I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 182 How can there be such an editor and writer?

This is a book that tells people how to punish juvenile offenders.

This is the new book by Mr. Hide Kitagawa.

This is the trump card that Kawaide Shobo uses to fight back against Japan's Ota.

The above three sentences were hung on banners outside many bookstores as the biggest publicity gimmick, thus attracting wave after wave of readers to stop and read.

"Border" and "Lost Paradise" in the first half of this year have made Kitagawa Hide gain popularity among passers-by.

To this day, many people, including readers of pure literature, may not know the names of a group of veteran "upper-class writers" such as Shintaro Ishihara and Natsuki Ikezawa, but if you ask them, they will definitely know Kitagawa Hide and can easily name several of his representative works.

Even the Metropolitan Police Department posted promotional posters for "Confessions" in the lobby of its headquarters, and Kitagawa Hide's national popularity has skyrocketed.

As a result, early in the morning of June 6, countless readers who were looking forward to the serialization of "Confessions" rushed to various bookstores to buy the "Literature and Art" supplement.

Every new book published by Hide Kitagawa gives readers enough surprises.

Therefore, although this time's "Confessions" looks mysterious and contains no information, it still became the most anticipated book by readers at the end of the first half of the year, no doubt about it!

9 o'clock in the morning.

Wearing a ladies' felt hat, Misa Ochiai quietly appeared in Jimbocho, Tokyo.

Jimbocho is the most famous second-hand book street in Tokyo, and now there are hundreds of bookstores of all sizes located here.

These bookstores have a rare quaint atmosphere, and nostalgic people can easily find the inaugural issues of "Idea" from 1990, "Life" and "Harper's Bazaar" from the 60s, and "Brutus" from the 80s.

These antique bookstores are now gradually starting to sell the most popular physical books and magazines.

Misa Ochiai walked into her favorite Tsutaya Bookstore.

This is an antique bookstore that specializes in serving the middle class. The reason why Tsutaya Bookstore is representative is not because of its unique architectural style, but because it truly realizes the "bookstore ecology".

For example, if you are reading a travel book and want to go somewhere, a designer will immediately arrange a customized itinerary for you at the counter next to you;

You are reading an outdoor book and want to go hiking. When you turn around, you see hiking bags and jackets on the shelf next to you.

It can be said that Tsutaya Bookstore is trying every means to empty the wallets of Japan's book-loving middle class.

You know their intentions, but with such meticulous service, you will only willingly take out ten thousand yen bills.

This is the charm of Tsutaya Bookstore.

Walking into the bookstore, Misa Ochiai quickly saw a book called "Literature" placed at the front of the display shelves made of pine wood and acrylic boards.

She wanted to reach out to take it, but was stopped by the polite male clerk beside her.

"Miss, if you want to buy "Literature and Art", please go to the independent booth over there. Thank you for your cooperation." The male clerk made a gesture of invitation.

Misa Ochiai was stunned. She had been to this bookstore many times. Aren't the books on the front shelf sample books for public sale?
As if sensing her confusion, the male clerk smiled again and said, "Sorry, this supplement to Literature and Art is a unique copy signed by Mr. Beichuan, with a message for our bookstore. You can enjoy it, but it is not for sale to the public."

Simply put, this is a collection only, not for sale!
Misa Ochiai, who has worked in the publishing industry for a long time, certainly knows that this kind of non-saleable item is not necessarily for sale, but the price is simply too high for most people to afford.

"Has Kawaide Shobo done this much for him?" Ochiai Misa was filled with emotion. As she walked towards the independent booth over there, she was thinking about Kitagawa Hide.

The first time she knew about this new writer was when he and her classmate Rena Saito left Kodansha and joined Kawaide Shobo.

That incident caused a sensation in the circle at that time.

Rena Saito was very famous when she was studying at the University of Tokyo. She was the typical good girl who was both good in character and academic performance and came from a poor family.

She rejected the "unspoken rules" of some teachers in the school and the "sponsorship" proposals of some industry leaders, and resolutely plunged into Kodansha based on her own abilities.

In her first year of work, Misa Ochiai was already deputy editor-in-chief of Nippon Ohta.

When she changed jobs the following year, Misa Ochiai was promoted to editor-in-chief.

At that time, people in the industry generally had a pessimistic view of Kitagawa Hide and his partner.

Unexpectedly, in just a year and a half, this duo became big names that could not be ignored in the history of Japanese literary world.

Misa Ochiai picked up a supplement to "Literature and Art" with mixed feelings.

She really wanted to see what the charm of Hide Kitagawa's new book was.

She wanted to know what kind of novel defeated "The Final Song", which she had worked so hard to publish.

Kitagawa Hide's writing ability is beyond doubt.

Misa Ochiai has read every book of his.

But "Confessions" is a completely new subject, and it is also said to use a completely new writing technique.

Will it fail in the light like "Jue Ge"?
She opened the "Literature and Art" supplement with a bit of gloom, expectation and curiosity.

The first line of words that caught my eye was written by Kitagawa Hide himself.

“I would like to use this book to commemorate Yamashita Ayaka and Tsuchi Jun who were brutally murdered by boy A.

I would also like to thank my editor, Ms. Reina Saito, for her various suggestions for revisions to this book.

Although the law protects you, I will not forgive you!"

The three rows of shocking words were not written in beautiful handwriting, but they pierced into Ochiai Misa's heart little by little like an ice cone.

She also hates Boy A.

But for the future of Ota, Japan and her own future, she made a different decision from Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena.

At this moment, I remembered the arrogance and disdain that boy A had shown towards me. He demanded that I not make any changes to his text and showed no respect for the editor during the conversation.

Compare Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena.

Ochiai Misato felt very ironic.

The last sentence was also mentioned by Hide Kitagawa in an interview program.

She still remembers that scene, the handsome teacher Beichuan's firm and cold eyes, which had charmed countless girls.

He once again wrote this sentence on the title page.

Maybe it was for the sake of gimmick.

But Misa Ochiai always felt that Mr. Kitagawa thought and said this from the bottom of his heart.

She couldn't wait to continue flipping through the magazine and read the first chapter.

"Even though I'm a teacher, it's impossible for me to only think about my students 24 hours a day." These words suddenly came out, leaving Misa Ochiai stunned.

This sounds like something a "teacher" would say.

So it’s a first-person novel, with the writer being a teacher?

But this statement is true, but when it is written so bluntly, doesn't Mr. Kitagawa worry about causing resentment among teachers?
She remembered that there was a "upper-class writer" who once wrote an anti-Buddhist novel.

Buddhism invaded Japan during the Heian period. At that time, the imperial family was gradually controlled by Buddhist believers, causing the native Shinto religion in Japan to become a vassal of Buddhism.

To this day, many Shinto gods are still misunderstood as mounts, disciples, etc. of a certain great Buddha.

Nowadays, the top leaders of Shintoism and Buddhism engage in verbal attacks on each other whenever they have time. They both claim that they are the orthodox native religion of Japan and that the other side's gods are the younger brothers of their own gods.

The Japanese government doesn't dare to get involved in this mess.

However, the "upper-class writer" who wrote the anti-Buddhist article suffered. He soon received a lawyer's letter from the Buddhist Association, and then was attacked in various ways. Finally, he had to apologize publicly and remove the book from the shelves.

It can be seen that even Japanese writers with high social status may not necessarily be treated well once they meet other professionals with similar status.

Teachers are precisely the people whom Japanese people respect the most.

She didn't care and continued reading.

The story slowly unfolds from the perspective of the protagonist, the female teacher Yuko Moriguchi.

At the beginning of the story, Yuko Moriguchi was letting her students drink milk while leisurely talking about her plan to resign.

What shocked Misa Ochiai was that the students in the story were obviously not the "good students" commonly seen in Japanese dramas and movies, and Yuko Moriguchi could hardly be called a good teacher.

She said frankly, "I became a teacher not because of a special opportunity like a mentor who changed my life, but because my original family was very poor.

My parents always nag that girls shouldn’t study, but I just like studying.

Besides, if I became a teacher, I wouldn’t have to pay back the scholarship from the Yuying Association. So I took the teacher qualification exam without hesitation.”

"This is too straightforward." Misa Ochiai found a seat and sat down. She was surprised to find that almost everyone around her was reading the "Literature and Art" supplement.

Not only do they watch, they also often discuss among themselves, but their voices are very soft and it is difficult to hear what they are saying unless you get close.

Probably to avoid spoiling the story for other readers.

As she thought about this, she became more interested in Kitagawa Hide's "Confessions".

She was a little curious about Yuko Moriguchi's simple and crude statement, as well as her unconcealed attitude towards students.

In almost all literary works, whenever teachers are mentioned, they are written in a touching and respectful way. They are like candles, burning their entire lives and everything they have just to illuminate the way for children.

Whenever all her previous teachers mentioned why they became teachers, the reason must be that they were "inspired by a certain mentor."

When she was young, she loved to hear such words and found them very useful.

After entering society, I slowly discovered that many things are completely different from what you heard.

More teachers are complaining about low salaries and hard work, or the reason they became teachers was like Yuko Moriguchi, simply for the money and to not have to pay back the scholarship from the Ikueikai.

These are real people and real society.

".There are also many teachers who think that if students give them nicknames or speak to them casually, it means that they are popular among students.

Because almost all the passionate teachers on TV are like this.

Have you ever realized this when watching campus dramas?

Whenever a conflict arises between a passionate teacher and a problem student, a deep relationship of trust is established.

When teaching, enthusiastic teachers also enthusiastically tell their students about their own experiences or the inner feelings of problem students. But do others really want to listen?

"Stop talking about these useless things and get back to class." If an honest student said this, the teacher would go on to say something like "The structure of the word '人' means supporting each other."

In the novel, what Yuko Moriguchi said to her students is like what Hide Kitagawa said to his readers.

What a treasonous act.

These are extremely treasonous truths that should not be written in novels and should not be revealed to the public.

Misa Ochiai was stunned.

No wonder Kitagawa Hideki said that this book had undergone many revisions by him and Saito Rena.

She fantasized for a moment, if she were Kitagawa Hide's editor, would she really agree to let someone who is already infinitely close to being a national-level writer write something so straightforward?

This might ruin his and my future!

Misa Ochiai thought about it for a long time and felt that she could never do such a thing.

But the fact is that Rena Saito still made Hideki Kitagawa write such a novel.

This shows that she has great trust in the writer under her.

The relationship between them is definitely not just that of an editor and a writer!

"But if they were lovers, it would be even more impossible for Saito to agree to Teacher Kitagawa doing this."

Misa Ochiai couldn't understand, and then she murmured a few words,
"Friend? Best friend? Trustworthy partner? This is too unbelievable."

She had also heard about Reina Saito's editing style.

Make friends with your writers.

It sounds like an outrageous idea.

An editor is an editor and an author is an author.

If this line is not drawn clearly, two people will definitely get hurt in the end.

Is there really anyone who does this?

Misa Ochiai continued reading in disbelief.

She now not only wants to know the follow-up of Kitagawa Hide's story, but also wants to unravel the relationship between the two people.

Because of the content of this book, she could not imagine the true thoughts and relationship between Saito Rena and Kitagawa Hide.

How can there be such editors and writers?
(End of this chapter)