Tokyo Mystery Writers

Chapter 219 A Brand New Sequel to Mercator

February 29, 1980, 2 PM.

Kyosuke Maijo sat in the VIP suite of the "Longevity Bath".

I was writing while drinking very fresh coconut juice.

Apart from the Ogasawara Islands and a few islands in Okinawa, Japan has almost no land suitable for coconut cultivation.

Therefore, in 1980, when transportation was not well-developed, being able to drink fresh coconut juice was a very luxurious thing, after all, the edible part of it was very low.

The coconuts were airlifted to Tokyo and then delivered to "Changmei no Yu" by special personnel.

It wasn't for sale, but rather provided to the VIPs of the "Longevity Soup," since this was a very rare item in Japan at that time.

The news that Maijo Kyosuke was staying at "Chōmei no Yu" had already spread far and wide, which inadvertently increased the exposure and customer traffic of "Chōmei no Yu".

Under these circumstances, Myojin Kusashi naturally wanted to give Maijo Kyosuke any good things she had, so that Maijo Kyosuke could stay here with peace of mind and comfort.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Just as Maijo Kyosuke was drawing up the tables for "Nobody Dies".

There was a knock on the suite door.

Curious about who was knocking, Maijo Kyosuke looked through the peephole.

Pitch black —

Someone mischievously covered the peephole of the camera with their hand, preventing Maijo Kyosuke from seeing who it was.

Seeing this, Maishiro Kyosuke became cautious.

After all, he had been too careless last time, which led him into a crisis.

Thinking of all this, Maishiro Kyosuke hurriedly grabbed the phone in the living room and dialed Old Wu.

Since Cheng Yi participated in the "New Authentic Mystery Club" and read Maijo Kyosuke's "Never Sleeps", he has been completely captivated by Maijo Kyosuke.

Although Cheng Yi didn't understand the genre of detective novels, and his works paid homage to Dashiell Hammett's *The Bloody Harvest*, or perhaps its themes—

But Cheng Yi knew one thing clearly: "Never Sleeps" was a very interesting and vivid story that perfectly captured the cruelty and darkness of Shinjuku.

If it could be made into a movie, it would definitely be a good movie, and I would surely be able to successfully make it ashore with this movie, "Never Sleeps"!

Under these circumstances, Cheng Yi grew even more fond of Mai Cheng Jingjie!

Upon learning that Nishimura Hisayuki had broken into the "Longevity Bath" at night, Cheng Yi upgraded the equipment for A-Jian and Lao Wu. Not only were their food and lodging upgraded, but they were also given a portable phone, which is not common in Japan!

He also instructed the two to be on standby 24 hours a day, and that if anything happened to Maijo Kyosuke, the two would have to pay with their lives!

The call to Maijo Kyosuke went through quickly.

Old Wu's weathered voice came through: "Teacher Wucheng, what's wrong? What can I do for you?"

Maijo Kyosuke asked somewhat flusteredly, "Did someone come looking for me just now?"

"For some reason, someone has blocked my peephole."

Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Old Wu suddenly laughed: "Mr. Maishiro, please don't worry, he's not a bad person, it's just—why don't you just open the door and see for yourself? Saying it out loud will only make things worse—"

Old Wu fell silent.

Seeing that Old Wu didn't intend to continue, Maishiro Kyosuke hung up the phone, puzzled.

He reached out and grabbed the doorknob, pressing down hard.

The door clicked open.

Then Maijo Kyosuke heard two loud "Bang!" sounds!

If it weren't for the dazzling glitter and sequins in front of him, Maijo Kyosuke would have looked down at his chest and started reminiscing about his brief second life.

"Congratulations to Teacher Wu Cheng on surpassing the 500,000 copy sales mark for 'The City That Never Sleeps'!"

Amidst the loud shouts of many people, Maijo Kyosuke saw Eryu Miri push in a Christmas tree-shaped cake made of white and pink.

Following behind were Hideomi Uyama, Yasunori Mikoshiba, Kyoko Mikoshiba, Manji Gonda, Kiyoshi Kasai, Katsunori Tatara, Yumeaki Hirayama, Otto Penzel, and the chubby Genjiro Noma, who seemed to be trying to squeeze in through the door.

However, two unfamiliar people also came this time.

One of them was an intellectual woman with blond hair, around thirty-six or thirty-seven years old, who was holding Noma Genjiro's arm.

The other was a middle-aged man with squinty eyes, sparse hair, and a sleepy look.

In short, apart from Seishi Yokomizo, Takao Tsuchiya, Narihisa, and Mitsuki Kenzaki, all the members who had participated in the "New Orthodox Mystery Club" were present!

Maijo Kyosuke ripped the ribbon off his head and looked at everyone who was smiling at him.

It felt like I was standing at a ceremony about to be awarded a medal.

The atmosphere was already so tense, it would be rather embarrassing to admit that I was terrified by the hand-held cannon salute.

Thinking of all this, Maijo Kyosuke forcibly suppressed his wildly beating heart and said with a smile, "Thank you all for coming!"

"However? I remember the newspaper statistics this morning showed that the four-day sales of 'Never Sleeping City' should be around 430,000 copies, right?"

"Sales exceeded 500,000 copies? Is the newspaper data incorrect?"

Jiang Liumei's smile was exceptionally bright: "Teacher Wucheng's 'Never-Sleeping City' did indeed sell 430,000 copies in four days."

"But when we contacted various bookstores today to tally the sales figures, we discovered that 'The City That Never Sleeps' has sold over 73,000 copies today!"

"The reason for this—must be that your article, 'The Ten-Year-Old Client,' published three days ago in the seventh issue of 'Top Hat' magazine, has had an effect!"

"However, in any case, the total sales of 'Never Sleeps' over five days have exceeded 500,000 copies!"

"And this is just the first edition of 'The City That Never Sleeps'! This is definitely something to celebrate!"

Maishiro Kyosuke was about to ask more questions when Jiang Liu Meili reached out and took his arm: "Okay! Maishiro-sensei, let's take pictures first!"

"I specifically asked Zhijia to bring her camera to take pictures for us!"

Maijo Kyosuke heard an unfamiliar name: "Chika—? Who's that?"

Jiang Liu Meili paused for a moment upon hearing Mai Shiro Kyosuke's words, then led Mai Shiro Kyosuke to the blonde woman standing next to Noma Genjiro and introduced her to Mai Shiro Kyosuke: "Mr. Mai Shiro, this is Ms. Maruta Chika, the secretary of President Noma."

"When I was the editor-in-chief of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine at Hayakawa Shobo, I had a good relationship with Chika. It was Chika who recommended me to President Noma that made me the editor-in-chief of the short mystery magazine department at Kodansha."

"This time, Ms. Wu Cheng, Ms. Zhi Jia helped a lot with the promotion and operation of your 'Never-Sleeping City'!"

Upon hearing Jiang Liu's beautiful words, Maishiro Kyosuke smiled and extended his hand: "Ms. Maruta, thank you for your help—"

Maruta Chika warmly grasped Maishiro Kyosuke's hand, then gently shook her head: "Mr. Maishiro, you flatter me. My help was merely icing on the cake. In reality, it's because your 'The City That Never Sleeps' is so well-written that you've achieved such great success!"

After Maruta Chika finished speaking, she suddenly seemed to remember something and took out a book called "The City That Never Sleeps" and a pen from her bag: "Oh right, I almost forgot something important."

"Mr. Wu Cheng, could you please sign this copy of 'The City That Never Sleeps' for me?"

"This was specifically requested to me by Ms. Fukunaga Yukino, the head of the publicity department."

"She was supposed to come to the party, but unfortunately she couldn't because she needed to take care of her baby that night."

Kyosuke Maijo has always treated all his fans equally, because those who like his work must also be mystery novel enthusiasts like him.

Thinking of all this, Maijo Kyosuke immediately picked up a pen, opened the title page of "The City That Never Sleeps," and signed his name.

After closing the title page of "The City That Never Sleeps," Maijo Kyosuke noticed that the cover of "The City That Never Sleeps" featured a very imposing illustration!

Liu Jian, a cigarette dangling from his lips, gazed into the distance, his complex expression seemingly recounting a terrifying past.

Although "Never Sleeps" has been published for a full five days.

But this was the first time Maijo Kyosuke had seen a physical copy of "The City That Never Sleeps," and he was naturally captivated by the illustration: "Miss Eri, is this the illustration that Ryoichi Ikegami created for 'The City That Never Sleeps'?"

"That would be wonderful if Ryoichi Ikegami-sensei were here too—"

Before Maijo Kyosuke could finish speaking, his mouth was covered by Eri's beautiful, soft hand.

Immediately, Maishiro Kyosuke smelled the familiar scent of blueberry ramune soda. Jiang Liu Meili, standing on tiptoe, whispered in Maishiro Kyosuke's ear, "Maishiro-sensei, what are you saying?!"

"Isn't Ryoichi Ikegami standing right there?"

Jiang Liu Meili gestured with her eyes for Mai Shiro Jingjie to look towards the door.

Following Jiang Liumei's directions, Maishiro Kyosuke saw a middle-aged man with thinning hair, squinty eyes, and a sleepy look, smiling at him.

Somewhat embarrassed, Maishiro Kyosuke walked up to Ikegami Ryoichi and said, "I'm sorry, Ikegami Ryoichi-sensei, I didn't know you were here—"

Ryoichi Ikegami didn't seem to care at all that Kyosuke Maishiro had ignored him; instead, he smiled and grabbed Kyosuke's hand.

"Ms. Mai, you don't need to be so polite. It was clearly my fault for not introducing myself!"

"However, all those formalities don't matter. What matters is that I finally have the chance to meet you, Professor Mai!"

"Your 'The City That Never Sleeps' is absolutely fantastic!"

"Although it may sound like I'm taking credit, I still have to say that with your original work, 'The City That Never Sleeps,' by Mr. Mai, combined with my cool art style, the manga version of 'The City That Never Sleeps' will definitely become a sensation in the Japanese manga world!"

Ryoichi Ikegami chatted with Kyosuke Maijo for quite a while, as if he had met his idol.

After Jiang Liumei led the group to set up the hall.

Ikegami Ryoichi reluctantly ended his conversation with Maishiro Kyosuke.

"Ms. Mai, you are the star of today! You should stand in the very center of the frame."

"Mr. Yushan, you are the editor-in-chief who promoted Ms. Wucheng, so you should stand to Ms. Wucheng's left."

"Beautiful sister, you are the magazine editor who helped Teacher Wu Cheng gain fame, so you should stand on the right."

"Taiden? You brought Kyoko over here. You two are standing next to the beautiful girl. No, you're wrong. Kyoko should be next to the beautiful girl. What are you doing standing in such an important position, a grown man?"

"Of course, we should have the cute little Kyoko and the beautiful little sister standing together!"

Maruta Chika, like a professional photographer, arranged the positions of Gonda Manji, Kasai Kiyoshi, Otto Penzel, Ikegami Ryoichi, Tatara Katsunori, Hirayama Yumeaki, and Noma Genjiro in turn.

After Maruta Chika finished all this, she fixed the Bulgari camera in place and set the timer to take the picture.

She jogged over to Noma Genjiro's side, sweetly took his arm, and said, "Three! Two! —! Cheese!"

After the thirteen people present shouted "cheese" together and smiled,

A photographic sheet capturing the smiling faces of thirteen people slowly emerged from the Bulgari camera.

"Time to cut the cake!"

Although Maruta Chika is about thirty-six or thirty-seven years old, she is as lively as a child.

They took more than a dozen photos of everyone present, until everyone had a photo, before ending the photo session.

But this person seemed to have inexhaustible energy. As soon as the filming was over, he took out a very long knife from the trolley and began to distribute cakes to everyone present.

"Everyone gets a share! I specially hired the best pastry chef in Japan to make it with animal-based cream; it's absolutely delicious!"

"Please have a light meal first. A dinner party that Genjiro and I have already ordered will be delivered soon!"

"To celebrate Teacher Wu Cheng's 'Never-Sleeping City' surpassing 500,000 copies! We're going to drink until we drop today!"

Upon hearing Maruta Chika's words, Noma Genjiro coughed somewhat awkwardly, then leaned closer to Maruta Chika and whispered, "Chika—didn't I tell you? In front of outsiders, you should call me President Noma."

Although Noma Genjiro's voice was very soft, apart from the two of them, there were only eleven people present, and everyone heard it clearly.

Upon hearing Genjiro Noma's words, Maruta Chika initially covered her mouth in surprise, but quickly regained her composure: "Genjiro, what are you saying?"

"Look at the people here? Whether it's Taiden, Mr. Uyama, the beautiful girl, Ms. Maijo, or Ms. Ikegami, aren't they all core members of our Kodansha?"

"Even those who are not from Kodansha, such as Mr. Gonda, Mr. Kasai, Mr. Tatara, and Mr. Otto, are all critics or booksellers associated with Kodansha."

"Oh, right! And there's also this Professor Hirayama Yumeaki!"

Maruta Chika looked at Hirayama Yumeaki sitting at the table and smiled: "Hirayama Yumeaki's story called 'The Messenger Cat' is excellent. We have received a lot of feedback from readers, and we hope to see more of Hirayama Yumeaki's works in the future."

"Therefore, Professor Hirayama Yumeaki is very likely to become the next mystery prodigy that Kodansha will focus on cultivating, following in the footsteps of Professor Maijo!"

"So? Genjiro? There's not a single outsider here!"

Upon hearing Maruta Chika's words, Mikoshiba Kyoko feigned anger: "Aunt Chika, you've mentioned everyone except me. Are you implying I'm an outsider?"

Maruta Chika wrinkled her nose, then chuckled and pinched Mikoshiba Kyoko's wheat-colored cheek: "Kyoko, you little ingrate, have you forgotten the sportswear and skincare products I gave you? If you're an outsider, then I'm an outsider too."

After hearing what Maruta Chika said, everyone realized that Maruta Chika was not just Noma Genjiro's secretary, but might become Noma's wife in the future.

Seeing this, Noma Genjiro became a little embarrassed. He pulled Maruta Chika's hand and sat down, looking at Maishiro Kyosuke sitting opposite him with a pleading gaze: "Um—Maishiro-sensei, I heard from Ms. Eru that you have plans to create a new work?"

Upon hearing Genjiro Noma's words, Kyosuke Maishiro turned to look at Miri Eri beside him.

Jiang Liu Meili shook her head slightly at her.

Maijo Kyosuke understood immediately. Noma Genjiro hadn't gotten any information about the new work from Eri, but was simply asking him for help to divert attention from the topic that Maruta Chika had brought up.

Thinking of this, Maijo Kyosuke nodded to Noma Genjiro and said, "President Noma, as expected, nothing can be kept from you."

"I do have a new work, which I just finished two days ago."

"I originally planned to show it to everyone when I had some free time the day after tomorrow, but since everyone's here today, let's take a look together?"

Jiang Liu Meili looked surprised upon hearing Mai Shiro Kyosuke's words: "Mr. Mai Shiro, is it that book, 'Nobody Dies'?"

"It's only been a few days? You've already finished writing it?"

When Maijo Kyosuke heard Jiang Liumei's words, he shook his head slightly: "No, the progress of 'No One Dies' is only about one-third. What I'm going to present this time is a work that I specially prepared for the eighth issue of 'Top Hat' magazine."

Upon hearing Maishiro Kyosuke's words, Maruta Chika's face lit up with great interest: "Ever since Genjiro told me that Maishiro-sensei's 'New Orthodox Mystery Club' has a real mystery book club atmosphere, I've been really looking forward to it!"

"I never expected to have the opportunity to participate this time!"

"What kind of work has Ms. Maishiro written this time?"

Is it a repackaged version of the old tricks in "A Bellflower"? Or a bold innovation like "Convergence"? Or perhaps...

What is the logical flow of "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates"?

"The blind spots and misleading narratives in 'The Third Time Limit'? The extreme narrative trickery in 'Dear Mr. S'? The serial murders in 'Object X from Outer Space'?"

"Or is Ms. Wu Cheng planning to write another 'hard-boiled mystery' similar to 'The Ten-Year-Old Client' to boost the sales of 'Never-Sleeping City'?"

When Maishiro Kyosuke heard Maruta Chika speak of his works so familiarly, a smile appeared on his face: "It seems that Ms. Maruta is also a loyal reader of mine, as she can easily name the works I have written."

Maruta Chika smiled and nodded: "Of course! I've read every single one of Maishiro-sensei's works more than twice, and I love them all. Especially 'Convergence,' I've read it five times. Every time I read it, I'm amazed by Maishiro-sensei's genius imagination and the absurd ending!"

"And then there's the character McCarte, whom I both love and hate."

When Maishiro Kyosuke heard Maruta Chika say this, his expression became somewhat subtle: "Then this time, Miss Maruta is truly blessed."

"Because my latest work is a sequel to the 'Macato Series,' I named it 'Nostalgia.'"