My girlfriend is Saiki Kusunoki

"I want to, I really want to, but what can I do?"

"Then have some confidence in yourself. You're JUMP's ace manga artist now! The strongest manga artist in Japan right now, so have some confidence in yourself."

At this moment, Nanko grabbed Naoto's hand and solemnly said to him.

Naoto was deeply moved by Nanko's words, never expecting that Nanko would trust him so much.

"Doesn't Naoto always say that you shouldn't give up until you've tried? If you want to do it, then go for it."

"Well... okay, let me think about it for a few more days. You go and tell your uncle first, and I'll give him the draft once I've finished thinking about it."

After receiving Naoto's assurance, Nanko stopped disturbing Naoto's creative process and returned home to give her father the message.

However, Nanko kept the question of what kind of manga Naoto wanted to draw a secret from her father.

After all, even straight people themselves don't know what's going on yet, so it's not good to spread rumors everywhere.

Just as Naoto was about to sit down and think things through, his landline suddenly rang.

"Strange, who would call me at this hour?"

Just as he was getting some ideas, he was suddenly interrupted. To be honest, Naoto is feeling a bit annoyed right now.

Naoto originally intended to go downstairs and hang up the phone, but when he got to the phone, he hesitated.

"An unfamiliar phone number? Who called?"

When Naoto saw the unknown number, his first thought was of President Fujino.

After all, this scene seemed somewhat familiar. It seemed that around this time last time, President Fujino's assistant suddenly called and tricked him into going to the Youth Art Appreciation.

This time, it can't be President Fujino again, can it?

Looking at the unknown number on the screen, Naoto hesitated for a long time before finally picking up the phone.

"Hello? This is the Yamashita family. Who are you looking for?"

"Oh, my nemesis, you've finally appeared! I've been looking for you for ages."

As Naoto answered the phone, a voice that sounded somewhat unfamiliar to him suddenly came from the other end of the line.

For a moment, Naoto's mind went blank.

My arch-enemy? What's going on? When did I become someone's arch-enemy? Could it be Eiji Niizuma? That doesn't seem likely; that voice is clearly not something Niizuma could make.

"Excuse me, who is this? Did you dial the wrong number?"

Naoto racked his brains, but still couldn't recall who the voice belonged to.

Upon hearing Naoto's words, the person on the other end of the phone seemed to be quite taken aback.

He never imagined that Naoto would completely forget him.

"Naoto Yamashita! What do you mean by this?! Are you insulting me? Are you implying that I'm not worth remembering?!"

Faced with the roar of the person on the other end, Naoto couldn't help but move the phone away from his ear.

At this moment, Naoto frowned even more deeply. When had he ever encountered someone like this before? There should be a limit to being self-righteous! He didn't even know this guy.

"I'm telling you, you haven't even told me your own name, how the hell am I supposed to know who you are! I'm telling you, I'm busy right now! If you're having a fit of chuunibyou, go find somewhere to stay. I'll count to three, either tell me your name, or I'm hanging up right now!"

"Hey, no, no! I'll tell you, okay?! You really are..."

"three two……"

Seemingly sensing Naoto's dissatisfaction, the person on the other end of the phone backed down. Wait a minute, is this person really going to hang up?

"I am Nan Yunxiao. Now you remember me, right? As my nemesis, you even forgot me."

"Nan Yunxiao? Who's that again?"

When Naoto heard the name, it sounded somewhat familiar, but his brain, which hadn't had a rest in a long time, was no longer able to process it.

Moreover, for Naoto, he didn't seem to have much interaction with Nagumo Akira. The only time he had any impression of him was when he met him once before when he submitted his work.

The so-called nemesis might just be one-sided on the part of Nagumo Akira.

Meanwhile, Nan Yunxiao fell completely silent on the other end.

He realized that Naoto really didn't remember him.

Am I really so unworthy of being remembered?

Chapter 128: Invitation to an Art Competition

If Nagumo Akira were in front of Naoto at this moment, he would probably only look angry and helpless.

It's really upsetting when your hard-won rival doesn't even remember you.

Although Nan Yunxiao really wanted to hang up the phone and ignore this person, she ultimately held back.

"Nan Yunxiao, Nan Yunxiao... Oh, I remember now, you're the person from the last Youth Art Appreciation?"

After pondering for a while, Naoto finally remembered who this person was. However, another question immediately arose: how did this person know his home phone number?

"Ahem, you've finally remembered who I am."

After hearing that Naoto finally remembered who he was, Nagumo Akira on the other side was finally relieved from his embarrassment.

That brat's words are absolutely infuriating!

"So what? Why are you calling?"

"Of course I'm here to declare war! You brat, listen up! I won't lose to you again in the art creation competition in the second half of the year, you just wait and see!"

"Uh, an art creation award? What's that, and why should I participate?"

Hearing Nan Yunxiao's words, Naoto felt somewhat confused. Why was this person suddenly declaring war on him? Also, what on earth was this "Art Creation Grand Award"? Why had he never heard of it?

On the other end, Nan Yunxiao fell silent again. After a long while, just when Naoto thought the other end had hung up, he finally spoke again.

"Are you serious? You don't know what an art creation award is?"

"Why do I need to know what an art award is? Are you crazy?"

Naoto, already irritated by Nan Yunxiao's constant rambling and incomplete speech, naturally began to get angry.

Nan Yunxiao was also speechless at Zhiren's words.

As one of the most promising young painters in China, and a formidable rival whom he admires, the renowned Naoto Yamashita, it's surprising that he doesn't know what the Young Artists Award is.

Doesn't this person care about these art competitions at all?

Of course, Naoto really doesn't care at all. After all, he had already drawn enough traditional paintings in his previous life. Now he just wants to focus on creating comics and doesn't want to pay attention to anything else.

This art creation award, like the previous youth painting award, is a competition for young artists.

However, this time the scope involves all art.

Besides oil painting, the competition also covers sculpture, drawing, and photography, and the organizers have changed from the Tokyo Fine Arts Association to the five major art academies. Overall, it's a bit higher in level than the Youth Painting Award, and even a bit more prestigious.

After all, the combined strength of these five art institutions is almost representative of the entire Japanese art world. Not to mention, this is a joint competition across multiple art fields, making it significantly larger than a separate youth art appreciation event.

Nan Yunxiao had originally planned to have a showdown with Naoto at the art competition, to have a proper competition with him, and then defeat Naoto in the competition to prove that he was the number one young Japanese painter.

However, Nan Yunxiao did not expect that Naoto had no idea whether this competition was even worthwhile.

Actually, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it carefully.

After all, Naoto wasn't just busy preparing for his new manga; he was also responsible for the original manuscript for the anime adaptation of "Cooking Master Boy." Overall, Naoto was incredibly busy.

Furthermore, since this is not a competition organized by the association, President Fujino naturally won't directly invite Naoto like he did last time.

Most importantly, Naoto is completely unfamiliar with these Japanese competitions, and you can't expect him to specifically seek out someone to learn about them.

"So now that you know, will you participate?"

"will not."

"Why?!"

When Naoto decisively rejected his invitation, Nan Yunxiao was completely stunned. Logically speaking, shouldn't he have participated immediately after learning about such a competition? It couldn't be that he didn't participate because Naoto was afraid of losing, could it?

"I'm too busy right now. I don't have time to participate in any competitions. I'm currently busy with the serialization of my new manga, the anime adaptation of my work, and even school. I simply don't have time for any of that. If you have nothing else to say, I'll hang up now."

Naoto ignored Nagumo Akira's invitation. After being tricked by President Fujino last time, he didn't want to participate in such competitions again for the time being. The key point was that he really didn't have time to paint any traditional paintings now. If he were to participate in any competition now, he was afraid that Saiki's father would devour him alive.

"No time?! What are you doing if you don't have time? You're not still drawing comics, are you?! I'm telling you, you can just play around with that kind of thing, but you can't focus on drawing comics, hey! You..."

Naoto couldn't stand Nan Yunxiao's incessant rambling any longer and hung up the phone, ignoring him completely.

"This person is definitely sick."

After hanging up the phone, Naoto couldn't help but curse.

What was I thinking to answer this guy's call?

Meanwhile, Nan Yunxiao, on the other end, was completely numb, and then his mind was filled with rage.

Nan Yunxiao, the next head of the Nan Yun family, had his phone hung up on! This was the first time he had ever had his phone hung up on!

That brat Naoto Yamashita actually dared to hang up on him!

"Hmph! That's infuriating! That brat isn't participating in the competition; instead, he's busy making comics! No way, if he never participates in these competitions again, how am I supposed to beat him?"

What angered Naoto Namco most at this moment was not that Naoto Yamashita hung up on him, but rather that Naoto had given up participating in the competition because of his manga creation, which was something Naoto could not have imagined and could not accept.

Furthermore, Naoto also noticed that Naoto didn't seem very interested in the so-called oil painting competition; in comparison, he preferred drawing comics.

The best young painter in Japan is about to abandon oil painting, and Nan Yunxiao absolutely cannot agree to that.

"No way, if this kid stops participating in competitions, won't I be forever inferior to him? No way, this time I absolutely have to drag this kid into the competition."

After careful consideration, Nan Yunxiao decided to personally intervene and persuade Naoto to participate in the competition.

"Ah Qiu!"

At that moment, Naoto suddenly felt a chill run through his body, as if he were being watched by something terrifying. He had a feeling that his days ahead wouldn't be peaceful.

Chapter 129; Parasyte Live-Action Project

"Naoto, even if you're thinking about the plot of a new manga, can't you at least do something else right now? Look how high all the other work is piled up?"

A few days later, Qi Mu's father finally couldn't resist and came to their door.