I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 173: "Wandering Blade" "Everything About Lily Chou-Chou"

The next day.

After Kitagawa Hide drove Yumeko to Kawaide Shobo, he called Aso Mayumi and the other two back to "Peter Cat".

Since the serialization of the three works directed by Kitagawa Hide was completed, Aso, Mayumi and the other two have completely improved their lives with the generous royalties.

"The Secret" found a balance between reasoning and ethics. Relying on the powerful gimmick at the beginning and the shocking ending, it became the most popular novel in the first half of 1996 besides "Border" and "Paradise Lost".

With this new masterpiece, Keigo Higashino was nominated for the Naoki Prize for the first time. Although he unfortunately lost to the newcomer king that Shincho has been promoting in recent years, he is already very satisfied.

Relying on the huge amount of royalties and considerable tax income, he successfully moved out of the second-hand apartment where he had lived for decades and bought a well-decorated single apartment in the center of Kokubunji City.

His ex-wife came to him several times, hoping to remarry him.

This time, Keigo Higashino finally stood up and directly rejected his ex-wife's proposal of remarriage, saying that his life is good now and he doesn't need her to intervene anymore!
Similarly, Shirou Dango, whose life has undergone tremendous changes, has changed his previous hippie image.

After learning that most of his readers were teenagers, he decisively cut his hair into a crew cut, put on a suit, put aside his writing style for erotic novels, and began to devote himself to the creation of more meaningful pure literary novels.

The royalties from the book "Parent-Child Meal" were enough for him to live comfortably for several years, so Dangui Shirou planned to study writing with Teacher Kitagawa and abandon all those crooked ways of making small money before he died.

Mayumi Aso also moved nearby with her daughter Aiko. She often came to the cafe to work as a maid. With her seductive and hot body and beautiful face, she always received confessions from customers.

However, every time after hearing the other person's true feelings, she would politely refuse with the reason that "I already have a lover".

There was indeed an impossible person living in her heart. Knowing that there was no possibility for them to be together and she couldn't let go of him for the time being, she put more of her attention on literary creation.

She is also the only one among the three who has been writing haiku and publishing novels in the past few months without the guidance of Kitagawa Hide. Her diligence has made Shizuko Kawaide look at this single mother with admiration.

Because Kitagawa Hide was busy with the creation of "Paradise Lost" some time ago, he did not guide his three disciples in writing, and they all fell into a creative vacuum period.

At this time, the three of them came to the cafe happily. Today was the weekend and the shop was closed, so there were only four of them in the shop.

"Master, isn't Master's wife here?"

It was almost the end of May. Mayumi Aso, who had changed into a cool tank top and a short skirt, saw the untied fast food boxes on the table. She gently placed the souvenirs in the corner, and then couldn't help asking.

"Well, she's doing an internship at Kawaide Shobo. Yumeko will be in charge of the film and television adaptations of Border and Paradise Lost. I guess she'll be very busy recently."

Beichuan Xiu nodded, motioned the three to sit down, and then distributed the printed documents to them.
"Keigo and Shirou are drinking beer, right? What about you, Mayumi? Juice or soda?"

He turned and walked towards the freezer.

"I'll just drink some soda! Master, please sit down and let me take care of these chores!"

Mayumi Aso's apprentice and wife attributes erupted at the same time. She was also the only woman present. The genes engraved in her bones made her feel a little restless. She quickly got up and ran behind the counter to help Kitagawa Hide.

Kitagawa Hide said, "Thank you for your help," and went back to the bar and sat down.

"I called you here this time because I want to discuss the opening of a new book with you."

Beichuan Xiu picked up the document in front of him and said straight to the point,

"Please take a look at these documents first. Mayumi, you can continue to work. I have other plans for your new book."

"Oh yes, Master!" Mayumi Aso retracted her head, then quickly cleaned up the lunch boxes on the table and prepared drinks and wine.

When Keigo Higashino and his friend heard that Teacher Kitagawa wanted to give them guidance in writing a new book, they immediately sat up straight and began to look at the documents intently.

The information mainly introduces more than a dozen juvenile crime cases that occurred in recent years.

The "Drunkard Rose Saint War" case that has been making a lot of noise in recent days was specially marked out. Many of the details in it were unheard of by the two men. As they read them, they thought they were reading police file records.

While they were looking at the documents, Kitagawa Hide briefly told them about how he had previously reported a case to the Kokubunji City Police Station but it was not taken seriously in the end.

Upon hearing that the "Drunken Rose Saint" was actually a boy under the age of 14, the usually smiling Shirou frowned.

"I've already talked to President Kawade. I want to write a novel that tells the public how to punish juvenile offenders. If our laws can't do that, let them do it themselves!"

Kitagawa Hide's expression was serious and his tone was firm, and it was obvious that he was not joking.

When the two heard this, their first reaction was that Mr. Kitagawa was finally going to write a new book!

Readers who have read Paradise Lost have recently fallen into endless pain of "suddenly there is no new novel by Mr. Kitagawa to read."

Mr. Kitagawa's books have become an indispensable part of their lives, just like cigarettes are to smokers.

After their happiness and joy, the two of them instantly revealed an expression of surprise.

How to punish juvenile offenders?
"Teacher Kitagawa, do you mean that the subject matter of the new book should be about juvenile delinquents, which everyone tends to avoid?" Keigo Higashino swallowed and carefully recalled the literary works he had read.

He was sure that the "juvenile offender theme" was still a wasteland and basically no writer had cultivated it.

The reason why no one touches it is very simple.

"It's not a big deal when a child kills an adult."

"But on the other hand, if an adult kills a child, the consequences can be very serious." These two sentences have been circulating in society for a long time since the implementation of the Juvenile Law.

Not only "killing", but also "humiliation", "beating", "coercion", "slander" and so on, as long as it involves children, will turn you from a successful adult into a prisoner hated by everyone.

The elderly, women, and children are the three most difficult types of people to deal with in today's Japanese society.

Even writers who enjoy a very high social status do not want to be involved in the terrifying vortex of juvenile delinquency.

"It's not me, it's the three of us." Kitagawa Hide glanced at Higashino Keigo and the other man, and they were surprised and at a loss again.

"If you don't want to touch this subject, I can also help you prepare new subjects." Kitagawa Hide didn't like to force people, but before he finished speaking, Higashino Keigo and the others immediately took over and expressed their determination!

"I understand! If the new book can help increase the social influence of Mr. Kitagawa's work, I would be very happy to do it!" Keigo Higashino himself hates juvenile offenders very much.

In the original history, he wrote "The Wandering Blade" based on the story of his daughter being bullied at school and harassed many times by underage scum, which eventually sold over a million copies.

However, this book was not published until 2004, by which time Keigo Higashino had already established a firm foothold in the mystery literature world.

"Me too. Please give me some guidance, Mr. Kitagawa!" Dangui Shirou also stood up and bowed 90 degrees to express his opinion.

"Okay, as long as you have no problem." Kitagawa Hide nodded. Both of them have writing skills and are male writers who are suitable for having their identities exposed.

If a female writer touches on this kind of subject matter, she will easily be criticized and attacked for writing such a book, unless it is a time like after 00 when Japan has become a little more tolerant of women.

Mayumi Aso has finally gained a hard-earned happy new life by writing books, and Kitagawa Hide does not intend to let her follow him and take risks.

Keigo Higashino and the other teacher immediately gathered around to listen to Mr. Kitagawa's advice.

The creative ideas that Hideka Kitagawa and Keigo Higashino talked about naturally led him to "The Wandering Blade".

When Keigo Higashino heard that the story would begin with a father receiving a videotape of his daughter being raped and murdered, he felt an inexplicable sense of empathy and a deep sense of panic.

Teacher Kitagawa only gave him a plot outline and suggestions for the design of the main characters. He left it to him to decide how to write it, how to arrange the plot details, how to handle the character arcs, etc.

And finally, Kitagawa Hide added, "This is just a suggestion for you. If you have better creativity and ideas, it’s up to you."

He was deeply moved by Mr. Beichuan’s words.

Keigo Higashino has always lacked self-confidence. Even though he won the Newcomer Award with "After School" and became a "vulgar writer" with "Secret", he still felt deep down that he was far inferior to most writers in the literary world.

That's how most people he came into contact with saw him.

"How can you become a famous writer?"

"Why don't you just give up writing books and be an engineer?"

"You call that mystery literature? You should just be a middle-aged uncle!"

Doubt, misunderstanding, sarcasm.
He had heard all kinds of negative comments about him.

Only with Teacher Beichuan, he has been encouraging himself, recognizing himself, and believing in himself.

"Yes, I understand! I will prepare the new book right away!" Encouraged, Keigo Higashino went straight back to his seat, took out manuscript paper and pen, and started writing the settings.

The idea that Hide Kitagawa prepared for Tuan Gui Shiro was the youth film "Everything About Lily Chou-Chou" shot by Shunji Iwai in 2001.

This movie has also been remade by the next generation movie, which is called "Better Days".

However, the remake still focuses entirely on the pain of youth and love, and the theme is too superficial.

The original work, "Youth Story: Everything About Lily Chou-Chou", focuses more on school bullying, juvenile delinquency, and cruel youth experiences.

Because most of the readers of Danki Shirou are children of that age, Kitagawa Hide did not choose overly extreme and exciting novels like "Devil Boy".

"Youth Story: Everything About Lily Chou-Chou" is relatively aesthetic and sad, which just happens to make those junior high school and high school students who like this tune very obsessed. It can serve as a warning and education without causing them to overreact.

Dangui Shirou kept nodding his head as he listened. He felt that the subject matter and content were very good, but it was a bit of a test of his writing skills, so he was hesitant to write, fearing that he would waste such a good subject matter given by Mr. Kitagawa.

Kitagawa Hide patted his shoulder to show encouragement: "Try it first! If you really have trouble writing, you can ask Saito for advice. She is a professional editor and should know better how to help writers write books."

"Yes, I will try my best to write it well, Master!" Tuan Gui Shirou also returned to his seat happily holding the creative ideas of the new book.

Kitagawa Hide turned his head.

Seeing his gaze coming, Mayumi Aso, who had been secretly peeping, suddenly panicked and quickly lowered her head and pretended to wipe the table.

There was a flash of disappointment in her eyes.

In her opinion, Mr. Kitagawa didn't seem to trust her abilities, so he made "other arrangements"!

It was obvious that Mr. Kitagawa himself was also going to write a book on "juvenile delinquents", but she was excluded.

Mayumi Aso pursed her lips, which was rare, and looked aggrieved like a young girl.

(End of this chapter)