I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 94: Jaburi Rei who only wants to fly to Mars (9 chapters to go)
1995年9月5日上午8点25分。

The University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus, Faculty of Literature Building No. 1, Main Building.

Principal Hiroyuki Yoshikawa was completely stunned as he looked at the celebrities from all walks of life walking towards him one after another.

This open class on literary appreciation was initiated by Professor Osamu Takeuchi of the Faculty of Literature, and the invited guest was Hide Kitagawa, winner of the 1995 Gunzo Newcomer Award.

The original plan was to have Kitagawa Hide replace Takeuchi Osamu to give a unique literature appreciation class to a certain grade of college students in the Department of Literature. It was just an internal exchange meeting between the Department of Literature and outside writers.

Later, after this plan was exposed, students from the four grades of the Faculty of Literature came to consult. They all wanted Hideki Kitagawa to teach them. After a long argument, Osamu Takeuchi submitted a new plan and let Hideki Kitagawa teach the entire Faculty of Literature.

When things got to this point, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa had not even been notified.

If the plan for outsiders to teach is not large in scale, it can be approved by the dean of the department.

Then, the head of the literature department, Shozo Uchida, blocked the project for a simple reason: the invited person had only a high school education and was a former security guard. His achievements in the literary world were not high, as he had only written four novels in total and was said to have been in the industry for only half a year.

However, the popularity of "No Longer Human" soon brought the project back to Shozo Uchida's desk.

Before he could reject it again, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa received a call from the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Office.

It was only then that he learned about this. In consideration of the face of the Prime Minister's cabinet, Yoshikawa Hiroyuki readily approved the plan and attached a condition from the cabinet, namely, that Kitagawa Hidejo change the course to an open class that anyone can attend.

On September 9, Kitagawa Hide was not selected for the Akutagawa Prize. Yoshikawa Hiroyuki had heard the news and was not surprised.

The Akutagawa Prize is of extremely high value, so it is normal for a new writer not to win it.

It was not until today that he suddenly realized that something was wrong!

I asked my female assistant to check it out and finally I found out the whole story.

This Kitagawa Hide is not one of the many new young writers out there!
The sales of "No Longer Human" exceeded 90 copies in the first month. I'm afraid the royalties from one book will exceed million!
Looking back at his previous experience, wow, it turns out that he is a talented new writer!
After Kitagawa Hide lost out on the Akutagawa Prize, more people rushed to the University of Tokyo today to attend this open class in order to catch a glimpse of this "loser".

In just a short period of time, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa met many literary giants, contemporary masters, and political and business elites.

Many people from chaebol families also came, mainly from media groups.

I heard that all three of Kitagawa Hide's novels were going to be adapted into film and television dramas, so many heads of film production companies and TV station production departments came to inquire about the situation.

The number of people coming to observe the lectures from outside is still increasing. The students, who are supposed to be the main group attending the lectures, have not arrived yet, but the large lecture hall in Building 1 that can accommodate hundreds of people is already packed.

"Principal Yoshikawa, people from the Prime Minister's cabinet are here." The female assistant came running over, her two long white legs under her hip skirt stepping on high heels, making a clicking sound.

"This..." Hiroyuki Yoshikawa looked at the large lecture hall. It was packed with people. It was estimated that the students who came after him would have to stand in the corridor to listen.

He didn't expect so many people from outside to come!
And it looks like the crowds are still coming.

"No, please ask the Prime Minister and his team to move to the Yasuda Auditorium. This place can't accommodate so many people."

Yoshikawa Hiroichi gritted his teeth and quickly issued an emergency order, asking the students and foreign guests who had already arrived to go to the most luxurious and largest Yasuda Auditorium at the University of Tokyo.

"This may lead to strong protests from the board of directors," the female assistant reminded in a low voice.

The Yasuda Auditorium is officially known as the Tokyo University Grand Auditorium. It has a total of 1144 seats and was donated by Zenjiro Yasuda, the founder of the Yasuda Foundation, in 1921. Even 30 years later, it is still a landmark building of the University of Tokyo.

The opening ceremony for freshmen at the University of Tokyo and the annual graduation ceremony are held here. Being able to give a speech here is equivalent to being invited by an entertainment star to participate in the annual Red and White Songs Contest (Japanese Spring Festival Gala).

"I can't care about so many things anymore. Just give the notice that Building No. 1 of the Faculty of Literature cannot accommodate so many people!" Hiroyuki Yoshikawa insisted with gritted teeth.

Just when they were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, Kitagawa Hide arrived late in Kawaide Shizuko's car.

As soon as they got off the bus, they received a notice that the venue of the open class had been changed to Yasuda Auditorium, and Kitagawa Hide had no choice but to go there.

He originally wanted to go to Building 1 of the Faculty of Literature to secretly meet the busy Agatsuma Yumeko, and then play a game of shogi with Takeuchi Osamu to warm up.

There was no other choice now, and he could only go directly to Yasuda Auditorium with Shizuko Kawaide and Rena Saito, surrounded by a group of bodyguards.

The three of them are alumni of the University of Tokyo and are very familiar with the place.

However, the Kitagawa Hide in this world had never studied at the University of Tokyo, so he could only act surprised and astonished, so as not to appear too familiar and arouse suspicion.

When he arrived outside the Yasuda Lecture Hall, Kitagawa Hide saw a huge banner at a glance: Warmly welcome the famous writer Kitagawa Hide to give an open class on literary appreciation!
In his previous life, he had spent nearly six years at the University of Tokyo, but he never thought that one day his name would be hung outside the Yasuda Auditorium. He still felt a little excited just thinking about it.

There are still 20 minutes before the class starts, and the Yasuda Auditorium is already full. People are still walking in. It seems that many people will have to stand by the wall or in the aisles to listen to the class.

Outsiders who were able to enter the University of Tokyo to listen to this open class all had certain identities and backgrounds. Tetsutaro Mori was among the lowest group. He was able to come thanks to his identity as the only Kitagawa Fuki in the literary criticism circle, so several newspapers jointly recommended him to come and observe.

Otherwise he really couldn't come.

"There are so many people." Mori Tetsutaro checked in with his ID card. He originally belonged to the media area, but that area was already occupied by the bosses of the five major publishing houses, five major TV stations, and many newspapers, magazines, and film companies. There was no place for him, so he was forced to get into this legal and political circle.

Because there are fewer people in this circle, there are many vacancies.

"Sorry to bother you." Tetsutaro Mori bowed slightly to the middle-aged man sitting next to him, and then quickly took a seat.

There was a name tag in front of the middle-aged man, which read Hiroshi Yamaguchi, President of Yamaguchi Law Firm.

Hiroshi Yamaguchi nodded to him slightly as a greeting, and then continued to look forward.

At this time, Tomiichi Murayama and others also entered the venue. His eyes suddenly lit up, wondering if there was a chance to get close to the Prime Minister. Then a young man surrounded by a crowd followed him in.

So young, so tall, so handsome!
This is what everyone thought when they first saw Kitagawa Hide.

"Mr. Kitagawa, it's an honor to meet you. My name is Tomiichi Murayama." Tomiichi Murayama shook hands with him with a smile. For the first time since he traveled through time, Kitagawa Hide was nervous.

"It's the same to you. Please take care of me, Your Excellency, Prime Minister." He never dreamed that one day he would be able to shake hands with the Prime Minister of Japan.

Although Tomiichi Murayama, as the prime minister, is not as famous as those guys, he is still a legitimate prime minister!

The head of a country!
"Teacher Beichuan is young and promising. I have read your book No Longer Human. It is very well written and admirable!"

Tomiichi Murayama put on one compliment after another, and although what he said were all official jargon, it at least showed that his attitude towards Kitagawa Hide was friendly.

Kitagawa Hide naturally just used clichés to perfunctorily answer. He felt that Murayama Tomiichi had a good impression of him, most likely because "No Longer Human" directly confronted the Aum Shinrikyo.

After all, at least 70% of the politicians in this country do not recommend dealing with Asahara Shoko, while Murayama Tomiichi is a staunch anti-cultist!

The two chatted for a while, and then Yoshikawa Hiroyuki came over and said that the performance of the welcoming team composed of students from the Faculty of Literature of the University of Tokyo was ready, and they would start after Tomiichi Murayama went on stage to give his speech.

Kitagawa Hide was a little helpless. It was originally a simple literature appreciation class. To him, it was just bragging to the students of Dongda University thirty years ago. It was not difficult.

I didn't expect that after layer upon layer of coding, it became an open class that countless people came to watch.

The presence of Tomiichi Murayama also means that the process will certainly be very cumbersome, with speeches, performances, opening speeches, closing remarks, in short, it will be extremely troublesome.

Kitagawa Hide was paid to do the job, and now the complexity of the matter is obviously far beyond his remuneration, and the University of Tokyo doesn't even pay more!

After thinking about it, I think it’s still the Akutagawa Prize that should be blamed. If it weren’t for the speechless incident on No. 2, so many people wouldn’t have been attracted.

After I’m done with this busy period, I must serialize “The Literary Award Serial Murder Case” in “Wenyi”!

You are the Akutagawa Prize!
While Kitagawa Hidemasa was thinking about these messy things, Murayama Tomiichi had already gone on stage to give a speech, and the members of the welcoming team also came to the stage and were ready.

Their costumes were stage-style and the performance they were going to perform was a play adaptation of "No Longer Human".

When Kitagawa Hide saw Jabami Rei standing out in the crowd, he finally realized that the venomous woman probably didn't even know her identity at this moment!
Oops!

When thinking about what might happen after she went on stage, Kitagawa Hide was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and could only pray that she was okay.

He looked around again, but unfortunately there were too many people and he couldn't find any trace of Mengzi.

Tomiichi Murayama also knew that he was not the protagonist this time, so he quickly finished his speech. After a round of applause, the students of the welcoming team finally went on stage.

Jabami Rei, who played the Ginza bar waitress Tsuneko in "No Longer Human", excitedly followed her classmates onto the stage.

She has repeatedly invited her good friend Yumeko, a fan of the second Kitagawa of the University of Tokyo, to participate in the drama together, and also arranged the role of the heroine Yoshiko for her - because Yoshiko's setting is "a person with pure trust" and "a genius of trust", which is highly consistent with the personality of Agatsuma Yumeko.

But for the first time, Mengzi rejected her righteously.

Maybe I'm too shy!

But this way I would miss the opportunity to see Mr. Kitagawa face to face!
Jabami Rei couldn't help but feel sorry for her best friend.

There were too many people in today's open class, so students could only sit in the back row. The front row was occupied by celebrities from all walks of life, and Mr. Beichuan was in the first row. The students in the back could only barely take a look at him while he was teaching.

Only in this way can we see Mr. Kitagawa's true face when he goes on stage.
While thinking this, Jabami Rei, who was 1.72 meters tall and wearing a maid's uniform, caught sight of Kitagawa Hide sitting in the center of the stage.

Wait, that's a bit confusing.

Jabami Rei rubbed her eyes carefully and took another look.

Take another look.

Take another look!
It was him, it was him!
He even greeted me with a smile!
"No, why would he sit in the first row?" Snake Rei muttered to herself.

Her brain suffered such a great shock that it temporarily shut down.

After a long while, the classmate next to her pushed her and said, "Jabaka-san, the performance is about to begin. It's your turn to give a speech first!"

Jabami Rei only woke up at this time, and a possibility that she had long denied came to her mind.

No, it won't.

For a moment, every time I talked about Mr. Kitagawa and his books at Mengzi's house, all the comments from the fan girls came to my mind one by one.

"Is it because his personality is a bit like yours?"

"I heard that you love reading Mr. Beichuan's books, so I bought you a hardcover copy of "Hear the Wind Sing""

"Really? But this is Mr. Kitagawa's autographed copy."

Kitagawa Hide's words emerged in my mind.

Jabami Rei looked at the smiling face of teacher "Kitagawa" in the audience, and suddenly her eyes went dark.

She wanted to faint very badly, but when a person was in an extremely socially desperate situation, it was not like in the anime where they could just faint and avoid any embarrassment.

Her willpower was very strong. She clearly only wanted to fly to Mars, a place where no one could see her, but her consciousness was still so clear!
Kitagawa Hide was watching Jabami Rei as a student representative in the audience. As the No. 1 Kitagawa fan at the University of Tokyo, she had to give a speech and perform for him. He was so embarrassed that he wanted to dig out a three-bedroom apartment with his toes!

"Jabami-san." At this moment, Kitagawa Hide could only suppress his laughter and hoped that time would pass faster.

The third update is finished. Tomorrow will be the speech and the final story of "No Longer Human". Please read more, please!

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(End of this chapter)