Life is a Mess Ever Since My Mother Won an Ero-Novel Grand Prize - Chapter 3.4
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Chapter 3.4
“About what I did, I’m sorry for taking the liberty.”
When I explained it all, Kimeseku-sensei said, “You moron…”
It was late in the evening at a park in Tokyo. The setting sun was reflecting off a large pond.
We were against the fence at the edge of the pond.
As soon as my game with Senri was decided, I called Kimeseku-sensei.
Kimeseku-sensei writes and supervises anime, manga, and games, he’s a very busy man. But when it came to Senri, he forced himself to clear his schedule and met me on the same day. He listened to me attentively.
“I didn’t know you were such a meddlesome man, Mating Press.”
“I’m sorry.”
I apologized flatly. Then I cut to the chase.
“I’ve only just met you, but I’m curious about something. Maybe Kimeseku-sensei and Senri-san aren’t strangers? At least, it’s not like you’re just fellow writers.”
I had thought that this issue was originally between Senri and Kimeseku. I didn’t know much about the situation, nevertheless I stepped in. I’m sorry for doing that.
But I wanted to make sure. Senri and Kimeseku are clearly not strangers.
I guessed that sorting out the relationship between the two of them would give me a clue to understanding the nature of the problem I was involved in.
“Sigh! You’re quite insightful. A good writer has good insight. Not just writers, illustrators and editors need it too. Creators tend to be focused on the results, but any result must first have an insight. As long as the insight is excellent, the results will inevitably be better.”
Kimiseku pushed up his black-rimmed glasses.
You’re not answering my question straight away, why is that?
“Let’s talk about a certain stupid guy…”
His eyes were distant as he began to speak,
“There was once a boy who loved to read books in the library since he was a kid. He was also quick to start writing on his own. His elementary school teachers praised him and he soon won a nationwide competition. Everyone praised him and touted him as a child prodigy with a bright future… And soon after entering high school, the boy received a call from a publishing company. He was told that the novel he had submitted had won the grand prize in a competition. Being only fifteen years old at that time he became the youngest person ever to do such a feat.”
…I kept quiet and listened to his story. It was supposed to be an epic success story, but his tone was awfully cold.
“…The boy was only fifteen years old, despite that he was to be involved in the adult world. The world of writing, and it is said to be the most difficult place to live. The boy wanted to quit high school and concentrate on writing, but his editor told him that life experience was important for a writer, and his parents begged him to go to university, so he had no choice but to continue his studies. However, other than his schoolwork, he devoted everything to writing… Besides his family, there was one other person who supported him. A childhood friend, a member of the library committee, and a girl who never gave up on the misanthropic boy…”
Kimeseku-sensei closed his eyes, as if drawing recalled her image.
“She was kinder than anyone else, more beautiful than anyone else. The boy decided to live for her. He made it his life’s mission to make her happy. But the boy didn’t know any other way to live other than writing novels. So he continued to write novels. Eventually, they got older and had a child together, but the man still kept on writing novels. His novels were sold like crazy. Like hotcakes. He made so much money from the royalties that he could have lived and played many times in his life. He used it all to provide money for his family… But then his wife fell ill with acute leukemia, which was incurable at the time…”
Ah… I couldn’t say anything with my mouth half open.
Kimeseku-sensei continued with an indescribable, complicated, seemingly expressionless face, with so many mixed emotions.
“The man spent all of his hundreds of millions of yen on his wife’s treatment and leukemia research. There was some hope for cure. But it was all too late. The man had noticed that his wife’s health was deteriorating, but he had let it pass, taking the strength of her smile for granted. His wife’s body soon gave up. It was too late for everything. The wife was dead and the man was left with only his daughter.”
… I was speechless…
“But all the man could do was write a novel. When he looked at his daughter, all he saw was fear. She looked exactly like her mother. She was the spitting image of his wife. He feared that one day his daughter would die before him… So he left his only daughter at his parents’ house and continued to write novels.”
“Kimeseku-sensei…”
His eyes were looking into the distance… out of reach, very far away.
“When you write a novel, the chemicals in your brain come pouring out. The man was a slave who existed only to write novels. He was a robot. The only thing that saved him from his misery was to keep writing novels. He just kept on writing novels. And then he lost track of how many days had passed, when he suddenly noticed a winner of a newcomer’s award that he was involved in establishing. The winner’s pen name was Senri Ebidensu. Senri was the same name that the man had given to his daughter.”
“Sensei… that’s enough.”
But he keeps talking. Like a ghost, or like a robot. Emptily, blandly, emotionlessly.
“Evidence(Ebidensu) means proof, reveal, or to show. The man was surprised. Senri was the name he had given to his child. And evidence, in other words, the pseudonym could be a message from the daughter to her father that, ‘Your daughter is here.’ This message was only meant to the father. The man who guessed this, however, he can’t act like a father now and had no choice but to stand in front of his daughter as a mere novelist…”
“That’s enough! Sensei!”
“At the awards ceremony, I met my daughter for the first time in over a decade, and when she said, ‘Daddy…’ I couldn’t… say anything.”
“I said, that’s enough!!!”
I grabbed his shoulders and shook him but he continued to speak.
“I couldn’t praise my daughter’s novel…There’s something wrong with me, yeah I was wrong… I didn’t want her to win the award… The novel was written by a self-conscious, self-satisfied writer who seems to think she’s better than others… More importantly, it was a novel written for a father, not a novel for the general public… I said, there’s no way this is going to sell… It didn’t. Senri never wanted that either. She just wanted her father to recognize that she was working so hard… That’s all.”
He continued…
“But I called that a waste of time…”
“…!”
I clenched my fist and found myself slamming it into Kimiseku’s cheek.
I felt an impact with a dull thud.
Kimeseku groaned and fell down. His black-rimmed glasses rolled down on the ground.
“That was for Senri-san!”
“Kuh, I’m sorry… but that was almost like I made you hit me…”
He picked up his glasses which had been distorted and smiled twistedly at with swollen cheeks.
“You’re like me… but I don’t want you to be!”
“As if I will! Who would want to be a bastard like you! You’re not a god of light novels, you’re just a human scum!”
“Yeah, that’s right… finally, someone said it…”
“Damn it!”
I kicked a nearby trash can. I was so disappointed.
When I think of Senri’s life, I can’t help but pity her. Her mother died when she was very young, and her father abandoned her. She is very close to the protagonist of Karin’s “Stardust”.
When she was in charge of judging the book, Senri must have felt a surprising amount of sympathy for her. After all, it describes almost the same thing as her own life.
She set out on a journey to find her father – for Senri, it was her own story. Not 3,000 miles to visit her mother, but decades to visit her father… Her father was a great man who shook the world, and she had to overcome many trials just to get there. Just to see him.
And with dedication and hard work, Senri was able to became a professional writer just like his father and showed up in front of him.
But…
It was not a happy ending like Karin’s “Stardust”. There was no regaining the bond between the father and his daughter, and the world was never at peace.
— “The father the protagonist finally finds is actually just a robot, and her real father is long dead.”
This is real for Senri.
“Her real father broke down when he lost his wife, went crazy, and was killed and replaced by a cold, emotionless robot. The robot doesn’t know who he is, he just thinks he’s the doctor himself, and the only thing he knows is wanting to see his wife again, not aware of the fact that he has a daughter. She also told me that even after learning the proof that he was a machine, he continued to work without changing anything, he didn’t care about the world or his daughter, just as a machine, like a ghost, he continued to work without a care until his body was destroyed.”
That was the image of a father to Senri.
It was distorted.
A girl has been twisted to this extent.
By just one man.
Kimeseku──
I thought he was the best writer in Japan. I longed to be such a writer. And now, here he is. This is unforgivable!
“Listen and promise me! In this game! If I win! You’ll face Senri-san properly as a father! Stop writing and get out of your delusional world! Talk to your own daughter! Your daughter EXIST!”
“…Ah! I promise…!”
Kimesaku staggered to his feet like a downed boxer.
Damn it, I spat. Now I have more reasons to win. I can’t be soft like that anymore, like I want to win an award and make my debut, or like I want to show Rinka how cool I am and go out with her.
I have to save a girl’s life, Senri’s twisted life. To do that, I have to surpass Senri!
This may be my own meddling, for my own self-indulgence and self satisfactory, but I can’t leave it alone…!
I’m not raised to be the kind of guy who can let this go!
“… But can you win?”
He wiped his bloodied mouth and continued.
“Senri is my daughter, no matter how odd it may seem. Her debut novel was a stinker, but from the second volume onwards, it was normal and interesting for the general public. Her popularity grew, her fan base grew, and that’s why she has been made into an anime. She’s a fast writer, and I heard she’s working on a new series now.”
To put it bluntly, she is one of the most promising authors in the all-genre bunko label, which is the top in the industry.
.
“Can you win against her?”
“I, Mating Press, will win. Don’t make light of me.”
“That’s not true!” He added, “I know that Mating Press can do well against her. But what about the real you?”
“What?”
“I’ll ask you again. Can you win?”
“…!”
I stared into his eyes. It was as if he could see through everything, as if he could see into the deepest, deepest abyss.
Good writers also have excellent insight. If the insight is good, the result will be good.
Then.
If he has shown the best results in Japan, his insight is also the best in Japan.
He had read “Giri-Gami” from the Mating Press, but he saw a slight difference from the impression he got from me, and he may have gotten a clue from that discomfort.
I was the one who underestimated him.
In any case, he was the man there who is even called a “god”!
But… it doesn’t matter anymore.
“I’ll win.”
With a smile I continued,
“Senri-san is all by herself. All alone, struggling, suffering.”
“…”
“But I’m not alone.”
I smiled triumphantly and dared him.
“I’ll show you what a real family is all about.”
End of chapter 3
TLN: Get ready for a date with mommy (´-﹏-`;)