Tokyo Literary Masters: Starting from the Late 1980s

1 pm.

Kinokuniya Bookstore, Shinjuku Main Store.

Less than an hour after Fuji TV's live broadcast ended, bookstores across Tokyo were hit by an unprecedented shock.

The PTA president's declaration of burning the book became the most powerful, and also the most fatal, blow to this dark novel.

The black stack that used to display "Confessions" is now completely empty, not even a speck of dust remains.

The shop assistants, sweating profusely, hung up a handwritten red notice; the handwriting was even somewhat messy from the haste.

[Urgent Notice: Today's copy of "Confession" is sold out. The next restock is uncertain. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

However, this sign indicating "out of stock" has become a "rebellious hotspot" in Shinjuku.

Groups of private high school students and college students with dyed hair came over specifically to take photos in front of the sold-out sign, laughing and joking.

They flashed V-signs and mocking smiles, as if this wasn't just a notice of stock shortage, but a badge of rebellion mocking the adults' incompetence.

"Hey, did you see that old lady on TV just now? Her face was all twisted with anger, hahaha!"

"This is hilarious! They're even going to burn books? Is this the Showa era?"

"The more they tell us not to see, the more we want to see! Does anyone have any? Let me take a look!"

It was evening.

Shibuya, the central town.

The neon lights began to illuminate the scene, and the air was thick with the scents of cheap perfume, the sweet aroma of crepes, and the restless hormones of youth.

For those high school girls who alter their school uniform skirts to their upper thighs and wear bubble socks, Louis Vuitton bags are certainly nice, but tonight, the most stylish item isn't a designer brand, but rather Kitahara Iwao's forbidden book.

If you're walking down the main street of Shibuya, you won't be carrying a book with a black cover, or having a distinctive black corner peeking out of your bag's side pocket.

Then you'll be seen by your clique as a country bumpkin, a goody-two-shoes who still listens to his mother, and an outdated person who can't keep up with the times.

In the eyes of today's young people, owning a copy of "Confessions" is equivalent to having a ticket to enter the coolest topic circle.

"Oh my god, Misaki, you actually managed to buy it?!"

Outside McDonald's, several girls screamed as they surrounded a newly opened book, their eyes fixed on it as if it were a rare gem.

"Of course! I skipped class to queue up!"

The girl named Misaki proudly displayed the "Highly Poisonous" warning on the back cover, saying, "The more those old fogies call it poison, the more I want to get my hands on it!"

And at the east exit of Shinjuku Station.

This is a notorious gray area, where a transaction resembling an underground black market is taking place.

A paperback novel that originally cost only a few hundred yen is now worth ten times more here.

"Hey, buddy, looking for a book?"

A middle-aged man in an old leather jacket, with shrewd eyes, mysteriously opened his jacket, revealing several black books stuffed inside, as if he were peddling some contraband: "Look, this is Kitahara Iwao's 'Confessions'."

"It's sold out everywhere. Five thousand! No bargaining!"

Five thousand yen!

That would have been enough for a decent meal in 1989.

"Uncle, you're ripping me off! Five thousand?!"

Although the boys in their stand-up collar school uniforms complained, their hands moved faster than anyone else's.

"Stop talking nonsense, this is contraband now, and it's very expensive."

The scalper exhaled a smoke ring and said disdainfully, "Don't buy it if you think it's too expensive. There are other people in line behind you."

"Buy, buy, buy! Give me one!"

"Me too! Don't push! This is mine!"

The young students waved their banknotes, scrambling to stuff them into the uncle's hands, then took the black books hastily wrapped in newspaper and quickly stuffed them deep into their backpacks.

The thrill of their racing hearts and the excitement of reading forbidden books behind their parents' and teachers' backs was far more captivating to them than the content of the books themselves.

But this undercurrent that was spreading wildly underground soon faced a strong backlash from the surface world.

The next day.

A corner of Maruyama Park in Kyoto.

Under the blazing sun, the air was thick with a suffocating heat.

The cicadas' desperate chirping couldn't drown out the shrill slogans coming from the loudspeaker.

A protest rally entitled "Purifying Children's Minds, Rejecting Harmful Books" is being held here.

Dozens of housewives wearing white aprons and headbands with "Victory" ribbons gathered at the scene.

They came from different PTA branches and conservative women's groups, but at this moment they formed an unbreakable united front.

In front of them was a makeshift incinerator, resembling an altar.

The barrel was covered with large, bright red, offensive characters, and even had several strings of shimenawa (sacred rope) hanging on it, which was supposed to be used to ward off evil spirits.

"For the sake of the children!"

"Reject malice! Reject violence!"

Under the intense scrutiny of the media, the PTA president, a middle-aged woman who had been weeping on television just yesterday, now resembled a judge about to be burned at the stake.

She wore pristine white gloves and held several brand-new copies of "Confessions" in her hands, her posture as if she were catching some kind of plague-carrying rat, her face filled with a sacred and inviolable disgust.

"Mothers! Take a look at this book!"

Holding the book high, she faced the camera and shouted with fervor, "There is no love in this! No emotion! Only nauseating malice!"

"Even if we only turn one page, our children will be contaminated by this poison and turned into cold-blooded monsters!"

"We must not allow such filth to remain in bookstores! It is a disgrace to the Heisei era!"

"Burn it! Burn it!"

The dozens of housewives around them, dressed in aprons, looked like a group of incited believers, raising their fists and shouting loudly.

Whoosh!

The president threw the book in his hand into the iron bucket.

Immediately afterwards, she took a lit torch and threw it in without hesitation.

Although the bucket wasn't filled with too many books for safety reasons, the flames still shot up instantly thanks to the accelerant.

boom!

The orange flames licked at the pale white words "Confession," and the black cover quickly curled and charred under the high temperature, eventually turning to ashes.

At that moment, the air was filled with the smell of burning paper.

The housewives standing by saw this and shouted for justice!

Amidst this jubilation for justice, an even greater storm is brewing.

At the same time.

Shincho Publishing House, Editor's Office.

If Tokyo's parks are bustling battlefields, then the editorial office of Shinchosha at this moment is the bridge of the Titanic, which is about to sink.

The atmosphere was extremely oppressive, filled with a sense of despair.

The phone rang incessantly, each ring sounding like a death knell.

Just as Editor-in-Chief Sato was still struggling with the public pressure from the book-burning protests in Kyoto.

An urgent phone call from a distributor in western Japan completely shattered his last psychological defenses.

"Sato-san! Something terrible has happened!"

On the other end of the phone, the distributor's voice was visibly tearful: "I just received a notification... the Kyoto City Board of Education has officially issued an administrative order! They've listed 'Confessions' as a harmful book!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing the distributor's voice, Editor-in-Chief Sato turned deathly pale, and the pen in his hand fell to the ground, splattering ink everywhere.

Once the label of "harmful book" is attached, the nature of the book completely changes.

This is no longer a public boycott; it's an official crackdown.

"Not only that! Ogaki Bookstore, Kyoto's largest bookstore chain, has just announced that it will remove all copies of 'Confessions' from its shelves due to immense pressure from the local education sector and women's groups! Not a single copy will be left!"

"The people over there declared: Kyoto is a thousand-year-old land of etiquette, and absolutely will not allow such filthy things that defile humanity to pollute the air of this ancient capital!"

Upon hearing this, Sato slumped into his chair in despair.

He knew all too well what this meant.

Kyoto is a trendsetter in Japanese culture and a stronghold of conservative forces.

If Kyoto's lockdown is successful, then Osaka, Nara, Hyogo, and the entire Kansai region will most likely follow suit.

This means that "Confessions" will not only lose half of its popularity instantly, but may even face the catastrophic disaster of being removed from shelves nationwide.