I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 246 Writing should start from oneself (two in one)

With a feeling of trepidation yet great anticipation, Kaoru, carrying her new schoolbag, arrived at Teacher Kitagawa's door under the smiling guidance of the service staff.

What a big house, what a beautiful building, it seems there is also a separate restaurant and swimming pool?
Kaoru was stunned. She didn't expect that Mr. Kitagawa's house was so luxurious!

When she was on tour in Izu, she also visited many villas and courtyards of wealthy people, but those places were nothing compared to the skyscrapers in Tokyo.

After the knock on the door, Mengzi opened the door with a smile and warmly welcomed the little sister into the house.

"The indoor shoes are in the shoe cabinet, so you don't need to wear disposable shoe covers. What would you like to drink, sister Kaoru? How about juice?"

Mengzi was wearing home clothes and did not go out today. She stayed at home with Kitagawa Hide who was stuck in writing, thinking about the plot and revising the novel.

"Ah, thank you, Sister Yumeko! Sorry to bother you!" Kaoru was a little at a loss, her face red, and she found that she seemed to have forgotten to buy even the souvenirs. In the end, she had to return the gift by bowing continuously.

Mengzi didn't care about this. She took her on a tour around the large flat, which deeply shocked the little girl.

"This house must be very expensive, Sister Mengzi." Kaoru's eyes were full of envy and longing.

After she went to Tokyo to study, she secretly made up her mind that she would get into a good university in the future, find a high-paying job, buy a house and a car in Tokyo one day, and let her mother and brother live a comfortable life.

I wonder what kind of university I need to get into to be able to afford such a beautiful big house?
It should be at least at the level of Kyoto University!
"It's not very expensive. I remember the total price was around 8 million yen." Mengzi tilted her head and said after thinking for a moment.

Today, her annual income easily exceeds 10 million yuan. If she saves money for a few years, she will be able to afford a large apartment like this.

If we talk about expensive houses, they have to be the detached luxury houses in Minato Ward and Chiyoda Ward. The real estate sales lady, Ito Hatsuyo, told her that several new luxury houses will be launched soon, with an average price of 25 billion yen each.

8 million yen!

Xunzi's brain was overloaded!
She remembered her brother had said before that in a month, he would be officially employed by the drama troupe and his monthly income would be around 30 yen, which would be 400 million yen a year including the year-end bonus!
If you spend 8 million yen, you will need to not eat or drink for 200 years to buy it!

"Sister Xunzi, you are here?"

Hearing the noise outside the door, Kitagawa Hide, with fluffy hair, yawned and walked out of the room in his pajamas.

During this period, in order to improve "The Dancing Girl of Izu", he stayed up late and worked overtime to revise the text, as if he had returned to the period when he was writing "Border" and "Paradise Lost".

After abandoning the stereotyped plagiarism model, Kitagawa Hide worked hard to improve his literary literacy while trying to strive for perfection.

This kind of writing is definitely painful and thankless compared to mindless plagiarism, but the improvement and spiritual pleasure it brings to him are sufficient.

As the youngest "No. 1 in the World", Kitagawa Hide hopes that he can live up to the readers' favor and deserve this title.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kitagawa!" Kaoru placed her hands on her belly, bowed and greeted him, and she admired him more and more in her heart.

Mr. Beichuan, who has already made so much money, is still working so hard!
This is the example I should learn from!
"Well. Come with me into the house. I'm sorry to bother you this time." Beichuan Xiu waved at her.

Kitagawa Hide had informed Yumeko in advance about asking Kaoru to come over to help write "The Dancing Girl of Izu" - Yumeko actually didn't care about these things at all, but since the two were about to get married, Kitagawa Hide felt that the proper respect should be shown.

"Yes, Mr. Kitagawa! Sorry to bother you!" Kaoru bowed to Yumeko beside her, then tiptoed back to the house with Kitagawa Hide.

"Then I'll go prepare dinner. Xiujun, Sister Xunzi, you guys go ahead and get busy~" Mengzi smiled sweetly and turned to walk towards the kitchen.

Kaoru walked into Kitagawa Hide's study, and the dazzling array of books on the bookshelf immediately dazzled her eyes.

Kitagawa Hide's workbench is a computer desk with a latest model personal computer on it. On the table is a cup of fragrant coffee with steam rising from it.

The wastebasket next to the computer desk was full of discarded manuscripts, which was just as she had imagined.

The only difference is that the entire study is clean and tidy, well-lit, and without a trace of smoke.

In Kaoru's imagination, great writers are always bent over their desks, writing furiously, with messy rooms and smoking pipes.

Oh yeah, one more thing.

The fat British shorthair blue cat Pete was fiddling with the ball of paper he had picked out of the wastebasket out of boredom. After seeing Kaoru, he suddenly lost his usual laziness and meowed, asking Kaoru to hug him.

Peter used to be the "cat girl" at "Peter Cat". As the source of the name of the cafe and the only mascot, he is deeply loved by a group of women including Mayumi Aso.

Later, Kitagawa Hide and his partner moved to Aoyama Building, and Mengzi brought it back with her, and this guy became unhappy.

Kitagawa Hide initially thought it was suffering from depression, but now seeing it smiling happily in Kaoru's arms, he immediately understood.

This damn fat cat is still not obedient even after being castrated!

Xunzi played with Pete for a while, then sat quietly on the small bench holding it.

Kitagawa Hide picked up the printed draft of the novel on the corner of the table and handed it to Kaoru: "Sister Kaoru, please take a look at this novel."

"Yes! I will read it carefully!" Xunzi quickly put down Pete, stood up, took the manuscript paper, bowed 90 degrees and said.

"Don't be so nervous. This is just the outline of the short story I want to write. There are still many areas that need to be improved." Kitagawa Hide waved his hand, "We can discuss it after you finish reading it."

"Yes!" Kaoru nodded heavily, returned to the small stool, and began to concentrate on reading Mr. Kitagawa's new novel.

When she heard Mr. Kitagawa say in Izu that he wanted to write a short story, she was full of anticipation.

When she saw that the novel was called "The Dancing Girl of Izu", she was slightly stunned, her eyes filled with disbelief.

The dancing girl from Izu?
The heroine's name is also Kaoru?

Xunzi's heart began to beat violently, but she suppressed her excitement and continued reading.

"The mountain road became winding and I was approaching Amagi Ridge. At this time, a sudden rainstorm covered the dense cedar forest with bright white light and swept towards me from the foot of the mountain."

The first sentence brought her an indescribable sense of beauty.

The style of this novel is different from Mr. Kitagawa’s previous novels.

This article "The Dancing Girl of Izu" is written in a light style, and every word is full of the beauty of words, which makes people involuntarily immersed in the beautiful scenery of Izu while reading it.

The story begins with the protagonist "I" meeting the dancer Kaoru from a touring artist troupe. The two slowly get to know each other as they travel together, and gradually feel the insurmountable gap brought about by the difference in their identities.

As she read, Xunzi's tears wet the manuscript paper.

"Oh no!" She quickly wiped her tears with her hands and handed over a snow-white wet towel.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kitagawa."

"It's okay. You're from Izu, and the heroine of this story is based on you. It's normal for you to express your feelings."

Kitagawa Hide felt that Kaoru must have been touched by the tragic life of the "Kaoru" in the story.

The "I" in the story does not have the financial resources and popularity like Kitagawa Hide. He can only watch the geisha aunt forbid "Kaoruko" and "I" to fall in love, and watch her figure slowly disappear as the ship leaves.

That is the most beautiful feeling of first love in adolescence, and it is also the painful history that everyone does not want to mention in their hearts.

Kaoru wiped away her tears, grasped the manuscript paper tightly with both hands, and frantically organized the words in her mind. But after thinking for a long time, she saw Kitagawa Hide looking at her with a serious expression, and she became even more anxious.

"I think it's very beautiful, Mr. Kitagawa!" Kaoru squeezed for a long time, but finally said this comment.

After saying this, her cheeks blushed and she lowered her head in silence.

I am so stupid.

At school, the communication with classmates and teachers is so smooth, and everyone says that I have become more cheerful and lively.

Why did I become an idiot who couldn't say anything in front of Mr. Kitagawa when I got here?

"Is it not bad?" Kitagawa Hide frowned slightly, a little unsure of the true level of "The Dancing Girl of Izu".

He had shown it to Yumeko before, and her response was similar to Kaoru's.

He estimated that if he showed it to Saito Rena and Kawaide Shizuko, they would probably get similar comments.

But he reviewed it many times and still felt that he failed to perfectly convey the hazy beauty of Yasunari Kawabata.

He now hopes to strive for excellence and present the best novel.

"Well! I think it looks very good! If you must point out any shortcomings." Xunzi was a little embarrassed to give advice.

She is just a little girl who has not received much education. If her nonsense affects Mr. Beichuan's judgment, it will be very bad!
"Oh? Tell me what you think the problem is." Beichuan Xiu suddenly became interested and moved a small stool to sit next to her.

"This is my personal opinion, Mr. Beichuan, just listen to it casually! Don't take it seriously!"

As Xunzi spoke, she picked up the manuscript paper and expressed some of the doubts in her mind.

She felt that the entire story and writing style of "The Dancing Girl of Izu" were excellent. At least as a reader, she had been deeply impressed.

The only flaw is that the "Kaoru" in the story looks too perfect and unreal to be a real person.

Another thing is that Kitagawa Hide has never actually been in a touring artist group, so many of the details are hearsay and not so true.

To her, a native of Izu, the customs and culture of Izu also seemed a bit "superficial".

Of course, these are all very minor issues, and some of them do not affect the reading experience of the novel at all.

But since Kitagawa Hide asked her so seriously, Kaoru also racked her brains to think about it.

"I see. I also think this character is too imaginary and unreal." When Kitagawa Hide read Kawabata Yasunari's original work, he could clearly feel that the dancer named "Kaoruko" was someone Kawabata Yasunari had actually met.

The details inside are very tense and interesting.

But after copying the text, he had to combine it with the situation of Izu in this world, and with the presence of another living "Kaoru" as a reference, he could not completely follow Kawabata Yasunari's settings.

After Kaoru's reminder, Kitagawa Hide immediately realized the core problem of his writer's block these days.

"Wait a moment." Kitagawa Hide stood up, rummaged through the bookshelf, then returned with a pen and paper.

"Sister Kaoru, now I'm asking you questions and you answer them. Could you please think carefully about these questions before answering me?" Kitagawa Hideyuki said, picking up a pen and paper like a reporter.

Xunzi nodded while holding the manuscript paper.

"Okay, the first question is, if you meet the protagonist 'I' in the book, would you develop feelings for such a boy?" asked Kitagawa Hide.

Kaoru was stunned for a moment and began to try hard to recall the plot of the novel. She thought for a long time, looked at Kitagawa Hide again, and then shook her head.

"Why?" Kitagawa Hideya was stunned.

"Because compared to him, I think Mr. Kitagawa is more in line with what I have in mind." Kaoru's voice became as thin as a mosquito's buzz.

"Me?" Kitagawa Hide paused the pen in his hand.

Xunzi blushed and waved her hands to explain: "No, no, no, Mr. Kitagawa, please don't misunderstand me, that's not what I meant!
What I mean is, if I were to put myself in Kaoru's shoes, then in my opinion, a young man like the protagonist would not actually attract me.

Because of you, Mr. Kitagawa, I don’t know how to explain it.”

"I understand. What you mean is that the character 'Xunzi' in the novel is based on you, so her emotions and thoughts are similar to yours. Similarly, you prefer people with my personality.

Or maybe because we are so familiar with each other, you feel that the protagonist lacks charm compared to me."

It sounded a bit narcissistic coming from Kitagawa Hide, but he felt that this was what Kaoru meant.

It is normal for a sixteen-year-old girl to be in love, but that is just the naive love at a certain age. When she grows up, matures, and has more experience, Kitagawa Hide will most likely just become a white moonlight in her memory.

Not that there is any real love.

Just like when we were kids we admired our older brothers and sisters.

"Well, it's probably something similar." Xunzi lowered her head again.

"In that case, the protagonist's personality should be modified." Kitagawa Hide had never thought about this issue before, but after thinking about it carefully, it was indeed the case.

The protagonist of the original novel is "Yasunari Kawabata", and the protagonist of this "The Dancing Girl of Izu" should naturally be "Kitagawa Hide".

Kitagawa Hide, who suddenly realized the situation, quickly got into the mood and asked other detailed questions.

His expression of pure literary communication and extreme concentration soon infected Xunzi.

Kaoru, who was a little shy in front of him, quickly came out of her messy emotions and followed him to think about how to improve the novel.

The two of them chatted back and forth like this, one sentence after another, and before they knew it, it was time for dinner.

"Boom boom boom——"

Mengzi knocked on the door and called them to come for dinner.

Hearing the voice, Kitagawa Hide stretched his back tiredly, put aside the densely written manuscript in his hand, stood up and smiled at Xunzi: "Thank you very much today, Sister Xunzi, let's go eat first!"

"Yes!" Kaoru also benefited a lot. After some communication, she vaguely saw a new and better "The Dancing Girl of Izu".

So this is what novel writing is like.

It turns out that immersing yourself in writing is so joyful.

Xunzi clenched her little fists gently, then loosened them and touched Pete's soft fur, making up her mind secretly.

In the future, I want to be admitted to the literature department of a famous university and become a novelist as good as Mr. Kitagawa!

Kitagawa Hide didn't know that this simple interview and exchange would leave an indelible mark on the little girl's heart.

With the help of Kaoru, "The Dancing Girl of Izu" finally took on the form he wanted, and then he began to rewrite and revise it.

He glanced at the calendar on the wall. There were still 18 days left.

I must finish writing half of this collection of short stories before the next issue of "Wenyi" is released!
(End of this chapter)