Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

A Normal Day Turned…?

December 11, 20XX
RealityLux, Inc.
5:36 P.M.

It never stopped being so jarring.

Being outside, or even, just surrounded by people, no, by strangers, all hustling and bustling, either on their way to some type of appointment, or work, or a friend/family member’s house, or, or something… Everyone always seemed to have a set destination in mind, and they were determined to get there.

Sometimes you found yourself unwillingly swept up in the crowd, with the vibe, the urge, to actually go along with the flow, curious to see where that feeling would take you.

The outcome for occasionally submitting to these whimsical flights of fancy led to awesome destinations, such as a brand new internet cafe that you’d never heard of but quickly fell in love with because of the decor and ambiance, or the park that boasted some of the best up-and-coming local urban artists, and even the black owned businesses which sold your prefered clothing style at a reasonable price.

During days like those, it felt as if you truly had the best of luck.

Well, honestly, the past several years felt like that. 

Unluckily for you, you’d grown up into and been around long enough to witness the travesty and endless tragedies that plagued this crooked nation due to warmonger presidents like Bush. Cried with overwhelming joy when President Obama was elected, and cried again when his final term ended. 

You’d wept furious tears over the fact that Hilary had not been elected, even though she was really just more of the same, and could not sleep peacefully during the four years that President Orange was in the White House. You’d lived through terror and injustice and bigotry. Or, well, correction, people stopped pretending to care whether or not they were labeled as racists and Neo Nazis. You learned to keep your head down even more during that time, to watch out for people not just at night time, but also during the day. 

America has always been a terrible country instilled with hypocrites to the extreme but those four years had aged you well beyond your years. After Trump’s impeachment, although his Vice President tried to step up to the plate, it would seem that a higher power decided to have mercy.

Michelle Obama decided to run for President, and she won.

During her time in the White House, many things, both gradually and quickly, came to pass. Things that were long overdue, such as the rich and elitist members of society paying more on taxes, minimum wage being increased, pedophiles and rapists getting the maximum sentences, college tuition was lowered to an affordable price or free altogether, increased salary for women, etc. There just isn’t any possible way that Michelle would be able to undo the ugliness and rot that infected America for so many years. 

You still hated this country, but with her in charge, you learned to hate it just a little less. 

Pop!

With a blink, you found yourself smiling on autopilot. Two of your coworkers, Jessica and Kate, were laughing and giggling as they poured themselves some bubbly champagne before going around the room.

“Aaaand youuu,” The bubbles are floating to the top, the scent of the champagne wafting upwards to your nose, “Get the rest because you clinched that deal with Bandai.” Kate praised, flashing her bleached white toothed smile in your direction. “Go, [Your Last Name]! Woo!”

“Ohh, we’re cheering now! Woo-wooo!!” Jessica joined in, raising her free hand in an enthusiastic wave. 

Raising the glass in a faint salute, “Mm, c’mon, guys.” You took a sip of your drink. “This was a team effort.” Actually it wasn’t, but it sounded better to say it that way.

“Don’t be so modest, [Your Last Name].” One of the few random guys at the party piped up. “C’mon, give us a speech!”

Before you knew it, several more people had took up the call. 

“Speech! Speech! Speech!”

Closing your eyes briefly, you inhale and then exhale. Raising your glass, you smiled a bit wider, and waited until they settled down. “It’s been an honor to work with you all for so many years. I hope to be working with you for many more years to come.Thank you.” 

Short, sweet and to the point.

It gained a few good natured groans and people wanting to hear more, but they were quickly distracted by the caterers who brought in food and more wine and champagne. That was the perfect opportunity for you to sneak off, claiming that you were going to use the bathroom, placing the flute of half drunk alcohol on the nearest table while on the way out the door. 

As soon as you were in the hallway, away from your colleagues, the (fake) smile that’s been plastered on your face all day fell off. You walked as quickly as possible with the four inch heels you’re wearing, reaching a flight of stairs and held onto the railing as hustled down them. 

There’s a smile is on your face again as you take that last step, and this time, it’s genuine, because of the man holding his hand out to you so gallantly. You took his hand with a little laugh, accepting the small bouquet that he offered with his free hand. 

“Cinderella rushing off from her ball before it’s even midnight. Classic, I love it.” He winked. You rolled your eyes and whacked him on the arm lightly. “Oh! Ow.” Feigning injury, he clutched at the ‘hurting’ part. “Violent. I guess you’re not Cinderella but that kick ass girl from Ella Enchanted.” 

“Shut up. You’re so ridiculous, Mr. Hunt.” Shaking your head, you pretended to be upset, looking away with a huff. Only to really huff with annoyance when your ear is flicked. “Eli, stop~”

“That’s right, you better call me by my first name. ‘Mr. Hunt’ is my father, as you well know, little girl.” Eli grabbed you by both your hands, tugging you ever closer. 

And closer. 

Close enough that you catch a whiff of his cologne that he’s wearing and it smells expensive, woodsy. 

Perfect.

“Eli, you found her!” 

The moment is broken. 

You jerked your hands free and smile automatically as another woman came running up to you and Eli, holding onto a wrapped, square box. “Kymbrea, hey!” You open your arms and laugh slightly as she handed off the package to Eli before wrapping her arms around you in a hug. After a few minutes, you patted her on the back to signal her to let go and she did, accepting the package back again, before holding it out to you.

“Congrats on getting that deal with Bandai. Knew you could do it. So proud of you, best friend!” Kymbrea happily proclaimed. “C’mon, open it, open it, open it.” With a needling voice, she gently cajoled you.

“Kym, hey, baby, that’s enough.” With a slight laugh, Eli tugged her out of your space. A pang went through your heart and the smile on your face felt a little brittle. Neither of them seemed to notice, thank god. “I’ll take this wild woman off your hands.” As he glanced at you, smiling as if nothing was amiss, as if he hadn’t been… Hell, you didn’t even know anymore. Maybe it’s all in your head? With an awkward nod and smile, that he accepted without issue, he wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her up the stairs, “We’ll see you later, [Your Name].”

You watched them go upstairs for a minute or two, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed and dismissed. Swallowing the lump in your throat, hands still full with the gifts, you instead push those unnecessary feelings to the side.

Walking out the lobby to the front entrance, where the valet already has your car pulled up and ready for you, key dangling from his hand. You ignore his curious, slightly concerned stare, tossing the bouquet inside and on the backseat, the wrapped package getting only slightly better treatment. 

Snagging the car key, you hand him a tip and then go around to the driver’s side, climbed in and then closed the door after you. Adjusting the heat in the car and the mirrors, you put the key in the ignition, made sure no one was behind you before taking off. 

The further and further away you get from the rented out hotel, the less the feeling in your chest aches. It’s something you don’t take much stock in, you can’t afford to. For awhile, you drive around, only to eventually come to your favorite market.

It was getting dark, so you decided to do a quick in ‘I’m feeling sorry for myself’ and out run. So chocolate, poptarts, bottles of Lipton tea, the usual. All in all, less than fifteen minutes and then you were driving to your apartment. Seeing it from a distance still took your breath away. 

You’d done this, this was your life, after all this time, you’d achieved that which seemed unachievable. 

Living at the top, finally. It didn’t matter that it felt a little like a hollow victory.

After having a small conversation with the doorman, politely declining his help with your groceries and the two gifts you’d received. Your neighbor, some white guy you didn’t know the name of, didn’t allow you to refuse, citing reasons for why it wouldn’t be decent to let you suffer this alone, and eventually you agreed if only to get to him to stop; together, you and he caught the elevator for the top floor where your apartment is. Letting yourself in first, you told him thanks for the help, and he smiled, lingering. You handed him whatever was left in your wallet, a generous amount and still he lingered. It was starting to be uncomfortable so you slammed the door in his face, locking it shut quickly. quickly kicking off your heels and slipping on your flip flops. 

Tossing the flowers into the trash, you began to put away most of the groceries, leaving only a couple boxes of poptarts and a case of tea out. The sound of running water is loud in the apartment, but familiar. Cleaning out a mug, you pour the bottled tea inside, along with a few ice cubes, grabbing the matching saucer. 

Walking into the living room, you turned on the TV, placing the mug of tea on the coffee table side the couch. Reaching into your back pocket of your pants, you pull out your cell phone, also putting it on the coffee table after putting it on ‘read’. 

Much more comfortable.

Sitting on the couch with your feet tucked neatly in criss-cross applesauce style, leaning back against the pillow, you grabbed the PS4 controller, pressing the power button and quickly choosing the game that you’d digitally downloaded. Thankfully, it’s fully downloaded and updated, ready to play. 

For hours, you lose yourself in the combat, grunting with dissatisfaction when your on screen character is overwhelmed, or cheering with triumph when you finally beat a mini boss or passed a quest. 

Only once your fingers started to cramp and you couldn’t ignore the urge to drink the tea, did you press pause. Sipping at your tea, you flexed your fingers, pressing the button on your cellphone and it lit up, showing off your message from Kymbrea which read simply ‘U play it yet?’ and inadvertently, you gaze drifted to the package sitting by your front door, which you’d dropped carelessly. 

Feeling guilty, you huff out a sigh. 

Getting up again, lightly tossing the controller back onto the couch, you walk over the package, picking it up and returning to your original spot. Carefully peeling off the wrapper, you reveal a totally pitch black box except for the bright red logo XR on it. 

Raising an eyebrow, you opened the box and pull out a VR headset, a tiny controller, and instructions. Shaking the box, wondering if that’s it, out fluttered a piece of paper in pretty, delicate cursive, ‘I’ve already uploaded everything I knew you’d like. Happy early Christmas! xo, K.’

Shrugging, you sighed and completely decided to let what happened earlier go. Kymbrea had done nothing wrong, she is your best friend. If anything, you’re the problem. With that little (depressing) pep talk finished, you fired off a text, telling her thanks and that you were checking out her gift now. Once that’s finished, you set up the VR headset, all the cables and cords, and then put the headset on after making sure everything is up to date. 

After some labels and companies that you didn’t know about and you assumed were associated with the game popped up in front of your vision, after that, that’s when things got a bit weird. There’s a black woman, who looks terribly, terribly familiar, walking straight towards you. Before she gets too close, she stops and tilts her head in that same weird mannerism that you know, but–

/ Welcome to HTC Vive, the virtual reality which caters to all your needs. Before we can move on to the first chapter of the game, we’ll have to go through the registration to make sure everything is in order. Is that okay? /

Resisting the urge to groan out loud by Kymbrea’s utter cheesiness, yet also grudgingly appreciating the gesture, you decide to fight through the embarrassment because the AI looks so familiar to you because she was created, designed, whatever the term, to look exactly like you.

Once you finish up registration, verifying that yes, you’re over 18, and yes, you’re over 21, you don’t mind violence or gore, you know to take breaks and be careful of flashing lights, etc.

/ So, the initial set up is complete. Some chapters will be better established with voice recognition, but can be played without. Do you wish to install this software? /

Literally going to kill Kymbrea, just shove a pillow over her face and smother her to death. Unwittingly, you groaned in sheer torture, before saying yes, feeling your skin heat with embarrassment. 

/Understood. Voice recognition approved./ 

The AI’s voice changed to suit yours and whoa, that was kind of freaky but also pretty awesome? 

Whatever, you’d think seriously about it later. 

/ We’re about to start your journey. Please make sure that you’ve done everything you needed to do beforehand because this chapter will be shorter or longer to suit your needs. /

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, come on. Once you answered the last minute questions, such as what you wanted to be called, your preference for your partners (male/female or otherwise), and other 18+ questions that you refused to admit got you hot under the collar, as soon as you hit the ‘Accept’ button, that’s when things really, truly honestly got weird. 

Technicolors burst across your vision. The AI lady took steps towards you and she wasn’t stopping. You were freaked the fuck out something terrible, cussing up a storm and as you reached up, about to pull the headset off, figuring this had to be some kind of mcfucking joke or jumpscare or something, and then her hand is touching yours and that shouldn’t be possible at all.You open your mouth to scream but nothing comes out, or you don’t think it does? 

You hear static and your vision turns black.

                                »»————-　　————-««

Stay tuned for the next update of You’re Perfect! You wake up in the bed of……..?

Chapter Text

Episode 1

Entering the Simulation
A Choice With No Regrets

You let out a quiet huff in your sleep. 

Face scrunching up, wondering why it was chilly in your apartment, especially because the entire building came with central heating, you reached out to draw the sheets around you more comfortably. 

Only to touch warm, bare skin. 

Alarmed, you blinked groggily. 

There, sleeping right next to you, without a shirt on, is a man. Ignoring the niggling sense of familiarity, something at the back of your mind trying to tell you that you knew this person, you didn’t even consciously decide to do so before your hand drew back. 

Mere seconds before your hand could make contact with his face, his hand clamped down tightly around your wrist. Grey eyes stared back at you evenly, ignoring how you futilely tugged, trying to wrestle the appendage free of his grip. “…What did you think you were doing?”

Before you could really go to town and drag his ass from A to Z, for being a garbage human being and threaten him with the authorities, the strangest thing happened.

For lack of better words or explanation, everything… paused.

Ghostly white words floated in front of your face.

/ Attack on Titan is a story based game that features player choice. The consequence of all your in-game actions and decisions will impact the past, present, and future. Choose wisely. /

You’re not ashamed at all to admit that you kinda maybe totally did have a mini freak out as you came to the belated realization that you weren’t in your apartment. Kymbrea’s gift, the VR headset, that strange AI… 

So that meant that you’re currently experiencing an incredibly realistic simulated reality, and for your first playthrough, you’d been deposited in a man eating, Titan infested world, in bed with…with…with…

With Levi Ackerman…!?

As you dissolved into another mini freak out, the kind of freaking out that included screaming incoherently into the void, ugly laughter and general i-cant-believe-this-is-happening rants, you come to the belated, belated realization that while the game is paused, surprisingly enough, you could still move around. 

It was weird because your body… Er, your simulated body, which totally looked exactly like you, lovely brown skin, lush curves, full lips and all, is still being held captive by Levi. 

You felt like an honest to god voyeur as you took note of the intimate positioning. Levi clearly had taken up the big spoon position but somehow you’d turned around and were facing him, and you still weren’t clear just how naked…

‘Think good, clean thoughts. Good, clean wholesome thoughts.’

It wouldn’t do to jump to the wrong conclusions. 

…Well, more than you already had.

‘Let’s let the game continue, so I can figure out what the hell is going on here.’

Focusing on the weird ghostly writing, you reach out and touch them, fighting the urge to panic as the words vanished. You breathed a sigh of relief as another set of words appeared, but they were different than that first block of text. 

These looked like options. 

[“…What did you think you were doing?” (Silence is always a valid option, too.)
a.) “I was going to gently swat that spider off the pillow by your head but it’s gone now.” 
b.) “What am I doing? What are you doing? What is anyone doing at this lovely hour? Ease up on the pressure, Levi~”
c.) “I was waking up from a nightmare or something, I guess, and it…Let’s just forget about it, okay?”
d.) “….” ]

‘!!!!!!!!!!? What the hell is up with these options!!’ Two out of the four looked a little playful, maybe a bit airheaded, one sounded super tsundere-ish. Is this an action MMOPG or a romance otome game?

Brows furrowed, for a few seconds you agonized over what to choose. Regardless of anything, you thought silence was a no-go in this situation, there’d surely be other instances that you could go for that. So placed a hand over your eyes and pointed at will.

Peeking through your fingers, you realize that you’d picked the first choice. 

Time unpaused and you found yourself actually saying the sentence aloud. Levi’s classic bored expression didn’t shift much, though it might have been your imagination, you think he might, MIGHT, have smiled, just a little. His switched his grip from your wrist, tapping you sharply on the forehead. 

“You’re a shitty liar, I know I’ve told you this a dozen times, idiot.” He sat up in bed, the sheet slipping down to show off his sculpted chest and then Levi was getting out of bed, you saw his firm, toned, bare ass. You could actually see his…his… “If you keep staring, you’ll catch flies.”

“I wasn’t!” You protested halfheartedly. 

Fleetingly, you looked off to the side for a minute or two, embarrassed to have been caught, only for Levi to catch your chin, making you look up at him and then his mouth slanted over yours and all coherent thought fled your brain. His tongue swiped over your bottom lip and when you didn’t open immediately, he nipped lightly. 

The sting of it made you part your lips, and his tongue slipped inside, stroking against yours sensually. Hands going to his bare shoulders, you’re about to try and coax him to get back into bed with you. Levi let this continue for a few seconds or so, before slowly backing off despite your whining.

“You’re being a brat, again.” Much to your delight, his voice is deliciously husky. “We can continue this later, but right now, we need to meet up with Isabel and Farlan.” 

This time, when time paused, although you’re still a little (i.e. really a lot) hot under the collar, you expected it. 

Maybe even welcomed it a bit. 

Because Isabel and Farlan? 

Weren’t those two Levi’s friends before he joined the Survey Corps?

{Levi Affection increased by 5. Levi is amused by you.}
{Levi Affection increased by 5. Levi is aroused.}
{Gained the ‘Fool for You’ trophy}

/ Congratulations! You’ve made your first significant choice. There are several hidden trophies to be collected and every choice can has the potential for greater impact and deeper conversation. 

So it’s highly advised to try them all to get the full experience! If you’d like to check your progress in the storyline, check your inventory, view your trophies, check your stats, check your friendship(s) stats, turn on and off Tutorial Mode, or to save and exit the game, you can return to the Main Menu after a checkpoint has been reached or you’ve made a significant choice. 

Would you like to try it out now?
a.) Yes
b.) No /

Going through the pros and cons quickly, you decided to bite the bullet and touched the wisp-like word ‘Yes’. A second later and a full body screenshot appeared. You’re dressed in a simple white cotton shirt and black pants, comfortable black boots on your feet, there’s a gun holster strapped across your shoulders and back, ODM gear attached to your hips and your hair is done up in braids.

Strength (65)
Health (58)
Agility (72)
Dexterity (70)
Concentration (82)
Leadership (90)

‘Not bad stats to start off with. I wonder how I can increase it. …I hope I can increase it.’ It’d be worrying to try taking on titans with stats at this level. 

Figuring that you were just overthinking things, you reached out and touched the screenshot, holding your finger there, you ‘swiped’ right. Next popped up your inventory, which contained your guns and knives collection (it was a fuckton), a ratty old cowboy hat, a grungy teddy bear, a letter, and money. 

Repeating your actions again, you swiped to the right and up popped the progress of the storyline, which was only 2%. You fiddled with the settings, making sure that the blood and gore box was checked, you kept the pain tolerance at it’s default level, the mature scenes were left at default settings and could be viewed repeatedly, swearing was left alone at it’s default setting as well. 

Everything looked good. 

Then you came across the Friendship Stats and thank fuck, things kind of, sort of, started making actual sense. You were even given a little bit of background information, and what a backstory it was.

You’d been born in the Underground to your mother [Your Mother’s Name] and an unknown father. Your mom had been the only thing closely resembling a doctor in these parts and besides helping those that could afford it, she was often contracted to make sure that the women in the brothel were taken care of; thus how she and Kuchel became friends, of a sort. Later, you and Levi were introduced to each other, and despite the attempted matchmaking, you and he didn’t immediately take to each other. 

‘This really is like a frickin’ otome game…’ 

Skimming through the rest, you got the gist. It’s clear that your mom was more than just a doctor, and there’s a 75% probability that some noble is your sperm donor, because why else would MPs murder a random woman in the Underground? Even more suspicious is the fact that Kenny raised (and you use that term lightly) you and Levi together for awhile, he even left you his hat and told you to look after yourself and Levi. 

‘Okay, I’m getting invested in this game now…’ 

You were level 7 with Farlan on the friendship stat level, the bar halfway completed and looking like it’d be seeing a level up soon; under his bio, you read that he saw you as sort of second in command. 

Isabel was at level 9, and the two of you were kind of like siblings, she might be nursing a hero worship thing or somethin’. Her bar was completely empty, so it must have recently gotten to that point.

Levi… His friendship stat kind of irritated you. He was also level 7 and the bar was just a little under halfway filled. Underneath his bio, there was a couple small paragraphs that detailed some of the ‘important’ moments that’d happened between you and him; training together, Kenny telling him to treat girls with respect, getting accidentally heel kicked in the crotch by you, the first time that he lost a match against you, you giving him tea leaves. The most recent important thing being that you’d slept together recently.

‘So shouldn’t this be level eight???? What the fucking fuck, Levi?’ 

Feeling yourself getting unnecessarily wound up, you inhaled and exhaled. Clenching your fists together tightly, you made a vow to max all your current relationships out. Most importantly, you’d get Levi to fall head over heels for you to the point where his every thought would center around you. 

Swiping right a final time, you came across the final screen.

/ Save and Continue or Save and Exit? /

                               »»————-　　————-««

And thus concludes the first chapter! What do YOU want to do? Do you want to continue wearing Levi down or do you want to come back to him later?

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Episode 4

Tutorial Mode (Selecting All Options)
Beloved, Mine

You wake up in the softest bed, so soft you think you’re laying on a cloud for a moment and don’t want to move. Being used to a whacky sleep schedule, you can tell that it’s evening. 

The sun most likely just set.

As you go to throw the covers off of your body and sit up properly, what felt like a steel band wrapped around your torso and jerked you backwards. Belatedly, you realized that it’s someone’s arm that’s holding you so tightly, and you’re pressed, back to front, with the person. 

Before you could agitatedly shout at the person to let go, they spoke first. 

“It’s too early to be getting up. Let’s just laze about in bed like this for awhile.” 

Chills ran down your spine and you broke out in goosebumps. 

That dark and seductive drawl, rich and smooth, caressed the shell of your ear and your heart skipped several beats. As much as you wanted to just sink into the embrace, to relax into this person, it’s impossible.

‘This simulation is just throwing all my past and present favorite bishies at me!!!’ 

A finger is placed underneath your chin, turning your head. Your met the amused gaze of Rido Kuran. His right eye, an icy blue, and his left, the trademark garnet red like all Kurans, is trained on your face, scrutinizing, though what he’s looking for, you’re unsure. 

“…What’s wrong? Did you not enjoy last night? …Or maybe, you regret it?”

Before you can have an absolute meltdown over the fact that you slept with a bonafide (sexy as all get out) villain, this raving, sister obsessed lunatic, time paused.

Legit, you wound yourself into a frenzy, pacing all around the room, ugly laughing to the point of hysteria. By the time you managed to somewhat get a hold of yourself, your stomach hurt and you could feel a bit of a headache coming on. Just as expected though, those ghostly white words are waiting for your perusal, as always.

/ Vampire Knight is a story based game that features player choice. The consequences of all your in-game decisions will affect the past, present, and future. Choose wisely. /

Selecting Options, you swipe right until you come across the Tutorial Mode, deciding to turn it on again. 

The sight of the green light thrumming through the room causes your shoulders to unconsciously relax. Although everything you’re usually more of a ‘learn as you go’ type of gamer, the earlier decision that you’d made likely was too hasty. It feels as if there are some features that the system expects for you to intuitively know and other times, it’s as if the system assumes you’re a returning player that already knows all the in’s and outs. 

Highly competitive as you are, and at the same time, proud, you refuse to not get the full experience. 

Glancing at your simulated body, tangled up and in bed with the true head of the Kuran household, you can admit, if only to yourself, deep deep down (like, way deep, deep down) that you actually like the intimate scene. Curious about how it actually got to this point though you are, for now, you hold off on reading the background and looking at the stats screen. 

You exit out of the Options screen. 

Almost immediately afterwards, there came the potential choices. 

[“…What’s wrong? Did you not enjoy last night? …Or maybe, you regret it?”
a.) “….”
b.) “If you have to ask that obnoxious question to satisfy your own ego, then I refuse to play along.”
c.) “Meh, you were so-so.”
d.) “…I’m getting out of bed now. I’m hungry and I have to use the bathroom.”]

‘The level of sass and deliberate avoidance!’ You can feel an ugly laugh building in your throat but force it down. Slapping a hand over your face, covering your eyes, you peek through your fingers at the multiple choice answers again and internally writhe in agony. ‘Is it possible to full body cringe?!?! I’m dying! Someone please kill me!!!!’ 

Knowing that you actually do want to see how this all plays out though, you look off to the side and choose at random. When you look back, you see that you’ve chosen option B.

Time unfroze and you found yourself saying that sentence aloud. 

Rido’s expression didn’t change in an obvious way but that amused glint in his eyes definitely disappeared, and he sat up. In order to avoid sprawling backwards onto the bed at the abrupt move, you used the sheets to cover yourself up more and quickly braced yourself as he left the bed. You got an eyeful….of….of everything as he shamelessly put his lean, subtly muscled and naked body on display. 

He was definitely aware of you staring as he stretched, the muscles in his back flexing, you could even see his…his…

‘Ohh dayum, someone is blessed.’ You thought dazedly, mouth watering. “Where are you going?” You ask, quickly looking away once you got ahold of yourself.

“To the shower.” The answer is succulent and to the point. “Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to join me. There are other rooms where you can shower.” 

“Thank–” 

The door to the bathroom closed quietly but it was done in such a way that it might have been better if he had slammed it. 

{Rido Affection decreased by 7.}
{Rido Affection decreased by 7.}
{Rido Affection decreased by 7.}
{Rido is hurt.}

‘Oh my God, this big ass baby!’ You’re exasperated. 

Honestly, you’d think a guy like this would have thicker skin. Da fuq!

Time paused and not a moment too soon as you’re still kind of fuming. Ghostly white writing appeared in front of your face again.

/ Uh-oh! It looks like you’ve made your first significant mistake. …Or was it? Whichever is the case, understand that certain choices will lead to the people around you liking or disliking you, not just your lover. 

This is known as Affection and Loyalty. 

We’ll talk about Loyalty later. 

As you get closer to your lover, you’ll notice that their behavior becomes either warmer and affectionate or distant and disinterested depending on the choices you’ve made. Be careful! If you antagonize your chosen love interest too much, they can and will leave you. Getting back together is much harder and they will remember how you treated them, making gaining Affection that much more difficult unless you do a complete replay on a new save.

Now that you’ve received this information, would you like to try the other choices?

a.) Yes
b.) No /

Nibbling your bottom lip, you mused over the ominous as fuck warning. 

It was a little funny to poke fun at a big bad like this, but at the same time, you had always secretly wondered what he’d be like if he actually was with someone who would and could recioperate his love, if he were capable of giving his heart to someone else in a somewhat healthy (because c'mon, it’s Rido) and committed relationship.

Breathing out through your nose, you cursed your soft heart and selected ‘Yes’. Honestly unsure what you expected, you find that time is… it’s…. rewinding. Kind of like watching an old cassette tape, actually. 

The view is discorneting.

After a little while, in a subtle flash of light, you witnessed that your simulated body is once again in the same position from the beginning. Ghostly writing floated in front of your face, though now, it’s a little different. 

[“…What’s wrong? Did you not enjoy last night? …Or maybe, you regret it?” (⬤ + 5)
a.) “….”
b.) “If you have to ask that obnoxious question to satisfy your own ego, then I refuse to play along.”
c.) “Meh, you were so-so.”
d.) “…I’m getting out of bed now. I’m hungry and I have to use the bathroom.”]

Deciding on the last choice, as it looked to be the tamest, you chose option D. Time unfroze and you found yourself saying the selected choice. Rido’s eyes crinkled at the corner, the amusement getting stronger. He rested his chin on top of the crown of your head, ignoring you huffing about him messing up your hair. 

“…You’re so blunt, but since you’re not ripping me a new one….” His arm unwound from around your waist and you half slid out of the bed, pulling at the sheets, futilely, wanting something to cover yourself with as you made a beeline for the bathroom. 

Rido’s being a bit of jerk, though and wouldn’t let go. 

“Damn it, Rido, I have to pee!” You couldn’t help the little foot stomp even though it’s childish. “Let go of the sheets, please!” You were even doing a little jig by now. In the next moment, you found yourself picked up, wrapped in the sheets and all, and in Rido’s arms as he strode towards the bathroom.

“You know you’re absolutely precious, right?” After delivering those heart stoppingly sweet words, all too soon, he set you down on your feet again. “I’ll take it easy on you this time since you’re too cute.” Pressing a firm kiss to your forehead, he reached behind you, twisting the knob of the door and it opened. Dazed, you stepped inside and he closed it after you. 

{Rido Affection increased by 6.}
{Rido Affection increased by 6.}
{Rido Affection increased by 6.}
{Rido finds you adorable.}

Time paused.

/ Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the Time Loop feature. 

By using the Time Loop ability, you’re able to reverse time and undo past decisions. Sometimes, undoing the past and changing your decisions and words or actions can be for the best, or it could be for the worst. 

Either way, it is not a power that can be used indefinitely and each new game you start that you decide to play in, your Time Loop slots is set at a default of five, to increase the slots, you have to complete the episode. Instances in which you can use Time Loop will be marked clearly with a  ⬤ symbol. 

Now that you have this information, would you like to continue or go back and try out the other choices?
a.) Continue
b.) Go back /

You let out a quiet breath. Already, you chosen two out of the four options. Why not go all the way, in for a penny, as they say and all that. Choosing the ‘go back’ option, this time you’re not as caught up in the surreality of what’s happening and within a blink, you’re back in that familiar position. 

Ghostly writing in your face again, slightly changed.

[“…What’s wrong? Did you not enjoy last night? …Or maybe, you regret it?” (⬤ + 4)
a.) “….”
b.) “If you have to ask that obnoxious question to satisfy your own ego, then I refuse to play along.”
c.) “Meh, you were so-so.”
d.) “…I’m getting out of bed now. I’m hungry and I have to use the bathroom.”]

Having never selected the silence option before, you figure that this time it wouldn’t hurt to try it out. Pressing choice A, time unfroze and you said nothing. Instead, you found yourself blindly reaching for the sheets and instead ended up touching what was definitely not the sheets, and you flinched, jerking your hand away, eyes darting to the side anxiously. “S-sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. After last night, you know that I consider my body as yours. Do whatever you want to me and I’ll gladly accept it all.” That was a comment that certainly sent your heart into overdrive. 

Holy shit, that was smooth. 

“…Talk to me, [Your Name].”

“I don’t know what to say.” You were being honest. You were seeing all kinds of sides of Rido right now and you didn’t know how to handle this or conduct yourself. 

There’s a rustle and then, Rido is sitting up. Taking you with him and adjusting accordingly. His arm is back around you and his body is intimately placed against you, you can actually feel his… “Okay, then.”

“Okay?” You echo, sounding uncertain and confused. 

“I know my record isn’t squeaky clean with you and this doesn’t help at all. I refuse to be sorry though, or to stop touching you unless you’re clear and tell me to.” He rested his chin against the space between your shoulder and chin. 

“I’m being as patient as I can…” 

Your hands lift and bury themselves into his wavy brown hair. 

Rido let out a content little hum. 

{Rido Affection increased by 8.}
{Rido Affection increased by 8.}
{Rido Affection increased by 8.} 
{Rido respects your decision}

Time paused once again.

That little scene certainly warmed your heart. It wasn’t as charged, sure, but there was a type of comfort and dare you even think it, care, in how Rido handled you and the way he spoke to you. 

It was coming back to you all over again why you’d liked him, at least in the physical sense. 

Admittedly, you were getting sick of those same options, but again, this was what you’d chosen to do. So when those ghostly words appeared in front of your face, you pushed back the irritation. 

[“…What’s wrong? Did you not enjoy last night? …Or maybe, you regret it?” (⬤ + 3)
a.) “….”
b.) “If you have to ask that obnoxious question to satisfy your own ego, then I refuse to play along.”
c.) “Meh, you were so-so.”
d.) “…I’m getting out of bed now. I’m hungry and I have to use the bathroom.”]

The only option left is the option C. 

The others are a dim grey color, signifying that you’d chosen them before. Nodding thoughtfully to yourself, you acknowledge that it’s a good idea, in order to avoid repeating the same thing over and over again. After a second or two of hesitance, you choose the final option. Again, time reversed itself, quicker than normal it feels and now you find that it’s easy to relax back against Rido. 

Time unfroze and the words left your mouth in a flippant tone, you even made the ‘so-so’ gesture. You expected him to get angry again, to leave you alone, but he caught you off guard by poking you in a ticklish spot. 

Unable to really control your reactions, this made you jerk and a snort escaped. Slapping a hand over your mouth, you look at him in horror. Rido raised an eyebrow, an amused tilt to his smile and then he did it again. You flinched, a giggle muffled by your hand. 

He worked to pry your hand loose and you struggled to evade him. 

The two of you were all over that bed, the blankets kicked free at some point, your hands captured in a vice grip held high up in his hold as he straddled you carefully to avoid you kicking a sensitive area while he tickled you.

“Rido, Rido…stop! Okay!” You gasp breathlessly. His free hand hovers near your tickle spot and you wiggle ineffectively. “Okay, I take it back. Just stop. I can’t…”

“You yield?” Rido asked, smug triumph audible in his tone and oooh, you want to kick him so bad, but he’s got you pinned. “Say it, ‘I yield’.” Leaning in close, his breath brushed the shell of your ear. 

‘Did the heat wrack up to 11 all of a sudden?’ You wonder dazedly. 

“I yield…” You turn your chin, about to do something really, really dumb, like kiss this ridiculously sexy, evil bastard, but he proved his absolute evilness by leaning back and you felt horribly rejected for a moment. 

Something must’ve shown on your face because he leaned down again and kissed your nose. “Since I won and proved my superiority, I’m feeling like taking a victory shower. You could join me and I’ll give you something better than a ‘so-so’ performance.”

{Rido Affection increased by 7.}
{Rido Affection increased by 7.}
{Rido Affection increased by 7.}
{Rido thinks you’re cheeky and he likes it.}

Time paused for the nth time. Unlike the usual ghostly writing, the words are different and glowing a soft gold.

/ Congratulations! You’ve used the Time Loop feature in order to complete all the dialogue options and witnessed all possible outcomes. Now has come the time to decide which option that you’d like to explore further, better known as a Branch Choice; completing certain criterias or having a certain stat, etc. can lead to a hidden branch choice. There is always only one per episode. /

[Which scenario do you choose? WARNING: You can’t go back again, so choose carefully!
a.) ???
b.) ???
c.) ???
d.) ???]

‘Talk about some serious pressure!!’ Your finger hovered over A and then went down to D, then back up to C, you pulled back, wringing your hands anxiously. Then you repeated the action getting increasingly worked up over it. Eventually, you just covered your eyes and pointed at will.

A heartbeat later, you peeled back your fingers over your eyes and saw another golden block of text. 

[Are you sure this is what you want?
a.) Yes
b.) No]

Panicking, unsure what the hell you’d chosen, but equally knowing you’d just end up in the same predicament again, you select ‘Yes’. 

Any of these options could be interesting regardless, right? 

Right? 

…You hoped.

Time unfroze and then…sped up. 

Things are rearranging themselves at such a dizzying pace that you closed your eyes. After a second or two, you opened them again, only to find yourself back in a very comforting position, Rido with his arms around you. 

Your hand buried in his hair.  

Everything is quiet and peaceful.

Slowly, your heart matches the steady rhythm of his and it’s the most comforting thing in the world and you relax further, not minding as his grip subtly tightens. You think that you’re half asleep almost when you feel his tongue laving over your neck. The action is light enough that at first you really think that you’re dreaming, and then he does it again. 

Your eyes half open and you stare up at him. 

Taking in the crimson tint his eyes have taken on, cataloging how his grip has tightened again. 

It should hurt. 

You should be pretty terrified right now to have a hungry Pureblood vampire, arguably the most gluttonous of them all, lapping at your neck and clearly wanting to bite you.

And yet, he hasn’t. 

His entire being is trembling, straining. Perspiration has broken out over his brow. Still, he doesn’t bite you. Tastes you, sure, further torments himself with the want, but still not indulging. 

Your hand detangles itself from his hair and cups his face. 

He stills. 

You’re gentle as you trail your fingers over his jaw, back and forth, back and forth. It doesn’t feel like he’s breathing. You tilt your head to the side, exposing your throat in open invitation, and just in case you’re not clear enough, “Drink.” You command. 

He laps at your throat one more time, and then you feel his breath. The faintest pinprick of his fangs and then he bites down. Rido is a lot more careful than you’d expect, gentle even, and because of that, the pain is fleeting, barely a twinge. 

Soon, the pain fades to pleasure. 

You can feel him drinking your blood, your life essence. This should repulse and disturb you, but instead, everything in you wants him to take more. 

To take all of you. 

It’s his. You’re his. He’s yours. 

He belongs to you, this is the way the that it should be. 

As if he can hear your thoughts, or more accurately, read your desires from your blood, his hand is in between your legs. Maybe another time you’d be embarrassed over the fact that you’re so wet already, but you’re too busy pushing yourself against his hand, begging for relief, begging for more. 

Ignoring how you let out a whine, he stops drinking from you, tongue laving over your neck once, twice, and instinctively, you know the puncture wounds from his bite are gone as if they’d never been. Rido captures your chin, turning you to face him for a kiss and the lingering taste of blood makes you moan, even as you desperately suck on his tongue. You can feel him hard and heavy, twitching against your back and instinctively grind against him. His hands stroke over your thighs, the sensation soothing and comforting and sensual all at once. 

He breaks the kiss, voice husky and drenched with need. 

“Tell me to stop and I will.” 

Desperate to be connected, to be joined intimately, you grip his cock in hand, lift just slightly, before sinking down. The breath whooshes out of him, and he grips your waist, as if he could stop you, but at the same time, not wanting to. 

You shakily begin to roll your hips, trying to get the rest of him inside, and then Rido stops being an absolute idiot and gets with the program, hips snapping upward on your downward thrust, filling you up completely, almost to the point where you can’t take it. The rhythm he takes starts off slow and steady, just letting you get used to him, but quickly gained momentum. 

It’s so good but not enough.

“Harder…please…I want it….harder…”

Rido kissed you, hard, as if trying to get you to shut up. 

He pulled out completely for a moment, ignoring your desperate pleading, before positioning you over the bed, on your hands and knees, rubbing his cock against your pussy lips for a second before thrusting inside to the hilt on that one stroke. 

Your eyes rolled back in their sockets as he did it again and again. 

He has one hand holding yours together tightly, like manacles, pinning your wrists to the bed as he fucked you with deep, hard strokes. You could feel a pressure building in your stomach, and you tried to warn Rido that you’re about to cum but he’s way ahead of you, because he reached down with his free hand and massaged your clit. It’s too much stimulation and you’re cumming. He managed a couple shallow thrusts before soon he stilled above you, pressing as deep as he could go while he came inside you. 

Instead of collapsing on top of you, he gently pulled out of you and had enough wits to roll onto his side. There isn’t any time for you to feel some type of way or say anything because he reached out and dragged you closer to him without any prodding from you whatsoever. 

You snuggle up to him and enjoy the moment. His fingers stroke your skin, spelling something with his fingers, before he turned his body into yours, hugging you to him and then settled down for a nap. 

It’s just as well that he did because not long after, time paused.

/Congratulations! You’ve made a very significant choice that delved into a hidden branch choice which has been forged into a deeper connection. Saying ‘No’ is always valid and accepted. Refusal will not be used against you and your partner will always respect it. If you’d like to opt out of the mature scenes and have them fade to black, you can do so from the Main Menu.Would you like to do that now?
a.) Yes
b.) No /

{Rido Affection increased by 30.}
{Rido cherishes you.}
{Gained the ‘I only want you…’ achievement}

You feel as if cold water had been dumped on you. 

That…everything hadn’t felt like a simulation. It felt real. 

Holy hell. This is… You just…. 

‘I feel like that gif where Dean from SPN has his hands pressed to his head and #WTF is underneath it. …oh God, is Dean from SPN going to show up here too??’ Feeling that this is too much information to process and you’re quickly reaching the stage of hysteria, you breathe in, shove everything down deep and go to the Main Menu. 

You swipe right until you find the backstory. 

And what a backstory it is.

You’re the last of the [Last Name] family. 

With the blood of kings and queens running through your veins, and once labeled a goddess made flesh by an eccentric, you’re a Pureblood vampire. The place that you’d been born is unclear, but it’s understood that you’d made the United States as something of a home base and had lived there for decades, speculatively, even centuries, moving around from state to state as you pleased. 

Fascination with humans and technology, education, eventually led to altercations with America’s Hunters’ Association and Senate. Much later, you migrated to Japan, annoyed with the restrictions you’d been forced to endure. Things aren’t really different here; the Association and Senate have an even more prominent role and reach. You’re not exactly on good standing with either organization but that’s irrelevant. The Senate tried to acquire you a fiance but rethought it after you made it clear that’d be unwise (i.e. You threw a couple of them out of a third story window)

‘Yaaas queen, slay!’

Swiping until you came to the Stats screen, you check out the full body screenshot of yourself, in a lovely dress that highlights your best features. Your hair is done up in a braided bun, your full lips showing off a sardonic smile and a hand is thrust in front of you, as if you’re in the process of telling someone to back off. Sassy and classy, that’s you, boo.

Health (100)
Charisma (43)
Abilities (89)
Leadership (69)
Strength (95)
*[Your Name] refuses to state what her special vampiric ability is, only seeing fit to inform the Senate that she does have an ability.

Once again swiping right, you come across the Friendship Stat screen. Unsurprisingly, very few people actually made it on here.

Haruka Kuran is at level five. He doesn’t hate you, but he is a little wary of your devil may care behavior. Tentatively, he would consider you an ally. Juri Kuran is a level three. Again, like her husband, she doesn’t hate you, but your personalities just don’t mix that well in close quarters; she’s never rude to you, at least. Asato Ichijo is a level 0, he hates and fears you. You dangled him outside a third story window after all. Shizuka Hio is at level 9; she’s crazier than a bag of cats when she isn’t fed but otherwise, she’s pretty chill and you two get along well.

Rido Kuran is level 7. 

Irritation wells up in your fiercely. If you could, you’d roll him right off this bed. ‘Level seven and I just gave him the best sex of his life??? Boy, bye!’

Shaking it off, you go on to read that Rido initially met you shortly after he… Pausing, you inhaled, exhaled, asked for strength. Then you read on. Rido initially met you after sacrificing his (true) nephew to the Kuran ancestor, Kaname. As it happens with all true mates, upon meeting your gaze, he knew that you were his mate. He rejected you and you rejected him in return. 

The Senate somehow found out about this and demanded that the two of you get engaged. You nearly tossed Asato out of a window (again). Haruka and Juri actually ended up convincing you to try and make it work with Rido, and reluctantly, very reluctantly, you agreed to tolerate him.

It’d taken a long, long time to get to this point, you realized while skimming through the crucial events that’d happened. Three years of exposure to each other, really. Purebloods could live for millennia, so this was nothing, you guessed.

As you swipe right, eventually you come across a familiar screen.

/ Save and Continue or Save and Exit? /

                              »»————-　　————-««

So concludes another episode but this time with some spice. The deeper you dive into the simulation, the more you forget what’s real and what’s not. Do you continue or not…?

Chapter Text

Episode 5

Tutorial Mode (Earning their Loyalty)
Tainted Love

Splish!

Something wet splattered against your cheek.

Face scrunching up with confusion, eyes rolling behind closed lids, you let out a soft exhale, and after a heartbeat or two, you’re awake, but definitely still groggy. Running a hand over your face, you grimace as it’s…it’s…

Too late does your mind catalogue the scent of iron, thick and heavy in the air.

Splish!

Grimacing in surprise, you glance up after a droplet of liquid hits your forehead. Only for the saliva in your mouth to dry up and your voice to suddenly disappear. There, hanging from a chandelier and wrapped up in Christmas lights like some macabre gift, is a bisected corpse. You’re moving on autopilot, unable to look away from the sight, shuffling backwards, only to bump into something.

That something turns out to be the head of a corpse. 

The bed, though calling it a bed is a bit of stretch, and it’s really more like a mattress or two stacked on top of each other, is all but flooded with body parts and splattered with blood. 

“Boss, you won’t believe who we found snooping around the complex!” A tall, reedy teen burst into the room rudely. You glance at the source of the disturbance and catch sight of the red iris and black sclera. Abruptly, you suddenly have a decent idea for what type of world you’d been dumped now. Not looking at your face, clearly too pumped up, he launched into his spiel, words practically tripping over themselves, “It’s that red haired bitch! The blondie’s little side piece. Oooh man, what luck, right?!”

Time paused. 

Thank God, because right now you’re really really freaking out.

/  Tokyo Ghoul is a story based game that features player choice. The consequence of all your in game actions and decisions will impact the past, present, and future. Choose wisely.  /

You pace around the room, trying to avoid looking at or stepping in any of the mess. It’s impossible though because body parts and blood splatter, intestines and bits of flesh sprinkled about, its…it’s literally everywhere. 

It’s chaos. 

It’s pure and total carnage, like a scene straight out of a Freddy Krueger or Saw movie, or, or something. 

‘No, it’s worse.’ You thought to yourself grimly. ‘Whoever did this, they don’t have any self-control…’ A hollow feeling has taken up residence in your chest and it’s like a black hole, sucking everything remotely positive up. 

Desperately, you’re trying to ignore the glaringly obvious truth staring you in the face, but right now…right now….

Smacking your cheeks gently, you muttered to yourself, coaching yourself to get it together. Get it together. Being caught unawares and in lala land would be… problematic in a place like this universe. 

You’d been dubbed Boss, that means that you’re in charge. 

So you need to be on your p’s and q’s. 

[“It’s that red haired bitch! The blondie’s little side piece. Oooh man, what luck, right?!”  (⬤ + 5)
a.) “…It’s too convenient.”
b.) “Luck? It could be.”
c.) “…”
d.) “Send her back. Now.”]

‘Clearly, this version of my character isn’t the most talkative.’ You think that you’re getting more used to the simulation, if not quite the worlds, then at least in the way that you don’t dawdle with choosing your answer now. 

You choose option A right off the bat to start with.

Time unpaused and you found yourself making that blunt statement, as you got out of the bed, you belatedly realize that you’re naked as the day that you’re born. The teenager continues to face away from you, and you see him frown, crossing his arms across his chest. 

“’Course it’s too convenient. I knew that!” By his tone, it’s clear he didn’t know that or he was being prideful, or a mix of the two. “The cunt thinks she’s so smart, getting one over on us, but we can use her to lure that blonde freak out into the open and then–”

You finally found a ratty towel that looked reasonably clean and wrap it around yourself. “And then… what?” You shrug, hip cocked out. “Maybe murder him? Get him to surrender?” You tick the possibilities off on your fingers. “It won’t change anything since he has other lackeys to step up and take his place, Roy.”

The teen, Roy, whirled around to face you, his scowl even more prominent and it didn’t look like it’d be going away anytime soon. “You don’t want to kill him because you want to keep fighting him all the time!”

You blinked, nonplussed by the accusation. “I don’t see how that’s relevant to the current issue–.”

He cut you off. “I’m giving you his right hand girl, his informant, on a silver platter and you can’t even take me seriously for a single second!? That’s it, I’ve had it! I’m done!” Roy snarled, walking back to the door, throwing it open so hard that it ricocheted off the wall and created another crack in the plaster. 

“I’ll just devour her myself…”

{Roy Loyalty decreased by 9}
{Roy Loyalty decreased by 9}
{Roy Loyalty decreased by 9}
{Roy is furious!}

‘Sometimes, this simulation really likes to point out the obvious.’ You resist the urge to roll your eyes just barely. It was beyond you how this convo went from 0 to 100 so quick and to blame it all on teenage hormones and drama would be stereotypical. 

Clearly this Roy kid had a major chip on his shoulder. 

/  Oh no! Your choice has made your ally question your leadership. Similar to love interests, allies and enemies are key components and individuals who make up each universe. 

Certain dialogue choices and decisions can be the deciding factor of whether a person decides to hate you forever or give you their unconditional support. 

This is summarized as Loyalty. 

Loyalty is tricky; it increases and decreases at seemingly random intervals. 

Also, what may be acceptable for one ally could be intolerable for another. 

So think cautiously and carefully! Always try to find a middle ground that will be beneficial to your followers and your conscious. If all your allies lose faith in you and your cause, then they will become enemies and turn against you at the most opportune moment. 

It’s possible to monitor who your enemies and allies, as well as loyalty, through the Main Menu. Would you like to take a look at that now?
a.) Yes
b.) No /

Frowning minutely, you chose ‘Yes’. 

Curious to see more about this particular feature. 

Like normal, the Main Menu popped up without issue, and you scrolled right until you come across the screen titled Other. Just like the previous time you did this, beneath the title is Gifts, Hints, Tips & Tricks, Inventory, etc. You skim through everything there’s to be seen in the Other screen, gaze flitting over to Gifts title, which has a tiny number four in parenthesis in the upper left corner. 

Stifling the desire to immediately check what else new you’ve gotten, absently promising to return to it in a second, you instead start scrolling again, coming to the Friendships Stat screen. It’s not immediately obvious actually, exactly what you’re supposed to be looking for, and just when you’re about to give up, go back and check Gifts, you catch the ❃ symbol at the corner of your eye. Turning your full attention this curious anomaly, which certainly hadn’t been there before, you see that there’s now two bars per character, the first which you’re familiar with and of course tells you the level of friendship you’ve got with the person. 

Running your teeth over your bottom lip, you focus on Roy and see that he’s at level nine, just an inch left before it’s completely filled out and ready for another level up. The new bar with the ❃ symbol is at level 8, just a little under halfway filled, beneath all that in small, blocky text is the word ALLY. 

‘So, the new bar measures loyalty…’ You deduce.

Humming, you give a cursory glance at (teenage) Uta’s stat screen and instead of his name, there’s merely a couple question marks above his blonde head, one sentence that states he’s the (apparent) leader of the fourth ward and equally annoying as he is amusing. His stat level is at 0, same for the loyalty level, the word ENEMY emboldened at the bottom; the same goes for teenage Renji and Itori. 

…So you’re in the era just before Yomo, Uta, and Itori became ‘civilized’, though the last two were dubious at best, since they were (and would be again?) apart  of the Pierrot crew.  

Your eyebrows raised to your forehead briefly and you internally shrug before checking out the background, and it’s…wholly unexpected yet also strangely fitting and tragic, as per the norm for Tokyo Ghoul. You’re a natural born one eyed ghoul, born to an S-rank ghoul mother and ghoul investigator father, a truly strange, star crossed couple, to be sure. Shortly after you were born, your mom was murdered and your father decided that he would take care of you. 

‘I do not see this ending well…’ 

Skimming through the rest, you almost hate that you’re proven right. Your pops got brownie points for being pragmatic enough to teach you how to hunt for food, about Doves and the CCG, etc, but his job, his duty, or whatever, it ended up being the thing that led to his inevitable demise; he was tortured and killed by some random ghoul investigator who had the suspicion that he’d been ‘betraying the cause and humanity’, i.e. letting ghouls escape. 

It sounded like such a bogus excuse. 

As an orphan, you pretty much run wild through the wards, doing whatever you pleased, and along the way, while you definitely made hella enemies, you also amassed quite the following. 

Swiping right again, a full body screenshot appeared. You see that you’ve been deaged to your tween stage, but you’re still most definitely cute. Gorgeous brown skin, hair cut in a bob that reached your ears, and an easy (empty) smile that hid the cruelty and calculative glint in your gaze. You’re dressed in loose, comfortable clothing that wouldn’t hinder you in a fight.

Health (110)
Charisma (80)
Speed (87)
Leadership (92)
Stamina (96)
Strength (90)
Dexterity (91)
RC Type: Rinkaku
Species: One eyed ghoul
Alias(es): Nox, Boss, Vixen

Once you swiped right again, your inventory popped up. There’s some money, a couple ID’s that clearly didn’t belong to you, a vulpine half mask that when worn would hide your face but not your mouth and throat, etc. and a worn journal. Swiping right the final time, you took note of the fact that the storyline progression states that you’re only at 1%. That finished, you swipe left quickly, going backwards until you’re back to Options and then the Gifts title screen, there’s the usual unopened items and/or equipment that you still haven’t really looked at yet, but what’s new is the item that’s designated for this world. 

It’s a pretty bracelet, known as the Intensity Stone Bracelet. You reach out to touch it and when you do, it enlarges, giving you a sort of HD version, but also letting you know the special features, such as increased health by ten, increased charisma by fifteen, lowered stamina by eight and dexterity by five. Mentally, you quickly tally the math, and it’s actually not a bad trade off. Yes, dexterity and stamina would take a bit of a hit, and in ghoul fights, being able to outlast your opponent is most important, right up there with regeneration, really…

‘Now, I’m just trying to talk myself out of this…’ You thought to yourself dryly. 

The words /Equip now?/ float in the air in front of your face. You select ‘Yes’ and chance a glance at your simulated body, watching as the bracelet materialized on the left wrist. 

Freaky, that is.

Shaking your head minutely, trying to ignore the headtrip of, well, everything. Instead of continuing to dwell on it, you exit the Main Menu and not much longer, you’re being asked if you want to check out the other choices, to see how it’d play out. 

Naturally, you agreed to do that, because fuck yes. You wanted to see more, how this played out from all angles. 

You ignore what’s going on with the Time Loop feature, pretty much immune to the weirdness of witnessing time rewind like VCRs and those old analog TV’s from the 90s and early 2000s. 

All too soon, you’re looking at Roy once again, clutching a towel around yourself to preserve your modesty. The only thing that’s different is that you can feel the heavy weight on your wrist now.

[“It’s that red haired bitch! The blondie’s little side piece. Oooh man, what luck, right?!”  (⬤ + 4)
a.) “…It’s too convenient.”
b.) “Luck? It could be.”
c.) “…”
d.) “Send her back. Now.”]

You decided to choose the silence option and went with choice C. 

Time unfroze and you merely stared at Roy for a second or two before turning, feet leaving behind bloody imprints as you proceed to trek to the corner where a sink is and a cracked mirror. There’s a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, and more hygiene products available, they look relatively new and untouched, unopened. 

“O-Oi, Boss…? W-what’s the matter? Do you think it’s a stupid plan? I can change it, I swear…” 

You glance at yourself in the cracked mirror, turning both knobs. Much to your surprise, clean water came pouring out. You soak your rag and wring it only slightly before you start to clean up, humming a little lullaby as you do so.

This behavior seems to unnerve Roy. You don’t know how you can tell, especially since you’re not even looking at him but then you chalk it up to having a superior nose as opposed to regular humans, you can scent certain things and right now, besides inhaling that delicious aroma of meat, even a day old, you can hear the steady thump-thump-thump of his heart. 

Fear. Adrenaline. 

Toying with prey is just as satisfying as if you actually got to eat them while they were alive. 

“…boss?”

“Very good.” You smile at Roy. Impressed that he didn’t run at the first opportunity, but then again, running would likely have set you off even sooner, which he likely already knew. “Keep an eye on her, she’s sneaky.”

“…yes, Boss.” And for such a belligerent and very in your face type of punk, Roy did the most surprising thing when he bowed at the waist. Keeping his gaze locked on yours, he backed out of the room. 

{Roy Loyalty increased by 2}
{Roy Loyalty increased by 2}
{Roy Loyalty increased by 2}
{Roy’s acknowledges your strength}

Smart kid, recognizing the clear threat.

All too soon, again, you’re back in the same position, towel covering yourself up once more. Idly, you figure that you were either too young to know the dangers of walking around naked with males around, or you thought yourself too invincible to be hurt in a more…intimate manner. 

That didn’t sit well with you, to be honest. 

[“It’s that red haired bitch! The blondie’s little side piece. Oooh man, what luck, right?!”  (⬤ + 3)
a.) “…It’s too convenient.”
b.) “Luck? It could be.”
c.) “…”
d.) “Send her back. Now.”]

You decide to choose the final selection, option D. Time unpaused and you find yourself tilting your head to the side a little, not unlike a curious cat. You say the words and your voice is calm, but cold.

“B-But Boss–!” Just as expected, Roy blustered, trying to speak up. 

You raised your hand, pointing your pointer finger at him and much to your inward shock, it lengthened and sharpened, stabbing Roy in the left shoulder. “I don’t tolerate your existence by allowing backtalk. Now, let’s try this again. I said, send her back, now…”

Roy let out quiet groans, fist clenched tightly in front of him, a vein twitching near his temple. “S-Sen…” his face screwed up with agony as you pressed a little harder. “Send her back. I’ll send her back immediately! Boss, please…!”

You let him dangle there, squirming, for another minute or two, before you nodded with satisfaction. Pleased that he seemed to actually be listening to you and would obey. Abruptly, your blade fingers (and holy crap is that cool, kind of like Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist) retracted from his shoulder. Roy slid to the ground, clutching his wounded shoulder. 

“Out of my sight now.” 

You raised your bloody finger to your mouth, licking his life essence off.

He wasted little time in scurrying out the room.

{Roy Loyalty decreased by 11}
{Roy Loyalty decreased by 11}
{Roy Loyalty decreased by 11}
{Roy is terrified}

Clearly, you’re not the type to really mess around with your subordinates, or followers. Maybe Roy would fall into the lackey category? Musing over this, you shrug and ignore how time rewinds, instead recalling each way you handled Roy per choice, showing different sides of your personality. 

[“It’s that red haired bitch! The blondie’s little side piece. Oooh man, what luck, right?!”  (⬤ + 2)
a.) “…It’s too convenient.”
b.) “Luck? It could be.”
c.) “…”
d.) “Send her back. Now.”]

Option B is the last choice. 

The others are greyed out and show that you’ve already picked them. You’re relaxed and loose in your stance. Confident, relaxed, as you stand there with nothing but a towel to cover yourself. You pick option B after a second or two of deliberation.

Time unfroze and you find yourself speaking the words with an airy, flippant tone. You even shrugged your shoulder. Roy, possibly too excited by the fact that you’re actually agreeing, half turned to face you, realized the way you’re dressed, blushed bright red, and spun back around to face the wall.

“S-S-Should I Tito rough her up a bit? Maybe get her to spill any plans that blonde haired bastard has cooked up?”

“Mm, that’s a good plan.” You find yourself nodding. “Bring Ray and Matthew with you, though.”

“Boss…?” He sounds hopelessly confused. 

‘Kind of like a puppy. An over excited and half trained, vicious puppy, but a puppy nonetheless.’ “Tito has beef with that blonde bastard, as you’re so fond of calling him. I don’t want the girl to be totally useless to me before I manage to at least talk to her in person.”

He snapped his fingers. “Wow, Boss, I didn’t think of that…”

‘Of course you didn’t.’ “Get it done and I’ll be down to join you all in a minute.” 

“Yes, Boss!” Roy saluted, looking excited and impressed. He left the room quickly, closing the door firmly. 

{Roy Loyalty increased by 9}
{Roy Loyalty increased by 9}
{Roy Loyalty increased by 9}
{Roy respects you}

Time paused. And just like last time this happened, instead of the usual ghostly writing, the words are different and glowing a soft gold.

/ Congratulations! You’ve completed all the dialogue options and witnessed all possible outcomes. Now has come the time to decide which option that you’d like to explore further. /

[Which scenario do you choose? WARNING: You can’t go back again, so choose carefully!
a.) ???
b.) ???
c.) ???
d.) ???]

There’s that pressure again. It’s less significant and heavy like last time, but still there. You can only choose one choice and won’t be able to go back and correct yourself. Nibbling your bottom lip, your finger wavered between choices C and D, and after a moment or two of back and forth, you placed your hand over your eyes and pointed at will.

Peeking through your fingers, you realize that you choose B.

[Are you sure this is what you want?
a.) Yes
b.) No]

Before you could drive yourself into another corner and freak out again, you selected ‘Yes’. 

Time unfroze and then sped up. Unlike previously, you watched all the way though as things rearranged themselves, the sensation dizzying, almost enough to make a person be sick, before things slowed slightly. You watched and witness Roy got unreasonably pissed off and threw the door open, about to leave. 

And you’re in motion before you consciously decide to do so.

Bodily throwing yourself at him full force in a lunge. Roy didn’t expect it, clearly, because he let out a yelp, as the combined weight of the two of you threw you both over the ledge of bannister. 

You’re free falling through the air, repeatedly punching him in the face. 

Left, right. Uppercut. 

He bit your knuckle on your next swing, kakugan on full display, and pain zinged through you. Not enough for it to be too distracting but you heel kicked him in retribution. Or tried, as he grabbed your leg, attempting to break it. 

And you claw at his face in retaliation.

Far too abruptly, the ground rushes up to meet you. 

You most certainly do feel it when you land, after all, there’s nothing to cushion your fall. The breath wheezes out of you, and you taste iron in your mouth. Roy is not looking much better, though he is trying to get to his feet. Laboriously, you copy him. On your knees, you try to throw a punch at him, but he dodges out of the way, falling onto his side and you gather nonexistent energy, managing to crawl over to him and wrap your hands around his throat. 

He flailed beneath you, trying to get you to stop. You dodge his hands which grasp at the general area of your face. “Think you can undermine me, do you? Think you’re in charge, you’re the Boss?” You tighten your grip, feel his legs kicking out underneath him. “Someone as weak and pitiful as you, lead? Make the big decisions, the hard choices?” 

His entire face is red, he’s choking. Kakugan receding, he looked at you with his regular human eyes, terror visible in his gaze. 

“Don’t make me laugh…!” Tighter, again, you increased the pressure on his throat, and you’re in his face now, baring your teeth in a mockery of a smile. Everything in you demands that you end this, rip his throat out, do it now, nOW, while he’s vulnerable beneath you. However, you do the opposite and after another second or two, you release him. 

Finger by finger, you let go and sit back. 

Roy rolled away from you, coughing and hacking. 

Far too late, you realize that you have an audience. 

Teenagers, ranging from fourteen to seventeen, are cluttered on the couch, a couple leaning against the walls. All of them watching this spectacle without a sound or trace of judgement in their features. 

Someone quietly clears their throat and you find a heavy material dropped on your back. It’s a leather jacket. Although you feel bad and pretty much terrible since you’ve not had the chance to at least wash up, you pull the jacket on and it covers you up to a degree. 

Glancing behind you, you see that it’s a brown skinned, gangly teen with short red and brown dyed hair, dark brown fathomless eyes watching you calmly. He was dressed in a white beater and camouflage pants with boots. “…D’ya want us to string him up with the redhead in the basement, Boss?” Already though, an identical teen (his twin perhaps) is in the process of hauling Roy to his feet, and he’s not being gentle about it. “Tito wouldn’t mind having a victim he could inflict actual pain on down there, I think.” 

You glance at Roy who looks terrified and that…amuses you. Unable to really help it, you feel your lips curl into a smile. “That would be the best solution, I think. It wouldn’t do to have Tito bored and cranky.”

Time paused, which is actually pretty odd, since you didn’t even get to offically see the teenage Itori or what’s going on here.

/ Congratulations. You’ve completed the main tutorial mode and learned most of the controls. Further instruction can be found in the Other category, under Hints, Tips & Tricks. Thank you for your continued interest and hope that you continue playing. Up further ahead is a graphic scene of mature rating. Would you like to continue and see that now or return to the Main Menu?
a.) Yes
b.) No /

You select ‘Yes’. Returning to the Main Menu and as you swipe right, eventually you come across a familiar screen.

/ Save and Continue or Save and Exit? /

                             »»————-　　————-««

The episode has concluded for now. You’re beginning to embrace the darker aspect of your nature. Do you have what it takes to continue down this path, or will you retreat? 

Chapter Text

Jan. 13, 20XX
7713 Augusta Ave., Apt. 13
6:45 A.M.

You jerked awake to the sound of the car horn blaring noisily outside. 

For a moment, you just laid there, heart racing uncomfortably fast, blinking blearily and staring uncomprehendingly at the ceiling. Then after a minute or two passed, your heart rate slowed, returning to its natural rhythm and you sit up, letting out a jaw cracking yawn, discreetly brushing your wrist over your face, checking for drool. 

There isn’t any, you’re in the clear. 

Before you can muster up the energy to actively try and get out of bed, the bedroom door opened and a fine ass honey stepped in the room, carrying a breakfast tray. Surprisingly, the overwhelmingly sweet, wifey, domestic gesture didn’t make you break out in hives, and your stomach gurgled loudly, even as you reached to take the tray from her. 

“Thank you…”

All she did was shrug, offer a half little smile, dimples showing. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, [Your Name], and eat up.” 

Without even being told, she got into bed and cuddled up against you, her head leaning against your shoulder. For a moment, you just stared at her from the corner of your eye, but your stomach rumbled again, and you said fuck it before you took your first bite of the bacon, perfectly crispy without being burnt. Then used your fork to stab a couple scrambled eggs as you chewed. Something brushed up against your thigh and you nearly choked on your forkful. You eyeballed the menace beside you but she merely cheesed at you, all her teeth showing in a grin, and held up the remote. “Sorry!” 

Funny, she didn’t seem very sorry at all.

Ignoring the fact that you were giving her a disbelieving look, she used the remote to turn the TV on, changing the channel to the news. Shaking your head, you return to finishing off your breakfast, giving the news anchor only half your attention. Methodically, you ate, right to left, starting from the scrambled eggs, to the bacon, back to the eggs again, only to use the grits as a sort of additional topping for the strawberry pancakes. Rolling the hotcakes into a mini burrito, you finished them off in two to three bites, and drank some orange juice to wash it all down.

“Was it good?”

This felt like a loaded question. And you could answer it in one or two ways, nonchalantly, and risk offending her, or ask why she’s asking, and offend her anyways. Either way it goes, you’re gonna offend her.

So it’s always better to go with Option C.

Running your tongue over your teeth, you ignored the question altogether to lift the empty tray up from its place situated over your lap, and sat it on the desk next to your bed, then lean into her personal space, pressing a closed mouthed kiss to her cheek, lingering for a second longer than strictly necessary. 

“Thank you for breakfast, ma.” 

You were close enough to notice that she swallowed, the effect you had on her due to such a simple thing blatantly obvious with the way her pupils dilated and her breathing hitched; small, inconsequential details to people that didn’t pay attention. Now that she’s temporarily distracted, you shoved the blankets and sheets off your body, letting them fall on the bed and half on the floor as you stride towards the bathroom. 

“Wait, [Your Name]! Where is you goin–”

You don’t answer that question either, merely opened the door and entered the bathroom, catching a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. Not too tall or short, your height places you at a comfortable average level, you’re lean but with some muscle, a day’s worth of stubble lining your jaw that you’re debating whether it’s worth the hassle to shave or nah. Lifting a hand to your head, you run your palm to the back of your head, and give your reflection a smirk.

‘I’m that nigga.’ 

Some would call that thought narcissistic or vain.
You just know it as fact.

Without any further bullshitting, you take a couple steps past the sink and toilet to get to the shower. Pulling the shower curtain back, you twist the hot and cold knobs, placing your hand underneath the spray as it stuttered to life before becoming a stream. The water is freezing for a second or two before turning to your ideal temperature. 

You’re in the process of taking off your white t-shirt and sleeping shorts when the bathroom door opens. 

“Bruh, you know I h…” 

Ignoring her entirely, you drop your draws too. 

Stepping inside, you lift your face to the spray, running your hand over your face a couple times, the water working to further wake you up. When you pull your hand away, you see that she’s still standing there, staring at you. 
At a specific part of you, to be blunt. 

‘And some females say dudes be the thirsty ones…’ 

“Either you gettin’ in or nah, ma.” If she wanted to start something, she’d be the one initiating, not you. You turn your attention back to getting clean. You managed to get your back and shoulders clean before she was climbing into the shower with you.

The quick shower you’d had in mind turned into an hour long adventure.

Afterwards, you finished your morning ritual, while she flounced off to do…whatever. You heard the clattering of dishes and she was singing and carrying on, so assumed it was all good. You lotioned, moisturized, and got dressed for the day. Glancing around your bedroom, you belatedly realized that your cell phone wasn’t where you usually left it. 

‘Must’ve dropped it last night when we got it.’ “Ay, Torielle…” As you stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door behind you, you glance up just in time to avoid a plate being thrown at your head. “What the fuck!?”

“Don’t ‘what the fuck me’, nigga!” Torielle yelled back. “The better question is who the fuck ‘Big Booty Betty’!”

Although you liked to think of yourself as a somewhat mature individual, above all this ratched behavior and pettiness, you knew that your face was currently tellin’ it all. You was caught off guard, like wit ya dick hanging out in public and not on purpose. “…What?” You even gave that basic, ‘I’m a dumbass, please beat my ass’ brain dead response. And in response to your stupid reply, Torielle threw another plate at you. 

“Ay! Stop throwing my shit around! You ain’t pay for this, damn!”

“You want me to stop throwing your shit around, huh? You, you want me to stop—” As if your words are some type of trigger, Torielle did exactly as you expected and feared. Like Sonic the Hedgehog on crack, she was tearing your shit up, throwing dishes on the floor, at you, swiped all your stuff off your island counter onto the floor, screaming and hollering and carrying on, making threats and accusing you of being a low down dirty dog, amongst other things. 

This happened all in the span of a minute or two.

And then you had enough, especially when you saw she was going for the knife drawer. You yanked her up bodily, kicking and screaming and carrying on, and shoved her right outside. Grunting with exertion as her heel hit you in the thigh, you kicked the package left on your welcome mat outside the door, mush her hard in the face as she attempted to get close to you again and retreated quickly, slamming the door in her face just she was about to try and spit on you. Putting your full body weight it, you latched the chain, twist the lock and turn the bolt. You hear her ram the door once, twice, before giving it up and so she repeatedly pressed your buzzer. “Get away from my spot, bruh, before I call the police on yo ass!”

“You’re the one who’ll go to jail for hitting me, you punk ass, little dick–”

Immediately losing in the conversation now, you look around at the remains of your destroyed kitchen. That’s going to take awhile to get together, you knew it. 

Picking up your phone, you decide to ring downstairs’ security, letting them know that you’ve got an issue loitering outside your residence. Torielle continued to act like an idiot but you focused on cleaning up, finding your dropped cell phone in the mess, and return it to it’s natural place in your pocket. 

Not too long after that, your buzzer stops going off and you hear Torielle talking to somebody, most likely security, and after a little bit, you heard a knock on your door. Breathing in deep, you placed the package on a table that had survived Torielle’s short lived rampage and set down the broom and dust pan. You looked out your peephole, seeing that it was indeed downstairs security. 

You opened your door partially. “Wassup?”

“Ms. Black says she left her car keys and cellphone in your bedroom.” The male security guard stated, direct and to the point. “Would you mind retrieving that for her or we can come in…?”

“It’s cool, I got it.” You had expected this. Leaving the door open a crack, you go back to your bedroom, retrieve the requested items and come back, offering it. The lady security guard is the one who takes it from your hand. “Thank y’all for coming so quick.”

And because she just can’t help herself. “You still a–”

“Thank you for your prompt response. We’ll escort her out now.” Even as he was saying the words, the security guard is forcing Torielle to move, ushering her away. “Oh, and Jones, make sure that you take pictures of the property damage.”

“Got it.” The lady security guard nodded automatically before her gaze flicked to yours. “Unless you’d rather do it yourself? It’s just standard procedure.” 

You opened the door wider and gesture her to come in. Once she’s inside, you shut and lock it on reflex. Turning back around, you see that she already has her own phone out, taking pictures of the damage. For a second or two, you just stare at the back of her, gaze trailing over her figure.

“So, ‘Big Booty Betty’?”

You snap your gaze up to hers, and judging by her cocked eyebrow, she knew that you was staring. Giving a lazy little smile, you pull out your phone and dial a number. There’s the standard jingle ringing throughout your apartment. Both her eyebrows are raised now but that didn’t stop her from pulling out her cellphone; it was ringing and your number flashed on the screen. Instead of playing along like you’d hoped, she hit the decline button. 

“You’re a dumbass.I can see why this crazy chick tore up yo crib.” 

Stepping closer, hovering in her space, you lean your head down, lips near the shell of her ear. “Nah, she just wanted me to be her number one. Luckily, you ain’t interested in filling that position, right, Betty?” Daringly, you settled your hands on her hips.

“Okay…” With a firm grip, she pulled your hands away. “First off: it was one time. A mistake. Second, it’s Beatrice. Third: touch me again without permission and I’ll mace you, then tase your balls. Clear?”

Biting the inside of your cheek, you tamped down the urge to smirk, knowing that she meant it. “Crystal.” And you stepped back, letting her walk towards the front door again, she was twisting the locks and heading out but you couldn’t help yourself. “What if you do give me permission though? To touch you?”

Beatrice gave you a look, rolled her eyes, and left. You saw that little smirk though, so you knew that she wasn’t half as uninterested as she acted. You knew when to cut your losses too though, and for now, it was time to stop acting like some teenager with his first crush. 

Locking your door for the third time that day, you sighed. Later on, you had plans to hang out with your family, but for now, you just wanted to relax, mentally prepare for the lecture and scolding your mother and sisters would deliver upon chasing off ‘another decent woman’. 

Picking up the package, sent to you from your old classmate and once upon a time crush, Kymbrea. Even though it’d been awhile since you’d seen her face to face, last New Year’s Eve party, maybe, it was nice to be thought of like this. 

Of course, you weren’t anything special and Kym always did little things like this for her friends and loved ones.

The contents revealed itself to be a pitch black box except for the bright red logo XR on the side. Raising an eyebrow, you opened the box and pull out a VR headset, a tiny controller, and instructions. Emptying the box, searching for more of the contents, out fluttered a piece of paper in pretty, delicate cursive, ‘I’ve already uploaded everything I knew you’d like. Happy early Christmas! xo, K.’

The package most likely was delayed. 

‘Better late than never though.’ 

You set up the VR headset, all the cables and cords, and then put the headset on after making sure everything is up to date. If Torielle had destroyed any of your gaming systems or something of sentimental value, you’d definitely have been more pissed off, though you can admit deep, deep, deep, deep down that that situation maybe, kind, most likely, definitely had been your fault.

Never leave your phone out for any random to go snooping through, after all. 

Lesser known labels and companies associated with the game popped up in front of your vision, and there was a pause, barely a breath. Then you see him: a black man, who looks horribly familiar, walked in your direction. Before he got too close, he stopped and looked at you, standing in a familiar posture, barely slouched. 

…Was this…? Surely not…

/ Welcome to HTC Vive, the virtual reality which caters to all your needs. Before we can move on to the first chapter of the game, we’ll have to go through the registration to make sure everything is in order. Is that okay? /

It was.

Kymbrea definitely deserved a prank gift in return for this ridiculousness. Knowing her good hearted nature though, she probably actually thought this gift was something you’d actually like. You finish up registration, verifying that yes, you’re over 18, and yes, you’re over 21, you don’t mind violence or gore, you know to take breaks and be careful of flashing lights, etc.

/ So, the initial set up is complete. Some chapters will be better established with voice recognition, but can be played without. Do you wish to install this software? /

You raised an eyebrow before deciding to click ‘Yes’.

/ Understood. Voice recognition approved. /

The AI’s voice changed to suit yours and it admittedly felt strange. Not enough to make you want to stop checking out this VR headset, but it was just a bit… weird, kind of.

/ We’re about to start your journey. Please make sure that you’ve done everything you needed to do beforehand because this chapter will be shorter or longer to suit your needs. /

You answered the last minute questions, such as what you wanted to be called, your preference for your partners (male/female or otherwise), and other 18+ questions that you refused to admit got you hot under the collar, as soon as you hit the ‘Accept’ button, that’s when things for the firmly unusual.

Technicolors burst across your vision. 

The AI took steps towards you and he wasn’t stopping. The saying ‘you felt your stomach drop’ has never been so literal. You’re about to pull the headset off, not wanting to test this thing anymore, wondering why, why, why would Kym do this, was she punishing you or something, trying to scare you into changing your womanizing way or something, and then the AI’s hand is on you and that shouldn’t be possible at all. You open your mouth to do or say or shout…?

You hear static and your vision turns black.

                             »»————-　　————-««

Stay tuned for the next update of the You’re Perfect series! A new player has entered the simulation. Is that a good thing, or not. That’s up to you to decide. 

Chapter Text

Episode 6
Baby, It’s You

You woke to darkness. 

Although everything in you is screaming at you to open your eyes, you can’t. Or… Or– Fighting off the beginnings of a panic attack, instead of your eyes, you try to move your hands. Only for the same thing to happen. 

You can’t. 

No longer willing (or even capable, mind) to fight off the impending hysteria and dread, abruptly, everything changed in the next moment (second, minute, hour?). 

There’s a whirring sound, definitely electronic. 

And then… let there be light, as the saying goes.

Your eyes opened and you gazed up at a brilliant blue sky, two figures staring down at you. A pretty blonde woman with her hair cut into a bob, bright blue eyes, and a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. Beside her, an equally handsome man, only his hair’s black, cut in an identical style and boasting the same features, even down to the little smirk, stood beside her. 

‘Twins’, your brain whispered. ‘But, more importantly…’

“Welcome back online, Android 22.”

Gripping the edge of the storage container you’d been asleep in for who knows how long, you sat up. “17, 18. Where is Dr. Gero?” Although you had a rough idea, it wouldn’t hurt to actually be informed. Making assumptions only led to mistakes thus far, you’d realized. 

“Dead.” 18 stated bluntly. 

“…Huh.” You put one foot over the side, only to blink as a hand is offered to you. 

You stare at the appendage for a second or two, then reach out and grab it moments before it’s pulled back; 17 helps you the rest of the way out of the storage container. 

“…Thanks.” You stare at him for a moment, the meaning of your words subtler than just gratitude for his gentlemanly move. Judging by how his smirk vanished for a moment, caught off guard, clearly he heard the undertone of the simple statement. “Really.” And you glanced at 18 too, refusing to not give her the credit.  

“How… unusual. I expected far more hostility from you, 22.” 

“My memory banks show signs of a fairly recent hard defrag and master coded encryption.” You tap your temple, glancing at the tall ginger haired man at the corner of your eye. “Only the bare bones are left behind.” You shrug. “But, If you’d prefer a little sass as I curb stomp you into the ground, that’s your kink, not mine, 16.” Android 16′s frown deepened at your crude insinuation. 

17 snorted and you couldn’t resist sending him a cheeky wink. In return, he gave you a blatant once over, checking you out from head to toe, smirk widening. Before the teasing, lighthearted flirtation could continue though, you find your body moving on instinct; you use your wrist like a baseball bat or golf club, whacking the ki attack away from you and sending it into a nearby mountainside which crumbled to dust, sending dirt and debris in the air.

Gaze darting to the source of the attack, you see that it’s the Z-Fighters, minus Goku. 

As was normal when the amnesic Saiyan isn’t around, they all look totally out of their league and incompetent, minus Piccolo and Vegeta, the former cautious and the latter predictably arrogant. Trunks looked absolutely murderous, spiked blonde hair floating up stupidly, hands spread, clearly he’d been the one to throw down the gauntlet, so to speak. Krillin looked terrified, but also…there’s horrified recognition in his gaze as he looks at you. 

Frowning slightly, you lower your hand back to your side. 

“I’m assuming you want to take point here…?” 18 commented, sly amusement audible in her tone. 

Blinking, you’d realized that you’d indeed taken a half step forward. 

“…It’s been awhile since I’ve had a work out. Do you all mind?”

16 glanced to the side, apparently uninterested. 18 merely shrugged. 

17 is smirking again and you’re beginning to think it’s his default expression. 
“Make it entertaining.” 

You don’t verbally reply. It’s disappointing that the Z-Fighters hadn’t taken advantage of you not doing anything, but–

“W-Whoa!” Krillin yelled, dodging backwards. 

You’d vanished from view, only to reappear above the group, delivering an axe kick at Vegeta’s head and the Prince of Saiyan’s blocked. “Hahaha! Going after the strongest, I see! Wise move for a machine!” Vegeta mocking laughed, shoving you back, following it up with several rapid fire ki blasts. “But not enough! Now, DIE!”

Ignoring his trash talk, you gracefully weave in and out and around the blasts. Calculations and diagrams flashed through your brain in a rapid fire pace, the information understood and dissected in less than a breath or blink. Vanishing again, you appear behind his unguarded back, driving an elbow to the back of his neck with all the force of a 16 wheeler truck. 

Vegeta went careening through the air and crashed to the ground. 

“Father!” Trunks screamed. Then as you’d expected, calculated, he went charging directly at you. You dodged his sloppy punches, ducking underneath his arm where he overreached and sent two quick jabs to his ribs, firing a point blank ki blast to his face as he keeled over, holding his stomach. 

He quickly joined Vegeta in the dirt. 

You raised your arm just in time, taking the full force of Tien’s kick and barely moving an inch. 

The cyclops thankfully is less chatty than your last two opponents and merely follows his attack up with more punches that you block, even as they increase in speed and frequency, a mere blur to most human’s eyes, more than likely. 

After a second or two, he took two giant leaps backwards, hovering in the air, hands moving in that familiar position, about to use his signature attack, undoubtedly. 

Unfortunately, you didn’t plan to give him the chance, you flashed forward and punched him hard, not as hard as Vegeta, but still, you actually heard something crack; blood dribbled down his chin and he stared at you, dumbfounded. With your other hand, you swatted him like an annoying fly and just like the Saiyan prince and demi-Saiyan, he’s down for the count and eating dirt.

Piccolo took the initiative to try and do something different than the others. He attacked you from below with an Explosive Wave. The blast hit you dead on and enveloped your body in a cloud of smoke and energy. 

“Did…did you get her?” Krillin called out to the Namekian, vanishing to appear at his side. “I…I think you g–”

Piccolo tensed and whirled around, lashing out with a spinning heel kick. Clothes tattered and slightly singed, but relatively unharmed, you bat his kick aside and threw a right hook at his face. He dodged. The two of you then engaged in a regular ole brawl, no ki attacks involved, flashing all over the place. Higher and higher, picking up speed. Attacks becoming harder and decisive, brutal. 

Krillin clenched his fists, unable to see what was happening, but nursing a little hope in his heart. “Come on, Piccolo…” Reaching out with his senses, he jerked his head to the right and saw that Piccolo looked incredibly roughed up, panting. The former monk decided that he needed to…to do something, help, anything–! 

However, before he could, a thin ki blast is fired in his direction and he yelped, heart hammering. Glancing down, he sees the black haired android frowning, and once he realized he’d gotten his attention, wagged a finger. 

As if scolding him. 
Mocking his powerlessness.

‘Dang it…dang it…’ Frustrated tears welled up in his eyes and blurred his vision before he blinked them away. Just in time to see Piccolo was spun around rapidly by his foot and then sent flying like the others, only into the mountainside. 

‘I…I’m the last…o—’

Your strength and speed is beyond his ability to understand and comprehend. He can’t even complete a full thought before you stand before him. Staring him down, but at the same time, almost as if you’re looking through him. It’s taking all his concentration and energy to remain in the air and not look away, instinctively understanding that if he does, you’ll crush him underneath your foot like a bug. 

Then you smile gently. “Fighting you wouldn’t be very fun, I think. So let’s not, mmkay?”

“Ah…ah…” He can’t utter a word.

“Very wise.” You nod decisively. Then you turn around and descend quickly. 16, 17, and 18 are all waiting for you. “Sorry for taking so long.” Placing a hand on the nape of your neck, you smiled sheepishly. 

“It doesn’t really bother me that you took so long.” 18 sighed. “I just kind of wish you’d left some for us to beat up too….”

“You were dragging out your fights at least thirty seconds to a minute longer than necessary.” 17 remarked casually. He leaned in close, “22, could it be… that you’re secretly a closet sadist?” You halfheartedly aimed a punch at his side but he dodged out of the way with a laugh.

“Hold still!” “No way! You gotta catch me!”

“With the way those two have been carrying on and flirting all day, they’re a little bit obnoxious, don’t you think, 16?” 18 sighed, exasperated. 

“…I think it is the terminology, ‘sweet’.” 

18 facepalmed. “17, 22! Come on, enough.” Deciding to be the voice of reason, she called out to her fellow androids. “22, you need new clothes, as your current ones are practically falling off. Not to mention, there aren’t any cars are driving past this area, so we should fly somewhere a little busier.” 

“Spoilsport. I was enjoying the view.” 17 stuck his tongue out at his sister.

You punched him, hard, in the shoulder for the remark. 

Now that it’s been pointed out, you realized that the attire you’d woken up in is in bad shape, black skin tight leggings with gold anklets, and a loose baggy gray shirt, the shirt is ripped and frayed, the black and white Converse sneakers only slightly dusty, and your hair is probably a mess from all that flying around. 

“Let’s get going then.” Completely over this environment now, and wanting to explore even more, you’re the first to turn on your heel and about to blast off in some random direction in search of a mall.

“No! Stop!”

“And what do you want now?” 17 asked, not even bothering to glance at the remaining fighter, the guy was weak. Weak in spirit and weak in resolve. It’d be an insult to fight him.

“You guys…you guys leave Goku alone. That’s what you’re after right!? He’s sick! He can’t fight you now. Goku hasn’t done anything to you.” Krillin said fiercely, fists clenched as he glared at the group. 

“16 is programmed to destroy Goku.” 17 drawled. 
“So that’s what we’re going to do.”

“Even… even you, [Your Name]? I thought… I hoped I was mistaken, but it really is you.”

“Hmm? Maybe you’ve cracked from the pressure or fear, or whatever, but I don’t know anyone by that name.” You crossed your arms in front of your chest, but it seemed defensive and you didn’t want the vertically challenged idiot to think he was getting to you, so you relaxed your arms at your sides. 

“Just listen to me!” Krillin sounded desperate. “I don’t understand what Dr. Gero did to make you forget me, forget Goku, but you’re like his sister, his family, and to fight him would be wrong!!”

“I’m going on ahead. Do whatever you want with the delusional little coward.” You informed the trio, face blank. Then you blasted off, rocketing into the air, kicking up dirt and debris. 

“Great, he’s gone and pissed her off.” 17 sighed. 

“I don’t know why you’re acting like you don’t enjoy her being so unsettled.” 18 rolled her eyes. 

“It is a cute expression, I admit.” 17 chuckled. 

Again, 18 rolled her eyes. 

“Hey, you. Baldy.” Krillin glanced in 17′s direction, scared out of his wits again, it seemed. “We’re going to find and kill Goku, that’s the game. Hide him all you like. Come up with as many side quests as you want, like 22 being someone you used to know, it doesn’t matter in the end. We’re simply fulfilling Dr. Gero’s masterplan.”

“Listen to yourselves! You already got rid of him. You don’t have to do this, so why?”

17 smirked coldly. “It’s not like I’ve forgotten that, but this trainwreck is too entertaining to stop now.” 

“Nnngh, don’t. I beg of you! Please!” Krillin tried to beg. 
“You don’t have to do this.”

There’s silence for a beat.

“No.” 16 intoned, at last speaking up. “I am programmed to destroy Goku.”

“There ya go, pal.” 17 didn’t really care about this convo anymore and it was obvious. “Now if you excuse us, we have work to do.”

Krillin could only stare in dumbfounded disbelief. 

“Stop worrying about Goku and worry about your other friends, they could use some… Senzu beans.” 

18 started striding towards Krillin and the short man is freaking out. Quaking in his shoes, wanting to run but knowing he wouldn’t get very far. 18 didn’t do much more than lean down and press a light kiss to his cheek.

“Good luck. Bye.”

With that final parting comment, the remaining androids took off in the direction of their wayward comrade. Krillin’s legs could no longer support him and he fell on the ground.

“This is…this is such a mess…” 

‘I’m not looking forward to telling Goku this news.’

Chapter Text

Episode 7

Cultivating Friendships & Gaining Affection
A Choice With No Regrets

You open your eyes. 

Only an inky darkness surrounded your vision for as far as you could see. You blinked and let out a quiet, very quiet, exhale. Don’t panic, there’s no time to panic. Assess the situation, find out where you are and how you can escape.

Before you could put that idea into practice, that’s when you heard it. The footfalls of someone approaching. Looking around for something to use as a weapon proved to be an exercise in futility.

And then you saw her, the AI. The mirror image of yourself.
How you really saw yourself before this whole simulation began and you’d undergone multiple transformations, been dressed to impress and kill in new outfits, etc. 

Tensing, prepared to…to do something, lash out maybe, when your(?), her, mouth opened.

“A new player has entered the simulation.”

‘…What?’ Confused, as you so often are, you’re unsure how to react. A new player? What did that even mean…? Perhaps anticipating this reaction, the AI thrust a hand out, palm first, in front of her and a screen appeared in front of your face. 

The person there is… He’s vaguely familiar. 
Not an anime character or anyone from a movie or series, but someone that you actually know from the real world.

‘That’s… [Male Character Name]. ….So, so… that means-’

“There are some simulations and situations that would work better with a partner to back you up. Indeed, co-op mode can be toggled on and off from the Main Menu. Would you like to do that now?”

You select yes, and while you’re perusing through the Main Menu, you swipe until you come across Settings, bypassing Options altogether. You check the box that would allow Co-Op Mode, scrolling down until… 

“There we go…” You mutter underneath your breath, checking the box(es) that would always show off a minimized screen with your choices, and the option to rewind and select different choices without prompting. Default voice commands were pre-chosen so that it wouldn’t distract from game-play, words such as Pause would obviously freeze the simulation, whereas the word, Begin, would start the simulation again. You changed the command Menu to M1 after some thought, and that would take you back to the Main Menu, and instead of Return, you switched it to R1, and that would take you out of the simulated reality entirely, returning you to the real live world.

For a second, you deliberated with that idea. 

Going back to the real world, in a pretty epic house, working at a company that did pretty awesome stuff, its just the people that you were consistently annoyed with or barely tolerated, and your dating record was pitiful… 

And then you shook your head. ‘It’s nice to have the option to bail out, at least.’ 

Too many times had you read horror fanfics or a string of conspiracy theorist nonsense about the situation that you’re currently going through right now. The possibility of being stuck for years in a simulated reality that you couldn’t escape from… Not fun, of course.

However, for the most part, you are having fun right now. You got to drool over, oggle, fuck, and walk alongside some of your favorite characters. You wanted to see more, discover more realities. The real world and it’s bullshit could wait another day.

Once you’re completely done with that, you look up and see that the AI is still standing there, watching you. Creepy, really. 
And then she gestures behind her.

Five doors open, one after another.

Maybe she said something deep and profound, maybe it was a warning, but you didn’t care. Didn’t listen. Your feet guided you forward of their own accord and without hesitation, you step through the doorway that called to you.  

To the start.

‘The Underground can almost be called beautiful in a way, with this view…’
You think to yourself hazily. 

The lingering sensation of being bathed in warm water as you stepped through the doorway into the simulation dissipates rapidly, only to be replaced by the sound of rushing wind. 

“Pull up!”

Levi’s warning nearly comes too late. 

Instincts that you didn’t even realize you had kick in at the correct moment. 

You run forward quickly, doing a handstand on top of a stack of crates on an old fashioned cart truck, tuck, then roll, and pop back up again, continuing to flee the scene. There’s a crash from behind you and you don’t look back to confirm what’s going, the curses and complaints of the Underground merchants are enough of a clue.

Getting up high is the goal and you don’t think twice as you put on an extra burst of speed, jumping up and beginning to scale along a wall of a dilapidated house, thankfully its not that big and there’s a couple ledges. All this exercise is more than you’re used to and you take a couple quick breaths, ignoring the stitch in your side as you begin to run again. 

Momentum, momentum, that’s what you need. Don’t look down. Just do it…!

You vault of the edge of the house and the bottom of your stomach feels like it’s fallen when there’s nothing but straight stone if you fall, and oh my God, fuck, holyfuckballs, black people do not do this daredevil crazy shit!!

Again, instincts, or the game settings, perhaps, whatever it is, kicks in and saves you as you work your ODM gear like a pro. You’re like straight up Spider Woman as you zip through the air until you catch up with Isabel, Farlan, and Levi, taking up position in the rear of the group.

“Wooohoooo! Yeah! You’re so cool, [Your Name]!”

Unbidden, your mouth quirked upwards in a little smirk. Stil, she’s looking backwards and not paying attention. You’re about to call her out on it, only to catch a glimpse of forest green in your peripherals and your heart skips a beat. 

“Levi, pursuers coming up fast.” It’s a wonder that your voice is so steady. 

“Heh. Military Police, again, eh? Haven’t learned their lesson, have they?” Again, Isabel looked back, her face smug, and arrogance was clear in her tone. “Levi-bro, what I said was a cool line, right!?”

“Are you an idiot?” Levi asked bluntly, not at all impressed. 

Isabel’s face comically dropped and she looked at you beseechingly. “Big sis, what about–” Farlan interjected though and moved the conversation along. “They definitely haven’t yet, and they’re still sending elite soldiers.” 

“The merchants must have alerted them.” Levi deduced. 

“Most likely.” Farlan agreed. “Last time, we got quite a big “donation” from their safe.” He smirked. “We saved them from getting any fatter and further ruining their health. They should be grateful!” Isabel tacked on, smirking. 

The banter and easy camaraderie with these two is adorable. 

“Farlan, Isabel, [Your Name]. Let’s go.” Levi swooped down low, almost touching the ground, only to swing his body easily, twisting about in the air and getting even higher. For a moment, you can almost see him decked out in Survey Corps gear, his future(?) bright and clear, why everyone looked up to him.

Then a bright white arrow flashed on the wall in front of you, pointing to the left, and you had the feeling that this was part of the game’s mechanism. Not even thinking twice, you followed where the arrow pointed, splintering off from the main group and with your ODM gear, you swooped right through an open window. Dashed past a small family, avoiding stepping on the children’s toys, and dodging the father’s frantic swings with the kitchen knife, he probably thought you were a burglar or worse. 

You slipped out the open back window (why, oh why, so careless, Papa-san) and dropped down onto the next building. The landing could’ve been better. Thankfully, you didn’t break anything, though you might be a little bruised. The arrow flashed again, insistently, pointing forward and you see another building, this one looking emptier from a distance. 

Dusting yourself off, you caught your breath before you started running, and when you leapt, this time you did the smart thing and didn’t look down and have a freak out mid-air. 

Your ODM gear worked like a dream and you were inside the abandoned building where a couple satchels of knives and a gun waited for you. 

The gun was typically old time-y and it threw you for a loop. 

Luckily for you, you didn’t have to puzzle out how to assemble it or anything weird like that. Or so it seemed. The arrow kept pointing down at the gun so you picked it up after a moment, and just as you did, you heard a loud crash. Glancing out over the ledge carefully, you watch as Levi fights Mike with just a little pocket knife, almost, compared to the blades that Survey Corps’ members carry around. 

He even manages to knock one of those blades away, and thrusts the knife forward and up, aiming to stab Mike in the chest or throat, more than likely. Only to be intercepted by another Survey Corps member, the hood falling off to reveal a familiar looking man with a head of blonde hair. 

It takes you a couple seconds to place exactly who he is.

‘Shit, it’s Erwin!’ 

You watch, heart in your throat, as Levi and Erwin are engaged in a locked standstill for a few seconds. Then two more Survey Corps members come out with Isabel and Farlan in chains. Despite his reputation as a hardass at first glance, Levi is kind of soft to the people he cares for, and you’re unsurprised when he lets his weapon fall from his hand. 

Gritting your teeth, you watch the proceedings. Levi, Isabel, and Farlan are on their knees, Erwin is interrogating them, it looks like. For a moment, you even dare to think that things might go differently, somehow Levi will pull a trick out of nowhere and…

And then Mike slams Levi’s head to the ground, right into a puddle of filthy water.

The gun in your hand feels heavy, but you know what you have to do. You settle down, set it up and aim. Finger on the trigger, inhale, hold the breath. Erwin is kneeling in front of Levi now, so close. 

If you miss… Pushing that thought away, you pulled the trigger. 

The recoil is enough to almost put you on your ass if you’d not been expecting it, but you manage to stand strong, only barely. The bullet hits the intended target, felling the female soldier. Your ears are ringing and you know you have only seconds, if that, before the remaining fuckwits pull their shit together. You reload, aim again, and… Your chosen victim, the other random Survey Corps member, he’s right there and boy, does he look pissed. He’s thrusting his blade at you, screaming something, but you don’t hesitate, you fire, he tilts his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the bullet to the brain. 

What kind Matrix-esque, Jet Li bullshit is this?

Your incredulity is put on the back burner as you’re in struggle for your life. The gun is knocked away from you and the soldier is swinging his blade at you with angry precision, the desire for vengeance clear in his gaze. He’s all fancy footwork and speed, while you’re like a bull in a china shop in comparison. Eventually, he makes a mistake, letting his guard down and you don’t even hesitate before you’re doing something dumb. You ram into him full speed, not realizing, or forgetting, how close he is to the window and you barely even have time to think ‘Oh shit!’ before the two of you are sailing out of it. 

The soldier is better in the air than you are and you hate to acknowledge this fact. Legit, the asshole doesn’t even blink as he uses his ODM gear to swing free of the potential danger (and death), you along for the ride. He drives his elbow into your face once, twice. You taste blood and know that you’ve got a bloody nose, gross. The next time he goes to hit you, you punch him back, hard. You hear a crack and know that your hit has broken his nose. 

Pettiness satisfied, you let go of his waist, using the ODM gear to your advantage and swinging off, around him. He’s still got his blades, aiming to skewer you. You retrieved a couple knives from the gun holster strapped to your shoulders and back, and without hesitation, you throw them with deadly aim. 

He hits the ground, holding his shoulder. 

You only get enough time to use the sleeve of your shirt to roughly wipe away the blood dripping down your nose grossly before Mike is upon you. His characteristic blank expression is still in full effect as he engages you in a fight. 

At first, it takes place in the air, but he’s easily dominating that and he grounds you forcefully. 

You scramble away, getting up and going for hand to hand combat, with a couple knives, but you’re no Levi. Good, decent, yes, you are, but Mike is obviously on another level and he isn’t holding his punches at all, even though you’re a girl. 

Maybe even because of that fact, who knows.

The fight is over before you know it and soon, you’re in the same predicament as Isabel, Farlan and Levi. The manacles on your wrist make you highly uncomfortable for a lot of reasons and you immediately want them off. Erwin seems to sense your feelings, being the weirdo with the power kink, or whatever, because he stares you down like an animal at the zoo.

“Keep looking at me like that, Eyebrows, and I’ll get ideas.” It might be considered flirting to some people, but your tone is distinctly sardonic. Isabel snorted, only to cut herself off abruptly, and at the corner of your eye, you note that Farlan elbows her. 

“Apologies. I’m just inspired by your cunning. I’d have thought you would have left you companions to their fate.” You don’t say anything. “Then again, based on the intel we’ve collected, you’re in charge if Levi is occupied.” Again, you stay quiet, but either your poker face must not be as good as you thought or Erwin is just a conniving, controlling bastard and wants to milk the situation for what it is, or something because he lets out a slight chuckle and then looks you dead in the eye. “Please forgive my reprehensible manners. My name is Erwin Smith. You are..?”

He’s got charisma out the ass, you can acknowledge that much at least. You glance off to the side of his head, the very image of put out. Annoyed.
“…[Your Name].”

“[Your Name]. I’ll give you the same opportunity that I just offered Levi. Lend me your strength. Join the Scouts.” Although you kind of expected this, it’s not any less shocking to actually hear him ask. 

“But, sir!” The injured Scout piped up, looking at you hatefully.
Erwin did nothing more than raise a hand and he shut up. 

There’s silence for several moments. 

The urge to look behind you at Levi is strong, but you strangle the impulse. 

“And if I refuse?” 

Truthfully, you’re asking partially to be an ass and also you just want to know, really. Is it worth it, going out there day after day, witnessing giant naked people chomp down on smaller human beings? Do you really want to throw your lot in with these soldiers who really were just cannon fodder, for like, years?

You heard the sound of metal against metal and then felt a blade pressed against the nape of your neck. Erwin looks you in the eye, his features blank and cold. “You did kill one of mine…”

“Heh. So I did.” You’re unapologetic about that fact too. “…Fine. You’ve got me ass over a barrel. I’ll join the Scouts.” A chill ran up and down your spine, and you wonder what will happen going forward. Glancing at Farlan and Isabel in your peripherals, you make a vow that you won’t let them die for nothing, without a fight. 

You risk a glance at Levi and his face is blank, closed off like normal. As Erwin turned away to talk to the angry Scout, and Mike removed his blade from your neck, just before you glanced away, Levi’s expression softened only slightly and he nodded as he caught you watching.

This is the job that you, he, Isabel and Farlan agreed to do. 

Now it’s just about seeing it through.

                               »»————-　　————-««

And thus another episode ends. You’ve cast the die and made your pledge. Will you survive the horrors that await. That is to be seen…

Chapter Text

Episode 8
You Don’t Know…

‘It’s hot as fuck in here…’ That’s the first coherent thought that entered your brain as slowly, you began to wake up. Confused and disoriented, because the entire building came with central heating and air conditioning, you go to toss off the sheets only to touch bare skin instead.

Eyes popping open, you sat up ramrod straight, and glance to the right. 

There’s a green-haired man, naked as the day he was born, in bed, spooning against you. It’s a sight that doesn’t register for a minute. You close your eyes for a second, half expecting that you’re still dreaming. 

Having a whacky nightmare, or even a mid-life crisis, maybe? 

Anything’s possible after all. 

Opening your eyes, the image doesn’t change. Anger and even a dash of fear spread throughout your body, and you come to the decision that you should have from the start. 

You’re about to kick the shit out of this asshole…!!

Except you’re thwarted by the green-haired fucker himself waking up, stretching his arms overhead, arching his back and yawning wide, the sheets pooling around tan, muscular hips, and, much to your utter horror and mortification, you gape unattractively for a second and then quickly look away, like a punk or something. 

“Ugh, I can feel your brain melting as you have a big gay freak out over there…” Fingers curl around your wrist and you flinch minutely. The hand immediately released you. “Sorry, sorry! Haha, you know me, always a little too quick to touch people. Sorry.” He chuckled, but to your ears, it sounded rather forced, which for some reason upset you, and you glanced at the other man, “Um, so… Nothing happened last night, so you can relax, big guy.”

Mouth opening, you’re about to speak, but then realize that the thoughts reverberating in your brain are too scrambled to assess thing properly, so you had a couple false starts. Before you could actually say something to get rid of this awkward, tense atmosphere, the strangest phenomenon happens, that makes you question your sanity, and causes you to wonder if you’re in the middle of some weird ongoing daymare or whatever. 

Everything….freezes.
Ghostly white words appeared in front of your face. 

/ Camp Buddy is a story based game that features player choice. The consequence of all your in-game actions and decisions will impact the past, present, and future. Choose wisely. /

‘What the fuck…?’

[ “Um, so… Nothing happened last night, so you can relax, big guy.” (Silence is always a valid option, too.)
a.) “Of course nothing went on. You wouldn’t be moving around comfortably, for one, after all…”
b.) “I just want to know why we’re in bed together. We haven’t so much as hugged in years.”
c.) “This is too much nonsense so early. Go back to bed, I know I am…”
d.) “….” ]

It now sinks in that some next level, Matrix-esque bullshite is going on. You’d thought the guy laying naked in bed with you looked familiar although his name had stubbornly eluded you until now. 

Aiden Flynn. The cook/scoutmaster of Camp Buddy; a visual novel/video game series Kym had bought as a birthday gag gift last year. Or so you told yourself. Especially when it became clear exactly what type of content was actually in the game. 

A lesser man would have flown off the handle, blustered and raved. A normal man would calmly tell Kym never to pull such a prank again, as it was distasteful. A pettier man wouldn’t have talked to her for awhile, just to prove a point. 

However, you’re a man who had always been honest with yourself, your lovers and one night stands. Personally, you labeled your sexuality as fluid, and once had a rather interesting conversation with an ex girlfriend at 3 AM about bisexuality vs pansexuality.

‘What the fuck am I even thinking about right now!?’   

Flustered, no, mortified, really, you paced the length of the room, going from one end to the other, idly cataloging that your simulated body remains locked in the position that you’d last been in. Dragging a hand down your face, you forced yourself to think about this calmly, logically. To remember as many details as possible and attempt to make sense of this weirdness. 

You recalled Kymbrea’s belated Christmas gift. How, against your better judgment, you decided to test it out anyway. The technicolor bursting across your vision as the game set went haywire and the AI taking on your voice, standing as you did, and then at last, striding towards you, touching your hand before…

‘I’m in a simulation.’ 

The unchangeable truth that you’d tried to deny so strongly can no longer be ignored. 

‘My real, physical body is not here, and I’m likely unconscious or comatose.’ You hoped that someone would be by to find your body and take you to the hospital. The likelihood of that actually happening is perhaps 50/50 depending on the individual and their level of generosity. 

Exhaling bitterly, you muse, ‘I woke up in bed next to a half-naked guy in a gay video game. Sounds like the start of a fanfic written by some lonely fujoshi living in the attic of her parent’s house.’

Annoyed with being annoyed with the entire situation, you realize that those ghostly white words aren’t going anywhere. It’s like a neon sign tempting and taunting you. 

…What the hell. 

Might as well go along with this and see where it leads.

Sullenly, you reached out and touched an option at random, not really focusing. After a blink and a breath, you realized that it was option b. 

Time unfroze and you found yourself uttering the words. 

Aiden’s uncomfortable expression shifted, features twisting in a grimace. “That’s kind of Yuri’s fault.” He must’ve took note of your unimpressed look because he hastened to explain. “OK, OK! It was Yuri’s idea, but I didn’t… discourage her. I know you’re not big on parties and being around people much, so when she gave me the idea to swap your normal fruit juice for the special spiked version for scoutmasters, I…may have given you my cup instead.”

You sat up, letting the thin sheets fall off your body as you prepare to get out of bed and, and, you didn’t know what you were going to do next because a hand is on your upper shoulder, tugging you so that you’re pressed up against his side. 

“Get off of me, Aiden.”

“Please don’t be mad!” His half pleading tone grated on you, his warm breath caressing the shell of your ear, body pressed up against yours, warmth seeping into your skin, though you’re trying valiantly to ignore it. “I just wanted you to have at least one decent experience this summer. You’ve been wound up so tight, and, and, and–”

“And you’re a grade-A idiot.” Your words are blunt, but honest. Aiden winced but didn’t deny it. “I should be angry, but there were good intentions behind the thought, I guess.”

“You guess?” Aiden comically pouted, pressing up against you even more. 

You could actually feel his dick… 

The stray thought, and again, the realization of the intimate proximity should freak you out, maybe make you shove him away and out of the bed. Instead you do the exact opposite, you tilt your head, peering at his face. 

There’s a minute flash of surprise and uncertainty in his expression, but he doesn’t resist when you place a hand on the nape of his neck. 

Then as Aiden parts his lips, opening his mouth to say something, what, you didn’t know, didn’t care to know, as you’re kissing now. Although you’re sure he’d read the intent in your body language and expression, still, Aiden jerked minutely, his eyes remain open and so do yours. After a second, you pulled back, just slightly. Licking your lips, you laugh softly, awkward. “Sorry. I should have asked.” 

There’s a soft exhale, Aiden shuffling about in bed. “Yeah, you surprised me.” You nod, about to apologize but he reached out now, cupping your cheek, tilting your head up to his line of sight. “Didn’t think you saw me that way. The way that I…” he paused, hesitating, but you could fill in the blanks. “Redo?” His thumb ran over your bottom lip, eyes intent. 

It’s weird that a move that you’d pulled countless times on women is now being used on you…and it’s working. You nodded once and Aiden leaned in to kiss you. At first, it’s chaste, just lips on lips, then after a moment, he broke it, pulling back to check your expression, whatever he saw must’ve been enough to make him relax as bit by bit, the kisses became steadily less PG-13. Sometime during this whole thing, he’d steadily been coaxing you to the middle of the bed, and you’re on your back. 

“Do you want to stop?” The words are murmured against your throat. There’s no hiding how turned on he is, or how turned on you are, and neither of you are trying very hard to hide that fact, either way. “We don’t have to go all the way. I mean, I have lube but not a condom…” Aiden went on to explain hurriedly, orange eyes catching your gaze and the concern is obvious. He won’t do anything you don’t want to do or you’re not ready for.

You swallow. “Not ready for that, but….” For a moment, you hesitated. Only a moment. “Maybe get the lube, that’ll make it easier.” 

“Wait, why would w…Ohhh.” Aiden didn’t ask anymore questions or make stupid comments. He merely sat up and grabbed the little tube out of his beside dresser drawer. “You know, we don’t have to do this….?”

You shoved the covers off your body, revealing your lower half without any apparent trepidation at all. “If you keep asking if I’ve chickened out, I might get a complex.” You half tease. Aiden stared at you, at your body, and some confidence came back as you snagged the lube from him, popping the cap open, poured some in your right hand. “I want to do this with you.” You state again, calmly and clearly. “Unless you want to stop?”

Aiden exhaled, and some invisible weight finally, finally seemed to ease from his shoulders. He pressed a long, hard kiss to your mouth as you nudged the covers off of him as well, using your left hand to tweak a nipple, just to tease, trailing over his abs, and then trailing down down down. He broke the kiss only to moan as you wrap your hand, wet with lube, around his cock. “Nnngh, fuck…”

“Good?” You murmur, amusement thick in your tone. You give his cock a slow stroke, base to tip. Aiden swore, chest heaving, as gradually you sped up the motions, occasionally fondling his balls. He got even louder as after a few minutes you mentally said fuck it. You poured more lube on your left hand, and leaned your head down, tracing his nipples with your tongue. Aiden spread his legs wider and while you slowed down on jerking him off, his displeasure made obvious as he whined, you ignored that for a moment as slowly, carefully, you fingered him. 

“[Your Name}!”

Aiden is really too cute. That flush on his tan cheeks, how he bit his bottom lip, riding your fingers. You scissored your fingers, spreading him open wider, index and middle finger pressing in aaaand you found it, obviously; the prostate. Aiden arched his back, crying out loudly as he came all over his own stomach and chest. 

“Baby, that was hot as fuck…” You didn’t immediately pull your fingers free. No, you kept fingering him for a few seconds longer, making sure that you wrung him dry of that orgasm, and gave a quick few pumps of his cock, licking your lips as even more cum dribbled out the tip. Reading his body language as closely as you were, you could tell when pleasure started to change to discomfort, and you slowly stopped all your ministrations. 

It didn’t take you long at all to come yourself, two quick strokes, and you were spraying your seed all over his chest, though a bit got him on the chin. Aiden stuck his tongue out as you did, the mental image giving you ideas…

Before you could lean down and kiss him again, or go get tissues or something to clean up, time froze. 

{Aiden Affection increased by 6}
{Aiden Affection increased by 6}
{Aiden Affection increased by 6} 
{Gained the ‘We’re definitely not just friends’ trophy}

/ Congratulations! You’ve made your first significant choice. There are several hidden trophies to be collected and every choice can has the potential for greater impact and deeper conversation.

So it’s highly advised to try them all to get the full experience! If you’d like to check your progress in the storyline, check your inventory, view your trophies, check your stats, check your friendship(s) stats, turn on and off Tutorial Mode, or to save and exit the game, you can return to the Main Menu after a checkpoint has been reached or you’ve made a significant choice.

Would you like to try it out now?
a.) Yes
b.) No /

You reached out and touched the wisp-like word ‘Yes’. A second later and a full body screenshot appeared. You’re dressed in the standard Camp Buddy uniform, only a stethoscope is dangling around your neck. 

Animal motif
Personality
Likes
Dislikes

Thankfully, some things like your name, age, height and weight were already filled in by default, though you had to correct the animal motif, personality type (tsundere, really?), some likes and dislikes, before you could comfortably admit to being okay with it. 

Reaching out, you touched the full body screenshot, holding it there, before ‘swiping’ right. Next popped up the inventory, which contained only items Tylenol, a med-kit, and some wraps and bandages. Again, you swiped right, and up popped up the story progression timeline, which is at 1%. Messing around with the settings, you checked each one to see what it meant and that you understood the basics, like checking the blood and gore box, so you’d be able to see a gory or gross scene uncensored, sex scenes, etc.

It would do for now.

Then you came across the Friendship Stats and even some background, admittedly, this is when things got….interesting. 

You’re the medic of Camp Buddy. Hired on by Goro at another location, it’d actually been you who told Aiden about the job. The two of you were childhood friends and had in fact went to the same schools right up until after senior year, though the two of y’all remained in touch. After meeting Yuri, and she met Aiden, the duo become a trio. The three of you were mischievous as could be….before the incident last summer with Taiga and the bullies. With the camp so divided, you decided to pull an underdog play and support Taiga, taking him on as sort of willing apprentice. 

‘He was a little asshole for half the game but I guess he does need an adult figure that isn’t spazzing out on him.’ Curiosity piqued, you could admit that you were getting invested in the game and how it would turn out.

You were level 9 with Yuri. Plain and simple, she was a fujoshi. You found her antics for the most part ignorable but hilarious, when it’s at someone else’s expense. The two of you do manage to have simple conversations here and there, when she isn’t shipping you with her dad or Aiden.

You were level 10 with Goro. He trusted you implicitly….for some reason. It’s clear that he puts more trust in you than Yoshi. The two of you have a professional relationship. 

Yoshinori is at level 4. He doesn’t hate you or anything and does at least respect you. He’s just never made a real effort to talk to you one-on-one, except to halfheartedly scold you for encouraging Yuri, maybe. Wow, what an asshat.

Aiden is at level 7. Best friend. Fellow co-conspirator. Childhood friend. Crush. …Love…r…. It’s complicated, clearly.

You’re intensely interested now. How would things play out now that you’re apart of the game? Could you help Camp Buddy succeed and flourish, or would you stand aside and let it flop? Did you even have that choice when you weren’t the main character…

Swiping right a final time, you came across the final screen.

/ Save and Continue or Save and Exit? /

                              »»————-　　————-««

And thus concludes the chapter! What do YOU want to do? Do you want to continue or do you want to come back to this sassy boy later? You decide!