After leaving Kasumigaoka Utaha and the others, Hikigaya Hachiman and Yukinoshita Yukino had wanted to stroll through the streets of Chiba for a while, but the sun at the end of May was not very friendly, so the plan was temporarily shelved.
"Let's go to Ginza!"
Hachiman quickly brought Yukino to the commercial district and walked into the cafe that was already engraved in his DNA. For him, this was the only cafe in all of Chiba.
"You look like you know your way around here..."
"Well, I do come here often," he said, taking out his laptop. "But this is my first time coming here with you, so it's a brand new experience." He prepared to start a vigorous typing session.
"So, Hikigaya-kun, we finally get together, and it's just to watch you write in a different place? How is this different from what you usually do at home..." Yukino complained, though she was only half-serious. For her, quietly accompanying Hachiman while he typed was actually a very happy thing. When he got tired, she would give him a simple massage. The two had spent many long nights together just like this.
At this time, however, Hachiman had little intention of typing. It was already May 23rd, and the award ceremony for the Honkaku Mystery Award was the following weekend. This so-called "award ceremony" was very different from the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award he had won last year. Since the winners had been determined in advance, the event was really just a photo opportunity for the winners to stand together with their trophies, followed by acceptance speeches and media interviews. Among all the information he had, Hachiman needed to carefully identify what could be disclosed and what needed to be kept secret for the time being.
"Hikigaya-kun? Your coffee is here."
He heard Yukino's pleasant voice calling him.
"Coffee? Did I order that?" Hachiman seemed a little dazed.
"I ordered it. I saw you were thinking about something, so I decided to order on my own," she said, placing a cup of steaming milk next to his hand.
"...This is my first time drinking milk in a cafe," he grumbled. "The weather is so hot, I really wanted something cooler."
"A healthy body requires hard work in all aspects. By the way, Hikigaya-kun, there are all kinds of drinks in your apartment's refrigerator. You should drink fewer cold drinks. When you're out with me in the future, drink more of these stomach-nourishing drinks. Cheers." Yukinoshita Yukino picked up her own glass of milk and gently clinked it against Hachiman's cup.
A week later, on May 30th, the Honkaku Mystery Award ceremony took place on the eighth floor of the Horindo Bookstore's Takadanobaba branch in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
"You guys... really have some great ideas..." Hikigaya Hachiman said breathlessly. He had run from the first floor to the eighth in one go.
"Eh, are you that tired, Hikigaya-kun?" the culprit, Yukinoshita Haruno, said in a relaxed manner. "Haven't you and Yukino been jogging in the morning recently? I thought it was very effective." She wasn't even flushed after running up eight floors.
As for Yukinoshita Yukino, who had the least physical strength of the three, she was naturally too tired to speak. In fact, she had also been one of the initiators of the "run up the stairs" idea.
Hachiman had taken the Yukinoshita family's car to attend the ceremony today. On the way, he had kept trying to tell Yukino about the funny things that happened when he and Haruno attended the award ceremony last year. Every time, Haruno had covered his mouth and even pressed him down on the sofa to stop him. Confused, Yukino could only judge that the two of them were up to something she couldn't understand and was too lazy to ask.
"Hikigaya-kun, today is Saturday. How about staying at our house after the award ceremony?" Haruno invited before he entered the venue.
"It's okay, Senior. In fact, before I left your home this afternoon, Mrs. Yukinoshita told me the same thing, and I had already agreed. Your mother also said I can come spend the night anytime I want. You're a little too conservative, Senior."
After saying this, Hachiman entered the venue.
"Sister," Yukino asked Haruno, who was standing there in a daze, "when mother was our age, was she already dating father?"
"It was more than just starting a relationship..." Haruno's answer was brief, but it seemed to say everything.
After taking photos with the winners of the other categories, Hikigaya Hachiman, as the most important winner, was the first to be interviewed. According to the staff, the award ceremony had never attracted so many media outlets before, and there was no doubt they were all here for him.
"Writer Hachiman, congratulations on your award! In less than two years since your official debut, you have already won the two most important awards in mystery literature and dominated the major annual mystery novel lists. How do you feel right now?"
The first media outlet to ask a question was Weekly Bunshun, a magazine published by Sakuraba. The question was very formal and mild. After all, if Sakuraba wanted inside information about Hachiman, they didn't need to get it through an interview.
"Thank you for your blessing," Hachiman replied. "I think writers may not create for the sake of winning awards, but anyone would be happy from the bottom of their heart if their work was recognized, and I am no exception. I want to thank... the judges of the Honkaku Mystery Association for giving me this award." He had originally wanted to thank Mr. Arisugawa, but considering that he had been the association's president last year, Hachiman ultimately chose to avoid any appearance of favoritism.
"Mr. Hachiman, your much-talked-about masterpiece, The Clockwork Museum Incident, will be officially released at the beginning of next month. We wish this book great success. Could you please reveal some more information about it?"
Good grief, Hachiman thought. The second question has absolutely nothing to do with the award. They're so lazy they can't even pretend.
"Well, actually, there isn't much to reveal about a mystery novel," Hachiman answered. "But since you asked, I can reveal a little bit: there are a lot of dead people in this book, so you don't have to worry about the reading experience being boring." The tricks and endings of a mystery novel always vary, depending on the author's ability. But if you just want to make the process less boring, it's very simple: the murderer just needs to kill as many people as possible.
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