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There is an art festival in Makochi. It’s a new program from the government to help local artist in Makochi to showcase their talent and to sell their art to people in town. The festival accepts artists from every district in Makochi, including Sunaba.
Nirei heard about this festival from his parents because they work as civil servants in Makochi and he informed everyone in class 1-1. He invited them to come together to this festival.
“Sure, Nirei-kun. Let’s go there this weekend.” Suo smiles.
“If you i—insist.. I’ll come with you, Nirei.” Sakura blushes.
“Sounds fun! Let’s go, Nirei-chan!” Kiryu adds.
“Yeah, though I don’t know anything about art but it’s the first time it happened here, I’m excited!” Tsugeura says this then sips his protein shakes.
“If you go, I’ll go.” Sugishita points at Nirei.
“I’ll go, Sugishita-san! Then let’s meet at the municipal building tomorrow at 10 AM everyone!”
Everyone nods at Nirei, agreeing to the schedule.
The festival will be held for 2 days only since it’s a pioneer and the first time for the government to organize such an activity.
Nirei arrives first, then Sakura, Suo, Sugishita, Tsugeura. And Kiryu is last. They all use casual clothes with their own style. It’s still summer so they chose clothes that can absorb sweat. Specifically, Sakura wears the clothes that Nirei chose for him on their last hangout at the mall. Today’s schedule is an art market, art seminar, art gallery and games related to art. The five of them just follow Nirei wherever he goes like a group of puppies. They go to an art gallery first, then the art market.
Now, they are at the seminar. Everyone is focusing on the explanation from the speaker about the history of art, how art will have a big impact on Makochi, and etc. When Sakura, Kiryu, Sugishita and Tsugeura are dead focused on the stage, Suo is sneaking to hold Nirei’s hand. He has wanted to do it since the beginning but Nirei keeps slipping from him, like dragging Sakura to the art gallery, talking with Kiryu at the art market. Suo lost his chance and it’s the time to do it. He chose a seat beside Nirei, the arrangement Is Sugishita, Sakura, Nirei, Suo, Kiryu, and Tsugeura. Suo arranged it himself so he can be next to Nirei.
“Suo-san, focus on the speaker in front of us.” Nirei whispers to Suo, which Suo ignores.
“You’re far more interesting than the seminar, Nirei-kun.”
“Again with the lip services.”
“Woah, my boyfriend is so cold towards me. Maybe I’ll die tomorrow.”
“Shh. Your voice is too loud, Suo-san! We can get kicked out from the hall!”
And they did. The staff decided to escort Nirei and Suo to the exit door because they were disturbing the other audiences. Nirei looks annoyed while Suo is satisfied with the result, because now he can be with Nirei without the others. Just the two of them.
However–
“Hello! We need participants for our game, can you two join? The participant will get a gift from us and if you win, you’ll get more.”
One of the staff in the game area approaches Suo and Nirei. They look a little bit desperate, because the majority of the visitors are currently at the seminar. Suo and Nirei look at each other, agree to help playing the game. Suo and Nirei will compete against other teams, there are 3 teams including Suo and Nirei. The game is simple, each team which is made from 2 people will be given a stack of cards by the staff, one can see the content of each card and they’ll have to draw it without saying a word, while the other one will have to guess it. The winner will be based on how many cards they can guess in 2 minutes.
“Nirei-kun, I’ll be the one who guesses it.”
“Oh? But, Suo-san is an all-rounder! I’m better at guessing than drawing, Suo-san! I know I can count on you!” Nirei screams excitedly, he already forgets the incident inside the hall.
“Eh.. My hand is a little bit hurt, Nirei-kun.. I don’t think I can draw..”
“You hold my hand just fine, Suo-san. Come on, stop lying to me.”
One thing that Nirei doesn’t know about his boyfriend is that his boyfriend is bad at drawing. Art is Suo’s biggest enemy. He doesn’t hate it, he just doesn’t have any talent in art and he never told Nirei about this. Suo is in deep trouble, his secret will unfold if Nirei keeps pressuring him. But then again, Suo is weak against Nirei’s pout. He claims his defeat and chooses to draw for Nirei’s sake.
The game started with the first group, they got a fruit theme and guessed 10 cards. The second group got a movie theme, this group beating the first group with 12 cards. Suo and Nirei’s group is next. Suo puts his hand inside the theme box, he gets an animal theme for them to guess. He sighs, because he knows that animal is hard to draw. We should’ve got the fruit one! Suo walks to grab the drawing book and the board marker. The time won’t start until he opens the marker.
“Suo-san! We can do this!” Nirei makes a * fighting pose by clenched both of his fists and moving it back and forth in front of his chest. He also smiles brightly for Suo.
Suo smiles back, if after this Nirei knows about his lameness other than natto, Suo will accept it. He brings this upon himself after all. If he didn’t make a fuss inside the hall, this probably won’t happen to him. After reclaiming himself, Suo signals the staff to start showing the cards for Suo to draw. The first thing that comes out is a cat. Actually, Suo can just draw the head and the whiskers to make it simple but he decided to draw it to its full body. Also, remember that he can’t draw.. So, it doesn’t look like a cat at all. But, Nirei can still guess it. Nirei can answer everything based on Suo’s art. Correction: Suo’s bad art. They end up getting 15 and become the winner of the game. It’s a miracle and even Suo can’t believe his eyes.
They each receive a goodie bag containing a tumbler, notebook, a postcard with an exclusive painting and for the prize as winner, they get a shopping district voucher of 50.000 yen and a mini painting from a local artist with their signature at the back. After receiving it all, Suo and Nirei want to go find their friends which they didn’t have to because their friends saw it all. They followed the couple and silently watched the game from afar. Sakura and Kiryu are still laughing, Sugishita doesn’t care and Tsugeura is panicking because he told Sakura and Kiryu about Suo being bad at art.
“Hahaha, Suo-chan! I didn’t know that your bad at art is THAT BAD. I couldn’t recognize them all. Hahaha. But, nice try though.”
“Ah—Suo. Don’t mind him!”
“By the way, Nirei. You were amazing. You can guess almost everything. Haha.”
“Hmph.”
Nirei takes a glance at Suo, he is smiling but Nirei can differentiate it. It’s not his goofy smile like his usual but more like ‘he’s holding his anger’ smile. “Ah. I think Suo-san’s drawing is good! It has its own artsy style. Kinda messy but I like it! Look, I even got the staff to give the drawing book to me!” Nirei shows it to his friends proudly.
“Aw, Nirei-kun.. I know you’re the only one who understands me.”
Suo hugs Nirei and sticks out his tongue to Sakura, Kiryu, Tsugeura and Sugishita. Making Sakura blushes while the others shake their heads. They should’ve known, everything will end up with Suo openly showing his love for Nirei. They forgot about it and lost against Suo.
“So, Suo-san.. Art is your weakness too along with natto. I can write it down in my notebook, right Mr. boyfie?”
Suo squinted his eyes, giving side eye to Nirei with his left eye. “No, you can’t. I won’t let you do that, Nirei-kun.”
“Eh? Is that so? Then, come get me, Suo-san! Hahaha~”
Another fact of Suo is added later that night because once again, Suo can’t win against Nirei.