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

"After today's meeting, I think the success of this novel is already a certainty."

After finishing their meal, Hikigaya Hachiman said goodbye to the two of them at the gate of Ginza, and said these very confident words.This made the two female editors, especially Imamura, even more confused. They both felt that they did not provide any constructive suggestions to Hikigaya Hachiman, but Mr. Hachiman sincerely thanked them.

Machida soon felt that it didn't matter. She could spend a few hours with a beautiful boy, listening to the boy keep talking about some knowledge about mystery literature that she seemed to understand. This kind of thinking was completely blocked by the knowledgeable man. She was fascinated by the feeling of people walking around with them.

On the other side, Imamura Naho was not so easy to reconcile with herself. She stubbornly believed that in the conversation just now, Teacher Hikigaya Hachiman felt a little disappointed in her, a strong person in the theory of mystery novels.Teacher Hachiman was obviously guiding her thinking many times, but she just couldn't understand what he meant.This made her feel very embarrassed: not only did she not have as genius an idea as Mr. Hachiman, but now she even had to be crushed by Mr. Hachiman in terms of theoretical knowledge.If this continues, won’t the meaning of my existence as an editor completely disappear?

"Going back tonight to start reading Agatha Christie again."

Naho Imamura secretly competes, her creative talent is given by God, and she can accept her fate if she cannot make up the gap.But theoretical knowledge can be supplemented through a lot of reading and studying. If even this point has to be suppressed by Teacher Hachiman, who is 13 years younger than her, it would be remiss.

It's true that she hasn't reviewed the classical mystery novels of the Golden Age for a long time. Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, John Dixon Carr... Mystery writers 100 years later are all there. When they rack their brains to design reversal plots, pursue grand narratives (am I doing something wrong in trying to create an epic feel in mystery novels), and depict bizarre scenes, the works of these writers who have been around for decades or even 100 years shine even more brightly. Hui.Just like Newton's "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" to the scientific world, reasoning writers at any time must read the works of these old predecessors and imitate them when necessary, in order to inspire new inspiration of their own.

After returning home, Hikigaya Hachiman felt refreshed. He couldn't show this pride in front of the two editors, otherwise the matter of treating them as guinea pigs might be exposed.Wait, they seem to be here voluntarily, so that's okay.

What Imamura Naho didn't realize was the word "note" in the title of each chapter. The book was written by the author himself. As a mystery novel, the author is not allowed to deceive the readers when describing the objective situation.But if the narrator is replaced by a character in the book, it is something that needs to be considered whether everything they say can be accepted. Most readers read the first few chapters with a fully accepting attitude, so they will have some solid impressions of the characters. It is completely implanted in my heart and I will read the entire novel until the ending mystery is revealed.

Hikigaya Hachiman started the follow-up creation of "Malice" with high enthusiasm. After proving that the first third of the narrative was effective, the subsequent creation became much simpler.

After returning to Chiyoda, Imamura Naho received a call from Arisugawa. The active mystery novel giant also wanted to read Hikigaya Hachiman's new work, so Imamura Naho immediately sent him the printed manuscript.

"Well, if you just read the existing content, it won't be too eye-catching. It is a highly completed mystery novel with all the necessary elements, but that's all."

Arisukawa gave basically the same evaluation as Imamura.

Naho Imamura once again told Arisugawa what Mr. Hachiman said when they met. This master of mystery novels must have a deeper understanding. Mystery novelists often have common creative ideas.

"I see. After listening to what you said, I realized that I had underestimated the content of more than 3 words. Looking back, it really laid a lot of foreshadowing that has not yet been revealed. This kid Hikigaya, I guess it will happen again this time. It’s time to write a hit.”

Arisugawa sighed, but Imamura Naho was still confused, and her expression was noticed by Arisugawa.

"If you still don't understand, go back and review Agatha Christie's most groundbreaking book and see how writers deceived readers 100 years ago."

Arisukawa gave some advice to Naho Imamura, then stood up and left the publishing house.

"The most groundbreaking book...it's just one of the two books, "The ABC Murders" or "The Roger Mystery"."

Imamura murmured to himself.

No.17 Yukinoshita Yukino enjoys (?) winter vacation

Hikigaya Hachiman doesn't care whether Imamura Naho can understand his hint after meeting. The charm of "Malevolence" is that even if the readers really realize the misleading narrative of Chapter 1, they will be deeply shocked by the ending, and even more What's more, readers who can realize it now seem to be only a handful.

On December 22, the January issue of "All Readings" was officially released. This is also the last issue of this magazine this year.After finishing the publication of this issue of the magazine, the entire editorial department began to be immersed in the atmosphere of the upcoming festival and couldn't extricate themselves.Although Christmas is not a legal holiday in Japan, both the Bungeishunqiu Publishing House and its magazines are full of a strong Christmas atmosphere.And on December 28, the official New Year holiday begins.

"Confession" Chapter 3 "The Loving One" has also met with the readers in the highly anticipated release. As expected, it has aroused a huge response. This may not be news anymore.From Chapter 1 to Chapter 3, no matter how dull a reader is, he should realize that there is no such plot as healing or redemption in "Confession", and there is only one page of desperate narration.All characters appearing in the story are trapped in the tragic cycle constructed by Mr. Hachiman, but they appear to be extremely reasonable.

"The theme of this chapter has shifted to the family factors that caused the tragedy. Mr. Hachiman is undoubtedly a very keen observer of social phenomena. He did not simply attribute these minor tragedies to the role of a certain factor, but tried to analyze them from multiple perspectives. It is a very responsible novel to explore the causes of tragedy."

A famous mystery novel fan wrote this on his homepage.He has become a loyal fan of Mr. Hachiman.

Recently, Yukinoshita Yukino has given up looking for this teacher Hachiman. The main reason is that she has read enough of the eight-legged competition essays of junior high school students. The secondary reason is that her dearest sister Yukinoshita Yukino is about to go on vacation. Returned to Japan briefly.

Thanks to the rapid development of the era of rapid development, the "all readers" magazine also launched an electronic version of the magazine for online reading last year, of course, it still requires a paid subscription.After the first volume of "Confessions" was published, Yukinoshita Harano recommended this article to her sister Yukino via email, and specifically told Yukino that it was written by an author of the same age as her, who also lives in Qian. Leaf market.

Yukinoshita Yukino has very complicated emotions towards her sister, who is strong and overpowers her in every aspect, and hates her sister who often takes pleasure in teasing her. This time, Yono recommended to her a novel written by a peer, It must have been to make her realize the differences between people, but it was really a bad intention.But Yukinoshita Yukino still likes to read. Since such an outstanding person as her sister specifically recommends it to her, then this novel called "Confession" is definitely worth reading.

This is indeed the case. Now Yukinoshita Yukino has read the three volumes of "Confession" countless times. She thinks that Teacher Hachiman is a contradictory person, or that the work "Confession" is very contradictory, and its overall The writing style is calm despair, and you cannot feel that the author has devoted even a trace of emotion to it. However, the content that "Confession" wants to express and reveal is the personal pain of Japanese society, which shows that the author is ideal.Seemingly indifferent yet extremely caring, Yukinoshita Yukino even had a bit of a tsundere feel to her.

"Anyway, this guy of my age is way ahead of me."

Yukinoshita Yukino murmured to herself while reading the third volume of "Confession" on the plane.She believes that her depth of thinking is much higher than that of her peers, but all she can do is talk about her experience of being bullied in elementary school on her Twitter homepage.

The plane landed slowly on the runway of Narita International Airport. Yukinoshita Yukino returned to her hometown. Her parents, sister, and family vehicles were definitely waiting for her outside, but she did not miss them.Her father and her flamboyant sister may welcome her very warmly, but her mother will only give her a slight nod, possibly without even smiling.

"Xiao-yuki-no!"

Yukinoshita Haruno just saw the sister she missed so much at the exit of the station, so she dragged Nagane and hugged her.

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"Sister, there are a lot of people here, so you don't have to be so exaggerated."

Yukinoshita Yukino was very helpless, but with both hands holding the luggage, she couldn't push Yangno away, and could only passively accept the other person rubbing against her body.

"Okay, Yang Nai, what does it look like in public?"

Mrs. Yukinoshita stopped Harano with a low but dignified voice.

"Honey. I haven't seen the two sisters for a long time. It's normal to be affectionate. They are still children."

Mr. Yukinoshita is more reasonable.

However, Mrs. Yukinoshita ignored him and walked directly towards Yukinoshita Yukino.

"I'm back, mother, father."

Yukinoshita Yukino bowed slightly and gave a formulaic greeting to the parents in front of her.

"Welcome back, Yukino, I hope you can let me see your progress every time you return from abroad."

A cold response, followed by an even colder request.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Mr. Yukinoshita stopped asking for trouble and said nothing. He just smiled and patted Yukino's shoulder, helped her take a suitcase of luggage, and the family boarded the extended version. Luxury car.

It was a long drive from Narita Airport to Yukinoshita's home. Yukinoshita Harano, who didn't want the atmosphere to be too tense along the way, spoke first:

"Yukino, have you read the "Confession" I recommended to you?"

Yangno believed that her sister would definitely read it, so she directly brought up the topic.

"Yes, I have. In fact, I was re-reading 'The Benevolent One' until I got off the plane."

The meaning of this sentence is not just as simple as reading it. It is obvious that Yukino loves this work very much, and even reaches the point where she can't put it down, which is somewhat beyond Yangno's expectation.

"I knew you would like it. Don't you have any feelings about your peers being able to write such works?"

Yukinoshita Yono started this conversation-ending topic again.

Erwu㈤㈤玖⑤з Zero Zero

Yukino glanced at her sister very unkindly, and then said:

"This is just an extreme example, and I think when reading such an excellent novel, you should pay more attention to the connotation that the author wants to express, rather than the author himself. You are so concerned about this teacher Hachiman, do you know him? "

"No, I don't know her at all, and I'm not interested in her. No one is as important as my sister."

Yukinoshita Yono immediately denied it and said it righteously.

Chapter 18 Hikigaya Hachiman received the invitation

Knowing that her sister did not know this teacher Hachiman, Yukinoshita Yukino also lost interest and stopped saying anything.

"Are you also reading "Confession" by Mr. Hachiman? This book has really stolen the show in the past few months. Many of my colleagues are discussing this novel. Even your mother reads it on time every month. .”

Mr. Yukinoshita also joined the discussion, and the colleagues he was talking about were naturally other congressmen from Chiba Prefecture.Mrs. Yukinoshita, who was mentioned by him, actually glanced at Mr. Yukinoshita with some embarrassment at this moment, as if it was embarrassing for her daughters to know that their majestic mother actually liked the same novels as them.But in fact, her age group is the main force in the reading group of "All Readings" magazine.

"I think you two should reflect on why Mr. Hachiman can write such profound words at the age of 15. Can you learn from his words how to observe society and see the essence through phenomena? The talent of writing It may be something you are born with and cannot be made up for, but learning to observe and express your opinions can be learned and improved, which will be of great help to you in the future."

Feeling that her dignity had been damaged, Mrs. Yukinoshita began to use "Confession" to educate her two daughters.She really admires Hachiman, a 15-year-old teacher who has such a strong sense of social responsibility and insight into social phenomena at the age of a junior high school student, and uses the medium of novels to attract public attention.Mrs. Yukinoshita even thought for a time that it would be great if Teacher Hachiman was a child of the Yukinoshita family. She would definitely be able to train him to be an outstanding politician.

But Mrs. Yukinoshita has never regretted giving birth to two girls.On the contrary, she tried her best to train them. Yangno was very obedient and in awe of her, and was steadily moving towards the role of a qualified heir.As for the younger daughter Yukino, she is also very good, far better than her peers, but her character became withdrawn or aloof in elementary school.Maybe Yangno also has this kind of aloofness in her character, but she can always get along well with the people around her, and eventually it becomes useful to her.

Yukino's aloof character soon developed into rebelliousness. She began to question her mother's arrangements for her future, began to avoid contact with her family, and even offered to study abroad in junior high school in order to have more time of her own. .

"If this teacher Hachiman is really a native of Chiba, then we should try hard to win over him, at least have a good relationship with him. An excellent writer, his words can have a far-reaching publicity effect. Far better than any other form.”

Mr. Yukinoshita said thoughtfully.As a member of parliament, he can deeply appreciate how helpful the novel "Confessions" is to colleagues who hold the same views.

Hearing these words, Yukinoshita Yukino rolled her eyes without any trace. The world of adults is boring and vulgar. When faced with an excellent literary work, they only focus on its use value. Such people are not worthy of appreciation at all. literature!Yukinoshita Yukino thought so stubbornly.

In short, although the dull atmosphere did not ease much, several people in the car were finally able to chat for a while. Before Christmas came, Yukinoshita's family of four reunited again.

...... ......

"Hello, Mr. Hachiman, I am Naho Imamura. Well, I also wish you a happy holiday. You know Mr. Arisugawa, right? In fact, he has something to tell you."

On Christmas Day, Hikigaya Hachiman suddenly received a call from Naho Imamura. In the past, they basically communicated by email, and it was very rare for them to call directly.

As for the Mr. Arisugawa she was talking about on the phone, Hikigaya Hachiman is naturally very familiar with it. He is the first mystery writer he has met since coming to this world, and he is also the leader of active mystery writers in Japan. His writing style is very special. Classical and conservative, it focuses on describing stories in a small space, a single case, and a short time span. The form is a bit like Conan Doyle, and the writing style is inherited from Ellery Quinn. Hikigaya Hachiman admires this person who is the leader in the development of mystery literature. It's strange that writers today are still willing to stick to old-school creations.

Of course, if there is any relationship between him and Hikigaya Hachiman, it is of course that as a judge of the "All Readings" Newcomer Award, he spared no effort to promote his "Confessions", which effectively promoted the early popularity of "Confessions" .

"Of course, please hand the phone to Arisukawa-sensei."

Hikigaya Hachiman heard a muttering on the other end of the phone, and then an uncle's voice reached Hikigaya Hachiman's ears.

"Hello, Mr. Hikigaya, my name is Arisukawa. I have always wanted to find an opportunity to communicate with you, but I have too many social activities. Don't mind."

Arisukawa, 55, does not sound like a writer, but like a corporate executive.

"Hello, Mr. Arisukawa, you helped me a lot in the early promotion of "Confession". I just didn't have time to thank you in person. I'm very sorry."

Hikigaya Hachiman said very sincerely that he wanted to visit Mr. Arisugawa in person or call him several times, but the publishing house said that the phone number of such a big writer is basically not released to the public, and only cooperating editors will have it. As for Regarding on-site visits, Mr. Arisukawa has hardly been at home in the past few months, so there is no way to talk about it.So Hikigaya Hachiman had to write a thank you letter and mail it to him.

"Okay, let's not talk about this. I asked Imamura to call you today. The main reason is to take you to a banquet at the end of the year in Chiba City."

"Chiba's... banquet?"

"Haha, you must not have known about this banquet before. It's just like the ones in the movies and TV shows you've seen. The organizer rents a hall, dresses it up in splendor, sets up a bunch of tables, and invites a group of celebrities they know or don't know. Things like that. If you stay here all night, you may not be able to eat more than a few mouthfuls of food. You will be walking around with wine glasses talking to each other and clinking glasses. You can imagine the scene."

"You described it so vividly, it was almost right in front of my eyes. But Mr. Arisukawa, why did you invite me?"

"Haha, Hikigaya boy, because you are a big celebrity now, don't worry, it's just your identity as Hachiman-sensei. In fact, some of my writer friends also want to get to know you, it's just that we are familiar with each other, they all You know the rules and won’t tell anyone your identity.”

"Is that so..."

Hikigaya Hachiman was still very hesitant.

"There's nothing to worry about, Hikigaya boy. If I don't tell you about this party, you won't know about it. This party and its existence are something that 90.00% of Chiba people have never heard of. Because their class is completely inaccessible to this occasion. I don’t mean to look down on anyone, just understand this. You will never meet anyone you know at the banquet, because this occasion is completely different from your previous social circle. world."

"Then, okay Mr. Arisugawa, I understand, I will go with you."

Hikigaya admitted it, so he should repay him for promoting his novel.

"Haha, the invitation has been sent to your house. Just follow the instructions on the invitation. Goodbye, Hikigaya boy!"

Arisugawa hung up the phone, and Hikigaya Hachiman sighed softly.

Chapter 19 Yukinoshita Yukino is reluctant

The New Year is approaching, and all parts of Japan are immersed in the joy of the holidays.However, the Yukinoshita family in Chiba City is one of the exceptions.

For no other reason than they were preparing for the large New Year's party that Chiba holds at the end of each year.This party has a long history and is jointly organized and organized by several old families in Chiba Prefecture. Various celebrities from the political, business, literary and artistic circles will be invited to participate.For wealthy families like them, social gatherings are commonplace, but this large-scale gathering at the end of the year is always the one with the largest number of participants, and it is certainly the most valued.

At this time, Yukinoshita Harano has already begun to help her parents with their busy schedules. As the student council president at Sobu High School, she has already developed strong ability to organize activities, so she will not become too busy.As for Yukinoshita Yukino, she is still relatively young and cannot be of much help.Besides, she had no plans to go home during the winter vacation, but the pressure from her mother on the phone was too strong, so she had to give in.

Yukinoshita Yukino hated this kind of gathering. She was not used to staying in places with too many people.She also felt that every time she attended a banquet, she was treated like a commodity and was led around by her mother to sell her.It may be a bit excessive to think so, but the long-term plan of the Yukinoshita family is that one daughter will inherit the family business and her husband will marry into the Yukinoshita family; the other daughter will marry into another wealthy family and form a support for the Yukinoshita family.

A very ancient and practical routine with a European royal beauty.

Now it seems that Yukinoshita Yukino is undoubtedly the latter, a daughter who needs to marry into another wealthy family.Of course, for Yukino, it doesn't matter whether it's the first or the second situation, she just simply hates her fate being arranged.

"Since you were born into this family, your destiny has been set. You will gain a lot but also lose a lot."

This is what Yangno said to her when it was a very rare occasion when Yukino and Yangono revealed their true thoughts.

"cliche."

Yukino's reply was very simple and crude.

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"Yes, it's a cliché, so what do you want to say? Are you willing to give up these things to pursue a free destiny? Believe me, that would just change someone to control your destiny. You have the choice in the Yukinoshita family The margin is far greater than that of any ordinary working-class family in Japan, please realize this."

Yukinoshita Yono said coldly. She looked at Yukino slightly mockingly, as if the other person was only eight years old.Although Harano is a sister-in-law, she is very concerned about Yukino's growth. She is unwilling to watch Yukino passively resist the family with such childish ideas. This is meaningless and will only increase conflicts out of thin air.So when necessary, she would not hesitate to refute Yukino.

"If you are still so naive next time you come to talk to me, then I think there is no need to continue talking."

Yukinoshita Yono dropped these words and turned around to leave, leaving no room for Yukino to refute.

Yukino was naturally dissatisfied, but she could only sulk on her own.At only 15 years old, she couldn't say anything about her sister who was better than her in every aspect.

"It would be great if I could be like Hachiman-sensei..."

Yukinoshita Yukino gently touched the cover of "All Magazine" and thought reluctantly.If she could achieve such an achievement at the age of 15, the Yukinoshita family would not be able to keep her anyway.Even though she is very good now, it is still the result of family training and her own efforts. She still cannot escape the palm of Mrs. Yukinoshita.

...... ......

"December [-]th...the banquet hall on the first floor of XXX company...please attend the banquet in formal attire and enter with this invitation letter."

Hikigaya Hachiman read the contents of the invitation letter intermittently. The invitation letter was uniformly produced and did not have a one-to-one correspondence with the names of the people. This made Hachiman sigh in relief.Mr. Arisugawa told Hachiman before that he would drive to Hikigaya's house to pick him up half an hour before the banquet, and asked Hachiman to dress appropriately.