Chapter 59 - 59 - Book Covers Fair

It's lunch time and less than 6 hours before departing back to Kawayan City. After that tour, they went back to Ylona's shop to have lunch with her and her family. They were at the back of the flower shop, having lunch together. Their meals are made by Ylona, who loves to make nutritious and delicious meals rather than formal or meals with low nutritional value. Maneki and Theodora's grandfather was with them joining for lunch. Their Pokémon are eating their special food at one side facing a cabinet full of supplies. The atmosphere around was calm, despite the busyness of the market.

"So, how's the tour?" Ylona asked them breaking the silence.

"Oh, it's going very well," Rico answered back positively.

"Nothing bad had happened," Grey added as well.

"That was good that nothing bad had happened," responded Ylona back. "Those Vandals are now in jail for their crimes. Finally the terror was over." This follows with a short silence.

"So, um, Aunt Ylona," Rico asked breaking the silence.

"Yes?" Ylona replied back.

"Why this place is called the 4 Pillars Galen Market?" Rico asked about the market's name.

"Well, it was named after the four pillars of trading and commerce," Ylona answered back.

"What is it?" replied Rico back.

"It's food, merchandise, pottery, and literature," Ylona happily responded back, "and this market was built out of the original buildings built a few centuries ago."

"And ever since that time the market was built," Ylona's father added in facts, "it was still the center of trade and commerce even to this day." Rico and Grey, being tourists and visitors in Galen City, then get what they had said.

"That's why," Rico commented.

"And even though with multiple markets and modern supermarkets, it's still the tradition of the people here," Theodora responded brightly.

"That was really amazing, Theodora," Rico commented back positively.

By 2 o'clock in the afternoon, after lunch, the kids went to a street market called the Books and Literature Street, where the Book and Book Covers Fair was held, along with their Pokémon, supplies for art, and their entries. The festival extends from that street, to the sloped areas of the city, up to the city parks, attracting tens of thousands of people with its exhibitions and activities like a ferris wheel and a fun fair at the park. Upon arriving there, they saw thousands of people and visitors attending the fair in different ways and purposes. Competing artists, poets, and writers show off their creative ideas on canvases, book covers, and in volumes of books; visitors and tourists being impressed by their skills in art and literature, while street sweepers constantly sweep the trash and debris off the busy grounds and sidewalks, but still yet enjoyed the festival and fair. Street vendors constantly calling visitors and tourists to their stalls of different delicacies and refreshing and hot drinks. The festival began shortly after New Year's Day.

Then, walking down the busy path, they saw how busy the fair was, with Maneki commented how it got more busier than the previous ones. Grey and his team was with them, however, to see the festival.

"Wow, it's so nice and cool here," Rico commented in amazed enthusiasm. Riolu then responded with excitement.

"Yeah, I can't wait for my ideas to be shown," Theodora added in delight. Those words caused Maneki to turn negative in anxiety and low self-esteem. Despite being one of the patrons of the festival, Maneki had a negative side in his self that is hidden from anyone else, including his own family. Will he conquer his fear of showing his ideas before the end of the festival, or not?

Not much time was wasted when they arrived at the registration section and signed up for the fair and showed their book cover designs to the fair staff in various ways, patterns of colors, and designs, with Rico's and Theodora's being had the most compliments. Maneki, however, was mildly saddened by it. Maneki should learned not to be selfish in his work, but it'll take all day for him to figure it out.

By 3:07 p.m., the judges, the writers, poets, and novelists, came to the festival to judge their works. Rico, Theodora, Maneki, and their Pokémon, like most of the contestants, are mildly nervous and anxious about their judgment on their works. One by one, the judges examined the contestants' works of art, repeatedly seeing from top to bottom and left to right and vice versa. Each contestant are ȧssigned a number from 1 to 250, making the judgments tedious and time-consuming. In the audience, Grey was mildly worried their performance.

"I hoped all of them, or most of them, pass the judgment and be on the Top 100," he. thought in worry. Later after the judgment, the judges went to their seats on an elevated platform overlooking the audience and announced the Top 100 cover artists. The number of the judges are 25, dividing the works of contestants to 10 works for each judge, with the Top 100 is determined by the judges' compliments to it. But, Maneki wasn't present, alerting his team, friends, and their Pokémon suddenly. Standing up and went off stage, Rico and his team called his name several times until they finally found him under a tree in a depressed state. With concerned and worried about his friend's mood, they approached him and asked him what is wrong. But Maneki won't answer his question and resisted.

"Please, just tell me when's wrong," Rico told him in concern. Riolu then responded with telling him to say what's wrong. Not wanting to broke his friendship with Rico, Maneki opened himself up, stand up, face his friend, and finally answered him what is his problem: He couldn't be in the Top 100 due to a fact that Rico's and Theodora's art book covers being more cool and beautiful than his, which Maneki believed to be not cool enough to be in the Top 100, leaving him with low self-esteem and doubting anxiety. Listening to him attentively, Rico crossed his arms and told him, "I understand you. Well, you have been a patron of this festival, but, you should give other people their places upon being announced, not always to be in the top. That's being selfish and prideful. You had been providing the festival with ideas. Did you always win and be in the Top 100?"

"Sometimes," replied Maneki back with remorse.

"See, you do sometimes wins," Rico replied with emphasis, "but you always gave most of your resources to this festival. Winning is like a precious metal you cannot afford, but being in yourself as a patron is a lot more purposeful than being a victorious winner like on every competition. You did served a purpose here." Calmed and cheered up by Rico's words, Maneki hold Rico's right hand with his two hands and thanked him gratefully for giving him confidence and motivation.

"You're welcome," Rico happily responded back, "of course, you're my friend for a long time. Let's go back to the contest together, shall we?" Wiping his tears off his eyes, Maneki nodded in agreement, and he, Rico, and his team the went back to the contest and into their places with confidence.

At the contest, the judges finally announced the Top 100: 98 people, Rico, and Theodora. And their book covers are being given to the judges as perfect covers for their precious books. The audience applause the announcement, while those who didn't get to the Top 100, including Maneki, applause with appreciation and without any contempt. Though that was the announcement, Maneki was rather thankful and grateful for the competition. As a result, the Top 100 are being given certificates of participation, with a glitter-designed book design in it, and the books, both hardcover and softcover, of the authors who were the judges of that competition. The Top 100 are very, very thankful and grateful for this generosity.

Later by 4:01 p.m., as the other contestants left the platform, Maneki's family, including his father, who came a few hours ago from his work, ran to Rico, Maneki, Theodora, Grey, and their Pokémon and commented how great they were in the competition.

"Thanks, you guys," Maneki replied with embarrassment while scratching his head, "and look, I'm sorry for trying to bail out. It's just, I'm anxious that I couldn't make it to the Top 100."

"Maneki, that was a good thing that you didn't do anything in contempt," his father told him back.

"Yeah, we know you had been giving most of your resources and time to this festival," Ylona added calmly and cheerfully, "but you can't always win."

"Yeah, Rico was right," Maneki admitted.

"Well, better next time, cous," Theodora wished him good luck happily. Her Palpitoad then responded with good luck. Grey then hold his copy of a poem with Rico's cover on it.

"Thanks, Theodora," Maneki thanked him. It was a happy day for them, with Maneki learning his lesson with immediate effects.

Before 5 o'clock, Rico, Maneki, Mr. Fukui, and their Pokémon are at the airport, saying goodbye to Maneki's relatives, and thanking them for their hospitality. They had bought some souvenirs, including postcards and key chains, before leaving the city and after checking out of the hotel, but Grey, however, was staying in that city until his stay was over. Grey didn't even told them how long will he stay. By 5:45 p.m., they left the city by plane back to Kawayan City. The afternoon and night was calm, cool, and happy, with Rico swiping in his smartphone gallery and writing the day's events in his journal with colorful pens. They decided to have dinner upon arriving in Kawayan at Rico's house.

Upon arriving there by 6:50 p.m., the propeller plane arrived at Kawayan City and in less than 20 minutes, parked at a vacant spot not too far from their ȧssigned terminal. When the seatbelt signs are turned off, everyone in the plane take off their seatbelts, stand up and went to the aisle, and opened the overhead bins to get their belongings with their Pokémon. Then, they walked across the tarmac to the big terminal. Later at the baggage halls, they picked up their only box, which contained souvenirs and books for children and packed it up before going to the airport, and left the terminal and to the Arrivals section, where Lucas, in his light grey formal long sleeves, green textile necktie, black pants with a leather belt, and sports shoes and socks, was waiting for them. He was waiting for them after Mr. Fukui told him to meet up at the Arrivals section.

And upon seeing his father, Rico and his team ran ahead of the rest towards Lucas, and hugged him in embrace and on how missed him so much.

"Rico, how are you?" Lucas asked him positively. "How's the trip?" Discharging from hugging, Rico clenched both of his fists in embracing the trip, and answered back, "It was really awesome, dad. I had a great time with them. So much strange stuff had happened!" Riolu and Starly then responded with happy saying.

"Wow, I see that you guys had a great time out there," Lucas commented brightly. Then, the rest approached them and greeted Lucas with a good evening.

"Good everything there, Maneki and Mr. Fukui," greeted Lucas back with the raising of the hand. Later after that, they all went to the airport's carpark and loaded their belongings on the pickup car's back; they then get in the car, and Lucas started the car and drove out of the airport and into the highway towards the city. Later at the highway, Rico leaned against the car window with Riolu and Starly, and glanced at the city skyline from an elevated highway over a major, busy road as the moon rose over the horizon, and a few clouds partially covered it.

Later by 7:18 p.m., they are having dinner. at Rico's house. Their Pokémon are eating their special food under the sturdy stairs. Rico, Maneki, and his father are telling the Lucas and Rosario about their time at Galen City, including the masked stalker and the Vandal's attacks during their tour.

"Yeah, we saw that in the news," Lucas commented, "but luckily, none of you got hurt."

"It was a miracle that you had passed it without any injuries," Rosario added.

"Yeah, but I got beaten up in the face," Rico responded with embarrassment.

"Does it hurt?" asked his mother in concern.

"Not that painful," Rico answered back, "I think it's now wearing off." His parents then sighed in relief upon hearing that. This follows with a short silence, with eating and drinking.

"So, son, how about that masked man you're talking about?" Lucas asked breaking the silence. This caught Rico's attention quickly.

"About that masked man, did he appear to you again?" Lucas continued in asking.

"No, just once," Rico replied back calmly.

"Ah, I see," Lucas responded back while readjusting his eyeglasses. "Well, I have no idea who's that man and where he came from. But you should avoid creepy strangers like him. They might rob you or stalk you."

"Yeah, we are worried about your safety," Rosario agreed with her husband.

"So be careful when traveling out there, okay?" Lucas told him. Rico then nodded in obedience and to say yes. It was a quiet and calm evening.

Later, while Rico, Riolu, and Rosario are washing the dishes and cleaning the table, the men are at the living room discussing about picture books designed for children to be donated at a local daycare center in the city. Mr. Fukui was a director of a publishing company at the city, but he and Maneki are very thrifty, preferring to live at a decent, but a fair-sized and a functional apartment in the city. Lucas was a part-time partner in finances, but sometimes help him deliver the company's products to save money. At this conversation, Lucas talked about the details of the products and its destination, with Mr. Fukui saying that the prices of the books are cheaper than other books, predicting his company's slow dominance to the area's book industry. Rico heard their conversation, but didn't know what are they talking about.

9 o'clock struck, and while Lucas was on his way home from dropping Maneki and his father at their place, Rico, in his dark room only brighten by a lamp, went to bed after putting his new books onto his desk, tired from all that adventure to the east. His Pokémon are on the rug, laying down and sleeping in tiredness.

"Well, I'm so tired from all that adventures we had," Rico said to them positively in spite of tiredness, "I hope next Monday we are prepared." Riolu then responded with positivity, followed by Litleo and Piplup. After that response, Rico said good night to them before turning off the lamp and went to sleep. The night was peaceful, away from the busy downtown and as the wind blows across the neighborhood swiftly and calmly.