I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 174: Confession, First Love, and Arrest
"Mayumi, are you done with your work?" Kitagawa Hide returned to the computer and said to Mayumi Aso who was feeding Pete cat snacks.

Mayumi Aso quickly put Pete in her arms on the ground, brushed off the cat hair on her chest, and ran to him.

"Yes, Master!" She nervously glanced at Beichuan Xiu a few times, and pinched the corner of her clothes with some nervousness and curiosity.

What type of novel would the master customize for me?
She actually also wanted to write about "juvenile offenders".

"I took out the book 'Childhood Sweethearts' last time and read it several times afterwards."

Kitagawa Hide took out the physical book of "Childhood Sweethearts" from the drawer.

Seeing her master holding her work, Mayumi Aso's cheeks flushed slightly. She bowed quickly and said, "Master, please correct me!"

"Don't be so reserved. I'm not blaming you."

Kitagawa Hide quickly waved his hands to prevent Mayumi Aso from thinking that he was scolding her for the poor sales of her book.

In Japan, for literary masters and apprentices who have performed the formal ceremony of apprenticeship, the disciples will automatically hand over a portion of their royalties to the master as a "thank you gift" to thank the master for his cultivation.

Among the three works, Mayumi Aso's "Childhood Friends" has the worst sales, with less than 20 copies sold so far. She has always been brooding over this matter and feels that she has brought shame to her master.

He didn't explain. Given Mayumi Aso's timid personality when facing him, she might have thought that he was making things difficult for her and was going to use the old book to criticize her.

Fortunately, the communication between the two was smooth. Mayumi Aso also realized that Kitagawa Hide was really doing it for her own good, so she stood aside and listened carefully, remembering every word he said in her heart.

"I think the main reason why the work is well-received but not popular is that the core idea of ​​Childhood Sweethearts is to criticize the feudal social system, but your style and writing method are too much romance and lack criticism, which makes the readers unhappy on both sides."

Kitagawa Hide took out the "Childhood Sweethearts" and handed it to her after taking out the analysis draft he had carefully written earlier.

“So when it’s serialized in a magazine, people don’t feel like they’re losing out because they can still read other novels, but once you publish a physical book, they’re not that interested in buying it.

This is the analysis I wrote after reading your book. It contains some specific reasons why I think physical books are not selling well. You can refer to it. "

"Thank you, Master." Mayumi Aso took the manuscript with both hands and found that the teacher's handwriting was much cleaner and more beautiful than before. She was shocked, but also moved by the thousands of words of analysis manuscript he wrote densely.

Master is now paid at least 2 yen per page of manuscript paper. This analysis manuscript has 10 pages in total, so it is worth at least 20 yen!

Moreover, if such a manuscript by a famous writer were to be auctioned, the price would at least triple or five times higher!
Mayumi Aso suddenly felt ashamed of the temper she had just had. She held the manuscript paper to her chest, looking touched and satisfied.

"If what I said is correct, then the new subject matter I chose for you this time should produce very good results."

Kitagawa Hide handed her another piece of paper with a simple plot outline and character design.

"This novel is tentatively titled "First Love". It's an idea that suddenly came to me during a nap. See if you want to write it."

Mayumi Aso and Shiro Dango were not famous writers in the original history.

Therefore, when tailoring new works for them, Kitagawa Hidetoku took both their abilities and writing styles into consideration, and tried his best to guide them towards famous artists and works.

After a few years, when their writing skills have improved to a certain level, there will be no need for hands-on teaching.

"Yes, I'll watch it now." Mayumi Aso nodded with emotion.

It turned out that the "other arrangements" that the master mentioned had even led to him drafting the plot outline and character settings for himself.

She had heard before that the disciples of famous literary figures all had a hard life and were usually only able to help their masters and run errands.

Some excessive masters will assign tasks to their disciples, and when the disciples complete the tasks, all the credit goes to the master.

Many female disciples like her would also be asked to "work under the pillow".

How can you find a master like Kitagawa Hide who really teaches his disciples how to write a book step by step?

She picked up the manuscript and immediately began to read it carefully.

The story of "First Love" is very simple. It tells the story of eighteen-year-old Yuko falling in love with someone for the first time in her life, but the other person is her twenty-four-year-old painting teacher.

The age gap ultimately did not become a problem that hindered their relationship.

A small miracle happened. The two people unknowingly walked closer and closer, got along better and better, and unexpectedly saw the fantastic scene at the same time - those elves wandering in the real world!
Kitagawa Hide roughly wrote the ending of the story.

Mayumi Aso particularly likes the ambiguous ending written by Hide Kitagawa.

The hero and heroine are neither separated due to melodramatic political correctness like in Japanese dramas, nor is the ending a happy one that is out of touch with reality.

Their separation, like their being together, is hazy and light.

This story, rather than being a first love story of an 18-year-old girl, is more like a sweet fragment worth cherishing in the girl's turbulent youth and an incredible fantasy adventure in her growth process. She likes this elegant and unique first love story from the bottom of her heart!
However, seeing that the heroine is 18 years old and the hero is 24 years old, the age difference between the two is exactly six years.

Mayumi Aso secretly glanced at Kitagawa Hide through the manuscript paper. She was thirty years old and her master was twenty-four.
Stop, stop, Mayumi, what are you thinking about!

She shook her head and quickly broke free from the inappropriate feelings.

Seeing her shaking her head, Kitagawa Hide thought she didn't like Yoshimoto Banana's novel, so he could only say with regret: "Don't you like this style? Then I will..."

"No, I like it! I like it very much! I like it!!!"

Mayumi Aso hurriedly explained, her words becoming a little incoherent.

Keigo Higashino and the other man who were not far away looked on curiously, wondering what the master was talking to the senior sister about that could make the usually gentle senior sister so excited.

"Really? I saw you shaking your head and thought you didn't like it." Kitagawa Hide breathed a sigh of relief.

His knowledge of Japanese women writers is really limited.

The reason why I helped Aso Mayumi choose Higuchi Ichiyo was because the two had similar aesthetic writing styles. The latter is also known as the "modern Murasaki Shikibu" and has both fame and strength.

However, the sales of "Childhood Sweethearts" after its publication were not outstanding.

Although Mayumi Aso is already very satisfied, Kitagawa Hide, who always strives for perfection, cannot accept that his eldest disciple's debut work only achieved such a low result. Recently, he has taken time and effort to help her find the reason.

After a few thoughts, he finally came to the conclusion I just mentioned, and then racked his brains to find a template that was more suitable for Mayumi Aso——

A best-selling female writer born after 00, whose real name is Masuko Yoshimoto and pen name is Banana Yoshimoto.

Banana Yoshimoto is known as the "Japanese Healing Queen" and is one of the leaders of contemporary Japanese literary world along with Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami.

Because Japanese female writers are rarely translated and promoted, not many people know her. In fact, her popularity around the world is not much less than that of Haruki Murakami.

If this proposal was rejected, Kitagawa Hide could only continue to search for the novels of the female writer in pain, because the person in front of him was his serious disciple and the backbone of the future "Kitagawa faction".

The two hit it off immediately, and Kitagawa Hide gave some simple guidance on how to write "First Love", but Mayumi Aso had to write the details herself, and he would make some revisions after the beginning was finished.

Mayumi Aso also happily returned to her seat with a pile of manuscripts.

The eldest sister was about to take a seat, and Keigo Higashino and the other man tactfully gave up the good seat in the middle - the Japanese's deeply rooted "seniors and juniors" mentality always unconsciously influences their daily activities in this way.

The three of them were very curious about what kind of novel their master would write, but unfortunately Kitagawa Hide didn't seem to have any intention of sharing his book with them, so they could only suppress their curiosity in their hearts.

What kind of novel can teach people how to punish juvenile offenders?

While they were pondering, Kitagawa Hide had already opened the document and typed the title of his new book at the top - "Confessions".

"Confessions" is the masterpiece of Kanae Minato, a well-known Japanese mystery writer.

This novel not only won the Naoki Prize, the Mystery Newcomer Award, the first place in the "Weekly Bunshun Mystery BEST 10", the Japan Bookstore Honya Award and other well-known awards, but was also the best-selling novel of 1 in Japan.

In an era dominated by the Internet and e-books, it has achieved an astonishing annual sales volume of over 340 million physical books!
At that time, a literary critic said that if this book could have been released about twenty years earlier, it might have achieved a terrifying annual sales volume of 500 million copies!
In addition, the movie of the same name adapted from the novel won four major awards at the 34th Japan Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing.

In its first year of release, it was named the Best Film at the 5th Asian Film Awards, became the box office champion of Japanese domestic film theaters for four consecutive times, and also represented Japan in the Oscars.

It can be said that in terms of sales and popularity, "Confessions" is not inferior to the well-known masterpieces of Murakami.

The only drawback is that "Confessions" is more inclined towards popular literature and does not have a high historical status in the literary world. And because of its best-seller nature, like the books of the great Murakami, it is generally not favored by people in the literary industry.

But this time it's different.

There is the "Drunken Rose Saint Fight" incident as a lead-in.

People in society are in urgent need of an outlet.

The country also needs a strong factor to promote the reform of the Juvenile Law.

With the right time, place and people, Kitagawa Hide felt that there was no book more suitable than "Confessions" to be published in the next issue of "Literature and Art".

While Kitagawa Hide and others were preparing the new book, a group of secret police led by Hikigaya Nako and Fujiwara Kei successfully broke into Shinichiro Tou's home.

After many twists and turns, with the support of a lot of manpower and material resources from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Hikigaya Nako finally locked down the true identity of "Drunkard Rose Saint" -

His name is Shinichiro Azuma, and he is a first-year junior high school student at Kokubunji National Junior High School!

(End of this chapter)