CHAPTER 1 - GAME OVER

The ceiling had exactly 147 tiles.

Emily knew because she'd counted them. Not once, not twice, but many, many times over the years she'd spent beneath them. 147. Not one more, not one less.

Oh, and tile 67 had a new crack. It looked like a middle finger today! Aimed right at Emily.

[How appropriate.]

Emily shifted her bored eyes to the window. Outside, New Year's Eve test fireworks stuttered across the darkening sky like erectile dysfunction. Here one moment, gone the next.

She reached for her phone with the caution of someone who'd knocked over exactly seventeen water cups this month and did not want to make that eighteen.

No messages.

No "Happy New Year!" texts.

Nothing.

[Well. That's depressing.]

Not surprising though. Who wanted to spend New Year's with the human equivalent of a dying houseplant? Emily could practically hear her former friends:

"Sorry Em, we're going to this sick rave, and uh... the stairs at the hospital... you know." 

Yeah, Emily had gotten some visits in the past. But, slowly, surely, as her condition made it clear to Emily and everyone she knew that it wouldn't be giving up on her, Emily's friends and family's visits grew more and more scarce.

Until, here she was, unable to even remember the last time was that someone who didn't work here came to see her.

"Knock knock!"

Nurse Jessie burst through the door. Instantly, Emily's day got approximately 22% better.

Thirty-two, with curves that made her scrubs feel like lingerie, and wearing vanilla perfume that gave Emily the closest feeling she'd probably ever get to being high. Well, high off more exciting stuff than anaesthetics.

"Time for vitals, gorgeous!" Jessie sang as she wheeled in her cart.

Emily grinned.

"Oh yeah, the nightly ritual where you fondle my arm and I pretend in my mind like it's foreplay," Emily smirked. "How lucky am I?"

Jessie laughed, that throaty sound that made Emily's heart monitor do jazz hands.

"Someone's in a good mood tonight."

"Always am when you're here." Emily watched Jessie wrap the blood pressure cuff around her toothpick of an arm. "Speaking of which, no hot date? No party where you scandalize everyone in that red dress?"

"Which dress?" Jessie's eyes sparkled.

"The backless one that made Dr. Harrison walk into a door." Emily wriggled her brows at her stunned nurse.

"How do you even—"

"I have spies everywhere. This bed's my throne, information's my currency." Emily tapped her temple. "Also, Sarah from pediatrics can't keep her mouth shut around me."

"Ugh, you're terrible." But Jessie was grinning, pumping the bulb with unnecessary vigor.

"I prefer 'strategically wicked.'" Emily winced. "Ow. Trying to amputate my arm!?"

"Your blood pressure's elevated."

"Well, yeah. Beautiful woman touching me on New Year's? Can you blame me?"

"Emily!"

"What? I've been practicing my lines on every nurse for three years. You're the only one worth using the good material on."

She really had. Flirting had basically become Emily's only superpower.

When your body betrayed you, when you couldn't dance or run or even piss without help, you learned to weaponize words. Every nurse became target practice. Every doctor, a chance to refine technique. Three years of captive audiences who couldn't escape without violating their Hippocratic oath.

Most staff probably thought she was just "that dying kid who won't shut up," but in Emily's mind? She was becoming a master of seduction. One hormone-fueled compliment at a time.

"Speaking of good material," Emily grabbed her tablet, "want to see my other collection of girlfriends? These ones can't file HR complaints, I mean."

"Your game?" Jessie perched on the bed's edge, definitely against protocol.

"Queen of Hearts. Tonight's the impossible run! Twelve love interests, one final boss, zero jealousy triggers." Emily showed her the party screen. "That's Princess Talia, who called me 'worthless cur' exactly forty-seven times before confessing. Liora Vale with the... impressive resumé. Scarlett the wild knight, who could benchpress me with her pinky—"

"I think I'm seeing a pattern here. Your type is women who could kill you?"

"I'm dying anyway. Might as well make it sexy."

Pop-pop-BOOM!

A premature firework exploded outside, lighting up Jessie's face in gold and crimson. For a second, Emily forgot about the game entirely.

[God, I love women.]

"Well, I hope you enjoy your game. I should go, though," Jessie stood up, once she was done. "Give the other patients their dose of Jessie, ya know?"

"An essential medicine, to be sure."

"Try not to seduce too many pixels before midnight!"

"No promises!"

The door clicked shut.

[Right. Back to 2D women instead.]

---

Playing Queen of Hearts was like being a drowning woman and getting air.

Emily was on the cusp of completing her latest playthrough, but before the final boss, before midnight struck, she had some business to attend to with her gorgeous pixelated girlfriends.

She navigated to her saved romance scenes. Four hundred hours of perfect relationship management had unlocked every single steamy interaction leading up to the last mission.

First up: Princess Talia.

The screen filled with Talia's gorgeous sprite, with flowing black hair and that perfect scowl. Emily clicked on the "Private Confrontation" scene she'd unlocked last week.

"Don't you have something better to do?" Talia asked as Aegis pinned her to the wall. The artwork for this part was absolutely insane! Talia's cheeks flushed pink, her yellow eyes wide with surprise. "Perhaps inspect the tavern with those other lovers of yours?"

"I'd rather inspect you instead," Aegis purred, leaning closer.

[AAAAH!] Emily vibrated with happiness, clutching her tablet. [God, Talia's blushing sprite is SO CUTE when she's flustered!]

The kiss animation played. Soft lips meeting, Talia's resistance melting away... Emily's heart did backflips.

Next: Liora Vale.

Emily's fingers flew to the "Moonlit Garden" scene. Liora's freckled face filled the screen.

"Are you sure about this?" Liora whispered, her hands trembling as she reached for Aegis's uniform buttons. Her hands were a lot more committed than her voice was. "What if someone sees us?"

"Then they'll see how beautiful you are," Aegis murmured, trailing kisses down Liora's neck.

[Jesus Christ, the voice acting in this scene!] Emily bit her lip as Liora's soft moans filled her headphones. She was so red she looked like she might pop.

Finally: Scarlett Lionheart.

Emily grinned, clicking on the "Tavern Encounter" scene. Scarlett's muscular sprite appeared, all confident smirks and bulging biceps.

"Well, well," Scarlett drawled, backing Aegis against the tavern wall. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Fancy indeed," Aegis breathed, her hands already working at Scarlett's belt. "Care to show me what those muscles can do?"

"Only if you show me what your mouth can do." 

The screen faded to a tasteful black with some very untasteful sound effects. Emily's face burned.

[Holy shit, Scarlett's voice actress should win an award for that performance!]

Emily leaned back, breathing hard. Twelve perfect routes. Twelve gorgeous girls. And they were ALL hers.

Now for the real challenge.

Her harem stood ready in the Shadow Empress's throne room. Every affection point calculated. Every dialogue tree mapped. Every gift strategically deployed.

11:47 PM.

Phase One. The Shadow Empress launched her opening barrage exactly as predicted. Emily's fingers flew across the screen.

Liora cast Greater Dispel. Emily bit her lip watching those perfect pixels move.

Then Talia activated Divine Blade, her voice actress purring that line Emily had replayed a thousand times:

"For my beloved... I'll destroy everything!"

[Even her battle cry is hot.]

The boss's health dropped to 75%.

11:53 PM.

Phase Two. The Shadow Empress summoned corrupted versions of Emily's harem. Evil twins, basically, that forced you to put every lesson you'd learned until now in the game to use. This was where scrubs died the most.

Emily, though? Her team didn't even take damage.

11:58 PM.

Phase Three. The Shadow Empress pulled her tragic backstory card, trying to manipulate Emily's emotions.

The boss's health ticked down. 10%. 5%.

Outside, the city held its breath.

11:59 PM.

"This world doesn't need your false love!" The Shadow Empress raised her staff for one final desperate attack.

Emily triggered her ultimate combo. Twelve love interests casting their signature moves in perfect synchronization. The screen exploded in pink hearts and golden light.

The fireworks began.

Not from the game. From everywhere.

Midnight. New Year's. The grand finale.

And inside Emily's chest, something finally gave up.

[Oh. Oh shit.]

The Shadow Empress's health bar drained to zero just as Emily's vision started going fuzzy at the edges. Victory fanfare played tinnily from the speakers, drowned by the thunderous celebration outside.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: TRUE SOVEREIGN - UNITE ALL HEARTS, SAVE THE WORLD

[Wait.]

Emily wasn't done. Her body was, apparently, but she wasn't.

The tablet grew heavy in her suddenly numb fingers. The credits rolled. The main menu appeared.

NEW GAME and CONTINUE stared at her like a cosmic joke.

[I want...]

What did she want? A kiss from Jessie? One more perfect run? One more year of counting ceiling tiles?

Outside, fireworks painted the sky in impossible colors. Inside, Emily's heart painted its own finale across the monitor—erratic spikes and desperate valleys.

[I want one more playthrough!]

She tapped NEW GAME.

The screen went white.

So did everything else.

---

The world smelled like old wood, suddenly.

Emily came to with her face pressed against some velvet seat that smelled like ass. Something was digging into her thigh with the determined pressure of a blunt letter opener. Also, the ceiling above her had been replaced with cheap, splintery planks.

She sat up. Her entire body ached, for some reason. Her head spun. Her vision swam. She reached for her face, found her own hand, with longer fingers than she remembered, smoother, nails manicured to within an inch of their lives, and stopped.

[What the...?]

She patted herself experimentally.

She was alive.

Or, well, alive-adjacent.

She did a quick check: two arms, two legs, one head, no tubes or wires, no hospital beeping, no Nurse Jessie saying "Knock knock, gorgeous". She could, however, hear the clatter of hooves and wagon wheels.

And beyond that, voices.

The thing poking her thigh was a large envelope, wax-sealed. She peeled it out, broke the seal with the guilty glee of someone opening an acceptance letter, and stared at the name written in florid, slightly insane calligraphy:

To Miss Aegis Starcaller,

First-Year, Rosevale Academy,

Kingdom of Valdria

She blinked. Once. Twice. Three times, just to check for hallucinations.

Nope. Still there.

"Aegis... Starcaller?" she read aloud.

It didn't even look like a cosplay envelope. It looked like a prop from a theme park ride. She opened it.

Congratulations! it began, in a font so swirly and whimsical it threatened to rearrange itself if she looked away. You have been granted the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend Valdria's premier institution of magical, martial, and courtly refinement—

She dropped the envelope to the wagon floor. Chills ran down her spine.

She knew this. She'd seen this screen hundreds of times, only in pixels instead of ink.

The Queen of Hearts opening cinematic. The Rosevale Academy scholarship letter, first thing you ever got when you created a new character.

Which meant...

She touched her chest. Her heartbeat was frantic, stuttering, but not because of the usual reasons (chronic illness, terror, Jessie). It was just... there. Fast. Loud. She was breathing air not pumped through a hospital-grade filter. Her legs? Still there. She swung them experimentally. They swung.

No IV.

No catheter.

No plastic hospital anklet.

She laughed. Actually laughed.

There was only one answer to what was happening here. Loudly, she declared to the heavens:

"I'VE BECOME MY CHARACTER FROM THE GAME!"

---

Author's Note:

A few heads-ups before we dive into this mess:

1. Futanari characters are absolutely a thing in this world, including our MC! The majority of love interests will not be futa, though a few will be. 

Meaning, this story is majority FutaxFemale, with some FutaxFuta as well. 

2. Age gaps! Aegis has a thing for older women and she's not subtle about it. That said, her MAIN love interests are all girls her age.

3. Asterisks (*) in Chapter titles = spicy scenes incoming! Just so you don't accidentally open a Chapter about Aegis railing someone while you're at your grandmother's birthday party.

4. "Is the MC a top?" Answer: She's a switch! 

Enjoy!