My girlfriend is Kusunoko Saiki

Chapter 77: Invitation to the Youth Award

For Naoto and Sakuta who caused such a thing in school, this time there will definitely be no good ending.

Fortunately, Mr. Matsuzaki has almost gotten used to cleaning up the mess for these students.

Mr. Matsuzaki, who was Naoto's homeroom teacher and also the head of the school's academic affairs office, only asked the two to copy the school rules about forty or fifty times.

This is a lesson for these two people.

Well, by the way, both of them almost failed this monthly exam.

However, the two of them don't care much about this result.

After all, Naoto doesn't rely on his grades to make a living, and he doesn't even know where his parents are hanging out right now. He's not a coward at all.

The situation is pretty much the same with Sakuta, in that we just can't find his house.

This time, the two brothers were quite happy.

One found his girlfriend, and the other witnessed his good friend getting a girlfriend. Is there anything more joyful than this?

While Naoto was preparing a new comic and waiting for the completion of "Bloodline", another incident happened, and this incident even stunned Naoto for a long time.

And it all started with a phone call.

"Excuse me, is this Mr. Naoto's home?"

"Hello, I'm Naoto, what can I do for you?"

At Naoto's home, a mysterious phone call came in, which made Naoto a little confused.

It's my home phone, so except for a few acquaintances, no one would call me specifically.

But why, the person who called this time was a stranger, and he knew my identity so well?

"Hello, I am from the Neon Art Education Association. According to the order of President Fujino, I would like to invite you to participate in the Youth Award for Movement and Stillness."

"Tokyo Youth Prize Competition?! An invitation from President Fujino?!"

When Naoto heard this, his mind suddenly froze.

It was then that Zhiren suddenly remembered that, in addition to his high status in the comics world, he seemed to be the leader of the new generation in the oil painting world.

But wait, why did President Fujino invite him?

Although Zhiren personally thinks he is still pretty good.

But to a big shot like President Fujino, a mere national high school champion like me doesn't seem worth remembering at all.

And speaking of the Youth Award, its value is only comparable to that of the Youth Award's Junior Group. Why would they invite him?

"Uh, can I ask why President Fujino invited me?"

"Eh? Don't you know? The top five winners of the National High School Art Competition are eligible to directly participate in the Youth Award."

The girl opposite seemed shocked by Naoto's question. It turned out that Naoto, the champion, didn't even know about this.

"Huh? There's such a thing?!"

Naoto was also confused about this kind of thing.

You have to know that I was forced into this competition and I don’t even know the rules.

Mr. Matsuzaki had never told me this before.

It’s a bit awkward now. All the other members have been notified, but I, the champion, don’t even know about it.

Doesn't this make me look a little watery?

"Ahem, it's okay, it's okay. So, Mr. Naoto, do you have time recently?"

Since Naoto didn't know about this matter, the other party also knew Naoto's current identity, so he was more cautious when asking Naoto.

"Uh, time? I did come."

Faced with the invitation, Naoto thought about it carefully and found that he did have plenty of time recently.

After all, while Vampire Diggins had even prepared its last chapter, Parasyte had almost reached the fourth chapter.

The only thing Naoto really needs to do now is the monthly updated Chukuban.

For Zhiren, this amount of work is just a piece of cake.

Originally Naoto wanted to refuse.

After all, this is the most relaxing time I have had in the past few months.

But Naoto suddenly remembered that Mr. Sayama, who had handed him his business card before, had said that it would be better for him to paint a few traditional paintings no matter what.

After thinking about it carefully, Naoto found that it made sense.

My current reputation in the comics industry has basically reached its peak. If I want to have another event to improve my reputation, it can only be said that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Probably the only chance will be after the Vampire anime is updated.

When a world like this has almost reached its limit, Naoto naturally wants to gain experience in another place.

You can also try oil painting.

"Well, thank you for participating. Oh, I forgot to tell you that the topic of this competition is "Happiness". President Fujino is waiting for your masterpiece in the adult group."

After finishing speaking, the person on the other end also hung up the phone.

At this time, Naoto looked at the phone in front of him and fell into deep thought for a moment.

"Wait a minute, this guy just mentioned the adult group, right?"

Naoto suddenly felt like he was being tricked.

I thought I was just participating in the junior group competition.

How come you suddenly start participating in the adult group?

Naoto suddenly felt like he was being tricked. What was going on?

But think about it, the national competition and the youth award's junior group are obviously of similar quality, so there's no need to stuff people into the junior group.

No wonder the national competition is eligible for the Youth Award.

After all, the adult group of the Youth Award is really strong.

As an art feast for all of Japan, all young talents under the age of 30 are welcome to participate.

In a sense, the monsters here are countless.

Generally speaking, how can high school students compare with adults in terms of academic performance?

To put it bluntly, some of them may have even won the junior championship several times.

If this group of people go in, they will probably be as weak as sardines thrown into a group of sharks.

But what should I do now? I have already promised them, I can't just quit like this, right?

"But I don't think I have to worry about anything. The most important thing is to participate. No one asks me to win the championship, right? I can just play badly. So how do I draw this happiness? Oh my, this is really a headache."

Naoto returned to the room with a sigh and took out the oil painting board that he hadn't taken out for a long time.

I remember the last time I painted an oil painting was last time.

I didn’t expect that I would start working as a traditional painter again so soon.

However, what Naoto didn't know at this time was that as he was about to participate in the adult group of the Youth Award, someone had already begun to secretly target him.

Chapter 78: Naoto begins to go out to collect materials

"Ha! Happiness! What a vexing subject it is."

On the weekend, Naoto and Kusunoko went out of the house for the first time in a long time.

However, this time their purpose was not to date, but to go out to collect materials for the Youth Award.

For this oil painting, Naoto could no longer start painting as easily as last time.

Maybe it’s because of the celebrity effect. If I give an unsatisfactory answer this time, I might really be laughed at.

However, Naoto really had no idea what to do with this topic.

A big part of the reason I was able to succeed last time was because after a large group of high school students taught me a "standard" answer, I found a secluded place and finally stood out.

If you really say that he crushes others, then you are overestimating him.

Although his painting skills have improved significantly this time, his opponents have also changed from high school students of the same age to a group of adults.

If you want to continue with your previous method, it may not work.

Moreover, as for the current example of so-called happiness, Naoto really has no idea.

It can’t be said that he had no clues, but rather that he had too many clues, so he couldn’t feel as deeply as last time.

In my previous life, there was a saying on the Internet that cats eat fish, dogs eat meat, and Ultraman fights little monsters. This is the greatest happiness.

At the beginning, Naoto drew three or four pictures, but none of them satisfied him.

Was it the first time you got pocket money as a kid? Or the first time you went to the playground? Or the time you secretly ate snacks without your parents knowing?

I have to say, these scenes are quite touching for straight people.

To say that I'm not happy would be too false.

But Naoto felt that if it was just this little happiness, it would be far from what he expected.

That's why I pulled Nan Zi out.

But after coming out, the two found that they had no idea where to go.

"Naoto, even though you said you wanted to collect materials, you still have to tell us where we should go, right?"

Although it is already autumn, the tail of the autumn tiger is still very hot.

In this situation, it was really uncomfortable for the two of them to be walking on the street.

"Nanzi, if I knew where I could get the material, I would have gone there a long time ago."

In such hot weather, he is the one who suffers the most.

After all, Nanzi is immune to cold or heat, and is not afraid of any winter or summer heat. The season has no effect on Nanzi.

"Or else, Nan Zi, why don't you use your super powers to speed up my thinking? Maybe I'll get inspiration right away."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Well, forget it. I'll just figure it out on my own."

Faced with Kusunoki's questioning, Naoto still chose to back down.

Although it is true that Kusunoki's superpower is very powerful, after using this superpower to accelerate, Naoto's thinking ability may be stronger than Einstein.

But that doesn't mean it's without side effects.

Naoto can guarantee that as long as Kusunoko uses this ability on him, his thoughts can fly directly from the earth to the M78 nebula.

By that time, what I do will not be what I can imagine now.

Naoto didn't want to be on the news after doing something stupid.

After wandering around the city, Naoto and Kusunoko really didn't find anything worth paying attention to.

After all, there are already enough trivialities in life, and basically, apart from some complaints, it seems that people cannot fully experience what happiness is.

Naoto thought, why not just go back today.

But just when the two were about to go back, a burst of crying suddenly came from the park nearby.

"Hmm? What happened over there? It sounds like someone is crying?"

Facing the sudden crying sound, Zhiren looked towards the park in confusion. How could someone be crying in the daytime?

"How about going and taking a look?"

After hearing the crying, Nan Zi also showed a curious look. At this time, the two of them decided to go to the park to take a look.

Due to the hot weather, there is basically no one in the park at this time.

But the crying sound came from the swing in the park.

I saw a child who looked no more than twelve years old sitting alone on the swing, with his eyes a little red and swollen.