Sogo Doma saw himself as a lazy deadbeat. Copying a book to earn startup money had been exhausting enough; if he kept plagiarizing books, wouldn't he work himself to death?
So the first thing Sogo Doma had to do was this: "Yamagami-san, this place is really boring..."
That was, to stop any bets or whatever from happening. He only wanted an ordinary life, not to plagiarize his way into building a cultural empire.
"Teacher Gyojin, please don't say that. The editor-in-chief wanted you to come this time. Editor-in-Chief Aso wants to introduce you to your fellow colleagues..."
"Sorry, but this really isn't interesting to me at all." Before Editor Yamagami could finish speaking, Sogo Doma had already put his hands behind his head and started toward the door. "Besides, I think an author's job is just to write good books. Getting to know too many colleagues..."
At that, Sogo Doma turned around and smiled. "Doesn't seem to serve much purpose."
"Nice!" After firing off that blanket insult, Sogo Doma cheered himself on in his mind. All he had to do now was leave the venue quickly, then leave everything else to Editor Yamashita.
In any case, he wasn't going to let himself get caught up in some plotline. Sogo Doma had a vague feeling that it would get him into trouble.
If his instincts were telling him that, then he should just make sure the incident never happened. If there was no beginning, there could be no middle or end. He was unbelievably clever.
Besides, this meeting didn't look very official anyway. There was a good chance Editor Yamagami had been bluffing when he said he couldn't get out of it. Sogo Doma felt deeply wounded; he felt deceived.
Leaving a mess for him to clean up would be a small punishment. From now on, he wouldn't use Sogo Doma to amuse himself anymore. (The lazy deadbeat had no plans to plagiarize another book.) The moment he made that decision, Sogo Doma felt that he was incredibly magnanimous.
"W-wait, Teacher Gyojin, Teacher Gyojin..." Watching Sogo Doma head for the exit, Editor Yamagami panicked. What he'd said about being unable to get out of it wasn't a lie. He really couldn't get out of it.
There was no helping it. The people who'd insisted Sogo Doma attend were all senior executives at the publishing house. As the old saying went, capital always gravitated toward talent.
Ever since the publishing house's higher-ups learned Sogo Doma's real age, they'd wanted to make a big deal out of it.
They could hype him up: a mystery-writing prodigy who wasn't even thirteen. Just thinking about it was exciting. Maybe even people who didn't read mysteries would buy a copy out of curiosity, just to see what a thirteen-year-old could write...
Then there was the chance to set an example. If Sogo Doma's work sold well, they could give their other authors a little push. Look, it wasn't that the publishing house wasn't doing enough; it was that you weren't trying hard enough. A twelve- or thirteen-year-old had written something that took the market by storm, and what about you? All you ever did was complain that the market was sluggish and the publishing house wasn't doing enough...
Only after that did they genuinely want to introduce Sogo Doma to the other mystery writers. As far as the publishing house was concerned, with Sogo Doma's talent, he was bound to pursue mystery writing in the future. If they promoted him now, they were sure to earn his gratitude. With that goodwill, it would be easy to tie him to the publishing house later.
As for whether he'd be ostracized because of his age, what did the publishing house care?
No matter how you looked at it, this was a sure win.
Unfortunately, no one could have predicted that Sogo Doma would be so petty and sharp-tongued. He'd barely arrived before offending most of the writers. Add his age disadvantage to that, and then word got out about how he'd taken over Kimura's release slot.
Of course, that last part really was an accident.
The publishing house had originally assumed that Teacher Kimura would just swallow the matter and keep it to himself.
The meaning behind asking him to delay his release was clear. In the publishing house's view, his work wasn't as good as someone else's. Who would go around announcing that other people thought their work was inferior?
But what the publishing house hadn't expected was that Teacher Kimura had just called Sogo Doma a kid who wrote light novels, looking down on light novelists as mystery writers often did...
Then Editor Yamagami had explained that Sogo Doma also wrote mysteries.
At that point, Kimura was still struggling to believe it. Then the publishing house called him right then and told him his novel's release had been delayed. Was this some kind of joke?
When he asked why, he learned that the one who'd taken his release slot was the very kid he'd just thought wrote light novel nonsense. If he put the pieces together, that meant the publishing house thought the kid he'd just questioned was quite a bit better than him?
Then what had he looked like, questioning him in front of everyone? A clown?
And a newcomer had actually taken his release slot? In an instant, one word appeared in Kimura's mind:
"Overthrow!"
Had he been overthrown by a newcomer?
If the others found out, wouldn't he die of embarrassment?
Shame and anger flooded Kimura's mind. He had to get an explanation, but the publishing house had already hung up.
When he called back, the line was busy.
Listening to the busy signal, Kimura's heart turned cold. Fine, he'd written several bestselling books. He hadn't even asked the publishing house for special treatment, and now a newcomer showed up and took his release date?
He'd never even tried to suppress newcomers, and the publishing house was still pulling this on him.
How could he put up with that?
Kimura certainly couldn't! And when people were angry, could anyone expect them to stay rational?
So in the end, it really was an accident. The publishing house had considered plenty of things, but it hadn't considered human nature.
Sogo Doma left without a care. The novel he'd plagiarized was already being typeset and printed. As long as the publishing house wasn't full of idiots, the next step would be to advertise it and prepare for release.
As for why the publishing house had invited him, he'd guessed some of it. Probably they wanted him to mingle with these big names in the mystery world, so they could say a few nice things and show their support when his book came out—that was what Sogo Doma figured.
But.
He didn't think it was necessary. After all—
At Sogo Doma's age, he'd have to use honorifics just to talk to these authors. What if he ran into a few old-fashioned types who relied on their seniority to boss him around? Should he hit them with his hands or his feet?
If anything went wrong, he'd get a nickname like "fists of fury at Tokyo's retirement homes, feet of doom at Chiba's kindergartens" before his book even came out.
Ahem...
Besides, he was confident in the novel he'd plagiarized. It had already stood the test of time in his previous life. It had even won some kind of award, hadn't it? Eh-heh, he'd forgotten. Looks like the alcohol-induced memory loss method was working. Anyway, it had been a big deal.
Even if it didn't do well at first, that was fine. That kind of plotline was common in plagiarism stories: a book would fail to catch on, then someone would discover it later. He wasn't in a huge rush for money anyway. As long as the royalties were enough to keep him stocked for his alcohol-induced memory loss method, he could wait!
Meanwhile.
Watching Sogo Doma leave, Editor Kimura was on the verge of tears. He'd originally wanted to chase after him, but one author after another came up and surrounded him.
"Yamagami-san, was what Teacher Gyojin said today his personal opinion, or was he speaking for the publishing house?" A dignified-looking big name had been chosen to speak for the group!
"Huh?" Editor Yamagami.
There was still a whole mess to clean up! Teacher Gyojin, don't go! Come back and take my regrets with you...
Before you continue