I am a literary giant in Japan

Keizo Obuchi, who was also working overtime at the Prime Minister's Office, was worried about the newly established New Democratic Party when he received a call from Nobutaka Machimura.

The New Democratic Party was formed in April 1998 by the four opposition parties: the former Democratic Party of Japan, the Minjoo Party, the New Party of Friendship and the United Party for Democratic Reform.

The New Democratic Party now holds 38 seats in the Senate and 93 seats in the House of Representatives, making it the largest opposition party in Japanese politics.

The so-called opposition party, also known as the "opposition party", is the non-ruling party in a two-party or multi-party system, as opposed to the ruling party.

Simply put, the New Democratic Party is the biggest enemy of the Liberal Democratic Party to which Keizo Obuchi belongs.

These people have nothing to do now, so they ride on the campaign buses every day and wander around the streets of Tokyo's 23 wards, saying nonsense like "The Obuchi Cabinet is not as good as the Hashimoto Cabinet", "Step down! Obuchi Keizo!", "If I were you, I would commit suicide to apologize" and so on.

The House of Representatives and the House of Councillors have always been a battleground for Japanese political parties. The upcoming House of Representatives reform election will, to some extent, directly affect his position as prime minister.

And now that bunch of New Democratic Party bastards are obsessed with the "tram & subway" issue, saying bluntly that if the empty treasury could be subsidized with profits from transportation fees, the government's life would not be so difficult.

If the government is not in trouble, the people under it will naturally not have to tighten their belts.

"These bastards didn't even mention that all the train companies are owned by the consortium!"

Keizo Obuchi was so angry with the New Democratic Party that he almost had a cerebral hemorrhage, but there was nothing he could do.

When he received an urgent call from Machimura Nobutaka, in which he heard that Mr. Kitagawa's new book had been finalized, he felt his cerebral hemorrhage suddenly recede, as if the blood had flowed back into his body.

"Divided into three parts? Book 1, 2, and 3? Do you only have Book 1?"

Keisuke Obuchi held the phone receiver and pondered for a moment before he sorted out all the information.

"Yes, Prime Minister. I think Mr. Kitagawa has only finished the outlines of the last two parts and has not officially started writing the book."

Machimura Nobutaka said it truthfully, and then mentioned the uncontrollability of the novel's plot.
"I think Kitagawa-sensei's preface and introduction are a bit too harsh, which reminds me of No Longer Human."

Anyone who has seen "No Longer Human" knows that at that time, the prototype of Ohba Yozo, Takuya Iwao, and his family died tragically, which directly forced out the strongest form of Kitagawa Sensei.

Takuya Yan'ai's suicide note is still kept in a Japanese museum.

Because of the death of their family, Aum Shinrikyo was completely destroyed, the main culprits were executed, and the "father" Tomiichi Murayama was forced to step down.

When Nobutaka Machimura mentioned "No Longer Human", he was hinting that Keizo Obuchi, who supported "1Q84", might end up like his "father".

Obuchi Keisan fell silent.

"But you also said that the influence of this novel is definitely enough, and the content is in line with our expectations, right?"

After a moment, Keisuke Obuchi asked again.

Machimura Nobutaka kept nodding his head: "The novel is definitely a good novel, not inferior to No Longer Human, and Mr. Kitagawa really did what we said, trying his best to use the novel to dispel people's fear of cults and let them regain their confidence in the subway."

"So I understand that as long as 1Q84 is officially published, the 'Tram & Subway' issue will be resolved in the direction we want, right?" Obuchi Keizo continued to ask.

Machimura Nobutaka paused, thought about it again and again, and finally gave his answer: "I think so."

"Okay, I understand. Let's do this, we will keep Mr. Kitagawa's original manuscript, but the official version will be released without the preface and introduction on the grounds that the content of the novel involves some privacy issues and cannot be fully released." Obuchi Keizo made a prompt decision.

Machimura Nobutaka's eyes lit up when he heard this. This is a good idea!
In fact, the most problematic parts are the preface and foreword, which are highly directional and full of personal emotions.

If these are removed, "1Q84" will be more in line with official requirements.

However, he soon thought of Noma Sawako, who had tried to distort Teacher Kitagawa's will and eventually died tragically in prison.

Mr. Kitagawa is a person who likes to stick to the end.

Don't be fooled by his usually amiable appearance, which does not look like the number one figure in Japanese literary world. In critical moments, he is more ferocious and terrifying than anyone else!
"Should we inform Mr. Kitagawa about this first?" Machimura Nobutaka felt overwhelmed.

There are people on both sides who are not to be trifled with.

One is the top national teacher, who can be said to have been a "helper" to him and is the best in the Japanese literary world.

One is his immediate superior, the Prime Minister, who can crush him at any moment.

"Of course! This is basic respect for Mr. Kitagawa! What I mean is that we can publish the official version published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the complete version published by Kawaide Shobo."

Keizo Obuchi is not the ungrateful Ryutaro Hashimoto, nor is he one of those idiots with right-wing tendencies in his head.

Teacher Beichuan is his lucky star. Who would have nothing to do and give away his lucky star to someone else?

As for the issue of dealing with the remnants of the cult mentioned in the novel, we can just pass the blame to other departments when the time comes.

The top priority is to revive the unprofitable subway!
"Yes! I understand what you mean! I will inform Mr. Kitagawa right away!"

Machimura Nobutaka on the other end of the phone breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, I don’t have to make such a difficult choice as “Prime Minister OR Kitagawa”.

After hanging up the phone, he asked his secretary to contact Mr. Kitagawa as quickly as possible and tell him exactly what the Prime Minister meant.

At this time, Kitagawa Hide was still writing furiously, laying out various settings for BOOK 1 of "84Q2".

I don’t know whether it is to make money or to dominate the long-novel market, but Murakami Haruki’s later novels are getting longer and longer. It is hard to say whether the quality has improved, but the number of words has increased significantly.

As a result, Kitagawa Hide, who had not written a long novel for a long time, experienced the feeling of back pain again.

However, "1Q84" should be the last time he fleeces Haruki Murakami.

It is hard to describe the works of the great writer Murakami afterwards. In short, if they were put into the Japanese literary world, not only would he be ruined in fame, but people would definitely say that he had "run out of talent".

With the thought of bidding farewell to Haruki Murakami forever, Kitagawa Hidefumi took copying "1Q84" much more seriously.

What's more, this book also carries another mission——

It will trigger a wave of public opinion and crush those Aum Shinrikyo fanatics in prison!

He really couldn't accept the bloody reality that the victims were attacked by various "secondary disasters" while the perpetrators were living a good life in prison.

When Kitagawa Hide heard Machimura Nobutaka say that he was going to release a castrated official version, his first reaction was to refuse.

This is obviously double-standard behavior of the authorities who want benefits but don't want to take the blame.

That’s right, whether it is the current Obuchi Cabinet or the Minister of Education Nobutaka Machimura, who has always maintained close contact with him, to some extent, they are his official backers and helpers.

But being on the same front does not mean being on the same side.

You want to use me as a gun, but I'm sorry I can't do that.

However, Machimura Nobutaka quickly added: "We will strongly support Kawaide Shobo to publish the complete version of "1Q84". We also ask Mr. Kitagawa to understand our difficulties! Please!" His attitude was very sincere, and Obuchi Keizo's sincerity was also sufficient -

All proceeds from the official version of the Ministry of Education will be used to support all victims of the "Tokyo Subway Sarin Gas Incident";

All the profits from the complete version of Heide Shobo belong to them. The official company does not take a penny and is willing to spend a lot of money to help with publicity and promotion.

The most important thing is that the official will firmly stand on Kitakawa Hide and others in this confrontation between "Wenyi" and "Xinwenxiang".

On the other side is a consortium led by Mitsubishi and Sumitomo.

The sacrifice made by Keizo Obuchi in this wave is not small.

Beichuan Xiu has always been a person who will give you ten feet in return if you give me an inch.

Since the authorities are just trying to maintain balance, he only asks that the existence of the full version not be concealed from readers, and that the fuse not be deliberately diverted in other directions.

Machimura Nobutaka, who successfully convinced Mr. Kitagawa, breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes it is really difficult to be caught in the middle.

As for Aum Shinrikyo, it is mainly the New Democratic Party that supports it. The brain-dead members of the Senate and the House of Representatives insist on learning the stupid theories of the "white left", saying that cult members also have personal dignity.

This is why the subsequent ending of this matter was so weak.

"So this is the truth of the matter." Kitagawa Hide suddenly realized.

No wonder a bunch of bastards are living so comfortably in prison.

It turns out there is a traitor among us!
The dispute between the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Democratic Party continued until after the millennium. For the sake of power, they actually did not treat the people as human beings.

It’s just that in general the ruling party is more like an individual, while the opposition party is not like an individual at all.

No matter what, Kitagawa Hide is extremely disgusted by this chaos in the political arena.

Since the New Democratic Party members are so fond of "white left" thinking, he does have a "good work" to satirize them.

If you are unkind, don't blame me for being unjust!
I'm going to take the lives of these remaining remnants of this evil cult!
Even Jesus cannot be stopped!

I said!
"That's true. I hope Mr. Kitagawa can understand our predicament." Machimura Nobutaka now just wants to leave this damn place, the Ministry of Education, as soon as possible.

"Then I'll leave the publication of "1Q84" in your hands." Kitagawa Hide hung up the phone and casually typed a new string of characters "Utoya July 7" on the notepad.

1998 12 Month 15 Day.

"Flowers of Hell", a work on which Nagai Kazukaze risked his career, was officially published in the December issue of "Shinbun-sang".

He said this was his final work, so naturally the traffic was huge.

Early in the morning, many readers who came here to read the book formed a long queue outside the bookstore, waiting for the bookstore to open so that they could buy a copy of "New Literary Image" to see what was going on.

Most readers are not aware of the struggle between the new and old factions in Japanese literary circles.

However, bookstores that have relatively close ties with the industry smelled a business opportunity and directly hung huge posters of "Kitagawa Hide VS Nagai Kazufu" at their gates.

Mr. Kitagawa’s new work “1Q84” already has a cover, but the information about the novel is being suppressed so tightly that no one can find out any useful information at all.

They only knew that the novel would be officially published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and it obviously had an official endorsement.

This is a very rare sight in Japanese literary circles.

Moreover, the official did come out today to confirm this matter, and clearly expressed its own position and views in the battle between the two industry giants, Kawade Shobo and Shinbunxiang Publishing House.

The two major conglomerates were not to be outdone. They hired a large number of internet trolls and used the inexplicable title of the book "1Q84" as an entry point to criticize Kitagawa Hide for his lack of talent.

In terms of public opinion, Kitagawa Entertainment, which had been well prepared, has already won over the entire literary criticism circle with the help of Tetsutaro Mori.

The water army, which had no trolling ability, was defeated when they met the king of trolls, Mori Tetsutaro.

This is not over yet.

Since becoming a member of Kitagawa Entertainment, Tetsutarou Mori's life seems to have a new impetus.

He wanted to completely seize the commanding heights of public opinion for Mr. Beichuan.

Therefore, shortly after his marriage, he went to consult Professor Shi Zhu Neizhi, a living figure in the troll world, and after learning new trolling skills, he returned to the public opinion circle and started the mode of debating with many scholars.

So before "1Q84" was officially launched, these "irrelevant people" were already busy with it.

On December 12th, Kitagawa Hideya walked out of the house for the first time. After covering his handsome face with a scarf, he ran to the newsstand and asked for a copy of "New Literary Image". He wanted to see what was so great about "Flowers of Hell", his final work.

This should be the first time he seriously read a competitor's novel.

When he returned home, the sharp-tongued woman, Jabami Rei, came again to eat, drink and get free food from Kitagawa Toru.

Seeing him approaching with a copy of New Literature, Jaburi stretched Kitagawa Toru's face and asked with a smile, "Kitagawa, are you free on the 25th?"

"Huh? Are you talking about Christmas?" Kitagawa Hide doesn't celebrate holidays very much, but considering Yumeko's experience, he still does some ceremonial things for such large festivals.

"Yes." Jaburi Rei nodded guiltily, "It was on Christmas Day."

"You're definitely busy." Kitagawa Hide looked at her, then at Yumeko who was busy in the kitchen, "I should spend some time alone with Yumeko. Oh, if you want to help take care of Archer and Xiaolu, that's no problem."

"You don't treat me as an outsider at all!"

Jaburi rolled her eyes at him, then moved closer, lowering her posture for the first time and said,

"You and Yumeko have plenty of time to celebrate the holidays anyway, so why don't you accompany me to the orphanage on Christmas?"

"Orphanage? Are you talking about the one in Nerima District?" Kitagawa Hideichi slapped his head and remembered that he had promised the sharp-tongued woman that he would help her solve the problem of the charity school for the deaf and mute.

But after returning from Stockholm, he was so busy writing "1Q84" that he never had time to visit those deaf and mute people.

"Yes. I, I told the kids there that I would give them a Christmas surprise."

Jabami Rei was shy for once.

It turns out that the boasting that has been made cannot be taken back.

Beichuan Xiu rolled his eyes at her in response. I guess your surprise is me! (End of this chapter)