Of course, he couldn't say that he was waiting for Sanchū Ming to fail.

Even Akaji knew how hurtful it was to say it.

So, Akashiji Seijuro organized his words and skipped the topic of expressions, "The second button here refers to the second button for men."

So, a pure man like Seiichi Yukimura would never be happy to receive a button from his girlfriend!

"I know."

Sanchū Ming said, "But you received my feelings, and you never expected to receive such a surprise from the girl. Shouldn't that be double the happiness?"

Akaji: …

"What have you been watching recently?"

"'White Album 2'. It's pretty good. I like Cabbage in it the most. That scheming and pretentious look is so cute."

"What's it about?"

"The emotional entanglement of two women and a man.

The two female leads, Cabbage and Winter Horse, both like the male lead, Haruki. Cabbage found out that Haruki and Winter Horse liked each other, but didn't know about their feelings. She began to interfere with Haruki and Winter Horse's relationship. She took the initiative to confess to Haruki.

But she stopped the two of them from taking a step further, but she couldn't stop the attraction between the two of them.

In the end, Haruki knew about Winter Horse's feelings and kissed and hugged Winter Horse in front of Cabbage. "

"… Don't look at this nonsense."

"Oh?

I know. Since Seijuro said so. "

The atmosphere was silent for a while. Akashiji Seijuro couldn't help but turn to Sanchū Ming.

"What happened to Cabbage in the end?"

"You also like Cabbage, right?

I knew Seijuro was a Cabbage fan like me!

Let me tell you, I was tortured to death, so I went out of my way to play games … "

After returning home, Akaji woke up with a start when he dreamed of Sanchū Ming yelling at him with tears and snot running down his face. "Why are you so good at this?"

Akaji, who was wide awake, got out of bed and poured himself a glass of water. After thinking for a while, he put the DVD that Sanchū Ming had specially given him into the TV player.

On the box of the DVD was a picture of two girls with their backs facing each other on the rooftop of a school at dusk. The name at the top of the picture read —

“WHITE

ALBUM

2”。

He was quite interested in what Sanchū Ming said about "Cabbage, who always knew what she wanted and worked hard to achieve it."

The DVD began to play.

Akashiji Seijuro nodded when he saw the male lead, Kitahara Haruki, practicing his guitar so hard for the school festival performance. Although this male lead didn't have much talent, his hard work was still commendable.

Akaji frowned when he saw Cabbage, who refused to perform at the school festival. He felt that Cabbage wasn't as good as Sanchū Ming made her out to be.

Akaji's expression relaxed when he saw Winter Horse and Hesha appear. He always liked women with good taste.

Akashiji Seijuro's expression changed again when he saw Winter Horse, who was playing the piano, being attracted to Haruki. He thought Winter Horse was a smart person.

Akashiji Seijuro felt that something wasn't right when he saw Winter Horse keeping Haruki at her house every night to practice.

Akashiji Seijuro felt that something was wrong when he saw Haruki and Cabbage together.

Akashiji Seijuro felt that something was wrong when he saw the three of them soak in the hot spring naked together. Cabbage declared that she hoped that the three of them could continue to live happily together.

Haruki, who was dating Cabbage, knew Winter Horse's feelings for her, and jumped on Winter Horse without hesitation. Akaji received a slap from Winter Horse and a "Why are you so good at it?".

He took a deep breath and turned off the TV. His expression was as if Sanchū Ming had fed him a big bowl of red ginger.

He shouldn't have believed in the aesthetics of a person who could write such a melodramatic story as a man cheating on his wife and causing her to become depressed and commit suicide.

At three o 'clock in the morning, Sanchū Ming, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by a bombardment of phone calls.

"Who is it? I'm going to kill you … Hey?

Seijuro?

Why are you so late? "

'Have you thought about how you want to die?'

Akaji's calm voice was wrapped in a murderous aura that pierced Sanchū Ming's nerves from the phone receiver. Sanchū Ming was so shocked that he sat up immediately.

"Hey?

Hey???

Why? "

She suddenly thought of the big treasure she had handed to Akaji and felt that she understood the reason.

She said solemnly, even more solemnly than when she was choosing her future political orientation, "Even if you become a Winter Horse supporter, you don't have to kill me. Seijuro, I'm not a pure Cabbage supporter."

She took a deep breath.

"I hope that the three of us can be happy together!"

Akaji hung up the phone directly.

He poured himself another glass of water, sat back in the chair, and deeply reflected on why he didn't take advantage of Sanchū Ming's weak childhood to directly kill her.

Then the world would be completely clean.

"Hello?

Hello?

Seijuro?

Brother Zheng?

Baby Zheng? "

Sanchū Ming shouted into the phone and slowly realized that Akaji had hung up the phone.

"What's going on …" Sanchū Ming was stunned. "I didn't expect Seijuro to be the type of person who votes for fierce party battles …"

Didn't he see that Seijuro, who stood on the Winter Horse's side, tried to kill her overnight?

"Party battles are so scary. Isn't it good to bet on glory and vote for your cuteness?" Sanchū Ming muttered.

After being disturbed by Akaji, she was no longer sleepy. She hugged the Baby Dragon doll and leaned against the headboard to look at the unread emails.

"… Ah, it's an email from Koike." She opened the unread email.

"" Going Home "can be published. The Ministry has decided to sell it as a softcover single volume. The initial print run is set at 10,000 copies."

Sanchū Ming instantly sat up straight.

There was another email under Koike's edit. She quickly opened it.

"The Minister hopes that you can participate in a competition to officially debut.

'Mephisto Award' and 'This mystery novel is amazing!'

Which one do you want to fight for? "

This time, Sanchū Ming directly jumped up with the Baby Dragon in her arms.

Mephisto was the name of the devil in Goethe's Faust. In Goethe's work, Faust had to pledge his soul to the devil, Mephisto. The moment he stopped pursuing life, death would come.

The Mephisto Award, which was held by Kodansha and named after the devil, was one of the many awards for novel newcomers in Japan. It wasn't an ordinary mystery novel award.

The main source of the entries was the author's submission. It could be a long story or a short story collection. There wasn't a specific novel category. The only criterion for the award was "good looking." The winning entries had a clear personal style. They often brought a different kind of shock to the mystery novel world and were obviously innovative.

The "This Mystery Novel Is Amazing!" sponsored by Treasure Island was aimed to attract new recruits.

The target of the collection was "generalized mystery novels with the primary purpose of entertainment." It tended to choose a mystery novel that was in line with the general public's taste. It could be said that it was a stepping stone for new writers to sell well.

Koike's question was asking her about her future writing direction.

Sanchū Ming hesitated.

Logically, she should choose to participate in the "This Mystery Novel Is Amazing!"

Because her original intention of writing was to make money. The Taiwanese award was more recognized by the public. More importantly, the award was directly related to the "This Mystery Novel Is Amazing!" mystery novel ranking.

Sanchū Ming's favorite novels, Kyōji Natsuhiko's Box of Demons and Isaka Kotaro's Gravity Clown, had always been on this ranking.

But she personally preferred the free style of the Mephisto Award.

The "Amazing" Award was too focused on entertainment and popularity. For Sanchū Ming, who didn't have much social experience, there was no advantage in the selection.

If she chose the Mephisto Award … According to the trend of the Mephisto Award over the years, her writing style might be more towards the light novel genre. She didn't want to.

There were pros and cons to both options …

Sanchū Ming thought about it and decided to call Akaji.

The phone rang for a while and then hung up.

？？？

Why did Seijuro hang up?

Did he go to bed so soon?

Sanchū Ming, who had completely forgotten what she had done, was confused. She sent Akaji an email.

"Which should I choose between the 'Mephisto Award' and the 'This Mystery Novel Is Amazing!'?"

Akaji didn't seem to be sleeping. He replied quickly.

"'Going Home' or a new book?"

"'Going Home' has finished serialization and is preparing to be published. It doesn't meet the requirements for the Newcomer Award."

Sanchū Ming had just clicked "Send" when she suddenly thought of something.

Why didn't she participate in the Edogawa Upanishad Award?

"Participate in the Edogawa Upanishad Award."

Akaji's email arrived.

The Edogawa Upanishad Award, also known as the "Upanishad Award," was a literary award created by the Japanese Mystery Writers' Association with funds donated by the Edogawa Upanishad. It was the oldest and most famous newcomer award in the Japanese mystery novel world.

But …

"The Upanishad Award is more social. There aren't many great Bunge novels, and even fewer unconventional mystery novels. No author under the age of 20 has ever won the award." She replied to Akaji's email.

"Are you afraid?"

Even though Seijuro was clearly mocking her, Sanchū Ming felt like she had been encouraged.

She exited the email interface with Akaji and quickly sent an email to Editor Koike.

"How's the Edogawa Upanishad Award?"

Editor Koike seemed to still be working. He quickly replied to Sanchū Ming.

"Difficult."

Sanchū Ming lay down in her blanket and buried her face in the Baby Dragon's belly.

Of course, she knew it was difficult.

Even Keigo Higashino was 26 when he was nominated for "Magic Ball."

Ever since the Upanishad Award was established, the youngest winner was 21.

Sanchū Ming wasn't even 15.

Considering the time it took to write an idea, and the fact that the Upanishad Award usually took one or two years, it would take Sanchū Ming at least two years to write a novel that could be nominated for the Upanishad Award. And this was based on the premise that she was a genius, the content was deep, and she was able to complete it in one try.

Sanchū Ming didn't think she was a genius, nor did she have that much experience. It was impossible for her to complete it in one try.

She gave herself an estimate of four years.

This was the complete opposite of her original goal.

Sanchū Ming's goal was very clear. She wanted to earn enough money to move to Italy.

She thought about it for a long time. Even when the sun was about to rise, she still couldn't resist the temptation of the Upanishad Award.

At most, she would just take a roundabout way and exploit the loophole in the Upanishad Award's rules for "newcomers."

The Upanishad Award's rules for newcomers were newcomers who hadn't published a mystery novel before.

Strictly speaking, her "Going Home" and her previous short stories didn't count as mystery novels.

Even though she was being sly, this was already the best choice for Sanchū Ming.

"I won't be publishing a serious mystery novel in the future," she wrote in her email to Koike, "I want to write a mystery novel while preparing for the Upanishad Award.

Will the minister agree? "

Koike's reply was very quick, as if he already knew Sanchū Ming's answer.

"Prepare a short story of less than 40,000 words for the Literary World Newcomer Award, which closes on June 31st."

The Literary World Newcomer Award was an open competition for newcomer awards by the literary magazine "Literary World" published by Bungei Chunqiu Publishing House. It was a purely literary award. There were no restrictions on the type of subject matter, so the competition was very relaxed.

As it had a history of more than fifty years, it had a great influence in Japan. It could be seen as a bellwether for the Akutagawa Prize.

Koike's translation of the editor's message was:

Take the Literary World Newcomer Award first before talking about the Upanishad Award!

Newcomer!

Sanchū Ming couldn't help but jump off the bed. She excitedly jumped around the room. She was so happy that she even floated in the air.

Good

Job！

Upanishad Award!

I, Sanchū Ming, am here!

But the most important thing right now was to think of a short story for the Literary World Newcomer Award.

She couldn't fall at the first step just because she was full of bragging. That would be too embarrassing.

What should she write …