On May 22nd, the second chapter of The Newcomer was officially published in the June issue of All Readings. At this time, however, Hikigaya Hachiman had no time to pay attention to the response on the internet. He was busy sorting out the relevant matters for the manga version of The Jukakukan Incident, which was a more important task.
On the night he decided to pursue the manga collaboration with Kodansha, Hachiman called Sawamura Eriri and expressed his desire to work with her again. Of course, she was very happy, until...
"Sawamura-san, if possible, I hope you can cooperate with me this time under the pseudonym Kashiwagi Eri. After all, we'll be serializing in a comic magazine, and your identity as a fine-art painter is a bit inappropriate."
"Eh, hey! Writer Hachiman, are you kidding me? When has this pseudonym of mine ever been used for a serious comic? No way, no way!" Eriri seemed very resistant to the suggestion.
"You don't have to change who you are to draw serious comics. You'll never lose your identity as Kashiwagi Eri," Hachiman patiently advised over the phone. He needed her to put aside her shyness and truly create with the mindset of a professional cartoonist. "Besides, aren't there many artists from the 'underground' scene who have 'come ashore' into the mainstream? This is a very popular topic in itself."
"Even if you say so..." Eriri couldn't refute his logic, but she also couldn't change her mindset so quickly.
Her mother, Ms. Sayuri Sawamura, had always been very supportive of her daughter's unconventional comic creation career, but she often instilled in Eriri an idea: drawing that kind of comic was not a long-term solution. If she truly wanted to develop as a cartoonist, the best way was to "come ashore" and create comics aimed at the general public.
Therefore, when Hachiman had called her, Eriri had been very excited. She knew that as long as she could complete this comic with him, she would officially enter the public eye as a cartoonist. Besides, this was Weekly Young Magazine, a truly leading seinen manga magazine. It was the most appropriate venue to announce her transformation.
"Sawamura-san, you don't have to give me an answer right now," Hachiman concluded, sensing that she no longer had any real concerns and was just too shy to speak up. "Tomorrow is Kasumigaoka-senpai's book signing event, right? How about we talk about it together at the venue then?"
"Okay, Mr. Hachiman. Let's talk at the book signing tomorrow. I'll meet you with a definite answer," Eriri assured him.
After finishing the conversation, Hachiman began to think seriously about the creation of The Jukakukan Incident. It was worth mentioning that in his previous life, The Jukakukan Incident was the pioneering work of the "House" series. According to a widely circulated belief, it was also the pioneering work of Japan's new orthodox mystery, and its historical status was extremely lofty.
So why did he choose to adapt a book with such a high status into a manga? It was very simple: from a modern perspective, The Jukakukan Incident could only be regarded as a relatively mediocre work.
In general, the original novel not only had mediocre motives and tricks, but it also had many places in its story logic that were difficult to justify. The characters were often forced to lower their intelligence to serve the plot, which resulted in a lot of complaints. And the narrative twist, which was once considered shocking, really couldn't stand up to scrutiny.
However, these criticisms were limited to the scope of mystery literature. As a plot for a manga series, the work was excellent. It had all the characteristics needed to attract readers: it entered the main story very quickly, the suspenseful atmosphere was palpable, the climaxes were repeated, and it was perfectly suited for cliffhanger endings.
For Hachiman, there were two main concerns: first, the narrative tricks in the original work would require certain skills to present in the form of a comic; second, the content he would hand over to Eriri would have to be a relatively detailed script, which was more complicated than simply writing a novel.
I'm already tired today. I'll try harder tomorrow!
Hikigaya Hachiman chose to give up and threw himself on his bed to escape reality. He opened Twitter and started reading the online discussions about the second chapter of The Newcomer.
As expected, the second chapter was continuing the good reputation of the first. More and more readers were beginning to feel the charm of these family-focused stories within the social mystery genre. Reading most detective novels often required readers to be on edge and highly focused, which could easily lead to mental exhaustion. Therefore, a novel like The Newcomer, which allowed people to read in a more leisurely state, was destined to have a large market. It let readers experience the charm of reasoning in their daily lives.
"Who says mystery novels can't be heartwarming? Who says family stories can't reveal the big picture? Reasoning can be used not only to investigate cases but also in every aspect of our lives. I think this is what Mr. Hachiman wants to tell us through this book." "For the majority of mystery fans, the wait for the release of The Clockwork Museum Incident is painful. But fortunately, there is The Newcomer to fill the gap." "Detective Kaga is such a sweet guy! I can't wait for the TV series adaptation!"
The discussion on the internet was heated. In reality, the sales of All Readings magazine were also rising. Relying on Mr. Hachiman as its mainstay, the circulation of the June issue had exceeded 100,000 copies—a number considered miraculous for a literary publication. The second-largest magazine in the same period only had a circulation of about 30,000 copies.
Magazines from other publishing houses were jealous of the popularity of All Readings to the point of almost bleeding, but they had to admit that only Mr. Hachiman could bring about such a miracle. For this reason, almost all mainstream literary magazines in Japan increased their investment in their Newcomer Awards, striving to give birth to a new literary genius under their generous rewards. Although it was still unknown how much success this effort would eventually reap, it was undeniable that the sudden appearance of Hikigaya Hachiman had injected a powerful fresh force into the literary world.
At that moment, the sixteen-year-old writer who shouldered the future of the literary world had fallen into a deep sleep, his mobile phone screen still on, constantly refreshing with the positive comments of netizens on The Newcomer.
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