Chapter 370 Nomination for the Akutagawa Prize After listening to the store owner's explanation, Mine Shiori, who was standing nearby, pulled on the corner of Sawayama Haruno's clothes, trying to persuade her to give up the idea of ​​buying the item. However, after taking a look at the record player, Sawayama Haruno thought it would be a good idea to buy it as a display. After all, old-fashioned record players could definitely not compare with modern technology, and people who would buy such things basically just for collection purposes. Therefore, he did not listen to Mine Shiori's advice, but continued to bargain with the boss. Maybe it was because it was the first time he saw someone bargaining with a girl, or maybe it was because the record player had been in the store for a long time. When the boss saw that Sawayama Haruno was so patient in negotiating the price with him, he was a little convinced and finally sold it to Sawayama Haruno at a relatively low price. Carrying the old record player, Sawayama Haruno looked at Mine Shiori and said with a smile, "Although it can't be used to play records, it still looks like an old item. It's perfect for collection. Just think of it as a New Year's gift to you in advance." "Um" Hearing this, Mine Shiori smiled faintly. She really has no resistance to this kind of thing. Compared to luxurious jewelry, she may prefer something with special meaning. The old steam record player in front of him had a very long history, at least several decades old. The inside of the bell was covered in rust and needed extra care. Fortunately, Mine Shiori had enough patience in this regard and planned to deal with it slowly after returning to the villa. It would definitely not be possible to continue shopping with the record player on their back, so Sawayama Haruno took Mine Shiori to deliver the record player to the driver first, and then went back to find Morikawa Riho and the others.

At this moment, the two women had already chosen the corresponding gifts. Riho Morikawa chose a white cashmere coat, and the deputy assistant chose a pair of thick-soled boots. The prices were quite cheap, and it seemed that they were embarrassed to let others pay too much money. Sawayama Haruno didn't care. After paying the bill, he stuffed the invoice into his bag and continued to shop to the back with a few others. The shops in the back were actually not much different from the front, but as you went deeper into the commercial street, street performers began to appear. When Sawayama Haruno and a few others were sitting outside a milk tea shop drinking drinks, there happened to be a person with a violin performing nearby. "so good" Riho Morikawa said with some envy: "When I was in high school, I joined the music club and practiced the violin, but I gave it up later because of academic problems." "you?" Sawayama Haruno looked over with some suspicion. No matter how you look at it, Morikawa Riho doesn't look like someone who can play this instrument. Of course, it's not that I doubt that her temperament doesn't match that of a violin, but there are physical reasons. Generally speaking, playing the violin requires keeping the body of the violin on the arm for a long time, and keeping the hand raised all the time. After a long time, the arm will definitely get sore. This is even more unfriendly to those who are too proud of their capital, such as Riho Morikawa. I am already troubled by the problem of my hands being too big, and raising my hands for a long time to play the violin will only put a lot of strain on my body, making it difficult to persist over time. As if she understood Sawayama Haruno's suspicion, Morikawa Riho glared at him and said unhappily, "I was the ace member of the music club back then. If I hadn't quit the club to prepare for college, I might have debuted in high school and become a star." "You're good enough to be an underground singer, right?" Sawayama Haruno rolled his eyes and didn't take the other person's words to heart. There are a lot of underground stars in the island country. Generally, they are those who dream of being on the big stage but have no connections or resources, so they take a step back and become underground stars. But it is not easy to be an underground star. Many people even have to work part-time to continue their dream of becoming a star. From time to time you can see young and lively girls handing out flyers on the streets of the island country. Most of these people are trying to attract customers for their performances. The more customers they attract, the more money they can make, and they may even gain new fans. It sounds like it is very different from normal stars, but this is the norm for most underground stars in the island country, which makes people feel a little emotional. Mine Shiori, who was standing by, suddenly asked curiously, "Ms. Morikawa, you can play the violin? Why didn't I see you perform during the company's team-building activities?" "Who wants to perform in front of a bunch of old men and middle-aged uncles?"

Morikawa Riho bit her straw and said with some disdain, "Team building is just watching big bosses get drunk, then walk around with their arms crossed and one leg crossed, talking and laughing, howling like ghosts and wolves." “It’s a good picture” "Shiori, you've only been in the company for half a year. If you stayed as long as I did, you'd know that team building is really boring." Morikawa Riho put down the milk tea in her hand and began to sigh, "I can't just go home to rest. I have to socialize with my colleagues. It's so troublesome. After the annual meeting, we will have our own department's team-building dinner next spring." "Oh, right" Morikawa Riho paused, and suddenly looked at Sawayama Haruno beside her. "There seems to be a communication gathering among your authors next spring, something like a salon. The time is about the same as our department's team building. Do you want to attend?" "No." Sawayama Haruno shook his head and said casually, "Next year, apart from activities like participating in competitions, don't ask me for anything else." "All right." Seeing that he said so, Morikawa Riho had to give up the idea of ​​letting him meet more colleagues. However, since the topic of participating in the competition has come up, Morikawa Riho feels that it is time to explain to the other party the many matters concerning next year's literary awards and nominations. Among the island country's domestic literary awards, the two largest ones are the Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize. In addition, there are some awards and prizes specially established to commemorate other authors. However, let's not talk about these for now. Morikawa Riho intends for Sawayama Haruno to participate in the Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize. After all, there haven't been any particularly amazing works in the past two years. Sawayama Haruno's strength is there. Even if we don't say whether she can win the championship in the end, at least there is hope, not to mention nominations. According to Morikawa Riho's estimation, Sawayama Haruno will be able to win at least one of the two awards. This is based on the fact that an old writer can bring out his previous works to participate in the competition and be successfully nominated. Otherwise, with Sawayama Haruno's level, he can basically take both awards. "Let's talk about the Akutagawa Prize first." Morikawa Riho propped her chin on her hand and explained convincingly, "There are two nomination opportunities for the Akutagawa Prize each year, one in the first half of the year and the other in the second half of the year. The first half is too far away so we will ignore it for now. The nomination time for the second half of the year is in mid-January of next year." "If you are lucky and are nominated, the results will be announced in mid-February." "If you are not nominated, you will have to wait until the first half of next year, which is around July or August. But that would be too long, since you will have written your second book by then." "If you are very confident in yourself, it is best to win this award before the second book comes out, and try not to let the two books conflict with each other." "Because sometimes the judges will not give the award to a candidate who has been shortlisted for multiple books in order to take into account other contestants and the situation in the literary world," added Riho Morikawa. This is a rather disgusting point, but most literary award competitions are actually like this. With the development of the times, literary awards actually take more and more aspects into consideration. It is not just about whether the author has talent or how well he writes. If you can win an award for writing well, then would Haruki Murakami have never won the Nobel Prize in his previous life? Sawayama Haruno had already prepared himself mentally for this, so after listening to what Morikawa Riho said, he did not react too much. He simply entered the two books separately, and it was still unknown whether they could be nominated together. Moreover, he felt that there was a greater chance that he would be directly nominated for the competition in the second half of the year. After all, the sales volume of "Norwegian Wood" was there, and its literary quality was self-evident. As long as the Akutagawa Prize officials were not fools, they would let him be nominated, right? Thinking of this, he hesitated for a moment and then said, "I see. By the way, Ms. Morikawa, do you know which other authors may be nominated in the second half of the year?" "Not many." Morikawa Riho shook her head. "Generally, those who didn't win an award in the first half of the year may still be nominated in the second half. In addition, there is the Chaoqiu Award that you participated in before. Maybe there will be authors of the same period at that time who will be nominated, but it should be rare. Probably Mr. Shibata and Mr. Sakurai." "Sakurai-sensei?" Sawayama Haruno was a little curious.

Why didn't he remember that there was such a person in the Kyoto competition? Logically speaking, if the other party could compete with him for the Akutagawa Prize, he should also be a well-known figure in the Kyoto competition. However, he did not seem to have any deep impression of this. Could he be someone even more low-key than himself? "Mr. Sakurai is a new writer who debuted in the past two years, just like Haruno." Mizawayama Haruno was a little confused, and Mine Shiori beside him added in a low voice: "She also participated in the last Kyoto competition, but she didn't go to the competition site in person." "Yeah." Being reminded by her, Zeshan Haruno seemed to remember something and said casually, "Could it be the junior high school student you mentioned before?" "Yes, it's her." Riho Morikawa nodded. It really is that person. I've heard before that he is one of the strong contenders for the top prize. I didn't expect that I might meet him again this time for the Akutagawa Prize. And he is still so young, his talent is really terrifying. Sawayama Haruno couldn't help but complain in his heart. He was able to achieve this level with the help of his memory and the system, but others relied on their own talent. As expected, even in a parallel world, there would be geniuses like one in a million. But fortunately, even if I can't win the award this time, I will still have a chance next time. Being nominated is already an honor. After all, I have only been in the industry for a short time, and the matter has not been finalized yet. Maybe I will win the grand prize in the end. Sawayama Haruno was not too worried, but Morikawa Riho and Mine Shiori on the side started discussing nervously, probably about the possible nominees. Sawayama Haruno just listened to them for a while and soon lost his original interest. After finishing his milk tea, he stopped their chat. The group prepared to continue shopping and find a restaurant to eat when it was time for dinner. There were fewer and fewer shops as they went along, but there were more and more restaurants. As the sky gradually darkened, Sawayama Haruno and his friends finally chose to eat at a Mexican restaurant. There are actually quite a few Mexican restaurants in the United States and Canada. On the one hand, it is because they are very close and there are many people coming from Mexico; on the other hand, Mexican food does have a unique flavor and is quite popular in several neighboring countries. Not to mention the situation in Canada, there are really a lot of Mexican restaurants in the United States. Many Americans even shamelessly count Mexican food as American cuisine. But people who know the matter know that there is no such thing as American cuisine in the world. Mexican cuisine is mainly based on salads, chicken and beef, which are divided into several categories such as appetizers, main dishes, soups and desserts. Sawayama Haruno tried the special braised beef and found that it was indeed very different from the braised beef in the island country. The most important thing is that the sauce is not as thick as that in the island country. Mine Shiori prefers the special salads and clear soups here. Mexican soups are basically light in flavor. For Japanese people who are used to drinking miso soup, it might be a good idea to try changing the taste occasionally. After eating and drinking, they packed up and went back to the villa to rest. Today is the second day after arriving in Canada. The annual meeting will officially begin on the fifth day. We will have two days of free time. According to the original plan, tomorrow is the time for Haruno Sawayama and Shiori Mine to set out to see the waterfall. The driver will bring them to the vicinity of the sightseeing group. After paying the money, the two can set out with the team to see the waterfall. The reason they choose to join the group is because they are unfamiliar with the place, and it is always better to travel with a group of people than alone. In order to adjust to the jet lag as soon as possible and also to conserve his energy, Sawayama Haruno took a shower early and returned to his room to rest. Suddenly, there were only three girls left in the living room. After chatting with each other for a while, Mine Shiori quickly packed up and prepared to take a bath. After she stood in the bathroom and took off her clothes one by one, Mine Shiori looked at her slightly delicate figure in the mirror with a somewhat complicated expression. She bit her lips lightly and unconsciously tightened the necklace around her neck, but what she was thinking about was her date with Sawayama Haruno tomorrow. (End of this chapter)