals.

Listening to a few old-timers in the industry discussing extramarital affairs and commenting on the character of Kitagawa Hide and Okatake Yomiuri in his headphones, Muramatsu Tomoshi yawned boredly and turned to look at the scenery outside the window.

The snow-white clouds always reminded him of Rinko's plump and attractive body.

38 years old is the wonderful age when a woman is at her most mature and most attractive.

But after watching the previous episode of "Border", the two of them made the same choice as "Hatsu" and Shimamoto.

Instead of staying in Kamakura that day, they returned to Tokyo and to their respective bored families.

No contact from then on.

It has been more than a month.

The longing in my heart is like an ant, itching my heart.

But the sense of family responsibility is more important, like a yoke firmly around his neck.

The editorial office has been in a mess these days.

Muramatsu Tomoshi seemed to be quite free.

In order to show their presence in front of Noma Sawako and compete for credit, Kashiwamura Takeshi and Noma River directly kicked him, the deputy editor-in-chief, out of the joint essay writing project.

Even though he was inexplicably blamed for Noma Airi's incident and was suspended from his job, it was a blessing in disguise and he managed to crawl out of this bigger quagmire.

Muramatsu Tomoshi is now very free and does not have to worry about these troublesome problems at all when sitting in the office.

The louder the noise outside and the more footsteps there were, the more leisurely and contented he seemed.

Maybe after this period of hype is over, I should come out to clean up the mess and continue to be the deputy editor-in-chief who is neither interesting nor worth throwing away.

To be honest, he considered going to "Bungei" more than once, but every time he thought about his current annual salary of 1200 million yen, and the fact that he would definitely not be able to become deputy editor-in-chief there, he would have to become editor-in-chief like his junior Saito Rena, who had only been in the industry for 2 years, or even be inferior to her.

Muramatsu Tomoshi found these things hard to accept.

Forget it, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just take a look at the latest issue of “Wenyi” first!

Muramatsu Tomo listened to the noise outside and opened the "Literature and Art" magazine that he had bought a few days ago but had not dared to read yet.

"Parent-Child Dinner" was not to his liking, so he skipped it.

"Childhood Friends", which Rinko likes very much, is a good novel, but it is still too immature and the intentions are too obvious, so it is not suitable for old readers like him who have been reading books for many years.

The love between the prostitute's sister and the temple abbot's son is destined to end in failure.

He likes Keigo Higashino's "Secret" very much.

The wife's soul enters her daughter's body. This ethical plot always evokes some dark thoughts and desires in a man's heart.

The novel did not disappoint him.

Keigo Higashino's writing ability is totally unlike that of a newcomer. The story is compact and interesting without any drag.

It seems like he has inherited the true teachings of Kitagawa Hide in this regard?
The story continues from the last time, with Heisuke and his wife worrying about what identity they should use to face each other.

Faced with the ethical dilemma, Naoko finally chose to break through her psychological defenses. She asked Heisuke more than once that she wanted to live a normal married life with him, but Heisuke could not accept it.

As a normal man, Heisuke originally has strong physical needs, but every time he faces his daughter Manami's body, he cannot overcome the inner barriers.

He couldn't face his daughter's body calmly, even though he knew that his wife Naoko lived inside that body.

Chapter three of the novel.

Heisuke came home drunk and habitually reached out his hands to the body lying on the bed, but when he took off the clothes of that body, he suddenly woke up and quickly covered the young and unfamiliar body with a quilt.

In order to satisfy his physical needs, Heisuke once thought about finding a prostitute, but the love he had for his wife deep in his heart made it impossible for him to accept betraying her.

Under ethical repression, Heisuke can only restrain his desires and constantly experience the double torture of love and ethics.

Freud said that the instinct of human "sexual" desire is the fundamental driving force behind human development.

Physiological needs are the most basic needs of human beings.

Suppressing desires, especially when facing someone you deeply love, is against the laws of nature and is a repression and distortion of human nature.

Muramatsu Tomoshi agrees with this, but he really can't figure out how Heisuke and Naoko can escape from this horrible vicious circle!

In the heart of the novel's heroine, Naoko, in addition to ethical conflicts, there are also conflicts about her future life plans.

In the past, Naoko was a housewife. She was willing to do housework and work hard for her husband and daughter. She never included herself in her life plan.

Now that she has her daughter's young body, Naoko begins to get excited.

She has a new perspective on many things and new pursuits in life.

There was a generation gap and conflict between her and her beloved husband.

In order to pursue a new life and live her life over again, Naoko studied diligently at school and made friends freely and sincerely. She lived a prosperous campus life. This was the happy life she had never experienced before.

With hard work, Naoko was admitted to a famous medical university as she wished, and her future was bright.

As Naoko embarks on a new life, Heisuke becomes more and more tormented, and he develops a strong sense of crisis about the relationship between himself and his wife.

He began to secretly read his wife's diary, and lay at the door to eavesdrop on his wife's phone calls, domineeringly declaring his sovereignty.

He even used a monitoring device on his wife to monitor her every move at school so that he could eliminate any dangerous factors approaching her in time.

The more Muramatsu Tomoshi watched, the more frightened he became. He felt that every middle-aged man should be able to understand Heisuke's feelings and confusion.

Chapter 5 of the novel.

The conflict between the two people finally broke out, and their inner thoughts were exposed.

The beautiful and outstanding Naoko naturally attracted the attention of adolescent boys. When a high school senior asked her out, Naoko did not refuse. She went to the appointment as a daughter.

This date caused Heisuke to completely explode with emotion. He angrily shouted to his wife's senior: "We are not from the same world as you. We are from outer space. Get away from her!" Heisuke realized that he and Naoko were not only physically separated at this time, but also spiritually separated.

Should he fulfill his wife's wish, or confront her and ask her to give up her identity as a daughter and live with him forever with his daughter's body and his wife's soul?
This difficult question was thrown out at the end of the chapter, and then the plot came to an abrupt end!

"Why did it break here?" Muramatsu Tomoshi sighed, but he could understand it.

Ever since Kitagawa Hide joined Wen Yi Magazine, all writers influenced by him have begun to pay attention to the technique of "breaking the chapter", as if they had to keep the readers in suspense.

More importantly, most of the readers who bought this issue of "Literature and Art" wanted to read the final chapter of "National Border". If "Secret" took up too much space, it would be bad for both it and "National Border".

This episode of "Border" ends and "Secret" also reaches its final climax, which is a seamless connection!

Muramatsu Tomoshi immediately turned the page and finally saw the "South of the Border, West of the Sun" that he had been longing for.

After "Hatsu" and Shimamoto returned from Ishikawa Prefecture, they never met again.

"Hatsu" continues his life as a bar owner, and Shimamoto disappears completely, just like him and Rinko.

Later, the father-in-law suddenly found "Chu" and hoped to start a company in his name to do business, but it was an illegal business.

"Chu" returned home and chatted and was intimate with his wife as usual, but after so many years of living together, the love between them had long been worn out.

When they were making love, "Hatsu"'s mind was full of Shimamoto, which made him happy and panicked.

"I have the same thoughts, exactly the same. What should I do, Mr. Kitagawa?" Muramatsu Tomoshi felt that his mood was going up and down with the plot of the novel.

The story continues, two months later, "Hatsu" and Shimamoto met again in his bar.

However, this time the two no longer had the ambiguity they had before, and they were very restrained towards each other, just like old friends.

"Shimamoto has her own little world in her heart, which is isolated from the rest of the world. It is a world that only she knows and accepts, and I cannot enter it.

That door was opened to me only once, and now it is closed."

When "初" thought about this sentence in his heart, Muramatsu Youshi felt that he could deeply understand his emotions of loss and regret.

Because he is different from "Hatsu", he successfully breaks into Rinko's heart before that door closes!

Just when Muramatsu Tomoshige thought that the story would end with "Hatsu" continuing to miss Shimamoto, but Shimamoto left and never came back, Kitagawa Hide gave him another hard blow!
The reason why "Border" is a masterpiece is its constant reversals and unique plot.

Shimamoto left a note for "Hatsu" saying she might be gone "for a while."

There is no way of knowing when he will leave or when he will come back.

This became Shimamoto's torture of "Hatsu".

From then on, "Chu" began to recall all kinds of past events.

touching Shimamoto’s lame ankle at the age of twelve;
When he was thirty, he was madly chasing after the back of a woman who looked very much like Shimamoto;
On sleepless nights, I have thought of the snowy Komatsu Airport many times while lying in bed.

I recall feeding melted snow into Shimamoto’s mouth mouth-to-mouth in the parking lot of a closed bowling alley;
Then one day, because the company that his father-in-law forced him to start ran into problems, he became the scapegoat, and taking this as an opportunity, he had a big fight with his wife.

The two had never spoken or argued like that before. The wife apologized aggrievedly and lowered her head to admit her mistake, but she did not get "Chu's" forgiveness.

Because he knew that this was not the reason for his outburst.

"Chu" returned to the bar amid the falling leaves and unexpectedly ran into Shimamoto who had returned.

The two of them expressed their feelings to each other, and then agreed to abandon everything and go to Hakone.

That burning love can no longer be stopped!
Muramatsu Tomoshi's breathing became rapid as he watched.

He knew that Mr. Kitagawa’s book would not be that simple!
And then at the end of that chapter, he finally found out what was west of the sun?
South of the border is "my beloved", but what about west of the sun?

in the novel.

"Hatsu" was driving, Shimamoto was sitting quietly in the passenger seat, and then "Hatsu" suddenly asked: "What is west of the sun?"

"Have you heard of Siberian hypochondria?" Shimamoto suddenly asked.

"do not know."

"I saw it in a book before, maybe when I was in middle school. I can't remember which book it was. It was about a disease suffered by farmers living in Siberia.

Well, imagine this: you are a farmer, living alone in the Siberian wilderness, working the fields every day, and looking around you see nothing.

To the north is the northern horizon, to the east is the eastern horizon, to the south is the southern horizon, to the west is the western horizon, and nothing else.

Every morning when the sun rises from the eastern horizon, you go to work in the fields; when the sun is directly overhead, you stop working and have lunch; when the sun sets in the western horizon, you go home and sleep.

"It sounds like my life of running a small bar is not much different from that of mine. But can you farm in the Siberian winter?"

"Of course I rest in the winter," Shimamoto said with a smile. "I stay at home in the winter and do what I can do around the house. When spring comes, I go out to work in the fields. You are that kind of farmer. Imagine!"

"I'm imagining." "Chu" said with a smile.

"One day, you suddenly realize that something in you has died."

"Dead? What dead?"

Shimamoto shook his head and said, "I don't know what it is. Anyway, the sun rises from the eastern horizon, passes through the sky and falls to the western horizon. When you witness this scene over and over again every day, something in your body suddenly snaps and you die.

So you throw down your hoe, and without thinking about anything, you keep walking westward, west of the sun. You walk like a madman for days and days without eating or drinking, until you drop to the ground and die.

This is Siberian Hypochondria.”

The two of them just headed west, escaping from their lives, the world they were familiar with, and then they stopped the car in a deserted place, hugged each other, fell in love, and took the step that they shouldn't have taken.

At that moment, Muramatsu Tomoshi suddenly understood what was west of the sun.

"Hatsu" and Shimamoto were pursuing things west of the sun, just like a farmer with Siberian hypochondria.

But what was the farmer’s final fate?
he died.

"It tells me that you will also reach this point one day, and everyone will soon fall into this dark abyss, this ocean without resonance, in inevitable and hopeless loneliness. Facing the world of death, I feel suffocated by terror. This dark cave is a bottomless cave."

He recited the line from the book softly, and it seemed as if something in his life suddenly died with a bang.

His hands were out of control as he continued to flip through "Literature and Art".

"Hatsu" and Shimamoto did not perish after all.

They returned to Tokyo again, and Chu's affair had been discovered by his wife, and she had seen through it a long time ago.

Never underestimate how well a woman who loves you knows you.

Since then, "Chu" and his wife have completely separated and entered a cooling-off period.

The children would get up and walk around in the middle of the night from time to time, asking why their father was sleeping there.

"Chu" could only explain that Daddy had been snoring loudly lately, so he had to sleep separately from Mommy for the time being, otherwise Mommy wouldn't be able to sleep.

Sometimes one of his daughters would crawl into his bed, and he would hold her tightly in his arms on the sofa.

Sometimes I could hear my wife sobbing in the bedroom.

And after that time, Shimamoto met "Hatsu" again.

But she did not ask "Chu" to abandon his family, or ask him to accompany her to pursue the west of the sun like he did that day.

She loved "Chu" deeply, so she understood better what was best for him.

South of the border might exist, but west of the sun doesn't exist at all.

So she chose to leave.

Never coming back this time.

In the days that followed, "Chu" gradually reconciled with his wife and continued to work hard for his family and career.

Because he knows.

The children and wife at home need "a new day" more than he needs "west of the sun".

But every time when it was late at night and everyone was asleep, he would wake up.

“In the darkness I thought of the rain falling on the sea—the rain that fell silently and unnoticed by anyone on the vast ocean.

The rain hit the surface of the ocean so quietly that the fishes didn't even notice it.

I was thinking about the sea until someone came and gently placed his hand on my back.

Muramatsu Tomomi silently recited the last sentence of the final chapter of "Border".

A lot of feelings!

Is this the ending you wanted?
Teacher Kitagawa.

The unforgettable West of the Sun and the vast ocean that makes people always want to explore.

But there will always be someone who comes silently, puts his hand on the back of your hand, and tells you that in addition to pursuing these, you have other things to stick to.

"What a good story, worthy of Mr. Kitagawa." Muramatsu Tomoshi recalled the "hollowness syndrome", "danchi" and "extramarital affair" that Kitagawa Hide mentioned before he wrote the novel. It turned out that these three could be combined in this way.

When everyone thought that "extramarital affair" was a gimmick, it eventually became the most important plot in the later part of "Border".

When everyone thought that Mr. Kitagawa would arrange a passionate love for "Hatsu" and Shimamoto as usual, he woke everyone up at the last moment.

"Tanisaki Prize, this article "Border" must be nominated for the Tanizaki Prize!" Muramatsu Tomoshi could not forget it for a long time after reading it.

The whole person is deeply immersed in it and cannot extricate himself.

I don’t know if Rinko has finished reading it.

What does she think?
Just as Muramatsu Tomoshi was thinking about this, the office door was suddenly pushed open!

Why didn’t you even knock on the door?

Even if he was sidelined, he should at least show some respect to the deputy editor-in-chief, right?
Muramatsu Tomoshi immediately closed "Wenyi" and hurriedly stuffed it into a pile of magazines.

The person who opened the door was none other than Mr.

It is Sawako Noma, the current president of Kodansha.

Her face looked very bad. After glancing at Muramatsu Tomoko, she said calmly, "Muramatsu, come to my office now. I have something to tell you about the joint essay contest."

Muramatsu Tomoshi was stunned.

Joint essay contest?

That project has little to do with you, right?
But the other person was the boss, so he quickly stood up and bowed: "Understood, I'll be there right away!"

He slowly stood up only after Noma Sawako left in her high heels.

When I walked out of the office, everyone in the editorial area seemed to have strange expressions.

what happened?

Finished! I finally finished writing about what is west of the sun!
Everyone can rest assured now, and no longer have to suffer the pain of not knowing what the pangolin said.

The ending of "The Secret" will be revealed later!

Let’s see if I can write one more chapter today.

It’s time to arrange for Beichuan to copy “Paradise Lost”!
Please subscribe, read, vote, and reward! Please please please!!!

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(End of this chapter)