The Secret Identity NPC's New Game Plus Café

[Saving this for later: The second in the NPC series, The Forum's Favorite NPC, a sweet little guy to raise. Blurb at the very bottom!]

[Starze Ban 2.0 is now live. Check out my profile and add it to your to-read list!]

Blurb 1 (the surface story)

Starze Ban, owner of an obscure little cafe somewhere in Yokohama, diligently opens up for business every day.

Then one day, a barrage of comments informs him that he has activated the "NPC Promotion Livestream."

The "NPC Promotion Livestream" connects directly to the real world. Its purpose is to give ordinary people a chance to become official characters. They livestream their daily lives and interesting stories, and the NPC with the most discussion gets promoted to a real character.

Starze Ban doesn't really care. He goes on living as usual, making latte art with one hand while changing the livestream's name to "New Game Plus Cafe" with the other.

The stream only records the cafe's daily business, so there are barely any comments.

Then one day, just before closing, a few customers show up:

"Finished handling a deal in the East District, so I came by for a coffee."

"Long time no see, Ban-chan! I was passing through with my students on a mission, so I thought I'd come support your business!"

"I flew to Japan on business and thought I'd grab a drink while I'm here. Italian cafes just aren't to my taste."

The comments start buzzing:

[No way, that's the executive! What are they doing in a tiny cafe like this?!]

[My fave! It's your white-haired teacher, 5t5!]

[Am I seeing things? Who's that??? The disciplinary committee president?!]

A month later, the "New Game Plus Cafe" livestream suddenly goes viral. It regularly gets tens of thousands of comments, with viewers demanding that the owner show his face more often or hurry up and release merchandise.

Starze Ban (sipping coffee) (waving a hand): I've said, things will go on as usual. Unless you pay me, of course. Though money can't make me completely bend...

A week later, the livestream starts selling merchandise.

Two weeks later, the characters themselves join in to sell it.

A month later, the livestream is full of singing and dancing.

One fun fact scrolls across the comments again and again:

Starze Ban really is an NPC, but in New Game Plus, he's an NPC with a secret identity.

The "New Game Plus Cafe" livestream stays wildly popular, far ahead of the competition in discussion, and Starze Ban's promotion is just around the corner.

But one day, before the livestream's statistics are finalized, the "New Game Plus Cafe" suddenly disappears, and all records of this NPC are gone.

Blurb 2 (the story beneath the surface)

To find their god, who was eating, drinking, and having fun in a lower-dimensional world, the Systems jointly organized the first NPC Promotion Livestream. Their goal: find the god.

Just as the most popular and mysterious livestream appears, it's about to be identified when it suddenly vanishes without a trace. A thorough search turns up nothing.

At one moment, a young man wearing a hoodie walks through a crowd. He turns sideways toward the surveillance cameras in the higher-dimensional world, points his fingers like a gun, and silently greets them:

Yoo-hoo~~

Bang!

#MeAndMyRascallyFriendsTakeOverTheLivestream#

#ImAnNPCButTheGodIsMyRealSecretIdentity#

P.S.

1. The main story is all about friends messing with each other. Couples appear in the extras.

2. The protagonist and the characters already know each other in New Game One. New Game Plus starts with them already being best buddies, shocking the livestream.

3. The characters' order and manner of appearance in the story may differ from the blurb.

4. Please don't mention my other works under this one, and don't mention this one under my other works. Thanks for cooperating!

Revised blurb, 2023.8.5

Coming soon: The Forum's Favorite NPC

Blurb:

At the exit of a Tokyo subway station, there's a homeless kid with a bandage over his left eye. He's pretty cute.

As soon as the forum's "NPC Raising Project" opens, almost every player picks out this pretty kid, number 63077.

They think their little guy is a sweet, well-behaved kid, until one day 63077 grabs a passing white-haired teacher and yells, "Kidnapper! He's stealing children!"

5t5: ? Let's see if I steal you, then.

Then, when he's taken to the police station, he grabs the kindhearted, handsome Mazda and shouts, "This is my dad!"

Mazda: ? Don't go making baseless accusations.

After getting his wish and going home with Officer Matsuda, the players discover that this little kid is actually a little demon:

1. Sets off fireworks on the grounds of Teitan Elementary School.

2. Kicks the Grim Reaper Elementary Schooler's belt like a soccer ball.

3. Ignores everyone and climbs onto the roof of Bourbon's car while it's moving.

4. Takes Ai-chan and races the Black Organization.

Players: Th-this is way too damn exciting! Youth is priceless! Go, little guy, go!

63077's stock keeps climbing.

But a few months later, the higher-ups from the jujutsu world show up unexpectedly, insisting that the child is an orphan of the Gojo family.

The bandage over his left eye is pulled away. His clear Six Eyes glare rudely at the uninvited guests. To avoid getting Mazda caught up in it, 63077 goes with them after all.

The child is handed over to his white-haired, bargain-bin dad. It's a case of a chaotic demon king raising another chaotic demon king:

1. Punches the Three Great Families' ancestral halls and kicks in the rotten oranges' bedroom doors.

2. Breaks some old geezer's finger to make a dark-cuisine dish.

3. Likes playing with Rika.

4. Father and son team up, hovering 800 meters in the air with a megaphone and yelling, "Edamame cream daifuku on sale today! Special price today! Don't buy any, let me have it all!"

But whenever it's time to test the kid's cursed energy or physical skills, he rolls around on the ground and throws a tantrum, the very picture of a spoiled young master.

In reality, your 63077 can knock a curse ten meters away with one kick.

His white-haired bargain-bin dad grabs him by the collar and rubs his chin. "That was a clean, precise move. You've definitely been trained. Good boy, where are your real parents?"

63077 (turning his head away): Hmph.

It isn't until one time, on a mission in Yokohama, that more than a dozen black mafia cars block the road and 63077 finally looks guilty, like he wants to run away.

A short, orange-haired executive gets out, looking furious, and orders the white-haired guy to hand over her son.

5t5 picks up the kid beside him and points. "Sorry, but he's my son now."

The executive: What did you say? I'm his mom!

63077 (pressing his palms together) (smiling): Mom, it's been so long. You're more beautiful than ever.

The players: Wow, what a rich-family drama.

Let's watch the drama, watch the drama, and watch the damn drama!

Wait, what were we doing on the forum in the first place? Never mind, let's watch the show!

[Please add my profile to your favorites! XOXO!]

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