Interruption and the situation

"Attention," the short butler started, "since our last guest is here, I believe it is time for me to tell you all the rules and give the grand tour. Please follow me."

As he turns his back the gathering of Chyoo writers gathers there stuff together and walk after the butler. After he leads the group around and points out the bathroom, closets, kitchen, and dining area, he suddenly stops, turns, and says, "Unlike other series such as these, we intend to make your stay here as pleasurable as possible," placing strong emphasis on "pleasurable." "Though we have stripped you of internet access for obvious reasons, we have left you an ample supply of , weed, and tobacco. Before anyone gets concerned, the orchestrator of this gathering has struck a special deal with law enforcement: they look the other way on any laws broken in this house during the filming, unless the master says otherwise, and their pockets almost burst with money. The laws the master will report are laws that deal with the harm of your fellow housemates, and if the police do have to get involved due to a housemate's behavior, the contest is voided. However, this only extends to ones still living here, so if one of you is discarded from the group and breaks any law, you will be arrested and the contest will not be voided."

Everyone's faces lit up, obviously thinking of interesting possibilities that this deal created. With the only restriction being no hurting each other more than a simple squabble over chores and privacy and such, there is absolute freedom here.

"As I said," he continues as he leads them down the hall to what is, apparently, the last room before the bedrooms, "we will make this as pleasurable as possible. Therefore, the master gathered information on each of you and supplied you with pornos and other DVDs, reading material, and a game room, all of which has contents based on your personal preferences. Since there are no secrets between housemates, we didn't bother labeling who what was picked for, it should also help you learn a bit about each other.

"Before we get to sleeping arrangements, there is the lock down, which I should address now. The perimeter of the property is surrounded by a fence, topped with barbed wire, built in a concrete foundation. The only exit from the property is the front gate, which is locked via a digital combination lock, which, upon my exit, will be activated and destroyed, keeping the gate locked. There are insufficient tools to break it open on the property, and we scanned all of you for such objects upon entering the mansion, the front door was equipped with one of those scanners they use at the airport. For your exits, all I will say is that there is a secret door that can only be opened from the other side somewhere in this mansion, I will be making my entrances and exits through this door to escort the losers out of the mansion.

"Finally," he says outside the bedrooms, "sleeping arrangements. Each room is complete with a single king bed, and the rooms will be shared by two people. The master decided on the arrangement, and you should find a room with some decoration that appeals to you in half of the room. My final duties until the first housemate is discarded are to answer any questions. So, any questions?"

"Yeah." Everyone turns to the voice's origin, James. "You've been going on, 'the master this,' 'the master that,' who the fuck is this master?"

"I can't say, all the business the master and I conducted was online via chatroom. The master mailed me the key to the mansion and the combination to the front gate once I agreed to the work. Inside the mansion was my fee, in cash, and a note that said, 'If you betray my trust and fail to follow the orders I gave you, your identity is mine.'"

"Wait," Heather almost screamed, "then what can you tell us about 'the master?'"

"Only that the master is at least 18, skilled with computers, rich, influential, and a member of Chyoo. I don't know the master's true identity or gender. The master was a guest on the site we met on, so there was no registration and no e-mail address, and the key and combination had no return address. The only thing the master did say was that I would meet him, but would be passing off as a competitor, I can only assume that means one of you is the master. The only other thing that could help you is the guest name the master used on the chatroom. The master called him or her self, 'shinigami-san.'"

The hall outside the bedrooms was silent. Since no one said anything, the butler assumed all questions had been answered to the best of his ability and took his leave. It was several moments before anyone noticed he had left, the Chyoo writers could only think about the strange name and the fact that the master was competing against them. Their gazes shifted from one to the other, trying to figure out who among them could be "shinigami-san." The whole game would be played with "shin" playing along, hiding right beside them. They all imagined "shin" laughing on the inside, barely able to hold this act through the show they all were all performing, but everyone's faces failed to show even the tiniest trace of hidden pleasure. Even though the sunlight pierced the blinds and illuminated their faces, "shin's" identity and motives remained hidden.