Dead Air

Yuki looks excited, "Now, I'm sure that none of you can wait to see what wonderful changes will come. Will the changes affect the dynamics of who Ben favors? Will it help them in the challenges to come? I'm sure you can't wait to see what happens next time on Harem Hotel!"

And with that, Yuki almost seems to go dark. Her megawatt smile reduces to a look of apathy. Her eyes lose a lot of their luster. Her microphone falls to her side, as she leaves the fire circle and walks up to a nearby table to sit down, grabbing a bottle of water. She chugs the bottle, losing the slightly dainty air she had put on for the show. The contestants only look on in bafflement.

"Uh, are you ok?" It is Maricela that asks this, as she begins to climb from the fire pit toward the host that had terrified them only moments ago in a show of sadistic glee. Now, she almost looks like a 9 to 5er that clocks out mentally the second she exits the door. "Yeah, just taking a break. You can't stay 'on' forever, and dealing with you people is a real drain. You guys can take a break too, for the next 5 minutes. Due to time dilation, that's how long the month long voting will take."

Maricela looks at her, trying to raise an objection, before she looks back at Yua, barely clothed, and Emma, the gag still in her mouth. So instead of shouting about how absurd this situation is, she simply asks, "Can we get water as well?" Yuki looks amused at this as she leans back, stretching. "Of course, but drink up, because when the camera comes back, we can't afford to have it in shot. We don't want to have a Game of Thrones coffee cup situation, you feel me?"

Yuki waves her hand, almost dismissively, and 7 water bottles appear in the fire pit in front of Ben. One might wonder whether they could trust such things, whether they were poisoned or otherwise ****, but each of the people in the pit has far more pressing concerns. They each go to grab a water bottle inadvertently bowing to Ben, except one. Emma, standing in the pit and facing the host, makes a muffled plea through her gag. Yuki, with a smile cold and undoubtedly sadistic, speaks, "Sorry, girl, that needs to stay for continuity."

As Ben drinks all of the water in one go, he can't help but look into the fire, the circles shifting as votes come in. He sighs, leaning back, stressed. "I still can't believe this is happening." Callie sits down beside him, sipping at her own water. "Yeah, it's like a nightmare." Ben can't help but chuckle. "It feels like I should be happy, I mean, they basically just told me that I'm going to be a CEO, and have countless beautiful women at my side. That's all wins in any normal person's book, right?"

Callie looks at him, and her eyes betray a warm understanding. "Yeah, but we both know that this is wrong. And based on the atmosphere, I wouldn't expect an easy road. We're still people, and people have a way of holding a grudge against those who benefit while they suffer." Ben knows this, saw this, but it hurts to be said all the same. Almost everybody else is on the opposite side of the fire pit, trying to distance themselves as much as they can from him. He was just as much a victim as them, couldn't they see that? Hell, Ben can see that even Callie's wary, her posture not quite relaxing into her chair. Like she expects he might spring like a viper and **** her at any moment. Still, Ben says the one word he can think to say. "Thanks." Callie stands, "No problem," and then walks toward the other girls.

The other side of the room is... silent. You'd think there would be some scheme, but given Yua's shaming, and the fact their captor, Yuki, sits in front of them, having grabbed a mobile phone and lazily scrolling up through some feed, they know that now is not the time. Instead, they each look like they are on **** row, some staring into the fire, trying to tell which of the choices is winning, some staring away from it, their eyes closed, trying to imagine they are on a warm beach somewhere.

After about four minutes, Yuki puts away her phone, it vanishing in a puff of black, before she stands up, stretching. She adjusts her yukata, before walking back to the fire pit. Her stance isn't menacing, but the sheer aura of dispassion certainly is. "Alright, places everyone. Let's get started."

Each of the contestants other than Ben who had remained seated, go to their seats quickly, afraid of even the slightest hint of resistance. Though as the water bottles disappear, they teleport to where they were when the cameras stopped, teleporting to a standing position, causing a huge sense of vertigo as their perspectives suddenly shift to where they were standing before the camera went off. But that is quickly forgotten, as Yuki raises her microphone, her face morphing to that telltale sadistic gleeful energy, the threat of it all more terrifying than a slasher with a machete.

"Welcome back to Harem Hotel! On our last episode, we met our contestants. I'm sure that you all enjoyed some of the moments we showed. We got a lot of positive reactions to Monica's lesbian tryst in college."

Everybody looks confused, as Monica puts her head in her hands, but quickly the confusion quiets as Yuki begins to move, and each grows paralyzed with fear.

"Now, if all of the contestants could please go back to their seats, we can begin." Those standing find their bodies move to the place that they started, sitting down with nary a complaint. "Now, the moment I'm sure you all have been waiting for. the transformations that our wonderful audience has suggested!"

(So I'm not going to lie, I already have a couple chapters written up, given how little movement there's been in the strawpolls. Would you guys mind if I cut the polls short and published the chapters? Answer in the following poll, please. End date is 24 hours from posting. Don't worry about herding toward your preferred outcome, I'll count the yes and nos together. https://strawpoll.com/polls/Dwyoq4P8XgA )