Chapter 7 a meal

Once the hostess had disappeared, they settled around the table. William hesitated for a moment, then finally took the seat at the end of the table. This was the role he'd been assigned. He'd just have to live with it. In any case, it wasn't as if it mattered much, or if there was anyone more legitimate for that seat.

Once everyone was seated, they took a moment to look around the table. To William's right were, in that order, Anna, Karine, Charlotte and Nicole. To William's left were, in that order, Hélène, Elisa, Iris & Marion.

It was Anna who decided to break the silence and stood up to speak.

"Hello everyone, my name is Anna Oria, but you can call me Anna. Obviously we're stuck in this mess together. So I suggest we do our best to help each other out. Don't be fooled by the promise of an open-ended wish, there'll always be time to take care of this," Anna concluded.

"And why should we listen to you? For all I know, you could very well be in cahoots with that bitch," said Marion, who had calmed down in the general opinion. After all, she wasn't shouting anymore.

_"I have sworn to be worthy, honest and loyal. I am not and never will be in league with criminals of her ilk. At best, that kind of person deserves to be put in prison and the key thrown away. At worst..." _Anna didn't finish her sentence, but everyone had an idea of what she had in mind.

William knew Anna's story and could easily understand why she held such a position. Even if he couldn't help finding her a little too Manichean from time to time.

Marion didn't seem convinced by Anna's words. At the same time, Marion wasn't someone who gave much credence to people's words. What she had learned in life was that everyone had a price. And if that wasn't enough, threats and **** worked just fine.

"What do you propose Anna?" asked William, who wasn't sure in which direction she wanted to lead them.

"I don't have a precise plan in mind. We still know too little about show, about this place or even about each other. Our first priority is to gather information," said Anna.

"You can count on me. Gathering information is my specialty!" says Iris enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Iris, but I think the task is too important to be entrusted to just one person," said Anna.

"So what do we do?" asked Elisa, curious to see what the judge had in mind.

_"We're going to explore this village. Then I think it would be a good idea for William and Hélène to tell us about the theme of the round, which only they know about. This will undoubtedly give us a better grasp of future trials and transformations. But before we do all that, I think it would be a good idea for us to have a meal and introduce ourselves," _concluded Anna.

No one objected to this proposal. Even Marion simply nodded and began to eat.

"Wow, the food's really good. I really feel like it's real. Honestly, I've never had a dream where I ate food this good," said Nicole.

Everyone looked at her in amazement. Was denial really limitless?

_"And look at this idiot! Not even capable of understanding the situation!" _exclaimed Marion. Although the wording did not meet with consensus in the harem, no one was able to contradict her words.

"Nicole, look at me I've got some bad news for you," said Charlotte, turning to Nicole who was sitting next to her.

"What's the matter? Did your puppy die? Don't worry, I'm here to comfort you," said Nicole, opening her arms as if to give Charlotte a hug. Unless she was trying to caress the doggirl. Hard to say.

"No, No Nicole I have bad news that concerns you, that concerns us all. This isn't a dream. Everything that's happening to us is real," said Charlotte.

"What are you talking about, doggy?" says Nicole, touching Charlotte's dog ears.

"How could such cute ears be real?" said Nicole, playing with the inspector's ears, who clearly wasn't used to the sensation and was blushing as hard as she could.

The inspector must have been in pain, because she firmly grabbed the young woman's hands, and she protested.

_"Ouch! That hurts! Bad dog!" _said Nicole.

"I'm not a dog! This is the real thing and it's time you came out of your denial!"

This seemed to have an effect, as the Asian girl's eyes opened wide.

"No? No. No! That's impossible. There's no such thing. There's no such thing as magic. There's no such thing as a doggirl. No. No. No. I'm in my bed in the hospital, about to take my turn in the emergency room. I'll close my eyes and I'll wake up," said the young woman, who was completely panicking.

As the young woman closed her eyes as hard as she could, the policewoman decided to take her in her arms and give her a hug. This was too much for Nicole, who began to cry.

_"What am I going to do? I can't. I've got to go to work. I've got to go to work. I've got to study for my doctorate. I can't stay here," _Nicole began to articulate.

"Don't worry, I'm here. Everything's going to be fine. I don't know what the future holds, but you can count on us to face it together," said Charlotte, who still hadn't stopped hugging.

It took several minutes before the young woman managed to calm down and become understandable again.

"I'm very sorry. Thank you, Charlotte. Let me introduce myself. My name is Nicole. Pleased to meet you," Nicole said before standing up and bowing.

"Nice to meet you Nicole. And don't worry, we understand it's complicated to deal with" says Charlotte.

"Let's eat and talk afterwards. It's impolite to waste food, and even more so if it's as good as Nicole says" declared Elisa.

The meal was truly excellent and lifted the spirits of the harem, which had really fallen quite low after all that had happened. Once everyone had had their fill, Anna spoke up again. She was no doubt trying to establish herself as the harem's leader, Karine mused.

"We can move on to introductions," said Anna.

_"What do you want us to say in our introductions everyone has remembered everyone's name, haven't they?" _said Nicole, who was much more to the point now that she was out of her denial.

"I think we'll keep it simple. Say what you like, what you don't like and what your dreams are. Here, I'll start. My name is Anna Oria. I like justice, honesty and raspberries. I don't like criminals, lies or pineapples. My dream is to help eradicate crime in my city," said Anna, introducing herself. William couldn't help but note inwardly that Anna had been a bit of a hypocrite; she didn't like lies, but that hadn't stopped her from not telling the whole truth and not revealing her most important goal.

It was Karine who decided to introduce herself after Anna. William couldn't help but be curious as to what a criminal like her would come up with.

"My name is Karine Pum, but we're in this together, so we might as well be on a first-name basis. I like sports, but I'm also interested in chemistry, which means you can have muscles and brains. I don't like talkers who do nothing but talk and I agree with you Anna, I don't like pineapple and even more so if it's on a pizza. It's a sacrilege. My dream is pretty simple, since I come from a poor immigrant family, I just want to be free from want and not have to worry about how much money I've got left at the end of the month," says Karine, proud of herself for having managed to say all that without lying once.

Of course, she hadn't told the whole truth either, but she hadn't said anything truly untrue. It's a bad idea to lie when you're in the presence of a judge and a cop. Silence is suspicious, so it's better to talk about something else. What's more, showing that you agree with someone even on a subject as minor as food is bound to win you sympathy.

Charlotte decided to continue, as the rotation of introductions seemed to have been established.

"My name is Charlotte Buch. I like boxing, pudding and loyalty. I don't like racism, sexism or favoritism. I believe that everyone should be rewarded for their merit. My dream is to become the leader of my team and prove that I'm as competent as any of my colleagues," says Charlotte. There was a certain frustration in the policewoman's voice. In fact, it was hardly surprising given the level of racism and sexism in the police **** in every country on the planet. Nicole then introduced herself.

"My name is Nicole Leto. I'm a medical student. I like the comfort of my bed, reading books and getting my 8 hours of sleep, which is pretty hard when you're a medical student. I don't like the emergency room, although that's where I worked before I came here. I don't like anything stressful. My dream is to open my own GP practice and move to the countryside to lead a quiet life," says Nicole.

"My name is Marion Roka, heiress to the Roka family. I like to win my contracts, for people to know their place and for my bath to be nice and warm when I go to wash. I don't like being interrupted, I don't like that bitch of a host and I don't like that filthy transformation that makes me look like a freak. I dream of crushing that bitch under a tank after I've knocked out all her teeth so she can't smile anymore," says Marion.

Well, that was graphic. It was Iris who, in a completely different tone and with her usual machine-gun rhythm.

"Hello, my name is Iris Brown but call me Iris. I'm a journalist. I like a good scoop. I like my stories to be read. I told you I was a journalist. I like to write and I like the smell of new paper. I don't like it when nothing happens. I don't like my articles to be rejected and I don't like spelling mistakes. My dream is to win a Pulitzer Prize and something tells me I'm going to win one when I tell all this. I hope you'll agree to help me by allowing me to interview each of you. It's going to be great!" says Iris.

Frankly, right now it seemed more like Iris was dreaming than Nicole. At least one person was happy with the situation. Elisa decided to continue once she was sure Iris had finished.

"My name is Elisa Sensi. I love my restaurant and cooking as well as my daughter. I don't like people who make a mess in my restaurant. I don't like people who leave without paying. As for my dream, you know, at my age, you don't have many of those anymore. I've already accomplished everything I set out to do," concludes Elisa on a sad note.

Hélène took over.

"My name is Hélène Brunet. I like Mister Hamon's classes. I like Naruto manga. I don't like vulgarity. I don't like rain. My dream is secret", said Hélène, whose use of the word "secret" caught the attention of everyone present.

Then it was William's turn.

"My name is William Hamon. I'll do my best to help you during this show even if I'm not in the same position as you. I like to read, debate and solve problems. I don't like the incoherence and natural cruelty of human beings. As for my dream, let's say it could be a quest for meaning to the big question. Why?" concluded William.

/* Author's note: I would have liked to do a Kakashi-style presentation, but I couldn't find the right way to do it */