My girlfriend is Saiki Kusunoki

Then he realized that his friend's mental state seemed a little off.

His hair was messy, his beard was unkempt, and he even had an unpleasant sour smell.

With huge dark circles under his eyes, it looked like he hadn't slept for a month. Even so, the director thought he was a homeless person.

"What could have happened to me? What happened?"

"You've been missing for five days! You haven't answered my calls! And you're asking me what happened?"

"Five days have already passed? Time really flies. Oh? Did I forget to charge my phone?"

"Are you sure you're okay? Don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you really can't write it, I can ask ONE to find another screenwriter..."

"No, no, no! Please let me finish writing it!"

Just as the director finished speaking, Izumi Seiichi suddenly became extremely excited.

This was the first time director Hayato had ever seen his friend so excited.

"What exactly happened?"

After repeatedly calming Izumi Seiichi down, director Hayato finally understood why his friend had become like this.

"It's absolutely brilliant! After I understood Parasyte, I felt my inspiration flow like a fountain. I understand what ONE-sensei wanted me to express. I've already completed more than half of the new manuscript. Give me three more days, and I'm sure I can create this work! Believe me, this time, we might change the entire industry!"

Director Hayato looked at his crazy friend. Although he didn't quite understand what he meant by changing the industry, at least... it was probably a good thing that the work could be completed, right?

Chapter 145; Improvement of Painting Skill Level

"No, Naoto. You're really planning to take a month off from serialization?! Just for that art competition? You weren't really angered by that brat named Nagumo something, were you?"

"What else can I do? Uncle Qi Mu, they've already provoked us. I can't just run away like a coward, can I? Besides, it's only a month, not a long time."

"That's still a month. Can't it really be any shorter? I remember you used to only spend two weeks on your paintings, didn't you?"

“Uncle Qi Mu, although I know I draw very quickly, I just haven’t had any inspiration yet. Besides, for other painters, a month is already a long time. I’m not saying I’ll spend three months on this, it’s already pretty good.”

Naoto could only try his best to persuade Qi Mu's father.

Even though he's over forty, he sometimes acts like a child, throwing tantrums. He's still trying to reason with me, trying to get Naoto to give up on the art competition.

It's safe to say that Qi Mu's father has been quite anxious lately.

If there's any problem with Naoto's current hiatus from all his manga, then the weekly magazines would be the most affected.

After all, monthly magazines are updated once a month, so a one-month hiatus only results in one issue.

But weekly magazines are different; putting everything else aside, they contain four chapters a month.

Although Naoto usually takes time off, a month-long hiatus like this is unprecedented.

Especially since One-Punch Man is so amazing, a month is simply too torturous.

Saitama's unremarkable bald head, under Naoto's illustration, is so damn charming that it has an astonishing 99% approval rating in JUMP surveys. Its popularity is so high that it can even surpass all other works.

It was precisely for this reason that Saiki's father was really worried about Naoto taking a month off from publishing.

However, Naoto had already made up his mind to give that Nagumo Akira a good beating. With Naoto's personality, not even ten oxen could pull him back. After seeing that Naoto really wouldn't give up, he had no choice but to give up trying to persuade him.

After Saiki's father left, Naoto checked his improved drawing level again.

That's right, after this incident, Naoto's system, which had been silent for eight hundred years and had been brought to a standstill by Nanako, actually came back to life.

And the painting skill level, which had been stagnant for a long time, was unexpectedly improved.

This level upgrade came as a bit of a surprise to Naoto.

Skill: Finishing Touch

Brief Introduction: Your painting skills have reached their peak, allowing you to express your inner emotions on paper. Both the form and meaning of your paintings have reached a high level, making you a rare painting master in the world.

Compared to the previous levels, this level took Naoto more than a year to reach. During that year, Naoto's popularity also increased rapidly, but it was only today that Naoto finally reached this level.

It must be said that although the wait was long, the improvement was enormous.

To understand painting, one must either reach the pinnacle in form, like oil paintings and sketches, which emphasize form.

Either you reach the pinnacle in your art, like in traditional Chinese ink painting.

What the system is now presenting is that Naoto has reached the pinnacle of both aspects, making him a rare art master in the world.

This shows how high the evaluation is.

Although Naoto doesn't know exactly how many levels this skill has, at least after obtaining this level, Naoto would be one of the top players in the entire world.

After acquiring this skill, Naoto picked up his pencil without hesitation and began drawing rapidly on the paper.

In less than ten minutes, a portrait of Nanko appeared in Naoto's hands.

In the painting, Nanzi's face is full of happiness, radiating a sweet smile.

While achieving a lifelike resemblance, the nanmu tree in the painting seems to possess a soul, as if it might come to life at any moment.

Just this portrait I casually drew, I dare say, is more than ten times better than the one of my most beautiful smiles that I gave to Nanzi before.

"With these painting skills, I should be able to secure this one. So, I should start thinking about what subject matter to paint this time."

At this moment, Naoto began to think about the theme of this year's art award.

Friendship—just two short words, yet they contain so much information.

In art competitions like these, sometimes a broad range of topics isn't necessarily a good thing.

Just like a set essay topic, too much freedom of thought can sometimes turn you into a wild horse that runs off into the distance.

When it comes to friendship, the first thing that comes to mind is probably various sports competitions, such as volleyball, baseball, football, basketball, etc. The cooperation between teammates has created all kinds of friendships.

From this perspective, it is definitely the easiest to create.

Unfortunately, Naoto has never participated in these sports, and he doesn't have many friendships formed from them.

In fact, it would be more accurate to say that among traditional artists, those who enjoy these kinds of sports are extremely rare, so this proposition is clearly untenable.

Besides the friendships forged through sports, there are also themes like camaraderie among comrades, but these are too distant for straight people.

If a straight person were to create something like this, it might actually be considered inferior.

This is why Naoto has been hesitant to put pen to paper. He has the friendship, but putting it into words is not an easy task.

"It seems the judging panel did this on purpose; the seemingly broad topic was full of traps."

After careful consideration, Naoto felt that the judging panel this time was quite advanced.

This was because they knew these painters were mostly introverted men who couldn't possibly have deep friendships, so they deliberately used this topic to embarrass them.

"However, the more difficult it is, the more interesting this challenge will be, won't it? Let me show you my strength, Naoto Yamashita."

After calming himself down, Naoto immediately began to draw on the paper.

One painting after another began to appear in Naoto's hands.

Meanwhile, Nagumo Akira, who aspired to become Naoto's strongest rival, was still lying in bed, half-dead.

Chapter 146: Nebula Award Selection

As May arrived, the once peaceful days gradually began to become less peaceful.

At this moment, the Nebula Awards, which all the big names in the Japanese art world have been looking forward to for so long, is finally about to begin.

The Nebula Award is a Japanese science fiction award presented to outstanding works of the previous year, internally divided into several categories. It is voted on by participants of the annual Japan Science Fiction Convention, and modeled after the Hugo Awards at the World Science Fiction Convention. The name Nebula Award is generally believed to originate from the earliest Japanese science fiction magazine, *Nebula*, published in 1954. It was first awarded in 1972, initially with categories including Japanese long-form fiction, Japanese short-form fiction, overseas long-form fiction, overseas short-form fiction, and media. Later, film, comedy, art, literary works, and free art categories were added. The selection of additional awards is decided by the Japan Science Fiction Convention Executive Committee.

The shortlisted works are those published between January 1 and December 1 of the previous year.

In fact, the Nebula Awards' selection scope has long since expanded beyond science fiction in the general sense, encompassing both science fiction and fantasy.

In the film category, Hayao Miyazaki, Leiji Matsumoto, Hideaki Anno, Hiroyuki Yamaga, and Makoto Shinkai are among those who have received this honor.

In the manga category, many well-known figures such as Rumiko Takahashi, Katsuhiro Otomo, Masamune Shirow, Hayao Miyazaki, CLAMP, and Moto Hagio received awards.

In the novel category, among the "Big Three," besides Shinichi Hoshi, Yasutaka Tsutsui and Sakyo Komatsu (each 7 times) are so successful they're practically drowning in awards. Chohei Kamiya, who brought us the epic battle of Yukikaze, has also amassed a considerable number of Seiun Awards. Other familiar names in the novel category include Baku Yumemakura, author of *Onmyoji*; Yoshiki Tanaka, author of *Legend of the Galactic Heroes*; and Hiroyuki Morioka, author of the *Astral Realms* series, among others.

In the realm of anime, renowned works such as Space Battleship Yamato, My Neighbor Totoro, Gunbuster, and even SSSS.GRIDMAN have all received these awards.

Although the Nebula Awards have lost some of their prestige in recent years, they remain the most prestigious award in the Japanese science fiction world each year.

The works that win this award are basically recognized masterpieces; usually, only the most dazzling works of the year can win such an award.

Every year, the competition for the Nebula Award is particularly fierce.

Even before the official selection process began, fans of the various works had already started arguing online about their favorites.

Some of the more heated ones even started planning to have a solo match offline.

However, among all the works submitted for the Nebula Award, only Naoto seemed completely indifferent to the outside world, spending his days simply revising his oil paintings, as if the Nebula Award was completely unnecessary for him.

Naoto's actions left Moritaka and Akito completely baffled.

"Hey Straight Man, are you sure you don't want to say something? After all, I've seen other authors who seem to be trying to get votes."

When faced with Akito and Daigo's most pressing questions, Naoto simply gave a calm reply.

"So what? After all, what impact will winning this award have on me in the end? Instead of worrying about whether I can win, I should focus on getting my own things done now."

"But that's the Nebula Award."

"The Nebula Award won't make you an industry leader overnight. Most importantly, you have to remember that if the quality of a work needs an award to recognize it, then the award itself is unnecessary. The only thing that determines the quality of a work is how much the audience likes it."

In fact, even the renowned Jackie Chan has never won an Oscar for Best Actor, but this does not diminish his stature; in fact, he is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award. Even without a Best Actor award, Jackie Chan's status remains unchallenged.

Although they understand the logic of being a straight person, they really can't treat the Nebula Award as nothing. After all, winning the Nebula Award means being extraordinary. It's a recognition from a big shot. Every winner is a leader in the industry.

Seeing that Moritaka and Akito were still somewhat unconvinced, Naoto had no choice but to put down his pen and speak to the two of them.

"A winner shouldn't be honored by winning an award, but by the award itself and by the winner. Shouldn't the Nebula Award's prestige be built by many people working together? It's truly tragic when an award becomes the sole criterion for judging the quality of a work. I've already made Parasyte, and audiences love it, so what more do I need? Does my work only gain popularity because it wins an award?"

The creative team simply couldn't understand Naoto's level of understanding; it was just too high for them to comprehend.

Does this mean that winning the Nebula Award is no longer enough to impress Naoto? Is this what a true big shot is like?

Regardless of what the other club members thought, Naoto once again focused intently on creating.

Meanwhile, the judging panel for the Nebula Awards is also reviewing last year's entries.

It must be said that there were many excellent works last year, each one of which was very impressive.