I Thought I Reincarnated into an Otome Game, but it was Just a Sloppy Gag Joke Game World

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

The MC's name is also a gag joke.

*****

Ah, crap. This is an "Otome Game Reincarnation."

I took a pleasant tumble down about three steps, cracked my head on the railing, and passed out. Then, once I woke up from my nap, a bunch of things came flooding back. Hence... the opening statement.

But when I really thought about it, there was nothing to worry about. Why? Because I have neither shadow nor form within the game. I’m not even a "mob" background character.

...No, wait... actually? Ah! I probably am a mob! I think I found the character that’s supposed to be me!

Well then, I've got to find the heroine. I hope she's here. Heh, hehehehe...

* * *

I am Antoine, a daughter of a Marquis. I have yellowish-gold hair, deep blue eyes, and somewhat sharp facial features. Furthermore, my incredibly high-volume hair turns into vertical ringlets all on its own—it's the "Naturally Permed Vertical Roll" type.

...At least let me choose my own hairstyle... Even if this is an otome game reincarnation... What even is a naturally permed vertical roll? Plus, even if I try my absolute hardest to straighten this hair, it just reverts back to rolls by the afternoon. Give me a break!

Now, I’ve remembered my past life, but since there isn't much difference between my previous personality and my current one, no one finds me unusual. In both lives, my motto has been to keep things "easygoing, rough-around-the-edges, and don't-rock-the-boat."

And what I remembered is that this world is the world of an otome game.

First, the name of this country is the "Kingdom of Sei-Sene."

Did you think, 「That doesn't sound weird at all」? Well, go ahead and keep thinking that. Hmph. (I snort in derision).

This game was quite popular. It was a PC exclusive, but the user ratings on the digital storefront were "Overwhelmingly Positive." The price was a mere 1,000 yen. Very reasonable. It was a domestic indie game.

The tags attached to this game were "Management," "Cute," "Funny," "Romance Sim"... The developer technically called it an "Otome Game," but the tags were more honest... "Management" was right at the top.

The heroine is a seventeen-year-old girl. Her default name is Flora. Her surname was selectable. Unlike her first name, you had to choose her second name from about five different options.

Apparently, it was made by a team of only two people for an indie project, so there’s no voice acting. If there were, "Funny" would probably have jumped to the top of the tags... Besides, of the two-person team, one was only in charge of the music. So it was practically a solo project.

It wasn’t a static, picture-drama style adventure game; it featured "chibi" characters about four heads tall that moved with cute little animations. Yes, the second tag, "Cute," referred to the heroine's chibi sprite.

The heroine runs a shop in the Kingdom of Sei-Sene. Once certain conditions are met, the love interests appear, you trigger event flags... that’s the gist of the game. In other words, on days when there are no events with the love interests, it’s a game where you "manage" a shop.

This management part was surprisingly hardcore. And it was actually fun. It was so well-made as a management sim that I found myself thinking, (Couldn't they have just made a whole game out of just this...?)

When I checked the author’s blog, it said: 「It's a miraculous fusion of an otome game I’d left half-finished for a long time and a management game I’d lost motivation for!」...

Why on earth would you fuse those two!?

I mean, there are popular games like a certain Atelier series that are packed with management-style gameplay and friendship events! But still!

In this game, the shop the heroine manages is a choice between a "Greengrocer," a "Fishmonger," or a "Butcher"—what is up with that!? And the heroine’s default name is "Flora"! Then just make it a flower shop! Or rather, a flower shop would be way better for an otome game!

By now, you’ve probably figured it out. This country, the Kingdom of Sei-Sene... That’s right. In other words, the "Fresh Food Kingdom."°

A pun for a country name is the name of the place where I am actually living my life. It's the official name. I can't help but laugh at that!

There are four love interests.

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mackerel of the Fresh Food Kingdom. Rafanas, the son of a Duke. Taurus, the son of the Knight Commander. And the "not-so-hidden" hidden character, the King’s younger brother, Frisches.

As expected of people who were originally love interests for a standalone otome game, their titles are quite sparkling.

A love story between these four, unfolding in a fresh food grocery store.

To put it bluntly, it was chaos.

And since this author had incredibly beautiful art, the sense of chaos was cranked up to the max.

The love interests are set to appear at specific shops. The Crown Prince is at the fishmonger, the Duke’s son is at the greengrocer, the Knight Commander’s son is at the butcher, and the hidden character appears at any shop. ...Hide a little better, "hidden" character.

The events were chaotic too.

The Crown Prince participates in the first auction of the year at the fish market and wins a "treasure ship" platter at a celebratory price. The heroine is delighted by this.

The Duke’s son is moved to tears because he finally learned how to tell the difference between cabbage and lettuce.

The Knight Commander’s son goes to observe a pig slaughterhouse and, with tragic resolve, thinks, 「I, too, am a knight. I must witness this to the end...!」

The character who isn't hiding says things like, 「Actually, I am the younger brother of the current King...」 despite not even wearing a disguise. Plus, he shows up at every single shop. You stay hidden.

Because the management part is so fun, you end up playing while thinking, (These guys are a total nuisance...)

Furthermore, on days when a romance event interrupts, you have to leave the shop unattended.

If you’ve hired part-time help by then, it’s mostly fine, but if you haven’t, you have no choice but to close the shop. It’s a huge blow. Since you’re dealing with fresh food, a single day of temporary closure results in a massive amount of waste.

Therefore, the user reviews for the game looked like this:

「The real test of skill is how well you can handle the nuisances known as 'love interests'.」

「A cute, authentic management sim. Romance? Never heard of her.」

「Freshness Prince, please go into hiding (sincerely).」

...and so on.

By the way, "Freshness Prince" refers to the King’s brother. His name is "Frisches" in German, which is "fresh" in English. In other words, fresh or raw. Hence, he is called "Freshness Prince" on the internet.

However, it’s not that the romance part is poorly made.

The aforementioned chaotic events are accompanied by beautiful CGs that only serve to heighten the sense of madness.

Though, the Freshness Prince doesn't have any event CGs. Despite having no CGs, he gets involved a lot. He’s annoying.

Beautiful CGs attached to those chaotic events—chaos levels up.

And the BGM during events is usually the same song. Apparently, it’s an homage to a certain famous tune. That famous tune is that one. If you're Japanese, you've probably heard it at least once. That song that’s always playing in supermarkets. Yes, the loop music from the Yobikomi-kun!

The one that goes ♪ Po-poo-po po-po-po, po-poo-po po-po-po. An homage to that.

The "fresh food" vibe is intense! I laughed my head off!

What’s more, the ending is an arrangement of this song with sappy lyrics, sung by a male student from a voice acting vocational school who is a friend of the author—it’s nothing but pure hilarity. Seeing the completed event CGs slide by like an album also invites both laughter and tears.

If you save and load data after seeing the ending, you can continue the management part indefinitely. Plus, you can use the love interest you conquered as an unpaid part-time worker.

I guess that’s the reward for working hard to clear those annoying romance events.

So?

Do you understand now why I feel like I just have to find the heroine?

Don’t you want to see them!? These chaotic events!

Oh, and by the way, I’m probably that customer who starts coming to the shop once the store rank is B or higher and the reputation is B or higher.

As you raise the rank, customers who buy expensive items start showing up.

Among them was a girl with blonde vertical rolls and sharp blue eyes. That’s probably me. ...It’s hard to tell at a glance between a four-head-tall anime-style character and reality, though.

I did have a face portrait, but illustrations and 3D look different, after all.

...Wait, hold on. Am I going to the butcher to buy five kilograms of sirloin...? Five kilos? Are you serious?

What am I even going to do with that? Well, I’ll eat it, obviously.

And so, I decided to have my attendant go and investigate immediately.

「Uh, regarding the butcher, fishmonger, and greengrocer Milady is looking for...」

My attendant says, dropping his gaze to the notebook in his hand.

He is the son of our family's butler. He’s two years older than me, and we’ve been together since as far back as I can remember. We’re something like childhood friends.

...Furthermore, my family treats me and this guy as total equals. We’re practically siblings. Where did the social status gap go?

「I’ve confirmed all of them that seem to fit the description.」

「You found them all!? Seriously!?」

「For real.」

I muttered, 「Seriously...」 once more to my attendant—Franz—who had nodded.

The conditions I had thrown at him, telling him to "go find them," were these:

• A greengrocer, butcher, or fishmonger in the capital's shopping district.

• The shopkeeper is a girl. Furthermore, she lives alone after losing both parents.

• It’s a jackpot if the shopkeeper’s name is "Flora."

No, wait. ...You said you found all of them, right?

Are there really that many shops being run by a single girl alone? What is this?

「Uh, first, the butcher. It’s in the First Block of the Capital Shopping District. The shopkeeper is a girl who reportedly lost both parents in an accident. Her name is Flora.」

「Perfect!」

Yes, yes, that was exactly the setting!

This butcher shop is definitely the heroine's shop!

「Next, the fishmonger. It’s in the Second Block of the Capital Shopping District. As expected, the shopkeeper is a girl who lost both parents in an accident, and her name is Flora.」

「What!?」

Eh, this girl lost her parents too, and her name is Flora...?

「Finally, the greengrocer; it's in the Third Block of the Capital Shopping District. It’s run by a girl named Flora who lost her parents.」

「Haaaah!?」

What the hell! All three types of heroines are actually here! And all of them have the same profile!

Sloppy!! The world-building is ridiculously sloppy!!

「...So, what's up with these shops?」

「Yeah... just wait a bit... I have things I want to think about, so you may go.」

「Gotcha.」

His reply is so lazy... though that’s nothing new.

What should I do... I can't believe all the heroines are actually here...

And not that it matters, but "Capital Shopping District X-Block"—the place names are sloppy too...

The Fresh Food Kingdom is terrifying... no, the Kingdom of Sei-Sene.

I have to think about what to do from here... so that I can enjoy watching over their events.

After having Franz investigate in even more detail, the current store ranks of each shop were roughly determined.

Store rank is an in-game parameter determined by the shop's daily sales, number of customers, and facilities.

The highest is S, and the lowest at the start of the game is E.

This rank serves as a trigger for events. Essentially, it's like "This occurs when the store rank is C or higher."

There is one other parameter that triggers events, and that is "Reputation."

It goes up by providing good service, running advertisements, triggering specific events, and so on. Conversely, if the service is bad or if prices are set extremely high compared to market rates, reputation drops.

Like store rank, this also goes from S to E.

However, unlike store rank, which can be judged by facilities and such, there is no way to check this one.

Since this is reality, I am not exactly the "player." So even if I were to swallow my pride and say, 「Status Open!」 there’s no way for me to know.

...That was embarrassing. No one heard me, but it was incredibly embarrassing...

The triggers for events are usually "Store Rank X or higher AND Reputation X or higher." I only know half of the necessary parameters, but it's better than knowing nothing at all.

Now, as for the store ranks in question, the one that seems the highest is the greengrocer, which is likely a C. Franz said there was an employee other than the shopkeeper.

The heroines are all completely alone in the world. (Only those parts are like an otome game).

When there is an employee other than the heroine, in game terms, there are two types: "Regular Employment" and "Part-time." Part-timers don't have a high hourly wage, but they only work about 0.8 times as hard as the heroine. In contrast, regular employees have high salaries, but some possess abilities that even surpass the heroine.

Part-timers can be hired starting from store rank C, and regular employees from rank B.

And the employee Franz saw apparently fumbled a bit with calculating change. This is undoubtedly a part-timer.

Therefore, the store rank is likely a C.

The butcher and the fishmonger both seem to be about the same. At store rank D, you can start selling prepared side dishes. Both apparently had a side dish corner in the shop.

In that case, I’ll first go take a look at the greengrocer, where an event seems most likely to occur.

「Right, let’s go, Franz!」

「Huh? Where to?」

I am already fully prepared.

It is a level of disguise rarely seen in recent years (self-praise).

I put on a one-piece dress that I’d forgotten why I bought but was in my closet, wore a pair of non-prescription glasses I happened to have for some reason, and forced my vertical rolls into braids.

It’s a pretty good disguise.

The dress isn't the kind a noble would wear; it’s about the quality of a local town girl’s best outfit. Truly, why do I have this? When did I buy it?

The glasses were something I bought two years ago when a sudden personal boom of "Glasses are hot right now!" occurred. After wearing them, the area behind my ears started hurting intensely, so I’d kept them sealed away ever since. ...They might start hurting again today. If that happens, I’ll think of another way.

My hair, which is my most easily identifiable feature, was forced into two sections and made into braided pigtails. ...I ended up with ridiculously thick braids, but they should be less conspicuous than vertical rolls. Since they are miraculous natural vertical rolls (super volume), just putting them into braids was quite a struggle.

「...Those are some seriously thick braids.」

You’re pointing out that specific spot!?

Even though it took me a long time to get these super-volume vertical rolls into braids! Even though I broke the teeth of my comb trying to brush through them!

「...I worked really hard on them. You could at least praise me...」

When I muttered that with a bit of resentment, Franz let out a sigh.

「Well... I don't really know where the 'praise-worthy' part is.」

「Uugh...」

「Don't go crouching down in a place like this. Come on, stand up.」

Franz casually took my hand and pulled me up after I’d instinctively slumped down.

「Be a little gentler...」

「This is me trying my best.」

While saying that, he helped me up and tilted his head wonderingly.

「So? Where are we going?」

「The greengrocer first, I suppose!」

「Haaaah...」What’s with that half-hearted reply!

Get it together!

*****

Poyoko-sensei you are too awesome.

In case you miss some of the joke....

The game developer took two failed, half-finished projects—a generic otome game and a hardcore business management sim—and mashed them together. This explains the "chaotic" nature of the world and why the heroine is managing a butcher shop instead of a traditional flower shop.

In a typical game, the player would choose which shop to run. In this "reality," the world-building is so lazy that all three versions of the heroine exist simultaneously. There are three different girls named Flora, all of whom are orphans, living within blocks of each other and running the different shop types.

Every love interest is named after food or market categories:

Crown Prince Mackerel: Named after the fish.
Rafanas: From Raphanus (the genus for radishes).
Taurus: Latin for Bull (Beef).
Frisches: German for "Fresh."

The "romantic" events are completely stripped of their dignity to fit the market setting:

A Prince winning a "Treasure Ship" of raw fish at a 4 AM auction as a romantic gesture.
A Duke’s son crying tears of joy because he can finally tell a cabbage from a lettuce.
A Knight Commander’s son treating a visit to a pig slaughterhouse with the same tragic gravity as a knight going to a bloody war.

The romantic BGM in the game is an homage to the Yobikomi-kun melody. This is a real-life, repetitive jingle played in Japanese grocery stores. Hearing a "supermarket theme" during a heart-pounding romance scene highlights the absurdity of the setting.

The King's brother is a "hidden" character who refuses to hide. He has no special CG art, but he is constantly intrusive. Fans online nicknamed him "Freshness Prince" because he is a "fresh" nuisance who shows up everywhere.

In most otome games, players want the romance events. In this game, players actually hate the love interests because their "events" force the shop to close, leading to massive amounts of food waste and lost profits. The handsome men are treated as "nuisances" getting in the way of a perfect business sim.

Usually, the "Oujou-sama curls" (drill hair) require hours of styling. Antoine’s hair is a biological anomaly—it is naturally permed into that exact shape and will fight back against combs to return to its vertical roll state by the afternoon.

Antoine tries to yell 「Status Open!」 out loud to check her parameters. Since this is reality and not a game interface, nothing happens, leaving her standing alone feeling like a total idiot for shouting at the air.

Antoine is traditionally a masculine French name (the equivalent of Anthony). However, in Japanese media—specifically "Villainess" or "Noble Girl" stories—authors often pick European names that sound elegant and French without strictly adhering to their gender origins. By giving her a masculine name, the author adds a subtle layer to the "sloppy world-building" gag. It suggests the game’s developers just picked a "noble-sounding" French name from a list without checking if it was for a boy or a girl.
Another layer to this name. Marie Antoinette is famously (and inaccurately) attributed with the line, "If they have no bread, let them eat cake." In a world literally named the "Fresh Food Kingdom" where the plot revolves around grocery shopping, butchers, and greengrocers, naming the high-ranking noble girl after the most famous food-related historical noblewoman is a clever nod to her "Oujou-sama" (high-born lady) status.

Thank you for reading. If you want to help my hobby please download and install LDP9 with my link down below. Just Click the small yellow LDPlayer Banner.