Episode 1
“Vy! You’re going to be late!”
The bed shook so vigorously that I thought it might collapse. Still half-asleep, I clutched the sheets desperately.
It must be Mom waking me up. Today, I have the day off from work. So, I stayed up all night playing a game. Right after I cleared it, I got into bed, relishing the aftermath of defeating the traitor and completing the game.
The progress in the event was at 99%. I had fallen asleep just one event away from a full clear.
“Mom… Today is my day off from work…”
“What are you talking about? I don’t think I’ve aged enough to be mistaken for your mother, though.”
It must be Mom’s playful teasing. I gave up and got up.
“Huh? Where is this…?”
The room filled with medieval noble furnishings was clearly not my own.
“What on earth are you saying now? Starting with your usual lies again?”
The person looking at me with cold eyes seemed familiar. A beautiful woman with long golden hair neatly tied behind her, dressed in noble attire. She looked exactly like the character from last night’s game, “Goose Chronicles.”
She’s also my favorite character. She struggled with her relationship with Viper, her fiancé, and ultimately chose the protagonist Goose, leading to a lovey-dovey romance.
“Ah… Are you Ariniki?”
“Correct. Viper Haydon.”
The woman, Ariniki, said with an exasperated expression.
“Huh… Haa!? Viper…?”
I recognized the name Viper too. Last night, he had manipulated the protagonist I controlled, repeatedly betrayed him, and was killed by the final boss to stage the boss’s brutality just before the final battle.
I hastily jumped out of bed and looked in the mirror. Silvery hair that was longer than typical for a man, sharp eyes that seemed to be plotting something, and a wickedly upturned mouth. In every way, I looked like Viper Haydon, the villainous noble who had betrayed me multiple times in the game last night.
“Vy, you might have amnesia, so I’ll tell you: today is the Royal Officer Academy’s entrance exam. Do you remember the material?”
“Well… I have a rough idea.”
In “Goose Chronicles,” players take on the role of the protagonist Goose and live their life at the Royal Officer Academy. There, they recruit and nurture companions to form a party and aim to defeat the final boss in this simulation RPG.
Experiencing life at the Royal Officer Academy is one of the game’s attractions, and the in-game exams require a substantial amount of reading in-game books to earn a high score. Plus, the questions are randomly generated each time you reset.
Normally, this would be an incredible grinding element, but the condition to see the true ending is to score a perfect score on the exam. That’s why I stayed up all night for it last night.
So, if the same questions appear in the exam, it should be a breeze.
Or is this some kind of prank?
Reincarnating into a game world seems too convenient, after all.
I’ll use my knowledge of the game world to investigate.
“Hey, Ariniki. I’m your fiancé, right? How about a good morning kiss?”
Ariniki turned bright red and exclaimed, “Huh!?”
“I think that’s how I’ll regain my memories. You wouldn’t want Ariniki if I fail the exam, would you?”
“Well… I guess I have no choice…”
Ariniki came closer to me, stretched up, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Hurry up and change, okay? I’ll be waiting downstairs!”
Ariniki rushed out of the room with a bright red face.
The feeling of real lips remained on my cheek. This wasn’t a prank or a dream.
“Seriously…?”
In other words, from now on, I get to enjoy a lovey-dovey school life with my favorite character!?
Overjoyed, I did a victory pose right there.
But immediately after that, memories from last night resurfaced.
No matter which route Viper Haydon takes, he eventually betrays and gets killed by Goose. Just before that, Ariniki, his fiancée, gets fed up with Viper and ends up with Goose.
From Goose’s perspective, there couldn’t be anything happier.
But I am Viper Haydon now.
In other words… I’m about to be cuckolded by my own fiancée and killed!?
