Rules and Revelations, Part 3

They now listened with much greater focus; knowledge of the stakes made them that much more invested in Sera’s explanation. The Host cleared her throat before continuing.

“Now then, where was I? Ah, yes, the methods for obtaining BP. This one is much simpler, due to the fact that there is only one consistent way to earn it: the weekly Best Girl poll.”

“Best Girl? So, you’re going to make Aífe rank us each week like seasonal anime waifus?” Aoba wasn’t sure if she was happy about that, or not. One the one hand, she felt she was at an advantage because of how much time she and Aífe had spent together over the past couple of years, but on the other, she recognized that she had far fewer physical assets she could rely on.

“You’re half correct, Miss Aoba. While you obviously should be trying to curry favor with Mistress Aífe first and foremost, the judges for the weekly poll are actually the viewers. They will send in their votes at the end of each week, ranking each contestant from most to least favorite, using whatever criteria they deem most important, whether that be sex appeal, general likability, or even at random.”

They all groaned internally, both at the reminder that their attempts at seduction would be filmed, and at the prospect of having to appeal to the nebulous masses instead of someone they could just speak directly with.

“Now, while I’ve already covered ways to gain VP, there is also the matter of how one might lose VP. There are 2 primary ways of losing VP—placing poorly in the weekly competitions, or genuinely displeasing your Mistress. Of course, I don’t intend to be unreasonably strict with that second rule, I’m certainly not going to deduct points if you refuse to pass her the salt at dinner, but saying things that are hurtful to her, whether intentionally or not, can and will cause you to lose points.”

Most of them nodded at the obvious expectation. They weren’t the type to say hurtful things without cause anyway, and Aífe certainly hadn’t done anything that warranted their ire—it wasn’t as if she had any more control over the situation than they did. Cecilia was the only exception, sheepishly looking away.

“Next, we’ll go over the methods of winning and losing, as well as your prize for achieving victory at the end of the season. I’ve already mentioned what happens upon elimination, so I won’t repeat it, but there are 2 ways you might find yourself eliminated—the first is if you have zero VP at the end of the weekly competition, and the second is for more severe cases of rule-breaking. You’ll be given a more comprehensive set of rules later that you can read at your leisure, but the most important one is this: No ****. Whether against another contestant, a staff member, myself, or especially your Mistress, **** is absolutely forbidden, except in self-defense.” They all gulped at hearing her serious tone. Her expression changed to a much lighter one as she moved to a more positive topic.

“Much more exciting than the thought of elimination is the thought of victory! After all, I’m sure you’ll be much more eager to compete once you know what awaits you, should you win.” Sera beamed with excitement, “As has been the case with every season, the winner will receive a wish.” They all sat forward in their chairs upon hearing that, some out of excitement, and others, skepticism.

“Wait a sec, do you mean like a wish wish? Like whatever we wanted in the whole world just ‘poof’ like that? Or is this some kind of Monkey’s Paw kind of deal?” Alexis’ gamer brain, feeble at times though it may be, was working overtime at the thought of what a wish might accomplish.

“No simians were harmed in the making of our wishes, I assure you. Whatever you’d like, with an opportunity to clarify your exact meaning and intent as much as possible. Though there are a few stipulations—no causing direct harm to your Mistress or another harem member, you cannot alter natural law, you cannot undo any changes made to yourself or another during the course of the season, you cannot alter the Mistress or the other harem members without the Mistress’ consent, and you cannot attempt to remove yourself or another from your Mistress’ harem, all of you will be bound to her for the rest of your lives.” They all took a moment to digest what Sera had just told them.

“Of course, thinking about what you’ll do with your wish is putting the cart before the horse, given I haven’t told you how to win yet. At the end of the season, the wish will be given to the one person among the victorious contestants who has the highest VP total. How do you become a victorious contestant you ask? By ending the season with at least 100 VP, you will be considered victorious, and will receive a favorable position in the harem. Why, I imagine that at least one among the victorious will end up as the Mistress’ bride.” A few of them were fortunate that Aífe could not see their faces at hearing the last sentence—the two confirmed lesbians, of course, but Cecilia, Mallory, and Natalie as well.

“Phew, thank you all for sticking with me through those lengthy explanations! I promise there’s just one more part of the show that I need to explain before we move on. I’ll try to be quick, since I know most of you are getting quite tired and hungry. All that remains is the matter of transformations!” Sera clapped giddily.

“Transformations?! You mean you’re going to change us like you changed Aífe?” Mallory was torn on how she should feel about this. The sensible part of her brain was quite concerned at what that might entail, while another, more primal part of her was curious? How would they change her? What would the transformation feel like? Her face was even more flushed now.

“Not exactly like I changed her, no. Each of you will be given a set of transformations for the audience to vote on. These come in 3 categories—punishment transformations, neutral transformations, and reward transformations, with both punishments and rewards having different levels of strength.”

“W-wait! You’re makin’ it sound like we’ll be gettin’ a lot of these transformations…” Natalie let a small stutter creep into her voice, something she had worked on when she was younger, but still happened occasionally when she was exceptionally nervous.

“That would certainly depend on your individual definitions of ‘a lot.’ Hmm, let’s see… one at the end of the competitions each week… and one right now!”