A week passed in a trance.

On September 15th, after school in the afternoon.

"Hurry up! Aoi! Today is the day when Mr. Higashino's "Midnight Bell" single book will be released! ”

The ponytail girl with a shoulder bag said to the bespectacled girl behind her.

“... What are you anxious about... Isn't it all already in the bookstore? And you've finished reading "Midnight Bell" drawn by Higashino-san, right? Why pay for a book? Aoi Fujiwara wiped the sweat from her face and asked Yumi Takahashi in front.

She didn't know what the publisher thought, why the single book of "Midnight Bell" was released in the afternoon.

Shouldn't it be easier to stat that it should be released in the morning? If it's on sale in the afternoon, won't it be in the evening to actually get the real thing?

"That's definitely different!" Yumi Takahashi turned her head proudly: "A single book is the main source of income for comic book authors, how can you support your family with the money you earn from the original manuscript alone?" ”

She stretched out her hand and calculated carefully: "Just ask an assistant during the serialization, and you will have to pay at least 9,000 to 10,000 yen a day, and some assistants will ask for room and board... So if you can support it, you can support it.,A single book is not expensive.。 ”

Aoi Fujiwara also nodded.

A single manga book in Japan is indeed not expensive, and the price of Urashima Publishing House is 400 yen, and Tsukasa Higashino can make a profit of 40 yen per book.

Then she looked at the overcrowded student bookstore in front of her with a little worry, and the single book "Midnight Bell" that kept selling...

This is like the frenzy of emptying the discount at the end of the year, which makes Fujiwara Aoi can't help but worry.

I wonder if they'll be able to get one when it's their turn...

After queuing for more than ten minutes, it was finally the turn of Aoi Fujiwara and Yumi Takahashi.

Yumi Takahashi was quick to move, and at once pulled down two volumes of "Midnight Bell" from the few bookshelves, and Fujiwara Aoi didn't say anything when she saw it.

After all, it's only 400 yen, so it's great to be able to support Higashino's sales.

But—

"Don't forget the new monthly magazine "Aoba" of Urashima Publishing House, doesn't it say that Higashino-san has a new manga on it?"

Aoi Fujiwara instructed.

Yes, I don't know what kind of wind Urashima Publishing House smoked, but it actually put the new monthly "Aoba" in the afternoon and sold it with "Midnight Bell", and readers who get these readings are estimated to have time to read in the evening.

Could it be that the editors of Urashima Press are counting on "Midnight Bells" to scare them again tonight... It's unlikely.

Or are they counting on Tsukasa Higashino's new manga to scare them at night? It's unlikely.

Tsukasa Higashino's new manga is a food manga, and the two of them know that.

How is it possible for a food comic to achieve the same effect as Midnight Bell at night?

"You don't need to say it, look at what this is," Yumi Takahashi pulled out another publication from the paper bag.

That is the youth monthly manga magazine "Aoba" published by Urashima Publishing House.

The main group is young people, college students and newcomers to the workplace, most of which are occupations, such as doctors, lawyers, detectives and other comics, and occasionally horror comics.

"Okay."

Seeing that his friend got all the things in his hands, Aoi Fujiwara took a look at the still hot "Midnight Bell" release scene.

I don't know how much money Tsukasa Higashino can make this time... Anyway, it won't be less if you look like this...

......

At this time, Urashima Press.

"How much has Midnight Bell been released? The flash statistics should be out, right? A male editor whispered a whisper to another editor.

"It seems that 20,000 copies have been sold, which is amazing. The total circulation is only 100,000 copies, and I feel that "Midnight Bell" will be reprinted. ”

The other editor was somewhat dumbfounded, and only replied in amazement after reviewing the data several times and finding that there were no mistakes.

'Reprint' is also known as printing house reprinting, and if the sold manga monograph is sold out ahead of schedule and the supply exceeds demand, the editorial department will send a request to the printing department for reprinting.

But the initial number of copies of the single book of "Midnight Bell" was already 100,000 copies, and 20,000 copies were sold in just a few hours... So if it were a week, what would it be? More than 100,000 copies sold in a week, right?

And that's just the results of the first volume!

As long as Higashino can stabilize the quality, the number of single books sold in the subsequent volume will basically only increase, and it will be difficult to reduce.

Just when the two editors were still surprised, a hoarse explanation came from behind them: "The reprint of "Midnight Bell" is basically confirmed. The next reprint should be 200,000 copies. ”

"Editor-in-Chief Urashima?"

As soon as the two editors turned around, they saw the editor-in-chief of Urashima with heavy dark circles.

In the past two days, the editor-in-chief of Urashima has not known how much worry about the release time of "Midnight Bell" and "Aoba".

For this reason, he deliberately chose the afternoon as the sales time, and also communicated and negotiated with the company's superiors for a long time, and his throat was hoarse, so he barely won the time for this afternoon's sale.

In order to maximize the effects of "Midnight Bell" and "Lonely Gourmet"!

That's right!

Tonight, readers will be accompanied not only by the spine-chilling Sadako, but also by the gritted but unstoppable "Lonely Gourmet"!

As for why Urashima's editor-in-chief worries so much about "Midnight Bell" and "Lonely Gourmet"...

That's because—

"This is really what Higashino-sensei and editor Hosokawa deserve..."

The editor-in-chief of Urashima drank tea to moisten his throat while looking at Koharu Hosokawa, who was excitedly reporting the data of the single book of "Midnight Bell" to Tsukasa Higashino.

He couldn't help but shake his head.

The request to Tsukasa Higashino and Koharu Hosokawa to 'satisfy all editors' was not that he wanted to make things difficult for him.

Rather, he doesn't want to see a promising horror comic book author waste his time on gratuitous food comics.

However, Tsukasa Higashino proved that he could indeed draw very good food manga.

Now that Tsukasa Higashino has met his request, it is natural that as the editor-in-chief, he will also have to fight for more for him in response to this young manga author.

So he went to great lengths to set up such a late-night stage for Tsukasa Higashino.

"I'm not going to get a lot of blood."

The editor-in-chief of Urashima took another sip of tea and touched his throat.

Convince the old guys in the upper echelons to allow their own judgment... It takes a lot of time and effort.

But in the end he succeeded.

Because the editor-in-chief of Urashima believes that Tsukasa Higashino will definitely surprise him this time.

Whether it's "Midnight Bell" or "The Lonely Gourmet"!