I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 254 I want to become a great writer like Mr. Kitagawa!
Takeda Tsunekazu never thought that Kawaide Shizuko, who is also a capitalist, would actually accompany the madman Kitagawa Hide to make trouble!

As an authoritative literary award with a history of more than 30 years, the value of the Tanizaki Prize is self-evident. If a literary work can be selected for the Tanizaki Prize, the relevant writers and publishing houses will also rise in status, or even soar to the sky.

Even though Kitagawa Hide is the "best in the world" and Kawaide Shobo is the hottest publishing house at the moment, the bonus from the Tanizaki Prize is still extremely high for them.

Yes, that's right.

The first time was when he tricked Kitagawa Hide and deliberately did not give the award to him.

The second time, he was also unwilling to give in. He would rather lose the award than let his arch-enemy prosper.

But there are always exceptions!
It's not like I won't give you Tanizaki for the rest of my life. I invited you the third time and offered you such generous conditions. Any conflicts before should be put behind us, right?
If you behave and act like this, aren't you worried that you will have no friends in the industry in the future?
Takeda Tsunekazu was very angry, but he could do nothing about Kitagawa Hide.

The reality now is that Hide Kitagawa can do without the Tanizaki Prize, but this time the Tanizaki Prize cannot be without Hide Kitagawa.

So no matter how reluctant he was, no matter how arrogant Kitagawa Hide and the others were, he had to continue to invite them and give it a try.

He just couldn't understand it. With such good conditions on offer and him being humble enough, it was clearly a win-win situation. Why did the other party insist on making trouble and coming up with new tricks to disgust him?
Although they were very angry, Takeda Tsunekazu and his son were unable to stop Kitagawa Hide from attending the Tanizaki Prize ceremony, so they could only look for people in the literary world to act as lobbyists.

The people who were called were well aware of the grudges between the two sides, and no one wanted to get involved in the fight between them.

Therefore, most people would find excuses to decline, or if they really couldn't do it, they would just go ahead and do it perfunctorily. No one would be stupid enough to go and offend Kitagawa Hide just for the Tanizaki Award.

Another week passed like this.

Oricon also took the opportunity to announce the sales data of the December 1996 issue of "Wen Yi" on the first day of publication, and estimated its monthly sales.

Because this is about the most important historical record of Japanese literature, this time Oricon did not use their own reference data, but directly asked Kawaide Shobo for a set of real data.

Their own statistical data values ​​are on the high side, and everyone is happy to use them normally, but if they are used indiscriminately at this time, it will easily cause huge controversy, and no one dares to take the blame.

Under the instruction of Kawaide Shizuko, Kawaide Shobo was also arrogant and directly gave the real data of 36.51 copies, which was only 100 copies higher than the original "Devil's Tattoo".

This is similar to the arrogant behavior of following your opponent's bid every time at an auction, but each time your bid is only one cent higher than your opponent's.

This behavior is not very harmful, but it is extremely insulting. I am not afraid of trouble and I am telling you clearly that today I, Shizuko Kawaide, will stand up to Mr. Kitagawa. If you don't accept it, come and fight me!
Oricon is not sure whether Shizuko Kawaide is really that powerful or is deliberately using this hot topic to market its own company and Kitagawa Hide.

It doesn't matter anyway. It is just a third-party company that collects statistics and compiles lists. The more fiercely the two families quarrel, the happier it is.

Therefore, after receiving the data, Oricon did not make any modifications, but produced news reports and the latest list overnight, which appeared in a bunch of well-known newspapers the next morning.

12 month 25 day.

As soon as he read the latest morning edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun, the last glimmer of hope in Takeda Tsunekazu's heart was immediately shattered.

The first printing day sales volume was 36.51 copies!

Regardless of whether this data is true or false.

Kawade Shobo's attitude is very clear.

No matter whether you are Tanizaki Shang or Tanizaki Ichiro, they are unstoppable and don’t care about anyone else. They just fight and make trouble!

The slap fell.

Not only were Takeda Tsunekazu and the others stunned, but Shinchosha was also severely shocked. Momota Naoki, who had just signed the contract, and the entire editorial department suddenly lost all their spirit, as if they had wilted and had no motivation to resist.

It’s not that they don’t want to fight back against Kitagawa Hide, it’s just that “The Dancing Girl of Izu” is too popular.

To be honest, they think that the figure of 36.51 copies was deliberately lowered by Shizuko Kawaide in order to disgust people.

If we provide real sales data, it might break the 38 mark!

After all, judging by the speed at which "The Dancing Girl of Izu" spread fearlessly across all sectors of society, this figure is not difficult to achieve.

Nowadays, when people mention "The Dancing Girl of Izu" and Kitagawa Hide's short stories, the editors of Shinchosha sigh.

Kitagawa Hide and Kawaide Shobo are creating a history that is rare in a century. As part of this historical event, how can they not be excited?

But after the excitement, I felt sad that I was just a background in the historical record.

As the six short stories including "The Dancing Girl of Izu" continued to be popular, the judges of the Tanizaki Award completely shut down their microphones and left the group chat.

With only five days left until the award ceremony, they had to think about who to give the Tanizaki Prize to since there was no "The Dancing Girl of Izu"?

While the Tanizaki Award jury was still racking their brains to figure out how to solve this big problem, Kitagawa Hide was having a relaxing and leisurely time.

After making his attitude clear, he no longer paid attention to these disgusting things in the Japanese literary world, but continued to focus on the creation of the next six novels, striving to publish this collection of short stories before the nomination for the Nobel Prize next year.

The social response to "The Dancing Girl of Izu" far exceeded his imagination, and it felt even greater than the impact caused by the original work in the original history.

This made Kitagawa Hideya, who has always been strict with himself, a little proud.

In order to make his novel "The Dancing Girl of Izu" more in line with the Japan in this world, and to better present the real life of Izu City and the lower-class people to the public, he really spent a lot of effort writing this novel.

In order to ensure the authenticity of the story, Kitagawa Hide even asked Kaoru, the prototype of the heroine of the novel, to come and assist him in writing the book every day, striving to replicate the character's personality and the cultural customs of Izu one-to-one.

Now seeing a scene that is even more popular than when "No Longer Human" was first released, Kitagawa Hide suddenly feels that all the hardship and suffering of these days are worth it.

The sweetness after hard work is indeed especially delicious!

In addition, the third volume of "The Strange Bird Chronicle", The Bird Catcher, which was scheduled to be released on December 12, was also available in major bookstores on the morning of the same day.

Thanks to the good reputation accumulated from the first two books, plus Kitagawa Hide's golden name, as soon as "The Bird Catcher" was put on the shelves, countless readers rushed to the bookstores and cleared out the shelves of major bookstores in Tokyo!
At noon that day, in Class A, Grade 1, Shibuya High School, Shibuya District, Tokyo.

"Hey, bumpkin! Shall we go to the rooftop to have lunch together at noon?" Chihaya Ruri, the most popular, best-off and hottest girl in the class, suddenly walked to the last row, knocked hard on Kaoru's desk a few times, and asked rudely.

"Wow—"

The boys and girls who were still tidying up their desks were startled by the noise made by Chihaya Ruri. They all looked sideways with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

They began to wonder if they hadn't woken up yet.

The small group at the top of the class, headed by Chihaya Ruri, actually openly invited the bumpkin from Izu to eat lunch together?

Aren’t they always upset with Xunzi?

I heard that Chihaya Ruri often bullies Kaoruko in the bathroom!

Is this a new form of bullying?

Feeling the gazes coming from all directions, the shy Kaoru shrank her head. Her best friend Kyoko beside her immediately took a step forward. Even though she was very scared, she still resolutely stood between her friends and the "bully"!

Kyoko was the first and only friend Kaoru met after arriving at school. After a long time of contact, Kyoko became more and more sure that Kaoru was not a dirty bumpkin, but a kind-hearted girl who was just a little shy.

She would never let bullying happen to Kaoru!

But when she saw that the person opposite her was Chihaya Ruri, who was fearless and whose father was said to be the chairman of a large group, her legs went weak.

"What a hassle! Why don't we just eat here together?"

Seeing that Kaoru didn't react, Chihaya Ruri simply spread her legs, moved the stool in front of Kaoru's desk, sat down, and waved to the girls behind her.

The girls in her small group were stunned and a little confused about what this young lady was really thinking.

They don't mind bullying Kaoru to please Chihaya Ruri.

She's just a country girl, can she be eaten by others?

Chihaya Ruri is a rich lady with a fortune of over 10 billion yen!

If you can coax her into doing good, you will never have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of your life!

But this is a classroom after all, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, the girls still feel a little restrained and feel that this is a bit too much.

Just as they were hesitating, Chihaya Ruri waved her hand impatiently and said, "Why are you all standing there? Sit down and eat!"

"You too!" Chihaya Ruri glared at Kyoko and the other girl whose legs and feet had already gone weak, and motioned for them to sit down together.

"Oh, yes!" The girls were yelled at and immediately chattered as they moved stools and chairs around and sat around Kaoru's desk, making sure no one could get in or out.

It was a rare sight to see a large group of beautiful girls gathering in the classroom to eat lunch boxes. Many of them had originally wanted to go out to eat, but now they couldn't help but stay out of curiosity, eating their meals while secretly glancing at the situation here.

Miss Chihaya, you don't really want to bully that country girl in the classroom, do you?
Everyone had similar thoughts in their minds, and the looks they gave each other while eating were the same.

Chihaya Ruri didn't care about the gazes at all. She opened the lunch box which was filled with fragrance and rich ingredients, picked up a piece of tempura and put it to Kaoru's mouth.

"Try it, this is my chef's specialty, it tastes pretty good."

"Ah! Good! Thank you, Ruri-chan!" Kaoru finally came back from her daze, and with a "ah" she opened her mouth and bit the hot tempura directly into her mouth.
"Mmm, delicious. So hot!"

"Stupid country girl! Why did you swallow it all in one gulp? You are such a fool!"

Seeing her mouth full of lumps from being burned, Chihaya Ruri was both angry and amused. She picked up her own cup and poured her a cup of cold tea, then scolded her with a smile,
"Hurry up and drink some oolong tea to calm down!"

"Yeah! Xie Xie, Ruri-chan." Kaoru blushed and took a big sip of herbal tea shyly, and the burning sensation in her mouth finally eased.

At this time, the others on the side were already dumbfounded.

Especially Kyoko, she looked at the two of them with resentment on her face, and she was just about to pull Kaoru's arm and shake her head to question him like a shrew!

Liuli sauce?
Stupid country girl?
When did their relationship become so good?
Didn't Chihaya Ruri come over here to pick a fight and mock Kaoru-chan a week ago?
How come only a week has passed and their relationship suddenly seems to be better than mine and Kaoru-chan's?
Kaoru herself was a little confused about what was in the mind of Miss Chihaya Ruri.

She only remembered that "Literature and Art" was released a week ago. After she gave a copy to Liulijiang in the bookstore, Liulijiang started to ask her to take the subway to school together.

However, although the two often went to and from school together, Liuli-chan did not have much contact with her at school.

Perhaps in the eyes of other students, it was just that Liuli-chan's frequency of finding fault had decreased.

When did the relationship between me and Liuli-chan become so good?

Kaoru thought about it carefully.

It seemed like they went to a bookstore on the weekend, and the two exchanged their thoughts on literary creation. After talking about Mr. Kitagawa's new book, Liuli-chan gradually became more enthusiastic.

Since then, their relationship has been developing a bit like the relationship between him and Kyoko.

But even so, Kaoru could never have imagined that Ruri-chan would directly invite her to the rooftop to eat lunch together in the classroom.

Feeling all kinds of curious gazes around her, Kaoru was completely confused and didn't know what to do.

She comes from the countryside, and although sisters Aso and Yumeko have been teaching her the survival rules of Tokyo JKs by example these days, she still feels that she is not good at dealing with these things at all.

Now that things have come to this, let’s eat first!

Kaoru was embarrassed for a while, and suddenly recalled the words that Teacher Kitagawa often said. She immediately had a direction and buried her head in eating.

Through her interactions with Kaoruko, Chihaya Ruri has completely changed her opinion of her and truly regards this "country girl" as her friend.

She knew that this stupid country girl was very shy, and if she didn't take the initiative, she would probably never ask her to have dinner with her.

After thinking for a long time, Chihaya Ruri decided to put aside her reserve as a young lady and hang out with Kaoru and the others.

With two people taking the lead, the girls soon became lively and the awkward atmosphere was immediately swept away.

"Kaoru-chan, come and try the octopus balls my mom made, they're delicious!"

"Kaoru, do you like drinking milk? This is the milk produced by my ranch. Come and try it!"

"Kaoru Sauce"

Xunzi was overwhelmed by being surrounded by everyone, and suddenly she felt her heart filled with unprecedented happiness.

She was very fortunate to have met Mr. Kitagawa, and then was lucky enough to follow him to Tokyo and start a new life like never before.

".Kaoru-chan, what kind of job do you want to do in the future? I just want to be a stable housewife, with a husband who loves me and a cute son who stays with me every day~"

A girl's words interrupted Xunzi's thoughts.

She paused and looked at the others.

Japanese girls' expectations for the future are basically to marry a good husband and live a happy and fulfilling life.

She used to think so.

And such a life was an unattainable wishful thinking for her.

but now.

Kaoru glanced at Chihaya Ruri who was also looking at her curiously, and said to everyone with a big smile: "As for me, I want to be a great writer like Mr. Kitagawa!"

(End of this chapter)