Running a Sweet Little Shop with Naiya-zi

"Sigh, other than that customer just now, no one else has stopped by. How boring."

Li Nai leaned against the edge of the table and sighed, walking toward the tightly shut door, pulling it open to look outside. Outside was still just as he had first seen it—a gloomy, secluded little alley overgrown with weeds. Occasionally, the sound of car horns drifted in from far away, but if one didn't listen closely, it was barely audible.

"Where is this place? It looks a lot like the world I'm familiar with..." Li Nai tried to stretch his leg out. "Maybe I should go out for a walk and see?"

Li Nai's foot stopped just as it was about to touch the ground, as if hitting an invisible wall, unable to make contact with the ground outside. He applied a bit of force, and the surrounding scenery warped slightly before suddenly bouncing him back.

Li Nai: "..."

Before he could even get angry, he saw the warped scenery grow even more hazy, forming a semi-transparent membrane at the doorway. Li Nai touched the membrane in surprise; it felt soft and elastic. As his fingertip lightly tapped the center, the membrane suddenly webbed out like a spider's web, dense blood vessels spreading and covering the entire area in an instant.

A black rift bulged and slowly cracked open, revealing a lifeless, horizontal pupil—an evil, sinister eye. The membrane in mid-air swelled with nerves and blood vessels, the pupil rolling with a warped, absurd look. The originally clear sky instantly turned gloomy, dark clouds swirling into a vortex, and the air grew stagnant, as if signaling the imminent descent of a great, ancient entity—

But Li Nai saw none of this. Because he... suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason.

The dark clouds in the sky vanished instantly, like a panicked small beast fleeing after catching a glimpse of something utterly terrifying.

"Hmm... There's clearly no wind, so why did my nose suddenly itch..." Li Nai sniffled, rubbed his eyes, and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, what is this?"

In front of him was a round, chubby little bat. The bat had a plump belly, looking like a Q-version stuffed plush toy floating in mid-air. Normally, bats had sharp fangs and claws, but this one was round, harmless, and silly-looking.

The little bat seemed to still be in a daze. Although it was floating in the air, its wings were stiff and motionless. But upon seeing Li Nai, it let out a pitiful shriek, flapping its clumsy wings with all its might, trying to fly as far away from him as possible.

Li Nai curiously reached out and caught the little thing.

Little bat: "Squeak—!"

"This is quite interesting." Li Nai rubbed its soft belly. "But your cry sounds awful."

Little bat: "...Whimper, whimper, whimper."

"Still awful." Li Nai suddenly had an idea. "Can you meow like a cat? I quite like cats."

The bat's tiny body trembled violently, its single eye widening. After choking for a long time, it weakly let out a kitten-like sound: "...Meow."

Li Nai laughed and let go. The little bat immediately flew up into the air in terror.

"But you only have one eye, which looks too weird. It doesn't suit a normal college student like me at all..." Li Nai pondered for a moment. "Don't you have any other useful skills?"

The little bat flapped its wings a few times, seemingly expressing its indignant protest: "Meow, meow, meow! Meow...!"

"I see." Li Nai said disappointedly. "No useful skills, and you're not merchandise, so you can't be sold. What a useless waste..."

The little bat's body stiffened. No one knew what it was thinking at that moment, but it quickly reacted, letting out a joyful "Meow!" and jumping in front of Li Nai.

A membrane similar to before appeared, but quickly transformed into a projection screen. This thin screen floated in front of Li Nai, looking highly high-tech, like a prop often seen in science fiction movies.

"Oh, what is this?"

The image on it was chaotic at first, but when Li Nai's finger swiped across it, as if touching key information, the screen began to display cute... cartoon-like images?

Overall, it was an exquisite and cute art style. A small pink wooden house sat in the center of the image, with a small line of text floating above it: 【The Messenger's Sweet Little Shop】

Li Nai tapped the shop icon. The text bubble above popped, revealing a question: "Do you want to enable Item Tracking Mode?"

Item Tracking Mode? What is that? Li Nai curiously clicked "Yes".

"Currently sold: 1 item;
Item Name: A Roll of Bandages (N-Grade);
Buyer: Dazai Osamu. Please select the item to track."

Since Li Nai had only completed one order so far, the list only contained the bandage icon, with the buyer's name and a small icon displayed behind it. Interestingly, the icon representing the customer, Dazai Osamu, was not a normal portrait, but a simple cartoon drawing of a blue mackerel wrapped in bandages all over.

Li Nai glanced over and selected the only sold item.

"Loading data, please wait...
Connection successful. Item Status: Unused. Mood: Indignant.
Events occurred: 3. Would you like to view?"

Li Nai clicked "Yes". A Q-version of a young man instantly appeared on the screen, wearing a sand-colored trench coat with bandages wrapped around his neck and wrists. Although it was in a cartoon style with dot eyes, the characteristic demeanor still made Li Nai recognize him immediately.

"Isn't this Mr. Dazai Osamu?" Li Nai blinked. "He seems to be struggling a bit?"

The hem of the sand-colored trench coat was soiled with dust, his hair was messy, and a tangled ball of yarn appeared over the little character's head, seemingly troubled by something.

"What happened?"

Li Nai scrolled to read the "Event Log."

"Event 1: 【Miss Bandage】 intended to help 【Dazai Osamu】 change into new bandages, but was rejected. 【Miss Bandage】's mood has become more intense!"

"Event 2: 【Miss Bandage】 intended to help 【Dazai Osamu】 treat a stab wound, but was rejected. 【Miss Bandage】's mood has become more anxious!"

"Event 3: 【Miss Bandage】 intended to help 【Dazai Osamu】 treat an explosion wound, but was rejected. 【Miss Bandage】 is aggrieved and about to explode!"

Li Nai: "Ah... this system is quite interesting. It really is 'item tracking.' The subject is always the item, while the customer in this log seems rather unimportant."

"But these descriptions make him sound like a scumbag." He thought. "Moreover, I remember in the item description, 【Bandage】's personality is 'lawful good'..."

Oh dear, looking at it this way, doesn't he seem even more like a scumbag! Li Nai instantly felt a sense of guilt for entrusting the item to the wrong person. *I'm sorry, Miss Bandage, for letting you fall into the hands of such an insensitive man... But if he comes to buy again next time, I won't hesitate to sell to him. If only he could buy three rolls at once, then I'd have enough money to unlock new merchandise!*

While Li Nai was lost in thought, the Dazai Osamu character on the screen suddenly moved.

"Event 4: Initializing..."

Then, Li Nai watched helplessly as the little character took out the roll of bandages and raised his arm high.

"Event 4: 【Dazai Osamu】 discarded 【Miss Bandage】"

The Bandage icon flew in a perfect parabola, thrown straight into a roadside trash can.

Li Nai: "..."

Hey, that guy! Wasting things is one thing, but that was the very first item he sold, which had immense commemorative value!

"Event 4: The betrayed 【Miss Bandage】 is silently weeping..."

On the screen, the tangled yarn above Dazai Osamu's head vanished. The little character walked forward with a bright smile, a dotted line connecting directly to his destination. It was a residential building with a small text bubble above it: 【Armed Detective Agency】.

"Hey, you're happy, you heartless jerk, but Miss Bandage is still crying her eyes out in the trash can!"

Li Nai squinted at the Armed Detective Agency icon and suddenly had a great idea. He held down the trash can icon, causing the Bandage icon to pop up like a bubble, and then dragged it over the Detective Agency icon.

With a "pop," the bubble burst, and the Bandage fell straight into the Armed Detective Agency.

***

On the other side, after Dazai Osamu discarded that bizarre roll of bandages, nothing strange happened along the rest of his journey. He breathed a sigh of relief and pushed open the door of the café downstairs, just happening to bump into Kunikida, who was preparing to head out for work.

"Dazai, what... what on earth did you do?" Kunikida was startled.

"Good morning, Kunikida-kun~" Dazai greeted sluggishly, raising a hand. "As you can see, I just survived a robbery and a sudden explosion—"

"An explosion? The chain explosions that affected half the street just now?"

*Summary:* Connecting different times and spaces, welcoming all kinds of customers, finding ways to sell unique merchandise, using the earned money to upgrade the little shop, and unlocking more goods... Just like any ordinary business simulation game, to rescue Naiya-zi and help him pay off his massive debt, let's run the Sweet Little Shop together with Naiya-zi!

Will you sell a sky-high priced roll of bandages to the young executive to rip him off, or sell him a bizarre hat to secretly instigate conflict between the Double Black? Or sell a youth-restoring potion to the high school girl skilled in Karate?

Of course, perhaps you will also have the chance to buy and sell something at this sweet little shop. Together with Naiya-zi, you will weave a unique story, but please keep the following points in mind:
1. At...