My girlfriend is Saiki Kusunoki

And then I discovered, damn it! All the people I knew were posting online.

Among the various comments, Naoto saw comments from Saiki's father, his own homeroom teacher, and a certain Enka. He also saw comments from Mr. Takasaka, whom he knew, and even Sakuta and his girlfriend Mai started to speak.

Good grief, there's not a single one of them who's easy to deal with. The most outrageous thing is that I even saw President Fujino say that he's really looking forward to his work this time.

At this moment, Naoto really wanted to spit out a mouthful of blood.

So he'd been betrayed! With so many people speaking out, especially top stars like Mai Sakurajima, Naoto felt like the whole world had betrayed him.

With so many outrageous remarks, she must have offended everyone in this competition.

No wonder that person named Nan Yunxiao looked so pale after recognizing me.

"Ahem, nothing like that. Actually, I've been in seclusion drawing lately and really don't know anything about what's going on online. If you don't believe me, think about it: if I had time to rest, it would be impossible for me to finish two paintings in a week, right? As for this competition, I personally think that participation is more important than winning. After all, there are so many senior artists here, so my chances of winning are really slim."

The surrounding reporters nodded in agreement with Naoto's statement.

That makes sense, since everyone knows that Naoto is indeed very busy, so everyone is quite convinced that Naoto hasn't been paying attention to the internet lately.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Naoto rarely speaks up in normal times.

To outsiders, Naoto nowadays not only has to go to school, but also has to draw at least two comics.

Such a terrifying workload is simply appalling.

So it's normal that Naoto doesn't have time to go online. At this moment, even Nan Yunxiao nodded after listening to Naoto's words.

I am very satisfied with the straight man's explanation.

It seems this young man is quite savvy; he's not as annoying as I imagined.

And what's with all this talk about being a senior? Hmph, isn't he just talking about me? Since he's already admitted defeat, I'll let him off the hook this time.

Just when Naoto thought he had gotten away with it, another reporter suddenly started speaking.

"So, which contestant do you think has the best chance this time? I noticed you seemed quite familiar with Mr. Nagumo. Do you consider him the defending champion?"

Faced with the reporter's question, Naoto was quite embarrassed. What could he say? He didn't even know this person before.

In a state of extreme embarrassment, and perhaps due to a bit of brain overload, Naoto blurted out something. By the time he realized what he'd said, it was too late.

"Nan Yunxiao? Who's that again?"

When Naoto said those words, Nan Yunxiao felt like her lungs were about to explode.

I was completely blinded by greed; how could I have thought this little brother would be so sensible?!

"Naoto Yamashita! Listen to me! This time, the championship will definitely be mine, Nagumo's! You just wait!"

Naoto looked at the roaring Nagumo Akira with great grievance and wanted to explain.

Can you please explain to me who Nan Yunxiao really is?! I genuinely had absolutely no idea before!

Chapter 84: The Beginning of Young People's Art Appreciation

After being shocked by Nan Yunxiao's declaration of war, Naoto simply ignored it.

For a straight person like me, there are already enough things to worry about lately. There's no reason to care so much about someone I don't even know.

Let this person declare war if they want. Although I don't think I can definitely win this time, it doesn't mean I think I can't win.

In short, straight people are not pushovers either.

If anyone dares to pinch me, I'll definitely teach them a lesson.

As time went by, Naoto accumulated more and more manga drafts.

Even Naoto had time to meddle with the vampire animation team and check on the animation's progress.

Basically, straight people live a cycle between going to school, home, and the animation studio.

After a long wait, the final announcement date for the Tokyo Youth Art Prize finally arrived.

As the most prestigious art competition in the entire Tokyo area, and even with official backing from the art association, the judging process is even more rigorous than that of the National High School Art Competition.

The initial selection process involves choosing approximately 1,500 oil paintings from thousands of artworks for the preliminary screening.

The so-called preliminary selection is simply a process in which a few judges roughly look at all the oil paintings.

There are usually four judges in a competition. If you get approval from one of the four judges, you can usually move on to the next stage.

Of course, this is very simple, but every year many people's works are still eliminated in the first round.

The next part was even more outrageous.

If there are about five or six hundred remaining works, that would be considered good; of course, there could be even fewer.

In the end, only about twenty works were used for the competition.

Of course, this is useless for straight people.

After all, the privilege of being the champion of the previous high school competition allowed him to directly participate in the final selection.

Judging from the final number of participants, reducing the number from several thousand to just twenty or thirty is already a terrifying elimination rate.

Even in the junior group, this is already quite formidable. Let alone in the adult group competition.

That was utter chaos.

Those who persevere to the end are the kind of people who can be called gods in the school.

Moreover, judging from the information leaked online, the lineup for this competition is quite impressive. Compared to that, the high school competition seems rather meager.

Besides Chairman Fujino himself, there was also Mr. Yamamura, who is known as a master of traditional Chinese painting, Mr. Honda, who is the number one Japanese oil painter, and Mr. Kuta, who was nominated by the German Minister of Education.

These individuals, if they were anywhere else, could make the art world tremble with just a tap of their legs.

This time, they sat in their seats, serious and unsmiling, and began to critique the artwork of the contestants.

For these industry giants, even the Youth Award is just a small competition and not a big deal at all.

They wouldn't have participated in this competition if it weren't for President Fujino's repeated invitations.

By this time, they had already watched all the performances by the junior group. Overall, there was nothing surprising about them.

That is, the normal level that ordinary high school students can achieve.

Even paintings that are considered amazing by ordinary people are just so-so to them. They're not surprising at all.

This time, the focus is naturally on the adult group.

For these people, only these kinds of works are worth watching.

After all, most of these people are already well-known in the industry, and many are even disciples or children of industry masters.

These are the people the judges are really targeting this time.

"Huh? This artwork..."

As the leading oil painter in the country, Mr. Honda received Naoto's first painting.

The entire image is covered in extremely warm colors. At first glance, it gives people a very warm feeling.

Outside the window, snow was falling everywhere. The parents and their two children sat on the sofa, seemingly isolated from the outside world.

Warm and charming.

Warmth was his first impression of this painting.

When he saw this painting, it seemed to remind him of his childhood, when he and his parents would huddle in their room during the Spring Festival, even though there was no television or other entertainment back then.

But it's just so heartwarming.

I drifted off to sleep in the warm blankets, and looking back now, it all seems so blissful.

"Happiness with family? Good idea, Naoto Yamashita? Oh, it's him."

Honda looked at the signature in the lower corner of the painting and quickly remembered who the work belonged to.

The champion of a high school competition, currently the best-selling comic artist in the country. A genius among geniuses.

Although Honda had previously been somewhat dismissive of this person, after actually seeing Naoto's manuscript, he found himself completely convinced.

At least, his students couldn't have painted this level of skill. He never expected this prodigy to improve so much in just a few months. He was even better than he was during the high school competition.

After a moment's thought, he decided to cast a vote for this painting.

However, at this time, President Fujino also received another painting from Naoto.

This painting surprised President Fujino even more.

Fireworks scattered across the night sky.

On the river, there are river lanterns like stars.

On the path, a man and two women stood there, as if embracing the whole world.

That's right, this is exactly what happened to the Nao people during the Obon festival.

This was the happiest day he had experienced since his parents passed away. How could Naoto possibly forget all of this?

The Obon festival is especially beautiful when accompanied by a beautiful woman.

And the adorable little sister adds even more embellishment to this painting.

This painting, while filled with familial affection, is further embellished with romantic love, giving it an even deeper meaning.

Especially in terms of color tone and style, this painting appears much bolder.

Both paintings are imbued with a very strong Naoto style.

Even the layout of the illustrations had a comic book feel to it.

This person actually used some comic book techniques to incorporate into traditional paintings!

"An incredibly bold approach, and the key is that both paintings appear remarkably harmonious, without the slightest discord. This young man is truly a genius."

At this moment, the judges looked at Naoto's painting and expressed their approval.

But what President Fujino was more curious about at this moment was—

"Wait a minute, what exactly is this 'surprise' that Naoto is talking about?!"

Chapter 85: An Extraordinary Winner