I am a literary giant in Japan

"A copy of the August issue of Literature, 8 yen."

The clerk held a copy of "Literature" in both hands and handed it to Hiroki Ryuichi with a warm smile on his face.

“So expensive.”

Hiroki Ryuichi looked at the 120 yen bill in his hand with a distressed look as it instantly turned into coins totaling yen, and lamented in his heart the high price of "Wenyi".

The average price of various magazines in Japan is about 450 yen, which is considered a relatively cheap consumer product for ordinary office workers with a monthly income of about 20 yen.

But for a freelancer like Hiroki Ryuichi who had difficulty making ends meet, spending 450 yen on a magazine was considered a luxury during the Great Depression.

The doubling of the price of Wen Yi is a bit hard to accept.

However, even though its price has doubled, Wenyi still firmly dominates the literary market, which shows its high quality and strong readership.

For practitioners in the entertainment industry, it is a reference material with great learning value.

Back in the old pickup truck, Hiroki Ryuichi tore off the transparent film and turned the "Wenyi" magazine to the page where "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" was serialized.

"Only five chapters in total? They actually finished all of them in one go.

This length is very suitable for film and television adaptation.”

Hiroki Takashi took a look at the catalog and was a little shocked.

Generally speaking, in order to prolong their vitality and make more money, this type of pure literary novel will be serialized in monthly magazines over the years.

For example, Mr. Kitagawa’s debut work, “Youth Trilogy”, has been serialized for almost half a year.

There are very few novels like "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" that are serialized in one go.

Of course, it may also be because the editorial department of "Wenyi" is well aware that Keigo Higashino's pure literature novel is poorly written, so they simply release it all at once to reap the readers' wallets, so as to avoid the bad book being serialized for a long time and damaging the magazine's own reputation.

These are all judgments made by Hiroki Ryuichi based on his intuition as a practitioner in the entertainment industry. The specific situation can only be clarified by reading the novel in depth.

Cutting off these flying thoughts, he refocused his attention on the magazine in his hand.

"Chapter 1: The Answer is in the Milk Box."

Guang Mu Longyi read it aloud, and from the chapter titles, he became more convinced that this book really had nothing to do with reasoning.

It seems that the dream of picking up a detective novel disguised as pure literature at a low price has completely been shattered.

Why is it that Mr. Kitagawa’s disciples are just like him, always liking to challenge things that could easily lead to their failures?

He curled his lips helplessly and continued reading.

At the beginning of the story, the old Crown car that the three thieves Atsuya, Shota, and Yukihira, who grew up together in the orphanage Marukouen, stole suddenly broke down.

In desperation, the three had to move into an abandoned grocery store and decided to spend the cold night there.

While searching the grocery store, the three unexpectedly saw a brand new letter in the milk box.

The letter was very thick and it looked like it had taken a long time to write, but there was neither a sender nor a recipient.

Dun also opened the envelope, and the three of them began to read.

The writer of the letter calls herself "Moon Rabbit". She is a girl and an Olympic candidate.

She called it her "first consultation".

In the letter, Moon Rabbit wrote that she had a boyfriend whom she loved deeply and who also loved her deeply.

In the process of becoming an Olympic candidate, she experienced countless hardships and pains. Without the support and company of her boyfriend, she would never have been able to get through it step by step.

She loves her boyfriend very much and hopes to successfully perform on the Olympic stage so that both of their wishes can come true.

But things did not go as planned. Half a year before the Olympics, her boyfriend was suddenly diagnosed with cancer, and there was almost no possibility of cure.

The doctor at the hospital told her privately that her boyfriend only had six months to live.

The Moon Rabbit was in great pain.

She wanted to give up training and spend the last six months accompanying her boyfriend.

But this would make it almost impossible for her to appear on the Olympic stage.

Her boyfriend strongly opposed this and asked her to devote herself to training and ignore his illness.

He told Moon Rabbit not to give up training, as it was his biggest dream for her to participate in the Olympics, so please don't take his dream away.

He also hid his illness from everyone around him.

Now Moon Rabbit feels like every day is a year long and is completely unable to calm down and devote himself to training.

If this goes on, she will neither be able to fulfill her boyfriend's dream nor be able to accompany him to the end.

"When I was worried, I happened to hear the rumors about the Namiyya Grocery Store from people around me.

I thought maybe Mr. Nagiya could provide me with some good advice, so I wrote this letter with a glimmer of hope.

I have enclosed a self-addressed envelope. Please help me! I am counting on you! "

The three thieves looked at each other, totally unsure of what to do.

Yukihira thought that maybe Moon Rabbit had sent the letter to the wrong address. This grocery store had been abandoned for a long time and was obviously not the one she wanted to send the letter to.

But Shota found the shabby sign and found that this was indeed the "Namiya Grocery Store".

Atsuya also said that he had just seen the news about this grocery store in a weekly magazine, and then he found the magazine from the shelf.

There is indeed a report in the weekly magazine titled "Highly acclaimed! A grocery store that relieves your worries."

The report states: “There is a grocery store that can solve any problem and is widely praised. That store is the Namiya Grocery Store in Tokyo.

I heard that if you drop a letter expressing your troubles into the mail slot on the iron door at night, you can get a reply in the milk box behind the store the next day."

"The grocery store owner, Namiya Yuji (72 years old), told the reporter with a smile: 'It started because I had a quarrel with the children in the neighborhood. They always mispronounced Namiya as trouble, and my billboard said that I was accepting orders from customers and those who were interested could send letters. So they asked me, in that case, can we ask you, Grandpa, to solve our troubles?
Of course I said yes, any troubles are fine.

I didn't expect that they would actually come to me to solve their troubles.

At first, they just talked about some small problems like not wanting to study, poor grades, etc., but I answered them very seriously.

Over time, they began to ask some serious questions.

For example, mom and dad always quarrel, they are very miserable, they are bullied at school, they want to commit suicide, etc.

Considering that things have become complicated, I can no longer give a casual answer like I did before.

So I asked them to write their questions on a letter and drop it into the mail slot on the rolling door.

That night, I would leave my reply in the milk box by the back door.

In this way, I protected their privacy and gave me some buffer time to think carefully.

I don’t know when it started, but gradually adults came to me for advice.

Although I feel like an ordinary old man like me can’t be of much help, I will still try my best to think and answer their questions.'"

When asked what worries him the most, Mr. Nagiya replied that it was worries related to love.

"To be honest, this is the question I'm least good at answering." Mr. Nagiya laughed, and this seemed to have become a trouble for him. After reading this, Hiroki Ryuichi smiled knowingly. This little story was unexpectedly interesting and warm.

When he was a child, he also fantasized about having a store that could listen to his troubles and help solve his problems.

Unfortunately, from childhood to adulthood, most "ordinary children" like him can only grow up painfully listening to the stories of "the kids next door".

In the novel, the three thieves discovered that the report was written forty years ago, but Mr. Nagiya had died long ago and the grocery store had been abandoned for a long time.

The three of them discussed the matter of the Moon Rabbit for a long time.

They felt it would be bad not to write back as the other party seemed quite anxious.

But they had different opinions on how to respond.

Dun also thought that people like them who were not up to the mark were not qualified to give any advice to Olympic candidates, as it would only mislead them.

Shota thinks that Moon Rabbit should spend more time with her boyfriend. After all, they still have a chance to participate after the Olympics, but her boyfriend only has half a year left to live.

However, Yukihira feels that the hard-earned competition is the most important. How many chances in life can one get to step onto such a big stage and show one's brilliance?

[Ms. Moon Rabbit.

After reading your letter, I know you've worked hard. I understand your worries and I have come up with a solution. When you go out for training and competitions, can you bring your boyfriend with you? Sorry, I can only think of this common method. 】

Finally, Yukihei and Shota wrote a short reply and put it in the milk box.

Dun also felt very disdainful of this and thought that they were doing something meaningless and ridiculous.

However, the moment after it was delivered, the letter disappeared!

What’s even more outrageous is that not long after, they inexplicably received a reply letter from Miss Moon Rabbit!

[Mr. Namiyya, thank you for your quick response.

After I put the letter into your mailbox last night, I spent the whole day wondering if I had caused you any trouble by asking such a vexing question. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I received your reply.

Mr. Nagiya, your question is normal. If possible, I would also like to take him with me to the expedition and training, but his current condition does not allow him to do so. He must receive good treatment in the hospital to prevent his condition from deteriorating rapidly.

There were no venues or equipment near the hospital where he lived that met my training standards.

I will be leaving for the next training camp soon, and I met him again today.

He said he hoped I could get good grades and not have to worry about his illness.

I nodded and said yes. I really wanted to tell him that I didn't want to go and I wanted to stay with him, but I tried my best to hold back because I knew he would be very sad if I said that.

I really hope that we can still see each other even if we are apart, and I often dream about having a video call like the ones in comics.

Mr. Namiya, thank you for sharing my worries. I feel relieved to be able to write to you and tell you all this.

I know I have to figure out a way to do this myself, but if you have a better way, please do let me know.

If you can't give me any better advice, please let me know and I won't bother you any more.

Anyway, I'll go check out the milk crates tomorrow, too.

I'm counting on you. 】

The three thieves and Hiroki Ryuichi who was reading a novel were all shocked.

"what happened?"

Hiroki Ryuichi couldn't help but let out a low cry.

In the novel, the three of them had put the letter in the milk box just five minutes ago, and then the letter disappeared instantly, and then a reply suddenly appeared.

Even if there really was a Miss Moon Rabbit writing the letter, it would have been too fast and too unbelievable.

Another point.

Miss Moon Rabbit mentioned in her reply that it would be nice to have a cell phone with video function.

In the world view of "The Convenience Store of Sorrow", Keigo Higashino, like his teacher Hide Kitagawa, adopted the "near future science fiction background".

That is, in the era when the trio of thieves lived, such mobile phones already existed.

"In other words, this reply letter is most likely from decades ago? Is this a time-space narrative trick? Is it a letter exchange across time and space?"

Ryuichi Hiroki reads a wide range of films and has a good understanding of Western movies and TV series.

Recently, TV dramas and movies that cross time and space have been popular in the West for a while, but in Japan, nothing similar has appeared yet.

The only works that seem to have a similar concept to this one are "The Strange-Bird Shape Chronicle" and "Killing Commendatore" by Kitagawa Sensei.

However, due to the sensitive subject matter of these two war literature works, it is impossible for them to be adapted into film and television dramas.

Hiroki Ryuichi felt like he had really "got a bargain" this time!

In the novel, the three thieves wrote back to Miss Moon Rabbit about the video phone, telling her that this type of phone is now available in all brands and can be bought anywhere.

Then, the moment they sent out the reply, the third letter arrived as expected.

In this reply, Miss Moon Rabbit expressed her confusion because she had never even heard of the word "mobile phone".

This also confirms Hiroki Ryuichi's conjecture.

Miss Moon Rabbit sent a letter from the past to the future
The trio of thieves also keenly noticed this.

It's just that they can't accept that such a ridiculous thing happened.

After a long discussion, the three decided to write letters again.

This time, they hope to find out which era Miss Moon Rabbit is from, so that it will be easier for them to take the next strategy.

The one in charge of writing the letter this time was Shota.

In the letter, he carefully asked Miss Moon Rabbit about her boyfriend's hobbies, favorite songs, favorite movies, etc.

Atsuya and the others didn't understand what he was doing, and Shota explained that after extracting this information, they would be able to find out which era Miss Moon Rabbit was in.

Soon, the three received a reply.

Miss Moon Rabbit mentioned that they had gone to see "Alien", "Rocky 2" and "Superman" together, all of which were released in 1979.

The three thieves were then convinced that Miss Moon Rabbit lived in 1979 and was a person of their parents' generation.

If nothing unexpected happens, she will participate in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

"But in 1980, Japan joined the boycott movement and did not participate in the Moscow Olympics."

Hiroki Ryuichi had the same reaction as the three thieves.

"Hiss - adding mystery elements to pure literary novels is such an interesting and innovative idea!
This book is bound to be a hit!
No, I can’t just sit there and wait for death!”

Hiroki Ryuichi closed the magazine.

It’s not too late to read the wonderful novel later. He has to hurry up and contact the copyright department of Kamiheide Bookstore! (End of this chapter)