The Bookseller of Yokohama

[This is the first stage of the story, a work for practicing prose, speed, and imagination. It torments the entire cast and lets loose!]

Note:

1. The protagonist is a normal person, just a tiny bit deranged for certain reasons!!!

2. The story is currently told in first person, mainly to show the world of literary geniuses from a normal person's perspective.

3. I love seeing plots fall apart in the eyes of normal people, so the blurb may have some minor changes XD

Blurb:

My name is Xiao Wang. I'm an ordinary bookseller who makes a living by reselling books from the wholesale market, barely scraping by.

My life is a little poor, but I have both cats and dogs, and I quite enjoy this quiet retirement-style life.

But good times don't last. Somehow, despite my regular body clock, I overslept one day. When I woke up, I discovered not only that my home was gone, but that I'd slept right through the dimensional barrier...

Black guy question mark.jpg

Still, I'm a pretty easygoing person.

So what if I went from three dimensions to two? Any place can be a retirement home. Who's judging whom?

And I also discovered some "fun" things:

1. Two-dimensional paper characters are way more handsome than real people in three dimensions;

2. This is Bungo Stray Dogs;

3. I seem to have no "superpower";

4. I've never actually read Bungo Stray Dogs;

Me: Ooh! Nice! Another retirement paradise! (brain-rotted statement.jpg)

Later, after reality beat me into submission, I took all kinds of jobs to earn a living: cleaning rivers, waiting tables at a curry shop, working on the demolition of illegal buildings... I even volunteered at an orphanage (of course, I was there for a free meal).

But these seemingly easy jobs didn't give me the leisurely retirement life I'd hoped for. My hair fell out more each day, my wallet got thinner each day, and I grew more exhausted by the day...

I did make a like-minded friend here, but I don't want to bother him. He's already more worn out than I am from working toward his dream of saving the world, so I'd better leave him alone.

But people are made of iron, and food is steel. Skip a meal and you'll feel weak.

And I'd already missed three meals.

Just as I was so hungry I was about to meet God and discuss our dreams face-to-face, my long-awaited golden finger, no, my superpower gift pack, finally finished downloading:

Superpower: [Forced Buying and Selling]

Effect: Makes people buy your books against their will.

This skill seems like it might, possibly, more or less suit my identity as a bookseller.

So afterward, with my superpower, I went back to reselling books and living my "retirement" life. :)

2022.7.30

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Theme: Philos said, "Up close, no one is normal."