Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival (The Otome Heroine's Fight for Survival), is a Light Novel written by Harunohi Biyori, with illustrations by Yuu Hitaki. It was first serialized as a Web Novel in the Shouketsuka ni Narou website in 2019 before being picked by TO Books in 2021.
In a fantasy world, a girl named Alicia is struggling as an orphan due to the death of her parents and her subsequent selling to the orphanage's cruel manager. But one day, a woman attacks Alicia and reveals to her that she is the heroine of an Otome game, where even the deaths of her parents were part of the story! Before pulling a knife, the woman reveals that she herself was reincarnated into the game and plans to kill and steal the body of Alicia, so she can be the heroine instead! But before Alicia is killed, she manages to grab a nearby rock and kills the woman (even double-tapping her) while also obtaining a wealth of knowledge from the strange crystal in her attacker's possession. After seeing the "nonsense" of being part of a game and determined to avoid her fate at all costs, Alicia steals the woman's knife, kills the evil Orphanage master and steals some supplies before running away to a nearby forest, transforming from an innocent child into a cool and calculated planner. So, it begins the survival adventure of Alicia, now naming herself Aria, in a "nonsensical" Otome game world.
The Light Novel was licensed in English by J-Novel Club, with its first volume released on their website in two parts on November 17, 2023.
This Light Novel provides examples of:
- Adult Hater: What Alicia becomes after seeing firsthand how cruel they can be to children and those less fortunate. There are some exceptions however whom she recognizes to be decent people.
- Back from the Dead: Chapter 3 reveals the unnamed woman to have reincarnated again as a young girl in the slums as she finishes making another crystal, still obsessed with usurping Aria as the story's heroine.
- Bastard Understudy: What the unnamed woman ultimately became to Serjura, as she used everything she was taught for her own selfish and nefarious purposes.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Aria can be friendly and sociable if someone shows kindness to her. But if you try to hurt her, she will not show any mercy.
- Combat Pragmatist: Justified, as being a little girl armed with only one knife and the knowledge of the game has left her at a great disadvantage even after leaving the orphanage.
- Determinator:
- What Alicia becomes in her journey to avoid her written fate, to the point where she inadvertently throws the original story completely off the rails by disguising herself and going into hiding around the time her long-lost grandfather was supposed to find her.
- The unnamed woman is also this to disturbing degrees in her quest to become the heroine instead, as she manages to reincarnate a second time and creates a new crystal.
- Double Tap: Being related to the above, Aria always finishes her enemy. That includes the woman who tried to kill her at the start of the story.
- Genius Ditz: The crystal the unnamed woman was carrying reveals her to have been this, as she didn’t have much interest in anything but magic and never remembered her master’s lessons too well. Serjura describes her as being a reckless idiot back when she used to be her disciple who took five years to get non-magic related topics drilled into her, but is amazed to learn that she managed to create a magic stone from a failed ancient spell originally meant to teach toads to sing. When Aria reveals what happened between the two of them, Serjura is left wishing that her former disciple could've put her talents to better use instead of wasting them the way she did.
- Heroic Wannabe: After the circumstances of her reincarnation rendered her unable to get involved in the main story, the unnamed woman decided to become the main heroine instead of Alicia. It backfired completely when Alicia killed her instead and destroyed the crystal meant for the swap. Come her second reincarnation, the woman remains determined to see her goal fulfilled.
- Kill and Replace: The unnamed woman had plans of doing this to Alicia using a special crystal containing a copy of her knowledge and memories, only to fail and instead end up dying by Alicia's hands instead. Alicia however wonders whether or not the plan would've actually worked, as she points out that the woman had no concrete proof that it would and that it could've ended in a different person being created instead of her original self. She decides that it wouldn't have, as she still retains her own personality even after absorbing the knowledge from the crystal and only memories from the woman that were too fractured to make any real changes.
- No Name Given: The name of the woman who assaults Alicia at the beginning of the story is never revealed, not even by her master Sejura who exclusively refers to her as her "idiot disciple."
- Reincarnate in Another World:
- The unnamed woman was this, having recognized the world she was in as the setting of her favorite Otome game. However, she reincarnated several decades before the start of the original story and would've reached old age by that time. She then tried to become a teacher at the Academy by gathering experience as an adventurer and studying diligently in the magical arts until she learned that they would never accept those of commoner birth like her as a teacher or student, leaving her unable to be involved in the story in any way. Driven mad by her situation, she got the idea to instead usurp Alicia as the heroine. Unfortunately for Alicia, the woman manages to reincarnate again as a young girl shortly after being killed by her and is still determined to succeed in her plan.
- The original story's villainess Clara also turns out to be this. Like the unnamed woman before her, she recognizes the setting and does everything she can to avoid her eventual fate of being exiled or executed, even if it means killing Aria herself. Aria however becomes suspicious of her and her odd behavior when they finally meet in person, deciding to keep tabs on her in case she becomes a threat later on.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Aria realizes that her gender would expose her to various dangers in her struggle, so she pretends to be a boy for the first couple years.
- Ungrateful Bitch: The unnamed woman's master Serjura considered her this. She had been teaching her everything she knew about magic for years, only for her disciple to eventually return the favor by stealing a ton of Sejura's money and belongings after struggling to make it on her own as an adventurer.
