I am a literary giant in Japan

"This kid Beichuan finally did a good thing for the literary world."

Looking at the book "Kitagawa" that Kimura Keiko had just sent, Takeuchi Osamu, who was sitting at the desk, snorted coldly, said something that was apparently derogatory but actually praised, and then opened it and went directly to the page "Children in the Dark".
"I want to see what kind of pure literary novels need to be specially classified and readers are treated differently."

Keiko Kimura had not read Children in the Dark yet. Hearing her old friend still being stubborn, she chuckled and opened a copy of Kitagawa, also casting her eyes on the main text of the novel.

"How cruel and brutal can the harm to children be?
Some of the bestiality that humans commit is beyond our imagination.”

The first sentence of the article instantly caught the attention of Takeuchi Osamu and Kimura Keiko.

Since "Hear the Wind Sing", in their eyes, Kitagawa Hide seems to have gradually abandoned the writing style of having a climax at the beginning, and turned to the realm of "the heavy sword has no edge, and the great skill is not elaborate".

Takeuchi Osamu and Kimura Keiko could not tell which of these two writing styles was better.

Because in the Japanese literary world before Kitagawa Hide appeared, all writers advocated complicated, Westernized, and obscure writing techniques. They did not use the fast-paced, eye-catching writing style of giving a hot spot at the beginning, nor did they use the long-term writing style of pursuing simplicity and persistence.

So when they saw Kitagawa Hide use the "gimmick-style" opening again in "Children in the Dark", they were both stunned.

"There's nothing wrong with that. Novels of this genre tend to focus more on the impact and inspiration on real society. The easier it is to grab readers at the beginning, the greater the subsequent influence will be.

That’s what I said, it’s really a bit worrying.”

Keiko Kimura and her husband have lived abroad for many years and are relatively more adaptable to new things. She does not reject Kitagawa Hide's writing style.

Takeuchi Osamu did not respond, but continued to concentrate on reading the book and watching the plot.

Before Kitagawa Hide published his book, the plot of the novel was also a part that Japanese writers liked to ignore.

They prefer preaching and so-called literary profundity, and don't like to write the plot too straightforwardly, because it will seem cheap and unclassy.

But starting from the "Youth Trilogy", countless Japanese writers and critics have gradually begun to pay attention to the plot content of the novel.

When reading books nowadays, Takeuchi Osamu often chews over the small plots in the novels over and over again, thinking about the author's deep meaning and ideas.

His age no longer supports him to continue his high-intensity creation. As the Dean of the Faculty of Literature at the University of Tokyo, Takeuchi Osamu now specializes in literary criticism and literary theory research, and vows to create something systematic for future generations.

But the plot of the novel "Children in the Dark" is too depressing and too dark!

Takeuchi Osamu, who watched every word carefully, felt like he couldn't breathe and was extremely short of oxygen!
The novel begins with Hiroyuki Nanbu, a reporter from the Bangkok branch of a fictional Japanese news agency, learning from his colleagues at the head office that a large number of sick Japanese children have been coming to Thailand for illegal organ transplants.

Without exception, all of these sick children come from the upper class and powerful families, and they are in urgent need of organ transplants, but domestic hospitals are unable to meet their needs.

At the same time, while batch after batch of the "second generation" were rescued in Bangkok, Thailand, in unknown corners and remote areas, batch after batch of children of the same age suffering from various disabilities disappeared quietly and were never found again.

Due to the special nature of his work, Nanbu Haoxing has come into contact with many disabled children, especially those whose organs are relatively normal but whose defects are deafness and muteness.

In Yamanashi Prefecture, where he works, it seems that several such children disappear every month.

This made Nanbu Haoxing even more suspicious and worried.

Nanbu then secretly launched an investigation and commissioned a former organ transplant intermediary to help collect information. In the end, he was shocked to find that this was an unimaginable transnational criminal interest chain!
Some of the children whose organs were removed alive were from Japan, some were native Thais, and some were secretly trafficked from other countries!
During the investigation, Nanbu met Keiko Otowa (a fictional character based on Jabami Rei), a Japanese female college student who was interning at the "House of Love", a social welfare center in Bangkok. It turned out that the children here also faced a cruel fate.

The two discovered that the so-called welfare center was actually the same as the Ci Ai School for the Deaf and Mute controlled by the Ci Ai Group. It was just a living storage point for rich people to store "organs".

Moreover, the children here are even more miserable than those in the Charity School for the Deaf and Dumb. Not only do they have to suffer the pain of having their organs removed, but they are also forced to become prostitutes for profit.

In this place shrouded in darkness, the innocent children have no hope, no future, nothing.

When Nanbu and Otowa realized that their opponents were transnational criminal groups, and that their enemies were not only bad guys, but also the so-called good guys, they were on the verge of collapse.
"Despair! This is too hopeless!" Takeuchi Osamu's hands were trembling. He felt that every page he turned was a test of his ability to endure.

Keiko Kimura was not much better. As a woman, she had a natural maternal instinct towards children. When she thought about how her own children and grandchildren would be treated like this, she became angry.

"These things couldn't have really happened, right?" Keiko Kimura looked at Takeuchi Osamu.

Given The Crucible's past, she found it hard to believe that Children in the Dark was pure fiction.

But if these things are true, then those children who have been reborn through organ transplants, those children whose organs have been innocently removed, those children who are still alive but are no different from being dead.
What will happen to their future life?

In addition to this, will all the people involved in this chain of interests be brought to justice?

Or is it just like the Aum Shinrikyo, where as long as there is no top figure like Kitagawa Hide to expose and fight to the death, they can continue to get away with it?

Neither Keiko Kimura nor Osamu Takeuchi, who are nearly 70 years old, could give a clear answer.

This book, Children in the Dark, is really too heavy.

In order to ensure the integrity and readability of the novel, Kitagawa Hide directly released all the chapters this time.

Therefore, even if the two wanted to take a break before watching, or find an excuse to slow down, it was impossible.

After all, no one can resist the temptation of a novel that is right there for you to read, just like everyone knows that spoilers are bad, but still can't help but listen to others spoilers and then curse after it's over.

The two continued to read the novel.

Fortunately, Kitagawa Hide did not carry on with the dark content in the story.

Thanks to the continuous efforts of Nanbu and Otowa, local governments and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to actively respond to such incidents and dispatched police forces to investigate domestic and foreign forces related to these trafficking cases.

But water far away cannot save the fire near.

More illegal transplants will continue to happen.

And even if they try to stop it, they may not be able to do it effectively.

The criminal gang prepared a lot of children as backup for each operation.

Their clients have plenty of money and power, and they don't care how much it costs. They only care about whether their children can be saved through surgery.

[They had been prepared. No matter if someone tried to stop them or if someone was killed, once the operation was decided, it would not change.]

Nanbu and Otowa hired a local photographer to follow and film the surgical transaction process.

They went to the hospital to scout the situation and were discovered by Dr. Cha Huali.

The two were then blocked in an alley by criminals (including a policeman) and threatened with guns to stop.

Meanwhile, several other members of the welfare center "Home of Love" are preparing to work with the Narcotics Investigation Division to uncover the issue of children being forced into prostitution.

Unexpectedly, they were betrayed due to a mole in the police force.

One of the staff members, who was familiar with them in the south, was shot dead by gangsters in the dark night.

After trying again and again and failing again and again, Takeuchi Osamu and the other person who were reading the novel had their palms full of sweat.

How many times do we have to try before we get good results?

Or is this story a complete tragedy?

Takeuchi Osamu couldn't wait to turn to the last page of the novel to see what the ending was!

He resisted the urge and forced himself to continue reading.

And in the brightly lit Capitol building.

House of Representatives Speaker Machimura Nobutaka and Health Minister Kan Naoto also watched "Children of the Dark" together. After a series of failures, someone in the Nanbu team finally couldn't bear it anymore.

The ending of the novel is neither a very hopeless and tragic ending nor the happy and victorious ending that everyone expects.

Mr. Kitagawa didn't even explain whether Nanbu Hiroyuki and Otowa Keiko's actions were successful.

He also did not write about the final fate of any characters in his novels.

The last paragraph of the novel focuses on the conversation between the Thai informant in the south and the two people in the south.

The Thai informant in the south cried and said to them over the phone: "Please take me to Japan in the future! It's too cruel, too painful, and too much like hell!"

Nanbu smiled miserably and replied, "I'm not going anywhere, because Japan is also hell, exactly the same hell as here."

The novel ends here.

“Japan is also hell.”

"hiss--"

Naoto Kan and Nobutaka Machimura, who had finished reading the novel at the same time, looked at each other and finally understood why Mr. Kitagawa insisted on grading this issue of "Kitagawa".

And it’s R20, not R18 as everyone thinks!

Such content, such a novel, and such an ending are indeed not something that minors and ordinary readers can bear!
If The Crucible is like cutting flesh with a blunt knife, then Children in the Dark is like chopping off the head.

With one cut, blood and flesh splattered, bones and flesh were separated, the pain was only a moment, but it will never be forgotten!

Before the epilogue of the novel, Mr. Kitagawa wrote a poem similar to lyrics.

This is the poem he wrote again under the name of Kitagawa Hideyuki after his identity as the haiku master of the University of Tokyo was revealed.

The two people, who are familiar with various haikus of Kitagawa Hide, like this ending poem very much and hope that a singer can sing it.

The name of this poem is "Modern Tokyo Tales", which is somewhat inclined towards modern poetry.

Modern Tokyo Tales

Creator: Kitagawa Hide
The flock of sheep don't know where to go
Wandering in the dark night of the city

Just try to protect yourself
On the day when the spring flowers faded indifferently
Also turned his back

Abandoning the wounded and leaving
Standing in the city lights
The undead soul full of desire
The smiling wolf is waving

I'm used to being tamed

Can't even stand up on my own

The river is watching all this mercilessly

So lonely so lonely
Makeup for the dead soul

"Don't go!"

Calling for the unforgettable face

Reliving the joy of love again
Wet cheeks

A line of hot tears

On a journey without a destination
People are exhausted
Falling into a trap of your own making

If childhood dreams are all illusions
Then why tell me

There is light and darkness in the world
Watching the sunset sinking down the stairs
"Depression and inaction are destined"

It's so easy to say this

Tell your true feelings to the children born into this world

Echoing in my heart
It is my mother's precious Chinese language
So lonely so lonely
Makeup for the dead soul

"Don't go!"

Calling for the unforgettable face

Reliving the joy of love again
Burning this life

Tears as red as blood
"This novel will probably be recorded in the history of Japan in various senses."

Machimura Nobutaka stared at "Modern Tokyo Tales" and said this to Naoto Kan while murmuring the poem over and over in his heart.

“Simply put, it will appear in domestic history textbooks. And it may be the first chapter of the 1999 era.”

Naoto Kan agreed with this deeply, and then his body began to tremble.

Can the New Democratic Party really withstand such an attack?

He has yet to read Evander Johnson's Dark City.

But he could not imagine any dark novel that could be better than "Children in the Dark".

"Naoto-kun." It was the first time that Machimura Nobutaka called his name.

Kan Naoto came out of his shock and turned to look at him.

"I have decided to support the film adaptation of Children of the Dark in the name of Congress, and in the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I call on big names in the entertainment industry to actively participate in it."

Nobutaka Machimura wanted to make this movie on a similar scale to the next door "The Great Construction".

He felt that the Ci Ai Group would be 100% unable to withstand this kind of attack, and estimated that in a few days, "The Crucible" + "Children of the Dark" would be enough to overthrow Seiji Maehara's faction.

Since it is a foreseeable victory, as a politician and a qualified speculator, he has to put all his chips on it!
Naoto Kan was a little hesitant.

This is tantamount to completely mindless support for Mr. Kitagawa.

The situation is not very clear at the moment. After all, Evint Johnson's reputation is there, and no one dares to say that Mr. Kitagawa will win.

But he also understands.

If we wait until Mr. Kitagawa really wins a great victory, there will be no point in adding icing on the cake.

Politicians are a lot like gamblers.

He had to make a decision.

And the faster, the better.

"I'll follow this one!" Naoto Kan gritted his teeth and said! (End of this chapter)