A Third-Rate Novelist and a Literary Master

If I could turn back time, I would move far away from Yokohama and leave behind the life where I was surrounded by the homeless children of the city: Harumi Tamae.

She wakes up to find herself on the streets of an unfamiliar city?

With no money and only one useful skill, Harumi Tamae has no choice but to return to her old line of work. Under the pen name Tenko Yakei, she becomes a third-rate novelist, making a living by writing trashy, scandalous stories.

But... why do strange people keep interrupting her peaceful life?

On her way downstairs to take out the trash, Harumi Tamae blows out a cloud of smoke without expression, making the dirty, spiky-haired boy with black hair and green eyes by the trash can cough again and again. “Let go of me. I’m not going to take pity on you, little stray.”

“The great Ranpo is not a stray! The great Ranpo just hasn’t figured out the rules of the adult world yet!”

“Oh.”

What did that have to do with her?

By the river, Harumi Tamae, wearing flip-flops and fishing, nudges the black trash at her feet with her shoe. Expressionless, she snaps a photo and sends it on LINE: “Today’s catch: a fish as big as a person. That’ll feed me for a week. Wonderful.”

“Are you going to eat me? Wonderful! Start with my eyes!” the boy with auburn eyes cries excitedly, only to be kicked back into the water.

“Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug...”

“Tch. Even the fish have mutated.” Harumi Tamae frowns, picks up her plastic stool, and leaves.

Looks like she’ll be eating discounted bento again today. Nuclear wastewater’s to blame.

“Hey, stop! You! Yes, you!”

On the street, Harumi Tamae, carrying a discounted bento, stops quietly and hands her wallet, containing all of her 3,001 yen, to the dirty orange-haired boy. “Here. Don’t kill me. I have no savings, only loans and an editor hounding me for my next chapter.”

“Huh? I don’t want that!”

“Tch. They won’t even spare a discounted bento. Yokohama really is a dark city.”

Harumi Tamae steps out of the alley and squints up at the sky. She weighs the five-thousand-yen bill in her hand, then leaves the Slum with a coat whose sleeves are too short.

Her savings are up another five thousand yen. Maybe she just won’t write today, either.

“The winner of this year’s Golden Pen Novel Award is... Tenko Yakei! With a satirical style, exquisite language, and lavish descriptions, Tenko-sensei exposes society’s dark side and offers us not only a literary feast, but food for thought!”

“At the same time, Tenko-sensei is devoted to charity. Despite living on a tight budget, they are passionate about adopting unfortunate homeless children and have a heart of gold!”

Years later, Harumi Tamae, now a celebrated author, published her first memoir. It sold out as soon as it hit the shelves.

To the readers’ surprise, the memoir’s title page contained only a single, thought-provoking passage:

[Don’t go handing out sympathy indiscriminately. Remember, the one tip that can keep your life from becoming too miserable is: don’t go handing out sympathy indiscriminately.]

[, Memoirs of a Third-Rate Novelist]

Theme: How do you make a genius? Give them talent beyond ordinary people and a little love. How do you make a villain? Take away that little bit of love.