Tokyo Mystery Writers

Chapter 125 Once the soul is loved, flesh and blood will grow wildly.

There is "The City That Never Sleeps," which has won numerous mystery awards and almost won the Naoki Prize.

It is a masterpiece of "hard-boiled mystery" that has influenced countless "social realist novels" such as "White Night", "Phantom Night" and "The Cry"!

Kyosuke Maijo was naturally confident in accepting the challenge from "King of Hard-Hard Mystery" Toshiyuki Nishimura.

Thinking of this, Maishiro Kyosuke looked at Uyama Hideomi, and Eri Miri said, "Of the three choices, the other two are too passive."

"It's not that I'm afraid to fight and I'll be smeared as a coward, it's that I lost to Nishimura Toshiyuki, which caused my popularity to drop."

"If that's the case, why not take the initiative and give it a shot?"

"I prefer to take control of my own destiny rather than let others control it."

Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Uyama Hideomi wanted to advise him to reconsider.

But Jiang Liumei had already seen the resolute look in Maishiro Kyosuke's eyes and knew that Maishiro Kyosuke's mind was made up: "Mr. Yushan, we can only give Maishiro-sensei advice, but we cannot influence Maishiro-sensei's choice."

"Since Ms. Mai is determined, we should do our best to help her devise a strategy to increase our chances of winning."

When Uyama Hideomi heard Jiang Liu Meili's words, he was momentarily lost in thought.

The mouth that had just opened slowly closed again.

As for why I was momentarily distracted?

It was because after hearing Jiang Liu Meili's words, Uyama Hideomi suddenly saw his past when he faced countless writers' wives.

Although being a writer is a very prestigious profession in Japan.

But in reality, beneath this glamorous exterior lie many untold secrets.

Hideomi Uyama worked at Kodansha for over fifteen years, gradually rising from editor to editor-in-chief.

I've met at least four thousand, if not five thousand, writers.

While most people are ordinary, there are also geniuses among them.

Although these geniuses may not necessarily reach the level of someone like Maijo Kyosuke, who is one in a century.

But as long as you dedicate yourself to writing, you will eventually find a place in the Japanese mystery fiction scene.

Unfortunately, most people don't even get their chance before their family's lack of understanding, their wife's obstruction, and their friends' ridicule extinguish their desire to continue writing.

Even when Hideomi Uyama came to mediate, it was to no avail.

Sometimes she gets scolded, and sometimes she gets accused of "corrupting my husband."

Today I suddenly met a woman like Jiang Liu Meili, who completely trusts and respects Mai Shiro Jingjie's ideas.

Uyama Hideomi felt very gratified.

I now understand why the saying "Behind every successful man, there is a woman who supports him" is so deeply ingrained in people's minds.

Who wouldn't want a woman who unconditionally and resolutely supports them when facing pressure, choices, challenges, or difficulties?

In life, to receive such unconditional support from a woman, even if you lose, you might have no regrets.

Thinking of all this, Uyama Hideomi felt as if he had tasted honey, and a smile appeared on his face: "Okay! Teacher Maishiro! Miss Jiang Liu!"

"Let's accept the challenge from Mr. Nishimura Toshiyuki!"

"Life is about taking a chance! Always choosing the right path may bring stability, but it's also incredibly boring!"

"Occasionally choosing a seemingly dangerous path might reveal a completely different view!"

"If we win, Ms. Mai's popularity will soar to new heights!"

"If we unfortunately lose to Mr. Nishimura Toshiyuki—"

"Then we'll repackage Teacher Wucheng as a masked writer and use that pseudonym to make a comeback!"

Upon hearing Uyama Hideomi's words, Jiang Liu Meili jokingly said, "Mr. Uyama, you mustn't talk nonsense! Although this challenge is very difficult, I believe that Teacher Maishiro will definitely not lose!"

After being reminded by Jiang Liumei, Yu Shan Hideaki symbolically spat on the ground a few times: "Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!"

"Miss Jiang Liu is right! Teacher Wu Cheng is a once-in-a-century genius writer!"

"There's absolutely no way I could be defeated by Mr. Nishimura Toshiyuki!"

"Traditional mystery versus hard-boiled mystery!"

"Mr. Maijo! Please use the almost supernaturally intelligent detectives from your stories to defeat those drinking enthusiasts from Mr. Nishimura Toshiyuki's works!"

When Maishiro Kyosuke saw that both Uyama Hideomi and Eri Ryū had chosen to stand unconditionally on his side, he was naturally very moved.

Because he felt love from the two of them, and with love, Maijo Kyosuke felt that his whole body was full of power!

Under such unconditional trust and love, even when he was kidnapped by Cheng Yi's men and almost had his hands chopped off, Mai Cheng Jingjie did not shed a single tear, but at this moment his eyes reddened: "Mr. Yushan, Miss Jiang Liu, it's so good to have you here."

Uyama Hideomi saw tears welling up in Maishiro Kyosuke's eyes, and Eri Miki's eyes were also brimming with tears.

In this kind of atmosphere, even an old man like myself might not be able to hold back.

To prevent Maishiro Kyosuke and Eri Miri from seeing him cry, Uyama Hideomi casually put his arm around Maishiro Kyosuke's shoulder: "If you want to thank me, just saying nice things won't do!"

"If I win the challenge, you'll treat me to a big meal!"

"I haven't tried that 'Seven Drops of Twenty Kan' brewery from Takagi Sake Brewery yet, Mr. Maishiro, you know what I mean, right?"

Maishiro Kyosuke wiped away the tears in his eyes, but as soon as he lowered his hand, Jiang Liu Meili hugged him tightly: "Don't forget me, Maishiro-sensei! Don't forget our promise to travel overseas to find Danna-sensei!"

The three of them returned to the table at the autograph session, chatting and laughing.

At that moment, Nishimura Toshiyuki was holding a flat sake bottle and drinking continuously.

Upon seeing Maishiro Kyosuke return, he drunkenly asked, "Mr. Maishiro, what's your decision?"

"Do you want to be a man and accept my challenge, or do you want to be a coward and reject me?"

""

Maishiro Kyosuke fanned away the strong smell of whiskey in the air with his hand and said with a smile, "Mr. Nishimura, I, Maishiro Kyosuke, accept your challenge."

"However, I have one more condition before I proceed."

"I wonder if Mr. Nishimura, or rather Takarajimasha, dares to take on this."

Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Nishimura Toshiyuki naturally assumed that Maishiro Kyosuke wanted to make some demands that would be advantageous to him.

Logically speaking, Nishimura Hisayuki, having been asked to do this, would naturally not want to agree.

However, as a senior writer, it seemed like bullying to suddenly challenge a new writer.

To avoid losing too much face, Nishimura Hisayuki could only nod, intending to make a concession to Maishiro Kyosuke: "Tell me, Maishiro-sensei, what conditions do you wish to propose?"

Maishiro Kyosuke looked at Nishimura Toshiyuki, a fierce glint flashing in his originally gentle eyes: "Nishimura-sensei, you just said that we're competing on sales, right? In this kind of competition, the final result is that whoever loses the competition will see their popularity decline."

Nishimura Toshiyuki nodded and said with a smile, "That's right. To put it in more detail, if I lose to you, Mr. Maishiro, it will mean a decline in my popularity and a 50% drop in the sales of my works from now on."

"If you lose to me, Mr. Mai, it means your current popularity will be cut short, and you will go from being a popular newcomer to a third-rate writer who is no more than anyone else."

Upon hearing Nishimura Toshiyuki's words, Maijo Kyosuke slammed his hand on the table and said, "This level of challenge is really too boring and unoriginal."

"Mr. Nishimura, if we're going to play, let's play big!"

"If I lose, I will retire from the Japanese literary scene and never write again."

Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Nishimura Toshiyuki's previously drunken eyes widened instantly, as if he had sobered up: "What if I lose?"

Maijo Kyosuke picked up a pen from the table and wrote on the title page of the "Collector's Edition" of "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" as he wrote, "Mr. Nishimura, I don't know how much favor you received from the former president of Takarajima-sha, but your challenge to me means that we are enemies."

"Therefore, I will not show you any mercy."

Listen carefully!

"If you lose to me in the sales competition, you will not only have to stop writing altogether."

"The president of Takarajima Publishing, Hosho Shirakawa, is going to come to my door to apologize, bringing with him the 30 million yen in royalties he gave you!"

Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Nishimura Toshiyuki showed no fear in his eyes. Instead, he stared at Maishiro Kyosuke with interest and asked, "Mashiro-sensei, since I've come to challenge you, I've naturally prepared myself mentally."

"If I lose to you, I can certainly accept being forced to retire from writing, but you're asking President Hosei to come to your door with 30 million yen to apologize. Isn't that a bit too unfair?"

Maishiro Kyosuke tossed the completed challenge, "The Astrological Murder Mystery," in front of Nishimura Hisayuki, a confident look on his face: "There's nothing unfair about it, because this time, I'm not only going to beat you, Nishimura-sensei, in sales."

"In this challenge, I will abandon my preferred 'traditional mystery' style and use your strongest 'hard-boiled mystery' style to win the competition!"

"Please take this letter of challenge back to Hosho Shirakawa, Professor Nishimura, and see if he can accept the conditions I propose."

"Then we'll release our new works simultaneously a month from now, on February 20th, and compete in the market for a month."

"If Hosho Shirakawa has any reservations and dares not accept my challenge."

"Then please, Mr. Nishimura, don't bother me anymore."

"I'm very busy, I don't have time to play with such small stakes."

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