The lonely Hikigaya Hachiman wants to become the king of mystery novels

Hikigaya Hachiman invited.Although he has the memories of his past life, it is still a bit difficult for him to simply work behind closed doors without a golden finger.He needs someone who can listen to his ideas and give reasonable suggestions. At present, editor Imamura seems to be the best choice.

"Of course, no problem! Mr. Hachiman, as long as you have any ideas about the new work, I will be here at your call!"

As an avid fan of mystery novels, Naho Imamura would naturally not refuse the invitation of a mystery genius, and she was also Teacher Hachiman’s nominal editor, just doing normal work.

On Saturday, it was late October in Chiba City, and there were faint signs of winter.

The place where Hikigaya Hachiman and Imamura Naho met was the same cafe in Ginza that Hikigaya had visited before. The environment was quiet and beautiful, very suitable for two people to talk together.

Naho Imamura still wears a standard female OL suit, which highlights her superior body shape, with her legs wrapped in flesh-colored pantyhose.Hikigaya Hachiman did not wear his sales-specific glasses like the previous two meetings, and showed his original dead fish eyes to Imamura Naho without any reservation.

"...Mr. Hachiman, to be honest, I still like you better with glasses on."

Naho Imamura said bluntly that she began to miss the handsome young man when they first met. The appearance of Teacher Hachiman in front of her was the same as before, but his temperament was completely different.

"This is my real face. I think our future cooperation and meetings will last for a long time. It is better to show my original face to Editor Imamura."

Hikigaya Hachiman said as he took out the laptop he just bought and put it on the table.

"The overall length of my new work will be similar to "Confessions", maybe a little shorter, less than 12 words. I initially plan to publish it in the April issue of "All Readings" next year, which is one month after the serialization of "Confessions" ends. It will be published every month. After all, "Confessions" will be published immediately after the February issue ends, so it is always good to leave a gap."

Hikigaya Hachiman informed Naho Imamura of the serialization plan for his new work.

"I think it's very reasonable, Mr. Hachiman. I think the new serialization and publication can completely replicate the experience of "Confession"."

Now the publication sample of "Confession" has been printed. Although it is only the first edition, the final release effect will not be much different.

"The name of this work is "Malice". It will be a more traditional mystery novel, with only one case from beginning to end. I haven't started writing yet, so here is an outline. Editor Imamura, you can take a look at it first. "

Naho Imamura took the outline from Hikigaya Hachiman and studied it carefully.

"Teacher Hachiman, are you saying that the murderer in this case was arrested only a third of the way through the plot?"

Imamura felt incredible.

"Yes, the main part of this novel will be used to reveal the murderer's motive. Rather, most of the content in the novel will exist to foreshadow the murderer's motive, and the murder will be a foil."

Hikigaya Hachiman replied.

"I think this is a very bold breakthrough. No one has ever written such a mystery novel before. Mr. Hachiman, I have begun to look forward to your creation infinitely."

Just looking at the synopsis, you can’t see any highlights, but Naho Imamura, who has seen how powerful Hikigaya Hachiman is, chose to completely trust her opponent’s abilities.

"Then Editor Imamura, after I finish writing a chapter, I will send you an electronic copy via email. Then I will ask Editor Imamura to help me steer the steering wheel to prevent me from being unable to control my writing and going too far."

"You are so humble, Mr. Hachiman. You completed "Confession" perfectly by yourself."

Imamura Naho was very proud. This meant that she could see Mr. Hachiman's manuscript before that annoying school girl. That's about it...

"Oh, I forgot to tell Editor Imamura. Ms. Machida has also been urging me for updates recently. She said that she would use all her experience as an editor to help my writing."

"She, is she worthy? She knows a lot about mystery novels!"

Naho Imamura suddenly lost her previous reserve.

She behaved very much in line with Hikigaya Hachiman's imagination, which was the effect he wanted.

"Teacher Hachiman, I will use practical actions to prove that my professional ability is far stronger than that woman. This is the confidence that "All Readings" magazine has given me!"

Chapter 14 Yukinoshita Harano makes no progress

Written above: This chapter and the next chapter deal with some descriptions of the narrative machinations of Keigo Higashino's "Malevolence" without any spoilers.If you read the novel after reading this chapter, it may affect your reading thinking and make the ending of the original novel less shocking. Please be aware.

A month passed quickly, and the December issue of "All Readings" was delivered to the newspaper boxes of thousands of households across Japan on time.The first thing many readers do after receiving the magazine is to look for the page in the catalog where the second volume of "Confessions" is located.

After the first volume of "Confession" was published, it has undoubtedly become a social topic in the past month. Many lawmakers have even begun to quote the contents of "Confession" in their political speeches.

While everyone was sighing at the excellence of this novel, they also became more interested in this mysterious "Teacher Hachiman". The more mysterious it is, the more it arouses the curiosity of the public. Everyone wants to know more about this person. A 15-year-old junior high school student writer.

Yukinoshita Yono is naturally one of them, and her investigation of Mr. Hachiman was the earliest.On the night when "Confession" Chapter 1 was published, she learned through her father's relationship that Mr. Hachiman should be living in Chiba City now.

"Japan is big, but Chiba City is small."

At that time, Yukinoshita Yono thought so. With the Yukinoshita family's network, it was too easy to find a talented junior high school student in his home city.

Although there are many junior high schools in Chiba City, there are countless junior high school students.But nothing happens without warning. This is Yukinoshita Yono's creed. She believes that Mr. Hachiman must be very good at writing, and maybe she can find clues from the essay competitions in which students from these schools participate.

As for the pen name "Hachiman", Yangno didn't pay too much attention to it. She did a simple online search and found out that "Hachiman" was the name of a place in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture. It was unremarkable. Maybe the author took the pen name from here, or Maybe not, it doesn't matter, Yang Nai thinks that no one would directly use his real name as a pen name, otherwise what is the point of being so mysterious?

To sum up, Yukinoshita Yono, whose search scope was completely deviated, naturally found nothing in a month. Instead, she read a bunch of competition essays written by junior high school students. Naturally, she couldn't find any essays that could compare with Hachiman. Corresponds to the teacher's style.

It's not like she hasn't investigated Hikigaya Hachiman's middle school. However, because she preconceived the idea that writers wouldn't use their real names as pen names, she naturally ignored the name of the second-year junior high school student who ranked first in liberal arts in the midterm exam.

Naturally, Hikigaya Hachiman didn't know that someone was investigating him. In fact, he wouldn't be worried even if he knew.He dared to directly use "Hachiman" as his pen name. Naturally, he had his own considerations. There are two reasons:

First, the majority of readers of the publication "All Readings" are almost all social animals. College students who love literature may subscribe to this publication. However, in high schools, "All Readings" has basically disappeared, and junior high school students have no idea about it at all. I have never heard of the name of this magazine, so there is no objective risk of his true identity being discovered by his classmates;

The second is that Hikigaya Hachiman himself has no reputation at all. Before the soul was transferred, Hikigaya Hachiman was withdrawn and had an instinctive resistance to interpersonal communication. Now Hikigaya Hachiman is obsessed with writing and has no time or energy to communicate with others. Some students mentioned that they only have a very ambiguous impression of him, and it is difficult to directly associate him with the name "Hachiman".

At this time, Hikigaya Hachiman has advanced "Malice" to the part where Nonoguchi Osamu pleads guilty and accepts punishment. Although he thinks that the detective part alone, which accounts for less than one-third of the book, is exciting enough, many old mystery fans You can definitely see the homage to many classical mystery novels at a glance, and it is not difficult for them to guess the result.

Hikigaya Hachiman's goal is achieved when the readers are expecting the murderer's arrest, and when they have a first impression of the victim such as "this person is not a good person".Of course, whether it will have such an effect on readers still needs to be read by the two editors Imamura and Machida who volunteered to be guinea pigs. Editor Machida’s reaction can roughly represent the general readers, and editor Imamura naturally represents the old Mystery fan.

After sending the electronic version to the two editors respectively, the phased work of "Malicious" is over, and the next step is to wait quietly for their replies.

In this rare free time, Hikigaya Hachiman began to browse the Internet's reactions to "Confession" Chapter 2.

A Tokyo council member candidate immediately tweeted his thoughts after reading: Chapter 2 titled "Martyr" turns his writing to the two sharp topics of school violence and educator negligence, providing a profound analysis. The causes of school violence and the irreversible psychological damage caused by bullying to students, including juvenile delinquency in Chapter 1, are things that happen every day, but we are unwilling to mention them.Now it takes a 15-year-old boy to bring these darkness to the table to trigger widespread discussion. This is the tragedy of our times! (The following part is the promotion link for the election and has been automatically omitted)

What was said in the front was simplified, and the process of canvassing for votes began later.Many politicians began to take notice of "Confession" and unceremoniously used it as one of their propaganda tools.Of course, they themselves have become a promotional tool for "Confession", so Hikigaya Hachiman doesn't resent this behavior.

In addition, a large number of readers who have had the experience of being bullied have begun to tell online about their personal experiences of campus bullying, or the incompetent teachers they encountered, etc.

"The behavior of junior high school students is easily biased by their impulsive brains. After experiencing a rapid development, they have the physical conditions to do evil, but their minds are far from mature. This has led to junior high school students becoming a violent group on campus The most reckless of existences.”

This is the analysis of a former junior high school teacher.

"It is precisely because the minds of junior high school students are not fully developed that they need better guidance from teachers, right? If there is a teacher like Lianghui in the chapter of 'Martyrs', wouldn't it inadvertently encourage school bullying? happened?"

A parent of a student responded.

"In fact, bullying in primary schools is also very serious, and there is no reason. They may even bully simply because they are jealous of the excellence of others."

This is a comment made by a user whose IP address is overseas. There are many people who responded, maybe he is an international student.

No.15 Chapter Hikigaya Hachiman received feedback

“It’s the season of the white album again…”

Hikigaya Hachiman muttered words that others could not understand.

It's now December, and winter has already entered Chiba.At this time, Hikigaya Hachiman was wearing a knee-length white belted trench coat and a light yellow scarf. He was standing in the cold wind outside Ginza with his hands in his pockets, waiting. In order to resist the cold, he tried his best to turn his face towards His lower body was buried in the scarf. This action gave him wearing glasses a hint of frailty.From time to time it attracts side glances from girls passing by.

The people he is waiting for are naturally the two people under the identity of "Teacher Hachiman".

Hardcore fans: Naho Imamura and Enoko Machida.Wearing glasses was also a unanimous request from the two editors the night before.

Soon, two figures familiar to Hikigaya Hachiman appeared across the street, but they were no longer wearing the previous OL uniforms, but ordinary down jackets.These two are past the age where they like to dress up, Hikigaya Hachiman thinks so.

However, after seeing Hikigaya Hachiman, the two of them were obviously not calm.

"Why is this boy so good at dressing up all of a sudden? I really want to hug him tightly and rub him hard."

This is Machida Enko who had previously advised Hachiman to be careful with Imamura Nao, and she slowly began to move closer to dangerous people.

"Sister, please be more reserved. Isn't it embarrassing to be obsessed with a boy who is more than ten years younger than you?"

Naho Imamura seized the opportunity and said sarcastically.

"Haha, at least I'm sincere, but you should first close the corners of your mouth that are about to reach behind your ears, so as not to scare Mr. Hachiman."

Machida Enko exposed the other party without mercy.

Hikigaya Hachiman didn't know what the two older young women were standing there muttering about, but decided to go up to them himself.He walked up to the two of them, bowed slightly and offered his apology:

"Sorry to bother you two, you have to come here in such a cold weather today. You can explain it clearly in the email."

Of course, I didn’t dare to say that I came mainly to meet Hikigaya Hachiman and the two of them said in unison that it wouldn’t be troublesome.

"Teacher Hachiman, let's go in and talk."

Naho Imamura was the first to speak. In fact, Hikigaya Hachiman had hinted to Imamura before. Now that he knew his real name, he could directly call him by his surname instead of calling him by his pen name all the time.But Imamura still liked to call him "Teacher Hachiman" for some reason, and Hikigaya Hachiman didn't bother to mention it anymore.

The place the three agreed on was still the cafe in Ginza, and the two female editors chose to sit to the left and right of Hikigaya Hachiman.

"Hikigaya-kun, you can really be considered a girl killer in your current state. It is no exaggeration to say that if I were ten years younger, I might really be obsessed with you."

Machida Enko spoke bluntly, her eyes still wandering on Hikigaya Hachiman.

"You are sexual harassment!"

Naho Imamura couldn't tolerate that her school girl kept trying to attract Teacher Hachiman's attention with such shameless behavior, and directly put a big label of "sexual harassment" on her head.

"I'm sorry for scaring you two. I will never go out like this again."

In fact, it was not Hikigaya Hachiman who dressed up himself, but it was the work of his fashionista mother.

Hikigaya Hachiman's parents have long stated that the money he earns from writing books is entirely at Hachiman's control, but the content he consumes needs to be supervised by his parents.However, a few months later, Hachiman spent almost no extra money except for a laptop for work.

This made Hikigaya's mother, who was eager to change Hachiman's withdrawn character, extremely anxious. She believed that if she wanted to change her character, she must first change Hachiman's temperament.People rely on clothes. After semi-obtaining Hachiman's consent, Hikigaya's mother bought the white belted windbreaker that he is wearing now that costs nothing, and an equally expensive scarf.The image of Hikigaya Hachiman has completely changed.Today is the first appearance of this image of Hikigaya Hachiman.

"Please do not!!"

255595300 Qianxun Resources.Source Group

The two female editors said in unison.Hikigaya Hachiman thought that the two of them always had an inexplicable tacit understanding at times like this.

All in all, the discussion about the first third of Malice has finally begun.

"Teacher Hachiman, after you sent me the manuscript, I have read it through it many times. As a mystery novel editor, I think the techniques and other things in this case are indeed more subtle, but they all have the routines of classic works. The foreshadowing is more obvious. I can see some Agatha Christie vibes. But considering you said that this is only less than one-third of the plot of the book, I believe there will be a twist in the plot later."

Naho Imamura reported from the perspective of a professional mystery novel editor, which was basically consistent with Hikigaya Hachiman’s conjecture.

"My opinion is that the process of the case is compact enough, and the method of committing the crime did not surprise me, but overall it feels not exciting enough. The current part of "Malevolence" is definitely more like a standard movie than "Confession" It is a mystery novel, but I think it is not as good as "Confession" in terms of readability. I look forward to your next content."

This is the evaluation of Machida Enko, a representative of general readers who has not read many mystery novels.

"Okay, I have received your comments, and they are not much different from what I thought. Now I would like to ask you a few questions about the article."

Hikigaya Hachiman thought for a moment and then said.

The two women next to her immediately became attentive. Naho Imamura even took out a small notebook full of things.

"The first question is, what do you think of Hidaka Kunihiko? Editor Machida will tell you first."

"I have a bad impression of him. I can't tell you specifically. Maybe it was the conversation about killing the cat at the beginning that shocked me."

Machida Enko expressed her views simply.

"I agree with what Yuanzi said. The plot of Hidaka admitting to killing the cat can be regarded as a small reversal at the beginning of the chapter. I even have a feeling that after this description, Hidaka went to see the woman he had never wanted to see before, just to Send Nonoguchi away."

Naho Imamura's mind is more active.

If Hikigaya Hachiman's psychological activities were reflected on his face at this moment, it would definitely be very exciting.He did admire Editor Imamura's keen observation, but the more accurate her speculations were, the deeper she fell into the trap dug by Hikigaya Hachiman. Many other senior mystery fans may have the same views as her.

"OK, I understand, then the second question. Do you still remember the titles of the three chapters I sent you?"

No.16 Hikigaya Hachiman teaches you how to read reasoning

"Chapter names? I actually wrote them down in my notepad. They are 'Chapter of Incidents: Osamu Nonoguchi's Notes', 'Chapter of Doubts: Records of Kyouichiro Kaga' and 'Chapter of Resolution: Osamu Nonoguchi's Notes'."

The professional Naho Imamura answered quickly.Machida Enko's eyes darkened. This is in line with the reading habits of most ordinary readers. They don't care about the chapter names because they are of no use.

"So, Editor Imamura, did you have any direct thoughts when you saw these questions?"

【Qianxun】②⑤⑤⑤⑨⑤③00

"No, Mr. Hachiman, what does this mean?"

Naho Imamura answered truthfully that she rarely paid attention to chapter names and recorded them purely to facilitate discussion in chapters.

"Then let me ask another question. You just mentioned that you felt something similar to Agatha Christie from the book. So which part of the text made you feel this way?"

"Uh...I guess it's the way of writing, or...the killing method or something like that?"

Naho Imamura herself said she didn’t quite understand.

"You can read Agatha in the modus operandi of this book, and you can also read Matsumoto Kiyonaga. He even looks a bit like Conan Doyle. This is not the point. Editor Imamura, the unique charm of Agatha Christie does not Not here. Forget it, I have finished asking my questions, and I would like to thank both of you for your valuable opinions. Next, I suggest that we have something to eat and talk about things other than work."

Hikigaya Hachiman ignored Editor Imamura's angry expression and changed the topic.He has completely confirmed that even with his prompting, Editor Imamura, a veteran mystery fan, could not discover the core conspiracy of the book. If he did not prompt it, it would have been ignored.Imamura is like this, let alone Machida Enko. This kind of trick is a sure way to trick ordinary readers like her.