Popularity Results Announced

As the clock struck 10 am all of the contestants got a notification on their phones to meet in the dining room, whether they were up or not, as fast as possible. The first to arrive were the Johnsons and Mikoto who found the dining room table already full of food. Haruto rushed to the head of the table but was stopped by Aki who seemed to appear out of nowhere, "Sorry new girl. The head of the table is reserved for the Master only, you can sit next to him if you so want." Without saying a word Haruto did seat next to the head of the table with Hanako sitting next to her and Mikoto sitting next to Hanako. Finally, Aki sat at the other end of the table directly in front of the head of the table.

The next to arrive were the Brown sisters. "So we waiting until everyone arrives before we eat?" Sophia questioned as she sat opposite Haruto and next to the head with Olivia on her other side. Haruto and Mikoto shrugged while the others stayed sitting still not wanting to really answer.

Next were Kiera Jones and Ruoxi Wang with Ruoxi sitting next to Olivia and Kiera next to Ruoxi. "So whose not here yet?" Ruoxi questioned obviously not fully awake.

"Cameron, Brianna, Ava... I think that is it." Kiera mentally counted in her head. "Brianna and Ava make sense as I saw them drinking last night when I made my way to my room, they must have gotten hungover."

"You are wondering what is taking Cameron so long huh?" Hanako questioned to which Kiera nodded. "He probably is hoping this is a nightmare or worse... Dreading it was only a dream."

"Hey, mom!" Haruto shouted the first words of her's all morning. "Cameron would never wish for this much less dread it was fake."

"Whether he wants it or not it is real," Mikoto spoke up. "Let's hope he and the others don't make us wait too long."

Seemingly on cue Ava and Brianna arrived together with their arms around each other's shoulders. They must have been keeping each other standing because as soon as they separated to sit down they nearly fell over. Brianna sat next to Mikoto and Ava sat next to her. "Just... Don't talk to us." Ava said groggily as they collapsed into their chairs.

A few more minutes passed in silence before finally, the man of both the hour and the entire season arrived. Cameron Smith walked with his head held straight ahead like a robot, making no eye contact with anyone else, before finally sitting down at the head of the table. "So... Why have you called us Aki?" He asked trying to sound as confident as possible.

'I know you are shaking in your boots, my dear cousin... Don't make this more of a pain than it has to be.' Kiera thought to herself noticing his lack of confidence. Aki must have noticed too as she was unfazed by him but continued anyway.

"I am only here to announce the results of yesterday's popularity poll," Aki revealed that causing mutters among the contestants. "Ah, right I didn't announce it to you all. Well, it was in the rules so you should have known."

"Speaking of there was a rulebook in my room, is that the same for everyone?" Olivia asked to which everyone wordlessly nodded. "The popularity results only reward BP right?"

"That is correct." Aki nodded as she answered. "It also subtracts BP later on but for the first one last place will only get zero BP."

Aki then stood up before coughing into one of her hands as readied herself. "I will start off at the bottom and work myself up. The person in last place and who will gain no BP is..." She stopped for dramatic effect as drums could be heard in the BGM. "Ava Gonzalez!"

Everyone looked towards the person in question who merely giggled to herself. "That's about what I expected. I assume the people who didn't give off the greatest first impression have a low standing." Ava said casually. "Knowing that I wouldn't get much higher than 7th even if I started to show my nicer side by the end of the day."

"There also were admittedly some problems with the voting model we used for yesterday. I assure you a new and better version has been made for the future." Aki explained. "You see the 'director' is new to this season but pleased to hear there will be lesser problems in the future."

"All right who is number 7 then?" Kiera asked impatiently.

"Ah, I am glad you asked!" Aki said excitedly. "We actually have a tie at the next spot so I will be generous and give the two 6th place BP."

"And who are they?" Haruto asked curiously.

Aki had a knowing smile as if someone just said a joke only she understands. "The two tied for 6th place and who get 50 BP each are..." She began leaving room for suspense as suspenseful music played in the background. "Kiera Jones and Haruto Johnson!"

"What!?" The two shouted simultaneously. "I get Kiera being so low but why me!?" Haruto asked deeply confused.

"What!? What in the hell are you implying!?" Kiera asked angrily her Cockney accent growing stronger.

"I assume what Ava was saying earlier," Brianna spoke up over the two. "Following the logic of the least liked person being lower Kiera is just above Ava. But Haruto was..."

"Not that," Cameron spoke up. "So why is sh-he so low?" Cameron said correcting himself.

"Don't worry I am fine with the pronouns. You can call me whatever but you have to call me by my name." Haruto clarified.

"I think he was simply in the middle. While most everyone else had at least 1st place votes Haruto had none. Leaving him in the dust behind his fellow contestants." Aki explained. "Or at least this is my best guess."

Mikoto nodded her head. "That makes sense."

Aki then prepared to announce the next person but before she could Olivia raised her hand. "It's me isn't it?" She asked with curiosity.

"Huh? Well, that is correct as the 5th place person you get 75 BP..." Aki answered her.

"I knew it. So outside of the outlier known as Haruto, who is an outlier in more ways than one, Ava's theory has proved true." Olivia said casually as she did her fingernails trying to act all calm. "Now everyone who acted bitchy yesterday had their positions chosen it gets interesting."

"No one going to interrupt this time?" Aki asked everyone to which everyone nodded. "Good. Our halfway point and the person who gains 100 BP is... Hanako Johnson!"

"That includes me right?" Mikoto asked to which Aki nodded in affirmative. "So I guess our BP is shared?" The two mothers looked at their phones to see that yes their BP is shared.

"So that leaves Brianna Lynch, Ruoxi Wang, and me...?" Sophia noted.

"Can you speed up host lady? I am nearly finished with my breakfast." Ruoxi said as she continued feasting on her breakfast.

Aki shrugged. "Sure. Our third place who gains 125 BP is Ruoxi Wang." Ruoxi nodded clearly proud of her position but mainly focused on her breakfast. "And our second place, who gets 150 BP, and our first place winner, who gains 200 BP are..."

The two remaining girls leaned in with clear interest. "Second place is Sophia Brown thus making Brianna Lynch our winner!" Aki announced which caused Brianna to jump out of her seat in clear celebration. During the celebration, Aki slipped away out of sight. As Ava settled back Brianna in her seat Cameron cleared his throat.

"Everyone... I had an announcement of my own and a sort of invitation." Cameron said with such confidence it was almost uncharacteristic.