Tokyo Tycoon, Start as a Writer

Chapter 65, "Tide", sold out as soon as it was released, and became a national hit
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!! Why are there so many people?"

In front of Kinokuniya Shinjuku store, looking at the dense flow of people, Kiyono Yuko raised her slender white legs and kicked a can on the ground hard as if to vent her anger!
It was as if this was the hateful Mishima!
boom!
The red can drew a beautiful arc and fell accurately into the trash can.

Still not feeling relieved, Kiyono Yuko looked around and finally found another can. She walked over and stomped on it hard.

As she watched the can become twisted and shriveled, a satisfied smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

Then he looked at the promotional posters and signboards at the store entrance - the writer Mishima, wearing a black hakama with a pattern, had an expressionless face and his hair was a little messy.

Although I don't want to admit it, this guy is really handsome...

Yuko Kiyono stood in front of a life-size stand, slowly raised one leg, and used a Taekwondo side kick, trying to see if she could kick him in the face... She was tall and very flexible, so she could kick things that were taller than herself with her feet.

Such a scene attracted the attention of people queuing in front of the store.

Everyone couldn't help but look at her.

The woman is tall, almost 1.7 meters tall when wearing high heels.

She has delicate facial features, pure eye color, and a slightly cold temperament.

She has the beauty of an icy queen.

Her hair was slightly permed and had some small waves. She was wearing a black skirt and had a rosy and healthy face.

Her long legs exposed on the streets of Shinjuku looked very white and beautiful, adding a touch of sexiness and glamour to her temperament...especially eye-catching, and the men around her couldn't take their eyes off her.

Noticing the covetous gazes of the people around her, Kiyono Yuko's face became even uglier.

She snorted unhappily, walked over to the side and sat down. She didn't plan to queue up to grab the ticket. She was going to spend ten times the money to buy it from the person who got it first.

Just like that, time passed quickly and it was nine o'clock in the morning.

It drizzled in the morning, but it couldn't stop the readers' enthusiasm.

The door of the new Kinokuniya bookstore slowly opened, and the much-anticipated "Shiosao" was placed on the most conspicuous sales counter.

As soon as the store door opened, the long-awaited readers swarmed in like sharks smelling blood, just to grab a copy of "Tide of Sorrow" as soon as possible. In just a few minutes, the largest single bookstore in Japan was packed.

This popularity is what "Sho" and Mishima deserve.

Since the 15th of last month, due to the suppression by the Ministry of Culture, "Chao Sao" became popular before it was released, and became a spiritual work of the lower class people's resistance against powerful oppression in the minds of netizens.

At that time, the popularity of "Chao Sao" was already terrifying.

Who could have imagined that on the day before the sale, Mishima would be collectively boycotted by so many literary predecessors.

The tide of the storm instantly turned against Mishima.

Upper-class literary figures and mainstream critics were like people who had eaten gunpowder and criticized Mishima harshly, accusing him of excessive marketing, of being more famous than capable, of only being able to write about love affairs and of having no depth in his works.

Just when Mishima was about to be drowned by public opinion and fall into an abyss of no return, a god-of-war-like professor from Waseda suddenly emerged, almost single-handedly fought against half of the literary world, and lifted Mishima up from the adversity.

After Professor Kiyono opened fire, the questioning and criticism of Mishima came to an abrupt end.

More and more people in the industry who dare to speak the truth began to show up to support Kiyoshige, criticize Takahashi's side, and support Mishima.

On the afternoon of the 9th, Japan's largest pure literature publisher, Shincho, publicly refuted all criticisms against Mishima, and confidently released the first chapter of "Shiosao", inviting people across the country to appreciate it together.

That tweet instantly made the online abuse disappear.

Everyone was conquered by Mishima's gorgeous writing.

Subsequently, Shincho continued to announce that it would publish a supplement to the September issue of Shincho on the 10th.

The supplement contains the first two chapters of Mishima's new work "The Wave of Tide", and "The Dancing Girl" will also return.

After the news came out, people in the industry all felt Shinchao's attitude this time. They have clearly chosen to stand with Mishima and will never allow any unwarranted slander against Mishima to continue to run rampant.

The word "trend" can represent many things.

Writers who came out of here occupy half of the Japanese literary world...

This series of news not only caused an earthquake in the literary circle, but also once again triggered a wave of attention from the whole nation.

The morning of the 10th arrived as scheduled.

The influx of people was like an iron fist, smashing some people's dirty plots with thunderous force.

In Kinokuniya Shinjuku, Tokyo's largest, most luxurious and most visited bookstore, there are so many people that there is no place to stand.

"Oh my, what a gorgeous text! Are all writers nowadays so amazing..."

"No, it's not like that. Only Mr. Mishima is so amazing."

"Hey, I saw his TV interview, he said he is a healing writer, is that right?"

"Healing? Well, it's hard to say. His first book, "Dancing Girl", was not healing at all..."

"This book, Tide, has a happy ending."

"I bought everything. My classmates are all discussing this. If I don't buy a copy and read it, I won't know how to interrupt when everyone is discussing it..."

"My colleagues were also discussing this, so I had no choice but to buy it just to fit in..."

"Yeah, yeah, I don't even read pure literature, but everyone else says it's good, so I can't stand out from the crowd..."

Crowds of readers flocked into the store and bought out all the copies of "Chao Sao" that had just been put on the shelves.

The store manager and the staff had not experienced such a popular scene for many years. The new books that had just been put on the bookshelf would be sold out within a minute. They could only rush to restock the stocks and had no time to do anything else.

Although very busy and tired, everyone had a smile on their face.

Since the bubble burst, the Japanese publishing industry has not seen a best-selling book of this magnitude for nearly twenty years. For the overall sluggish industry today, Mishima is truly their superhero.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop squeezing me! Give me 10 copies of Tide!"

"Asshole! Are you a scalper? Why would one person buy 10 copies?"

"Ah, the first volume is priced at 2600 yen, so expensive! I really can't afford it. I'm sorry, Mr. Mishima, I can only buy five copies to support you..."

Discussions and exclamations arose one after another as the shop assistants were busy moving piles of "Chao Sao" out of the warehouse.

This book is so popular that if they are not careful, the shelves will be sold out. They have to keep an eye on it to restock it.

The books on the shelves were constantly being bought, and the clerks were busy restocking them.

Such scenes are played out in bookstores across Japan.

Whether it is a big city like Tokyo and Osaka, or a small city like Asahikawa Hitachi, no matter how much stock there is, it is all sold out.

The shop assistants were so busy that they didn't have time to look.

They don’t know what the quality of the book is, but they can be sure of one thing - this book is going to be a hit!
"Hello, please give me a copy of "Tide Sao"!"

"Sorry! They are all sold out. We are transferring the stock from the warehouse. Please come back this afternoon!"

The clerk's loud response was completely drowned out by the surging crowd.

Facing the huge crowd, the store manager was well prepared. He took out a loud speaker and announced loudly: "We are out of stock of "Shiosao" for the time being. Please come back in the afternoon. Customers who can't wait can buy the September issue of "Shincho", which contains the first two chapters of "Shiosao" and Mishima's debut work "Dancing Girl"..."

The extremely hungry readers immediately bought up all the supplements of Xinchao.

The first print run of 10 copies of "Tide of Sorrow" was sold out immediately.

Kinokuniya Shinjuku store has a full 5,000 books.

But I never thought that before Mr. Mishima showed up to surprise the readers, the 5,000 new books were sold out...

The "New Trend" supplement also had 10 copies.

According to the current momentum, it is estimated that it will not survive today.

Before noon, larger bookstores had to make frequent phone calls to Shinchosha headquarters, hoping that the second wave of new books would be produced more tomorrow.

Readers who had snapped up the books all gathered in the reading area.

The seats were already full, and most people sat on the floor, reading "Chao Sao".

Seeing this scene, Yuko Kiyono thought that if nothing unexpected happened, "Shiosao" would win the bookstore award next year.

The Bookstore Award is the book that bookstores across the country choose to sell the most. Unlike other literary awards that value literary quality, this award is selected by bookstore employees, and winners are all high-quality books with good reputation and sales. "Is it really that good..."

Yuko Kiyono took the copy of "The Waves of Tide" that she had bought from a reader at a high price and opened the package with half belief and half doubt.

The first page has only one line of text.

【Malice cannot go as far as good intentions】

The second page also has only one line of text.

[Only pure love can make the body pure]

The third page also only had one line of text.

[Abandon the depravity of material civilization, find back the virtues and spirit of simplicity and perseverance, and become a true warrior]

The opening three sentences immediately set the tone for the book.

"What a loud tone..."

With the intention of finding fault, Kiyono Yuko opened the first chapter.

Read it again quickly and open to Chapter 2.

In less than a minute, her eyes widened slightly, which was a subconscious reaction to encountering something beautiful, and the surprise in her eyes was difficult to hide.

Utajima is very small.

The scenery here is beautiful and the islanders live a simple and happy life. It is a paradise far away from the influence of modern cities.

Kiyono Yuko's heart fell in an instant.

There was no sign of resistance.

She forgot where she was, and her thoughts had already entered that paradise-like island.

There is no confusion and anxiety of modern urban residents here, only bright sunshine, noisy waves, shining lighthouses, the smell of tides, fishing boats coming and going, and laughing men and women...

When Shinji and Hatsue fell in love with each other, Yasufu, a rich boy on the island, failed to pursue Hatsue and held a grudge against him. He spread a rumor in the village that "Shinji and Hatsue had sex, which angered the gods and caused natural disasters."

The rumor quickly spread throughout the village.

Chujiang's father was furious and completely forbade his daughter to meet the poor boy.

"Isn't this Anfu who spread rumors the same as those trolls on the Internet?" someone exclaimed in surprise, reading word by word in disbelief. "Sure enough, just as Mr. Mishima said, this book is his work of resistance. Anfu is the troll who spread rumors on the Internet, and Hatsue's father symbolizes the hegemony of the Cultural Affairs Bureau. The protagonist's beloved Hatsumi, without a doubt, represents Mr. Mishima's literary dream..."

"Ah, now that you mention it, I feel like I'm on fire!"

"Isn't this much more exciting than those passionate ones?"

There was a lot of discussion in the reading area, and everyone's emotions were ignited.

Faced with his lover's tyrannical and unreasonable father, Shinji was extremely angry, but helpless and suffered every day.

One day when he was about to go out to sea, he was in despair, but then he received a letter and amulet secretly sent by Hatsue.

The words in the letter are full of the girl's deep love.

[From now on, I will visit the shrine every day and pray for your safety. My heart belongs to you. Please come back healthy! I give you a photo and amulet, I hope it can accompany you on your voyage...]

The girl's love gave Shinji courage and his life was full of hope again.

Unexpectedly, we encountered a storm on the way back.

As the steel cables wailed, huge waves threw the ship high up.

A safety line was broken and needed to be reconnected to the buoy on the opposite side, otherwise there would be a risk of capsizing.

"Is there anyone willing to do this job?" the captain asked loudly.

The howling of the wind silenced the crew.

"No one is willing? You are all cowards!" the captain cursed.

Anfu, who was spreading rumors about Shinji, shrank his neck and his lips trembled, while Shinji shouted in a bright and cheerful voice: "I'll do it!"

The young man's majestic figure emerged in the darkness of the storm.

All the readers' hearts were hanging in the balance.

Watching him struggling forward in the wind and rain, Kiyono Yuko's heart was in her throat.

As if she were there herself, she felt the danger that he would be crushed to pieces if he was not careful, and she broke into a cold sweat for him.

In the end, he successfully weathered the storm and protected everyone on the ship.

"Great!"

"Too strong!"

"Handsome, a man!"

"Mishima-sensei is the real-life Shinji!"

Readers in the reading area expressed their admiration and applauded Shinji's bravery.

Because of this heroic performance, Shinji finally impressed Hatsue's father and successfully won the beauty.

After some time had passed, the little lover talked about the storm.

"This, do you remember?"

"remember."

Shinji pulled the photo out of his pocket and showed it to his fiancée.

[The girl's eyes showed pride. She thought her photo had protected Shinji. However, at this time, the young man raised his eyebrows. He knew that he could get rid of this risk by his own strength.]

【Complete the book. 】

“How did this get written…”

Yuko Kiyono held the "Shiosao" which still gave off the scent of ink, slowly opened her mouth, her face full of disbelief.

"They are like the ideal lovers in Goethe's Hermann and Dorothea. It turns out that a love story written in pure literary style can be so beautiful..."

Yuko Kiyono was holding the book, her eyes almost out of focus.

Most of the other readers present felt the same way.

It turns out that pure literature can also be used to write youth love stories.

You don’t have to have a heavy plot to touch people’s hearts!
For those who are busy and tired living in today's big cities, the beautiful island depicted in "The Tide" is like a life-saving shot that revives their tired bodies and numb souls.

Japan is in terrible shape right now.

The economy is weak, the people are numb, and there is no hope for the future...

Japan needs a savior.

Japan needs someone to find spiritual sustenance for it.

A Japan like this needs a hero who can pierce through the dark clouds and let the light of hope return to the country.

In this book, Mishima shows everyone a beautiful paradise.

For readers, it is a beautiful and distant...spiritual paradise.

It dispels all the decadence and the pressure that makes them breathless, allowing them to feel the vibrant hope and the vitality that keeps rising.

"I have a feeling that the first literary giant of the new century will be born soon..."

"Mishima is the literary giant of our time..."

"He is as good as any Japanese writer..."

　There's another chapter, to be released later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)