A good hiding place or a too good hiding place?

(Daphne POV)

Daphne hadn't rushed to hide. She had 15 minutes. It was a lot and a very little at the same time. But she had no intention of making the mistake of rushing. She noticed that Eric had given Blanche a piece of paper before he took off. It wasn't her problem; she had other things to do.

How could she hide from Leo? Leo's no fool. There's a good chance he'll find me if I keep it simple. Daphne mused.

Rooms were out of the question. He'd look there soon enough. The big question was where to start looking. If he started in the north, he'd have to hide in the south. If he started in the south, he'd have to hide in the north. The question was, where would he go first?

She had an idea of how to do it, but it was risky. Did she have another option? Not really.

She chose to stand just behind the dining room door, which had been left open. It was a terrible risk. She knew it, but it was a risk she accepted. Then she began to wait. She made herself as immobile as possible. She calmed her breathing to make as little noise as possible and waited.

About 10 minutes later, Leo came running out of the room. As expected, he hadn't looked behind the door. He headed south towards the forest. She waited 1 minute to make sure he was far enough away so he wouldn't hear her, and then headed north.

She'd had the opportunity to travel the length and breadth of this island over the course of the week. She had the advantage and knew a good hiding place to the north.

Behind the spa where they'd been was a casino. The building was rather small from the outside. This was because most of the facilities were underground. The place was huge. She'd have plenty of places to hide here. Even so, she decided to get as far away from the entrance as possible and find a comfortable place to settle in, as time was likely to be long.

(Leo POV)

"Blanche, can you tell me what happened?" asked Leo.

"I don't know anymore. I'm so tired. I..." said Blanche.

"Please try. I need to know. What did Eric do?" asked Leo, shaking her.

"It's okay, I remember now. When we came out of the dining room, Eric gave me a piece of paper where he told me to meet him in my room. It said he had an idea. So, I decided to wait for him to arrive. Eventually he did, but as soon as he saw me, he threw herbs and the contents of a vial of water at me. After that, my memories become blurred," Blanche explained.

Okay, Eric had probably set a trap for Blanche and the catgirl had fallen into it. But why would Eric do this? Had he improvised this trap, or had he been planning it for a long time? Worse still, did Leo really want to know the answer to these questions?

"Thank you for telling me all this. I'll escort you to the dining room where Hanna is," said Leo.

"Thanks, but why isn't Hanna out looking for the others?" asked Blanche as they walked to the dining room.

Leo explained how he'd found Hanna and how she'd sprained her ankle.

After a few minutes they arrived at the dining room, where Hanna looked bored out of her mind.

"Leo, you're back! You've found a lot of people - I noticed that Blanche has won some VPs thanks to the tablet. Be careful though, it's already 3.35 p.m." said Hanna.

"It'll be fine he's got until 7pm to find us all he'll manage." said Blanche who slumped into a chair.

"Uh speaking of which Nola added some extra rules after you left. For every half hour that goes by before I find you all, there'll be an extra transformation at the end of the day." says Leo, embarrassed not to have mentioned it before.

"But then we all have to go looking for them right away!" exclaimed Blanche as she tried to stand up, only to collapse immediately.

_"You need to rest. Once you've regained your strength, you can help me," _said Leo, placing his hand on Blanche's shoulder.

"Okay, but I'll come and help you right after. I've got a question: did you find Daphne?" asked Blanche.

"Not yet, but I'm going to look. Why?" asked Leo.

"Because you can make it appear instantly with the lamp," said Blanche.

Daphne's lamp. He'd promised not to use it. But here, given the stakes, the proposal was tempting.

"I promised her I wouldn't use it," said Leo, who didn't dare look Blanche in the eye.

How could he justify that his promise to Daphne mattered more than the safety of the entire harem?

_"I understand, but don't you think under the circumstances she'll forgive you for breaking your promise? It's for the Greater Good," _says Blanche.

The expression is enough to make Leo angry.

"The Greater Good. What wasn't justified like that? If I start breaking my promises so easily for such trivial reasons, then when will they have any value left? No thanks, I'll manage without. See you later," Leo said, leaving the room before Blanche could reply.

He decided to walk around the island, maybe he'd find someone, and if not, it would take his mind off things.

He trotted along the beach, trying to drown his mind in the blue ocean. He failed. The guilt he felt was far too strong. He couldn't stop thinking about the lamp and Daphne. Would she really accept this excuse? Wasn't it tantamount to betrayal, like she'd betrayed him all those years ago? But did he have another option?

It was now 4:10 p.m. and he hadn't found anyone else. He was running out of time. He had ****.

He collapsed on the sand and on his knees rubbed the lamp that had appeared at his feet. Thick smoke rose from it and Daphne appeared standing in front of him.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, Daphne. I had ****," Leo said, crying in front of Daphne, who was obviously struggling to understand what he was saying. At first, she had seemed annoyed, but seeing Leo's state, concern had taken over.

"Leo. Leo. It's all right, explain to me what happened and why you're in such a state," said Daphne, who had put herself at the same height as Leo.

Leo tried his best to explain, but between the guilt and the sobs, it took Daphne 15 minutes to understand what had happened.

"Okay, so you summoned me with the lamp to prevent us from undergoing any further transformations. Right?" said Daphne. Leo nodded and Daphne continued. _"In that case, you did the right thing. Now get up, we've got people to find," _said Daphne, rising to her feet.

"Did you think to look in your room?" asked Daphne.

"No, I haven't," he said.

"Then let's go," said Daphne, trying to motivate Leo.

It took them 10 minutes to get to the elevator. It was 4.35pm. Leo had all the trouble in the world not to insult the elevator because it was too slow for his liking. They weren't even sure they'd find anyone here. The elevator doors opened onto the Master's suite.

"What took you so long?" said Abigail.

"I'd go so far as to say it took you long enough," said Jessica.

The young women were lying on the bed reading magazines and smiling.

"Jessica! Abigail! If you only knew how happy I am to see you!" exclaimed Leo, who was truly delighted. There was only one person left to find.

They took 5 minutes to explain the situation to Abigail and Jessica. Then they split up and began to explore the island in all its nooks and crannies. Eric had to be somewhere. Blanche, who had already rested enough, had joined them in their search. They had to find that filthy angel of a brother. He'd won. But now they had to find him.

After an hour without a clue, they found themselves in the dining room. It was 5:40pm. They only had 1h20 before the elimination.

"I'm sure it'll turn up before 7pm, don't worry," said Abigail.

"I don't know about you, but I don't feel like having an extra transformation. So I'd like to find him right away." says Jessica.

"We'll never find him in time. He's got to come out of hiding," says Blanche.

"We've got to find a way to let him know he's won and that we've all been found by Leo," says Daphne.

"I think I've got an idea," says Hanna.

"What? Do you know how to contact him?" says Leo.

"No, but I thought I knew you'd found Blanche because she'd won VPs. So if all of us win VPs too, maybe Eric will look at his tablet, figure it out and come out of hiding." says Hanna.

"That's brilliant, Hanna! Thank you, you're a genius!" exclaimed Leo.

"So how do we do this?" asked Abigail.

"Blanche since you've already earned VPs. You look at the tablet and let us know when someone new earns VPs. We'll bring Eric out of hiding," said Leo.

"I love it when you take charge," says Abigail, stepping forward and kissing him.

+2 VP for Kiss the master for Abigail.

"You've earned 2 VPs, Abigail," says Blanche.

"Please warn us next time," said Leo.

"I thought we were in a hurry," says Abigail, smiling.

"Me!" said Hanna, embracing Leo in turn.

Seeing that Blanche hadn't said anything, Leo asked, "Well?"

"Nothing, no VP gained," said the doctor.

"That's probably because you've already kissed her today," said Jessica.

"She probably has to do something new to win VPs," suggested Abigail.

"I understand," said Hanna. She then removed her t-shirt and bra, proudly displaying her B-cups to Leo.

+2*2 = 4 VP for showing her naked breasts to the Master for Hanna

"And 4 more VPs for Hanna," says Blanche.

"Okay, it's my turn" said Jessica as she walked over to Leo and kissed him fiercely. The kiss lasted much longer than with Abigail, and Jessica didn't ask permission to stick her tongue in.

+3 VP for a French kiss for Jessica

"And 3 VPs for Jessica. That leaves Daphne," said Blanche.

Daphne looked like she really wanted to be somewhere else, but resignedly spoke up anyway.

"I'm only doing this to avoid any further transformation," said Daphne, her face red as a tomato.

She then removed her jacket and shirt, and finally her bra, displaying her B-cup breasts. Leo couldn't help noticing that they were slightly smaller than Hanna’s but refrained from pointing it out.

+2 VP for showing her naked breasts to the Master for Daphne.

"And 2 VP for Daphne I guess she earned less because Hanna did the same thing before." said Blanche.

Daphne hurried to put her clothes back on and Hanna saw her do the same.

"What now?" said Jessica.

"Now we wait and hope," said Abigail.