That means they didn’t make it either.

Vivian had never really considered how she might die one day. Sure, she’d had passing intrusive thoughts driving on the street or walking across bridges, but never any actual contemplation towards her mortality.

She was pretty sure even if she had, dying crushed under a ski lift’s tower next to her boyfriend’s corpse wouldn’t have ended up on the possibility list.

She was even more sure she was supposed to be distraught, or maybe screaming in pain, or maybe both.

Instead, as she struggled for each breath, she felt a calmness settling over her. An indifference to her plight that was almost comforting in these last moments.

As she stared up into the night sky, taking in the stars one last time, she felt something touch her forehead.

And then she was standing next to the collapsed tower. She felt indistinct, like the cat in Schrodinger’s box, as if she both was and wasn’t at the same time. She glanced down to her feet, where she saw her boyfriend’s corpse and her, still breathing, body. A strange silver cord connected from her body’s laboring chest to her own chest.

And then the specifics seemed to fade from view until she was standing alone in a snowy field, her body and her boyfriend’s corpse no longer visible.

“You were suffering a painful enough **** that I decided it merited a reprieve,” Someone said behind her. A woman, by the husky voice, which she confirmed as she turned around. Though she was unable to make out any details of the being’s face.

“Um, thanks then? It would probably have sucked, yeah. Who are you?”

“I am the arbiter of a choice. A chance, even.”

“Oh! Oh! I know this trope! You’re here to give me an offer I can’t refuse, right! I do what you want and you get me out of this mess, yeah? So what’s it gonna be? Am I isekai-ing? I’ve always loved isekai! Ooh, or maybe this is a reincarnator thing! Like are you sending me back in time so I can stop the attack? Though I’m not really sure how I could do that, I’m not, like, connected to the military or anything. Unless you gave me superpowers! Is that it, are you giving me superpowers?!”

The being seemed… taken aback. It took a moment, before it finally responded, “You are an interesting one, aren’t you? How are you possibly that excitable with your emotions repressed?”

“Excitement is a state of mind, not an emotion!”

“…I suppose. You are somewhat correct, in the end. I am offering you the choice between accepting your ****, or becoming a Contestant and competing to earn your place in the Master’s harem.”

“Oh, so it’s a magical dating show then? Well, that’s too bad because… Wait.” Vivian looked back over to where Alex’s body should have been as the truth of the matter hit her. “Alex is… he’s dead, isn’t he.” Sadness bloomed within her, smashing through the screen of indifference enough to make her shed a single tear with a sniffle. She observed it almost as if from a distance, and in so doing was able to glean onto a last possible hope, “Unless, is he the Master?! Did you save him and make him the Master?”

The being shook its head, “Alex Ortega is not the master,” she said, and Vivian’s hopes wilted. Until the being continued, “He is a Contestant.”

Suddenly the sun shined in the sky and the flowers bloomed, at least in Vivian’s heart. Alex wasn’t dead! And he was going to be going on this adventure with her!

But wait…

“Uh, okay, so I’m, like, totally in on this, but only if Alex is as well! And-And this Master guy has gotta be okay with inter-harem relationships! Oh, and Alex has to be okay with me being in the Master’s harem, too! But, yeah, if-if you can guarantee all that then I’m in!”

The being considered her. It hadn’t even detailed the specifics of the contest and the girl was already ready to sign up. Perhaps she could be useful in getting the sixth Contestant to come around.

“The Master has no problem with love inside the harem, so long as he is put first. As for your other two requests, well, perhaps you can help to convince young Alex yourself.”

The being flickered, then turned to the side, revealing a depressed Alex sitting in the snow behind her.

“Alex!” Vivian shouted, making to tackle him into a hug. She was held back by the being, however.

“Sorry, no touching. Souls don’t do well with touching. You’re both very fragile right now.”

That put a damper on Vivian’s mood, but she perked right back up, because Alex was alive! Or, well, not really, but he was here! With her!

“Alex, come over here, it’s me, it’s your motivation!” Alex finally looked up, as if snapped out of whatever he was pondering, and looked up at Vivian. She didn’t take it personally that he didn’t share her excitement – she knew he was a more subdued person, and if he was under anything like the indifference she was feeling than it was even less of a surprise.

Still, he did smile, though it was a conflicted smile, and rose from the ground to move closer. He stopped a few yards away when the being raised its arm to stop him.

“Hey, Viv,” Alex said with a bittersweet tone. “Looks like you didn’t make it either, huh?” He gestured with his head to the being, “She offering you a place in Nate’s harem, too?”

“The harem is Nate’s? Oh, cool, he’s such a nice guy!”

Alex raised a quizzical brow at the being, “You didn’t tell her who the Master is?”

The being shook its head, “She also has not heard about the transformations, either.”

“Transformations?” Vivian asked.

“As a part of the competition, you will experience transformations. These transformations may alter your physical form, your mental state, or even your emotions. It may affect your preferences and desires. But still, at the end of the day it will be you, your soul, that is in control.”

“Oh, cool, so that means I could become like a super cool elf chick, or maybe a sexy alien babe. Ooh, or maybe a lamia? I’ve always wondered about giving head with a tongue that long…”

Alex shook his head, “I can’t believe how okay with this you are.”

“Oh? Why not? We’re going on an adventure, Alex, the kind that stories are written about! Sure, they’re probably smutty stories, since it’s a harem and all that, but still! Think of the possibilities!

“Oh, wait, you haven’t decided yet, have you? That’s what the blurry lady was saying, that you need some convincing. So fess up, what’s the hold up, buttercup?”

“You mean beside the fact that, I don’t know, I’m not gay?!”

Vivian tilted her head, “And?”

Alex stumbled back a step. “Wh-what do you mean, ‘And?’. Sexual attraction a pretty important part of being in someone’s harem, Viv!”

“But, but, you just heard the blurry lady, your gonna get all transformed and stuff so that you’re perfect for the master! So when the time comes, they’ll probably transform your attraction to be at the least attracted to the Master, even if not to other men. Right?” She looked over her shoulder at the being.

The being nodded, “That is a possibility with transformations, yes.”

“See!”

“That’s even more fucking horrifying! If I don’t want him now, why would I want someone to brainwash me so that I could!?”

“No, no, no,” Vivian shook her head, “You’re think of this all wrong. Don’t think of it like brainwash, think of it like… like… Oh, I know, so when you first started going to the gym, did you like working out?”

“Well, no, not at first, it was a lot of work, and I was tired afterwards, and sore.”

“But by now, you kind of like going to the gym, you have that smoking hot body, and that body got you a smoking hot girlfriend, yeah?”

“Well, yeah, that’s true. But where are you going with this.”

Vivian mimed holding a box to her left, then holding a box to her right, over and over, then splayed her arms in a ‘tadah’ motion.

Alex stared at Vivian for a few seconds, uncomprehending, till it finally clicked and he shouted, “What the fuck! This is not the same!”

“Yes it is! You do something you don’t like at first, and then the end result is you get something you love and you learn to like what you were doing along the way! It’s exactly like working out! Or eating your vegetables!”

“Vivian, it is totally different, stop making out that joining Nate’s harem is like making a health-conscious lifestyle decision, alright?”

“But it LITERALLY IS when that’s the alternative!” Vivian pointed to the blue portal behind her. “You are picking between life and ****! And not from the stance of someone who is alive, Alex, I saw your corpse! Sure, the version of life you get might be a bit different than you’re used to, but at least you’ll be alive!”

Finally, Alex saw a bit of the desperation in her eyes that she had been hiding. Viv was scared, terrified, of him dying. It hit him then, but as he opened his mouth to make a response, nothing came out of it.

Getting no verbal response from Alex, Vivian took a step closer, pain in her voice, and if she had tear ducts she would certainly be crying, “Alex, please, come with me and join? I-I don’t want to lose you. I-I already asked, and the blurry lady said that relationships in the harem are okay, so we can still be together. I… I want to still be together with you….”

Alex looked at her, trying to formulate a response, but nothing came out. He looked down, thoughts muddled and unsure.

At this, Vivian became fed up. “Oooh, Alex, you’re being a stupid, dumb-dumb, idiot head about this! Fine!” she spun away, marching back towards the pink portal on her side of the clearing, “I’m going to join Nate’s harem and we’re going to have lots of fun, and fall in love without you, and you’re going to be sad and dumb and dead and we won’t care! ‘Cause you’re being an idiot and would rather die than eat your vegetables!” With that Vivian spun around, stuck her tongue out at Alex, and then walked through her pink portal, leaving behind a jaw-dropped Alex and a very amused ‘blurry woman.’

Alex sat there for a moment, working his jaw and trying to generate a coherent thought, before he sighed loudly in exasperation and stood up, marching across the clearing. “Uggh, fine, fine, fine, fine! But if I get turned into some big titty giant t-rex monster, I’m eating Vivian first!”

And then he followed his girlfriend through the portal, and into the competition.

“Did… did I just watch Alex’s girlfriend coerce him into my harem?” Nate asked aloud.

“Indeed,” Serena said. “I dare say she may be my favorite Contestant on this edition. Though I assure you, I will not let any such bias show in my work.”

“Well,” Nate breathed out, “That’s all six of them, then? We’re done with the ****?”

Serena nodded. “All that is left is for you to consent to be the Master.”

Nate considered Serena, “I’m curious, what would happen if I were to say no at this point?”

In response, Serena took her tablet and smashed it on the coffee table, shattering its screen in a moment of ****. She dropped the tablet’s remains on the coffee table.

Then she snapped.

Nate watched in stunned awe as time rewound for the tablet, as pieces of glasses re-fused themselves together, metal merged back together, and in mere moments the tablet was back in Serena’s hand, good as new.

“I snap my fingers, and we go back to when this all started. The door never appears. I never approach the others.”

She looked over her glasses at him with a frown. “Everyone dies.”

It took a moment for Nate to respond to that, gulping as he found his mouth suddenly dry. Finally, he managed, “Well then, I consent.”

A large smile, the largest he’d seen so far, spread on Serena’s face.

“Finally. Then let’s begin.”

*SNAP*