At exactly four in the afternoon, sunlight squeezed through the gaps in the curtains, stretching a long, thin band of light across the floor.
Sparkle stared at the scrolling comments on the screen, a professional, sweet smile hanging on the corners of her mouth.
Her white hair shimmered with a soft texture under the faint glow of the monitor.
The twin tails on either side fell simply, tied tightly at the ends with thin red strings, swaying gently like two lively elves with her movements as she explained the game.
The small top hat on her head was tilted to the side, and the spade-patterned pendant hanging from the brim would occasionally tap against the stray hairs on her forehead, making a faint ‘click-clack’ sound.
Today, she was wearing that red and white outfit.
The wide sleeves slid down when she raised her hand, revealing a section of her fair forearm.
The club-patterned choker around her neck sat snugly against her collarbone.
The heart and diamond earrings dangling from her earlobes swayed with the rhythm of her speech.
Her face was carefully painted with matching heart and diamond patterns using a makeup pen; when she smiled, her cheeks puffed slightly, making those two patterns look as if they had come to life—deadly playful.
The camera only showed her upper body, but if an expert looked closely, they would discover an exquisite heart decoration hidden on the side of the garter tied around her calf.
“Thanks to ‘Don’t Want to Work Today’ for the little hearts~ Thanks to ‘Galactic Baseballer Die-hard Fan’ for the follow~”
Sparkle leaned closer to the microphone, her voice as sweet as if it had been mixed with three spoonfuls of honey.
“The bosses are so generous!
Sparkle-chan will perform a finger heart for you all~”
She raised both hands above her head, forming a large heart, then tilted her head and blinked.
The comments floated by:’So cute,’ ‘prprpr,’ ‘How old is the streamer?
She looks so small.’
Sparkle’s smile froze for exactly zero point three seconds.
What’s wrong with being 1.4 meters tall?!
Being 1.4 meters tall can still hold up a corner of the sky, okay?!
Don’t you know that the best things come in small packages?!
But on the surface, she still maintained her sweet smile and said softly, “I’m eighteen~ I’m an adult~ I can legally stream~ legally earn a living~ legally—”
She paused, and in a momentary lapse of reason, blurted out, “—legally go crazy!”
The comments were instantly flooded with ‘Hahaha.’
“…No, that’s not what I meant.”
Sparkle tried to salvage the situation, but the words were out and there was no taking them back.
She simply gave up and went with it.
“Fine, fine, whatever.
You guys like watching a crazy woman anyway, right?
Okay, today’s streamer is Crazy Woman Sparkle-chan.
Everyone remember this tag, and don’t forget me when you turn left at the exit—”
She chattered on for another half hour, played three games—losing two and winning one, and the win was only because her teammates carried her.
Finally, she glanced at the time and waved her hand.
“Alright, alright, today’s stream ends here~ Sparkle-chan is going to get some food.
Everyone rest early, don’t stay up late.
Staying up late makes you bald; being bald makes you stronger, but even if you’re stronger, you’ll have no hair—it’s a sad story.
Bye-bye~ mua~”
The screen went dark.
The stream was over.
The room fell silent.
Sparkle stared at the black monitor with a stiff smile.
After five seconds, her smile slowly collapsed.
She leaned back, sinking into her gaming chair.
Her two short legs dangled and swung in the air, and then she let out a long sigh.
“Ah—”
She turned her head and looked at the follower count in the corner of the screen.
[Followers: 1247]
It’s been a week.
A whole week.
From the initial excitement—transmigrating to a parallel world, obtaining a system, becoming an eighteen-year-old beauty, and even coming with a perfect replica of the ‘Sparkle’ outfit—to now…
Sage mode.
Emptiness.
Loneliness.
Cold.
Sparkle curled herself into a ball, arms wrapped around her knees, chin resting on them.
She looked like a fluffy white ball with fur standing on end.
She stared at that follower count, the light gradually fading from her eyes.
“One thousand two hundred and forty-seven…”
She muttered to herself, “I need ten thousand followers to unlock all functions…
how long is this going to take?”
Speaking of monkeys, she suddenly remembered something even more surreal.
The MiHoYo of this world still exists, still makes games, and still created Honkai: Star Rail—and then, there’s still a character named ‘Sparkle’.
Yes.
Her name, her real name, was Sparkle.
Her ID card read: Sparkle, Female, Eighteen years old.
When she first got the ID card, she stared at those two characters in silence for a full ten minutes, finally choking out: “What does this mean?
Was it my destiny to be this streamer?”
What’s even more surreal is that since there’s a character named ‘Sparkle’ in the game, couldn’t she rightfully cosplay as herself?
She did it.
She actually did it.
On the first day of her transmigration, when she received the perfect replica ‘Sparkle’ outfit from the system, she started her stream.
With a face that looked remarkably like the game character and wearing almost identical clothes, she began her cosplay stream.
The result?
Extremely low traffic.
Outrageously low.
So low she wondered if she had started a fake stream.
She didn’t give up and went to check the comments.
The comments were actually full of praise—
“Cute!”
“The streamer is such a perfect match!”
“Love it, love it!
Surpassed, surpassed!”
“Keep it up!”
And that was it.
There were likes, favorites, coins, and follows—but she just didn’t get popular, didn’t go viral, didn’t spread.
Sparkle was completely baffled.
Logically, with a setup like ‘god-tier cosplay’ plus ‘beautiful streamer,’ wouldn’t it be a guaranteed hit on any platform?
She wasn’t ugly—the mirror was right next to her, and she turned her head to look.
In the mirror, the white-haired, red-eyed girl was curled up in her chair.
Her twin tails were a bit messy from her earlier tossing and turning, a few stray hairs stuck to her cheeks, and the face paint hadn’t been wiped off yet; the hearts and diamonds reflected slightly under the light.
Her skin was transparently pale, her eyelashes long and curled, and her red eyes reflected her own image.
She looked like an exquisite porcelain doll.
It was just that this doll’s current expression was one of utter despair.
“I’m not ugly…”
She mumbled to the mirror, “I’m quite good-looking…
why am I not popular?”
The girl in the mirror also pouted, looking confused.
She stared at herself for three seconds, and a possibility suddenly occurred to her.
“…Could it be that all my followers are bots?”
As soon as this thought popped up, she felt terrible.
“No, no, no, no, it can’t be that bad…”
She held her head.
“System, are you screwing me over?
Did you give me over a thousand fake followers?”
No one answered her.
Of course, no one answered her.
That piece of junk system was like it was dead most of the time, except for issuing tasks and collecting elation points.
Speaking of the system, she had to mention another thing—
That monkey.
Sparkle’s gaze slowly moved toward the computer desk.
A small, furry monkey was squatting next to the monitor, holding a banana in its hands and looking at her with a dull expression.
The official name of this thing was ‘Slumbernana Monkey.’ Whether it was the system’s ‘pet,’ ‘assistant,’ or ‘bonus item,’ Sparkle-chan still hadn’t figured it out.
She just remembered that on the first day of transmigration, when the system was activated, this monkey appeared on her bed with a ‘pop’ out of thin air, scaring her so much she almost transmigrated again on the spot.
Then the monkey opened its mouth and said: “Yo, new host?
A girl?
You look alright.
Got any bananas?”
At that moment, Sparkle’s brain stalled for exactly three seconds.
Now, a week later, she had gotten used to it.