Chapter 9 negociation

William closed his eyes. He had imagined keeping them open to stare **** in the face, but he wasn't brave enough. I mean, could you really call it courage? He could feel the wind whipping at his face. He was picking up speed. He couldn't have been far from the ground. Suddenly, the wind stopped. Had it worked?

"You're really unbearable, you know," said Nezoko.

He opened his eyes. He was standing on top of the cliff as if he hadn't jumped. But he had jumped, he was sure of it. She'd brought him back here.

"You didn't leave me much choice. You could have come when I talked to you," William replied.

_"So, what do you want? Aren't you happy with your harem? Do you want more girls or maybe to get rid of some?" _said Nezoko wearily.

"Nothing of the sort. I want to negotiate with you," replied William, looking her straight in the eye.

"We've seen it all. An insect trying to negotiate with a superior being," said Nezoko.

"I know I can't win against you. But I can make sure we both lose. I can go on and on killing myself until this show is so boring for your audience that it's just cancelled." said William.

Nezoko looked shocked for a moment before pulling himself together and showing his poker face again.

"You've been watching too much Doctor Strange, William. You're no hero. You don't have the willpower to do this. I know you, William. I've studied your whole life in great detail. It's a bluff," replied Nezoko.

William smiled, the conversation going as he'd hoped.

"Indeed, I'm no hero and I might not have the courage to do what I say, but I have two questions to ask you: would you have bet that I'd jump? Are you willing to risk being wrong?" asked William.

Nezoko clenched his jaw.

"You know that if you play this game, it's the girls who are going to suffer the most," threatened Nezoko.

"I'm aware of that, and I'm not complaining, but ignoring a solution just because it's not perfect is just plain stupid," said William.

Nezoko didn't reply. She was clearly thinking. After what seemed an eternity to our lecturer, she finally clicked her tongue and spoke.

_"Well, I guess it won't cost us much to negotiate," _says Nezoko.

Phew. First step through. Now the hard part began.

"Okay, thank you for agreeing to open these negotiations. Perhaps we should move to a more comfortable place to discuss things calmly," said William.

He didn't have time to say anything more before he found himself in an office sitting on a sofa that was very comfortable indeed.

"Is this all right with you?" said Nezoko, no longer even hiding his irritation.

"Thank you very much. I want you to know that I understand how important this show is to you, and that I intend to respect my part of the commitments I'll be making during this negotiation," said William.

_"Come to the point. What do you want?" _replied Nezoko curtly.

"From what I understand, it's not possible to remove or replace members of the harem," said William.

"In other seasons, there's an elimination process to renew the stock of harem candidates. But I've chosen not to use elimination this season. I'm already beginning to regret it," replied Nezoko.

Clearly, he had to choose his words carefully.

"Ok I wish you'd refrain from making mental transformations," said William.

"I categorically refuse. Transformations are the soul of this show. I can't deprive myself of a whole panel" replied Nezoko.

William hesitated to broach the subject again, but seeing the look on Nezoko's face, he decided to move on to the next point.

"I wish the free will of the harem members as well as my own to remain untouched," said William.

"What do you mean by free will?" replied Nezoko instantly.

"Free will, the faculty of self-determination," replied William, as if someone had asked him the color of the sky or how much is 2+2.

"You're talking about something you don't understand at all. This notion was only created to reassure you and to be able to use the concept of responsibility. Determinism and free will are opposed throughout your story, but only one of them has really proven itself. A child born in a poor country to a poor family is almost guaranteed to remain poor all his or her life. This is what we call determinism, the idea that your choices and decisions are simply the logical result of the life you've lived and external constraints. So, I repeat my question, what do you mean by free will because you obviously can't ask me not to influence you?" asked Nezoko.

William paused for a moment to consider the host's words. There was some truth in what she was saying, and he obviously couldn't ask her not to interact with them. So, he was going to have to be a little more specific in these requests.

"Okay I see your point. My main problem is that I don't wish to take advantage of her at their expense. I'm not a ****. It's out of the question for me to have sex with any of them without their consent just because of one of your transformations." said William.

"Okay that's a starting point we can work on. Okay, so you don't want one of the girls to be **** to have sex with you, for example," said Nezoko.

"Exactly," replied William, delighted to see that they were finally understanding each other.

"Okay, that's conceivable, but let me ask you this: what do you think will happen if I get a member of the harem addicted to your semen? She will always have the choice not to have sex with you. So that's part of your request," said the hostess.

William didn't have much of an argument. Indeed, there were other options. He was going to have to negotiate.

"It may be acceptable, but I don't want there to be any impact on their health if she refuses to have sex with me," said William.

"There are always health impacts. Stress has an impact on health. Walking has an impact on health. Sex has an impact on health. What you're saying is just impossible," says Nezoko.

And once again, he was running out of arguments. He really wasn't good at this.

_"You're really not making this easy," _said William.

_"You don't either. Most men would jump at the chance to have a harem, but you, out of modesty, hold back as much as possible" _says Nezoko.

"No doubt, but on the other hand, if you wanted someone like that for your Master, you'd have chosen him, and I wouldn't be here" said William.

"Touché" replied Nezoko.

_ "I want you to guarantee me a few things. That at the end of this show all the participants will be at least partly happy and healthy. At least as healthy as they were before the show started, please" _asked William.

_"You're aware that with a request like that I could just impose a transformation to keep them happy. Would that still suit you?" _asked Nezoko.

"I'm aware of that, but the alternative of them being unhappy forever seems even worse. Of course, I'd like you to refrain from making people artificially happy. Instead, I'd like you to propose transformations that can make them happy, even if it's not obvious at first," says William.

_"So, you agree with the fact that I'm going to transform them?" _asked Nezoko.

"You said it yourself; transformations are an integral part of the show. I can't expect you not to do any, so if you're going to do it, you might as well ask for some appreciable transformations" said William.

"The problem is that appreciable is a vague and subjective term. But I suppose I can make some effort there. I'd also like to remind you that not all transformations are definitive and that many will be cancelled at the end of the round," says the hostess.

"I'm aware of that. Now it's time for my part of the negotiation. What do you want from me?" asked William.

_"My expectations are simple. Don't ruin my show. That means spending a little time each round with each member of the harem. You don't isolate yourself and sulk in your corner. You don't repeat the same thing 10 times - that's really unbearable for the audience. Avoid favoring one girl over all the others. You're entitled to have a favorite girl, but don't spend 50% of your time with her and favor her in all your decisions. And above all, lose your fucking virginity before the end of this first round. This is a fucking sex show," _said Nezoko, almost losing his temper at the end.

William wasn't sure how to respond. The hostess's demands were almost legitimate. She didn't want him to spoil her work. And he couldn't say he wasn't hoping to lose his virginity on this show. He was 30 and had never had sex. He'd only had one girlfriend, who'd broken up with him after a month because she felt he wasn't involved enough. That's why he chose to answer simply.

"Okay."