Clown Game
Chapter 117 - 117 103 The Life of a Homebody

Chapter 117: Chapter 103: The Life of a Homebody Chapter 117: Chapter 103: The Life of a Homebody Chen Xiao, the owner of the coffee shop, closed late; he didn’t have much else to do anyway.

His cousin had been job hunting recently and wasn’t always helping out at the cafe, so he was usually alone. Of course, he didn’t find it boring; being an otaku, all he needed was a computer, and it felt like he had everything. If he didn’t need to go back and keep his 2D figures company every day, he could even stay in the cafe 24/7.

At 27, he was 177 centimeters tall and weighed 177 pounds, didn’t care for exercise, and his flesh was soft all over, making him look a bit fatter than he was, with a squishy feel. A mediocre university graduate with no grand ambitions, his parents had funded his coffee shop. Life was bland, but at least he wasn’t starving. Although he wanted to end his single life, the solitude of an otaku isn’t so easily resolved. He’d met a female writer a while ago, but to this day, he didn’t even know her name… Sigh… His life might just continue indefinitely in this way. He didn’t want to struggle against his fate; things were fine as they were.

The night was deepening, and at this hour, it was rare to have any customers. Chen Xiao cleaned the counter absentmindedly, smiling foolishly from time to time as he reminisced about yesterday’s new manga episode. It was about how an otaku’s life transformed spectacularly with the sudden appearance of a little girl, leading to the opening of a new world’s door.

Manga plots always resonate, and that protagonist was quite like him. Several times, Chen Xiao had thought… could his life also experience a sudden change…

“Sigh…” He shook his head in self-mockery, “I’m not getting any younger, still lost in such unrealistic fantasies.”

Just then… the wind chimes rang out ‘ding ding dang’.

“Could there be customers at this hour?” he wondered, lifting his head. Then… he saw… Chen Xiao, that guy.

“Tsk,” Chen Xiao, the owner, pursed his lips in resignation. He should have known; who else but this guy would come to the shop so late at night? So, he pretended not to care much and said, “Cake, the sweetest one, right?”

Chen Xiao didn’t answer, and instead, quickly walked up to the bar.

“This world… isn’t what you imagine it to be!” Chen Xiao blurted out all of a sudden, staring seriously at the other man.

The owner maintained a deadpan expression, “Oh, oh~~ So you read the new manga release too, huh!” he said emotionlessly, continuing to polish the teacup in his hand.

“I’m not joking,” Chen Xiao tried to make his tone even more serious.

The owner nodded, “Ah, I believe you. So, do you want the cake or not?”

Watching the other man look at him like he was an idiot, Chen Xiao hesitated, “Having been an otaku for over 20 years, your acceptance capacity must be stronger than the average person.”

Chen Xiao’s expression shifted slightly as if he had an idea, then he leaned in creepily, “Oh? Did you discover some exotic new ‘material’? Be it angel big sisters or devil little girls, I’ll watch it all.”

Chen Xiao, satisfied with the look in the other’s eyes, nodded and called out, “Jingjing, you can come out now!”

No sooner had he spoken than a little girl appeared out of nowhere in the coffee shop’s glass pane, without any reflection, just appearing alone in the mirror, slowly transitioning from ethereal to solid. Then she reached her hand towards the mirror, and a faint ripple appeared; her hand penetrated the surface like breaking through water, followed by a leg, and soon, the entire person stepped through the mirror like walking through a door, standing quietly on the coffee shop floor.

A moment of silence… Chen Xiao’s eyes were vacant, but his whole body had frozen in place.

The little girl thought it polite to bow since it was their first meeting, so she bowed and said, “Hello… My name is Jingjing!”

With a ‘clack,’ the teacup fell from Chen Xiao’s hand and shattered on the floor.

…

…

20 minutes later, Boss Xiao Yu placed two cakes in front of Chen Xiao and Jingjing.

He couldn’t help but glance at the little girl again, wanting to ask something, but as the words reached his lips, he just swallowed hard.

Indeed, what more was there to ask, she had just walked out from a mirror right before his eyes. Now, the only thing to confirm was whether he was dreaming or not.

But… whether by luck or misfortune, it seemed everything was real.

“So… there really are supernatural powers in this world, huh?” Xiao Yu asked thoughtfully, and then he felt that such a question was absurd. But since seeing is believing and he couldn’t deny it, if it weren’t for the countless manga and anime he had seen, preparing his nerves to withstand such an abrupt shift in worldview, he probably would have collapsed in a screaming heap just now.

Chen Xiao ate his cake bite by bite, not answering the question, just shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh, I get it, you people can’t reveal too much!” Xiao Yu nodded, an expression of understanding on his face.

Chen Xiao also hurriedly nodded in agreement. In fact, he was just too lazy to explain. Given the brainpower of an older otaku, even without saying anything, he might be able to piece together a complete worldview after some time, possibly even more detailed than what Chen Xiao knew.

As mentioned before, the power of an otaku is quite terrifying.

“Then… Jingjing will be entrusted to me from now on?” Xiao Yu asked again.

Chen Xiao still remained silent and nodded his head. He wasn’t worried about the other party declining. Nonsense, what otaku would refuse a magical girl? Shouldn’t they all be praying to the Otaku God before bed to be granted such things?

Seeing Chen Xiao’s unquestioning nod, Boss Xiao Yu thought things over for a moment before turning to Jingjing.

“Do you agree?” he asked… his mind was still a bit chaotic, everything was just too sudden.

Jingjing just quietly ate her cake, then casually nodded her head as if she had no worries about her future.

“Aren’t you afraid that I might… um…” Xiao Yu blurted out another question.

“You can’t beat me!” Jingjing interrupted Xiao Yu’s question with a calm expression; from start to finish, she had been very peaceful. In otaku lingo, she was like a cool and aloof magical girl with a touch of a queen’s demeanor.

For a moment, Boss Xiao Yu didn’t know what else to say, just watching the two in front of him, one big and one small, “smack smack” eating their cakes, as if all these matters were very normal.

“Ah… my life, it feels like it’s about to change.”

Xiao Yu muttered to himself.