Tokyo Tycoon, Start as a Writer

Chapter 30 The energetic editor is also cute

Kiyoaki Matsueda learned about the internal strife among the Shincho editors on a clear and cloudless July afternoon, just after the rainy season.

It was a very hot day. Walking on the road, I could almost feel the sizzling sound of the fire burning on my body.

Midori Kobayashi asked him to meet at a French restaurant in Shinjuku, and before asking him to submit the manuscript, she told him about some factional struggles within the company.

"Yibo has been promoting Eggs and High Walls very vigorously this time, as if it has put all its hopes on it. Fortunately, you submitted this book to me. If you had submitted it to Yibo, it would definitely be shelved to make way for that book... Hmm? Mr. Mishima, are you listening to what I am saying?"

The intern editor stopped seeking credit and looked at Kiyoaki Matsueda in confusion.

The other person sat motionless on the chair, his posture casual, but his brows were slightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.

He looks so good in deep thought...

Kobayashi Midori was in a slightly excited mood.

His face is artistic and handsome, with a slightly melancholy and sad temperament. It is no exaggeration to say that he is a girl killer.

Even though she didn't have any plans to fall in love for the time being, she had a heart-pounding feeling at several moments, wanting to have an embarrassing love affair with him.

However, when I thought that he was already taken, the vague feeling of excitement quickly disappeared.

When the editor was a little infatuated, Matsueda Kiyoaki came back to his senses and asked her, "What did you just say?"

"Ah? Oh!" Kobayashi Midori came back to her senses, her expression gradually becoming smug, "Luckily you submitted your work to me. If you had submitted another one, it would definitely have been temporarily shelved!"

“But I invested in just one movie.”

Kobayashi Midori was stunned: "Huh?"

"With the help of the security guard, I voted for..." Matsueda Kiyoaki briefly explained what happened, and then asked her, "It was because editor Oguri ran out of contract vacancies that the vote was transferred to you, wasn't it?"

"No, no, didn't you submit the article specifically for me..." Kobayashi Midori was dumbfounded.

"I have lost my memory and don't know you at all. How could I submit my work specifically to you, an intern editor?" Kiyoaki Matsueda said unhappily.

His expression of care for the mentally retarded made the editor blush and her face felt like it was burning like a hot teapot.

"Do you really have no impression of me before?" she asked with the last glimmer of hope.

Songzhi Qingxian thought of the photo hidden in his wallet. He took out his wallet and said, "Did you have long hair before? I have a photo here. It seems to be taken last year."

She used to have waist-length hair.

It's not even up to the shoulders yet.

"This was taken in front of the complex building." Kobayashi Midori glanced at the photo and remembered where it was taken. "You followed me to join the drama club, but you never performed on stage. You just helped prepare the script. This photo was taken after a rehearsal when I took the initiative to ask you to take a photo with me."

Her initiative may be one of the few bright spots in his dark life.
"When did you cut your hair?" Kiyokatsu Matsueda put the photo away.

"When I came out for internship, I felt that long hair was too troublesome to take care of. I would waste more than ten minutes every morning on it. After thinking about it, I decided to just cut it short and save time to stay in bed." Kobayashi Midori said, her white fingertips ruffling the hair by her ears and giving him a clean and refreshing smile.

"Very good! Let me see it from the side!"

She turned her face away and paused for five seconds. Matsueda Kiyoaki looked at her and commented, "Short hair suits you very well."

"Really? I thought you would like girls with long hair. Why do men like girls with long hair? Is it because girls with long hair look more elegant, gentle, and feminine?"

"You've said why yourself, so I won't add to it."

"Then I'm miserable. I have no temperament, no gentleness, and no femininity..." Kobayashi Midori smiled as if she was troubled.

However, Kiyokatsu Matsueda thinks she looks better with short hair.

Her pretty face was full of energy, just like a newborn calf, and her black eyes were overflowing with a fresh vitality.

He is a quiet person, and has never had such a vivid expression as hers.
He admired this positive and optimistic girl and even envied her mentality, so he said: "Short hair is better, I like it..."

Kobayashi Midori was stunned for a moment, then blushed slightly, and lowered her eyes to stare at the table: "Do you really think I look better like this? You like me more"

As she finished speaking, the waiter brought the food over. Matsueda Kiyoaki nodded at her while eating his salad.

"You're not lying to me, are you?" Kobayashi Midori mustered up the courage to look at him.

"I'm trying my best to be an honest person," replied Kiyoaki Matsueda.

"..."

Kobayashi Midori was speechless for a moment.

She felt that his answer was too masculine, so she had nothing to say and simply stopped the conversation and watched him eat with interest.

"Tell me how the submission ended up in your hands." Kiyoaki Matsueda was not used to her staring at him intently.

"According to what you said, I guess it was Editor Oguri who submitted the manuscript, but it was rejected by the editor-in-chief. After all, all the publicity and promotion resources of the film were given to "Eggs and High Walls", and they dared not let a strong enemy like you appear at this time. But Editor Oguri is an upright and kind person, and he couldn't bear to see your manuscript buried, so he transferred it to me..."

As the only college student in the village, Midori Kobayashi's analysis lived up to her intelligence.

"He's a good person." Kiyoaki Matsueda really didn't know that there was such a tortuous process behind winning the award.

"Yes, I'll thank him properly when I get a chance."

Kobayashi Midori nodded, without discussing the topic any further, and instead talked about the main point of the appointment with him today.

"The first department has already withdrawn most of the articles originally planned to be published in the August monthly magazine, and replaced them with some shoddy stuff that has no appeal to readers. Our second department doesn't have much high-quality content either, which means that the sales of the August monthly magazine can only be carried by "Dancing Girl". They are just waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves..."

"It's good to not do anything shady and let sales speak for themselves."

"In fact, they are already playing dirty tricks."

"Oh, you mean the flattery issue, right? I can roughly guess it." Kiyoaki Matsueda was not surprised.

After Shinchosha officially released the first chapter of The Dancer, it received rave reviews from all over the internet, with not a single literary critic giving it a negative review.

On the one hand, the quality of the article is indeed high, on the other hand, there is a high probability that someone is hiring internet trolls to praise it.

The higher you are praised in the early stage, the harder you will fall in the later stage. Some people can play this trick very terribly.

"When the next monthly issue comes out, negative articles will probably burst out." Speaking of this, Kobayashi Midori's face was very solemn. "By then, even the smallest flaw will be magnified by them, and even negative information about you will be dug up crazily. You have to be mentally prepared, don't be scared by public opinion..."

She is very nervous about next month's sales.

Good writing does not necessarily mean good sales. There are many factors that affect sales. No one can guarantee that a monthly magazine with "Dancing Girl" as the flagship will definitely sell well.

The editor was a little uneasy.

However, Matsueda Kiyoaki was very calm and said to her, "If you don't have enough strength, you will be afraid of being flattered. If you have enough strength, it's not flattery, it's asking the enemy to buy volume for me. They bought so much for me, you can rest assured about the early sales, it will definitely exceed your imagination. As for the long-term, long-term sales rely on word of mouth, so you don't have to worry about it."

His expression showed both indifference and confidence.

He was not confident in himself, but in Yasunari Kawabata.

How do you evaluate Kawabata Yasunari's works?
——It quietly nourishes people’s spiritual soil like spring rain, and builds the foundation of Japanese people’s literacy and sensitivity.

Kawabata Yasunari's writings embody the Japanese aesthetic and are the spiritual G-spot of the Japanese. They will not change even after a hundred years.

If your G-spot is touched, there is no need to worry that the Japanese will not pay.

His calm and composed look made Kobayashi Midori feel that he was particularly handsome.

After dinner, when the conversation was coming to an end, Matsueda Kiyoaki took out the prepared file bag and handed it to her: "These are five short stories, the acceptance speech, and the interview answers you gave me. I have to hurry home to compete with the mistress, so I won't stay any longer."

"Compete with the mistress in a battle of wits and courage?" Kobayashi Midori took the folder stupidly.

"Well, she's been feeling suffocated for the past half month. Today, my family is going to play tennis, and she's trying her best to make me lose. Oh, she just wants to humiliate me on the court because I don't have enough physical strength. I'm really giving her a chance, and I'll teach her a lesson..."

Kobayashi Midori looked at him strangely, and after a long pause, she could only utter: "Then... I wish you good luck in martial arts..."

(End of this chapter)