And the Harem Member of the week goes to...

“And we are back~!” Serenity chimes, cutting through the show’s intro with a smile. “Now that our lovely contestants here have been given their initial Gimmick Tweaks, it’s time to find out who you, the fans, voted for to be the most popular amongst the cast from just this first round of footage!”

Up on the screen, the details blur once more, before shifting into the overall results of the popularity poll. Each girl’s name appears in sequential order, with percentile values listed beside them.

1. Yukari - 17.86%
2. Nikkita - 13.96%
3. Gail - 13.8%
4. Penelope & Kehlani (tie) - 13.47%
5. Willow - 12.66%
6. Linda - 12.18%
7. Renee - 2.6%

“Wow, what a tight race between seven of our eight contestants!” Serenity exclaims. “These percentages of course are the percentile amount of total votes cast in your favor. Some rather interesting options, to say the least.”

While not vocalizing it, Yukari cannot help but beam with pride at her placement. And with such a noticeable gap between herself and the second place Nikkita, as well? It only added onto her sense of self-righteous accomplishment.

On the opposite end of the spectrum however, Renee keeps her head hung low. Her placement wasn’t just bitter, it was downright impossible for her to swallow down. She had fully expected to lack in popularity given her own belittling of contestants, Master, host, and audience alike. But to score that low… Her thoughts begin to swirl once more.

“Huh, a tie.” Penelope states, eyes flickering to Kehlani. The smaller girl notices, but merely waves at her, to which Penelope eventually reciprocates.

“You know what?” Willow’s posture relaxes in her seat. “Not last place.” She smirks, her ‘bag of tricks’ resting in her lap.

While some are caring more about their placement than others however, others sense opportunity. Both Gail and Linda share a look, before Linda gestures to Gail to speak up first.

“So uh, what happens now?” Gail asks Serenity. “You said something about paying us for being popular?”

“That’s right, Gail!” Serenity responds. “As I said during my explanation of Bonus Points earlier, you girls will be receiving them based on your popularity. Or rather, to be more specific, you’ll receive BP based on the percentile total of votes you receive. Every 5% of the vote equals 500 BP. With that said, here is how much BP each of you will be receiving!”

Once again, the screen flickers, the percentile values now replaced by solid numbers.

1. Yukari - 2000 BP
2. Penelope - 1500 BP
3. Gail - 1500 BP
4. Kehlani - 1500 BP
5. Nikkita - 1500 BP
6. Willow - 1000 BP
7. Linda - 1000 BP
8. Renee - 0 BP

“Wait, hold on a second.” Linda speaks up. “The math here doesn’t make any sense. Yukari only had about 18% of the vote, so why did she gain 2000 BP?”

“Hey!” Yukari calls out, startling Linda. “Don’t act jealous of me just because I’m in first place, where I rightfully deserve to be!”

“Actually, she’s right.” Nikkita looks to Yukari, her gaze silencing any argument she might have prepared. “I only got 14% of the vote, so shouldn’t I have only gotten 1000 BP?”

As Nikkita turns her gaze towards Serenity, the host backpedals. “W-Well, considering how BP doesn’t truly relate to victory, I-I figured it’d be fine to scuff the numbers a little bit. You know, as long as it’s halfway to the next BP gain then no harm, no foul!” Serenity reasons, keeping her hands up in case Nikkita presses forward.

Thankfully for Serenity, Nikkita opts to accept this reasoning, turning her glance away from the host and onto Renee. “So I suppose that’s why Renee is still stuck at zero, then?”

“Yep! Because she didn’t even crack the 3% threshold, there’s no way for me to round up the numbers to get her to the next BP gain. So unfortunately for her, she’ll be going without any BP for the time being.” Serenity explains.

“Wait, but didn’t you round Yukari’s number up to 18% so it could meet the halfway threshold?” Penelope asks, causing Serenity’s breathing to hiccup.

“Hey, why is everyone coming after me?!” Yukari calls out, tapping the toe of her boot to the mat in annoyance. “So what if my numbers got rounded up? Maybe Serenity just made a mistake.” Yukari pouts, glancing away from the other contestants. “A mistake I get to benefit from, sure. But a mistake nonetheless.”

“Exactly! It was just a mistake. Nothing more, nothing less.” Serenity pipes in, eager to shift the conversation elsewhere. “Now then, there are still a couple more things I have to cover, so let’s get moving. After all, I still have to assign you all your roommates!”

Upon hearing that announcement, any and all arguments about the BP distribution stop. Instead, all of the contestants turn to face Serenity. Some look on in confusion, but others?

“You didn’t mention anything about roommates.” Nikkita bluntly states.

“I… I forgot, okay?!” Serenity squeaks. “There’s so much that I’ve had to cover, you know? Having to explain Victory Points, Bonus Points, every single transformation given to you girls, all the assorted rules and logistics about this place. So forgive me if I forget one measly thing!”

“This isn’t one measly thing, Serenity!” Willow snaps. “I thought all of us were getting our own personalized rooms!”

“Are you kidding me? Part of the fun of these reality shows is seeing how the contestants get along with each other on a daily basis!” Serenity exclaims. “You think I’d miss the chance to capitalize on that drama? Literally every other season of Harem Hotel makes it a core feature! If I didn’t do the same, I wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of making this the single best season of Harem Hotel in the show’s prolific history.”

“I can think of another way to make this season the best there’s ever been…” Gail states with a dark undertone, only for Christian to get in her way.

“Gail, don’t. It’s just having a roommate. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

Penelope scoffs. “Of course you’d be the one to say that, mister ‘I have a Master’s Suite entirely to myself’.”

“Hey, to be fair, it’s not like he’s going to be spending the entire competition all by himself.” Serenity says.

“Nooo, he just gets to be alone for a couple hours each day while we have to hope our roommate is able to tolerate our presence for even a couple seconds, let alone the whole day.” Gail sarcastically replies.

With tensions beginning to bubble, it seems as though things are one wrong comment away from boiling over entirely. Before anyone else can try and make matters worse however, Kehlani gets up onto her chair, looking out over most of the other contestants.

“S-STOP IT! Cut it out!” Kehlani yells, drawing the attention onto herself. “Can’t we just… Try and get along? After all, Serenity said earlier that we could all win this if we just worked together, so why should we keep fighting?”

With the others hearing Kehlani’s call to action, the tension in the ring fizzles out almost entirely. Satisfied with her work, Kehlani shakily lowers herself off of her chair. Just in time for Serenity to pull an arm over her shoulder.

“Would you look at that? Such inspiring words, and coming from none other than the resident Jobber of the locker room!” Serenity feigns pride in Kehlani, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. “Maybe one day, you can end up leading a stable of your own.”

Before Kehlani is given a chance to react, Serenity gently shoves her aside. Taking the spotlight once more, the host smiles as the screen flickers back to life.

“Now then!” Serenity calls. “Let’s find out just who’s sleeping with who!”

With that, the screen flashes, all eight faces of the contestants being randomly shuffled across the display like lottery balls. With the screen segmented into four parts, each section holds two faces within them, but it remains momentarily impossible to tell who is on what part of the screen.

“Aaaaand… Stop!” At Serenity’s command, the randomization on the first quadrant of the screen comes to a sudden halt. “Well, look at this~.” Serenity purrs, her eyes sporting a noticeable glint as they flick towards the first pairing. “Looks like Miss Popular is going to be rooming with the woman whose lack of Bonus Points she deemed a mere mistake on the host’s behalf. Our first pairing of roommates is… Yukari and Renee!”

Immediately, Yukari’s head snaps over towards Renee, who glares at Yukari with the same annoyed scowl that she has sported practically since arriving at The Palace at Harem Hotel. The two’s expressions remain locked in a stare down, before eventually Yukari scoffs. Looking away from Renee, Yukari misses Renee letting out a sigh of slight frustration, before she returns her eyes down to the mat beneath her.

“Alright! Now, for our second pairing…” The randomization once more comes to a halt at Serenity’s command. “Well, doesn’t this pairing just make sense? The Monster paired up with her potential mouthpiece? It’s Nikkita and Linda!”

Similar to the previous pair, Nikkita and Linda’s eyes meet for a split second, only for Linda to instinctually turn her gaze away. Not wanting to draw The Monster’s ire, Linda keeps her eyes off of her roommate, who simply looks away after a few seconds. Noticing that she’s no longer looking her way, Linda turns her gaze back to Nikkita, finding herself briefly studying the physique of her new roommate before averting her eyes once more.

“Good, good, things are going smoothly.” Serenity says. “Now, as for our third pair…” The third quadrant comes to a conclusive stop. “...Huh. I suppose this makes sense, too. Our third pair is Gail and Willow!”

Once their names are called, Gail and Willow turn to face each other. Unlike the others though, the two of them seem far more at ease with one another being roommates. This is especially true once Gail’s eyes travel down to the bag of tricks currently resting on Willow’s lap, given the smile that forms as she briefly stares at the black duffel bag.

“S-So… Wait, that means-” Kehlani starts to speak, only to be cut off by Serenity.

“Ah ah ah, wait for the randomization to do its thing.”

After a couple extra seconds, the final ‘randomization’ comes to a close. The final pair that is generated is naturally the one the contestants expected to see, given the process of elimination.

“And wouldn’t you guess? Penelope and Kehlani are the final pair of roommates to start off this season!” Serenity announces.

With the pair being revealed, this grants Kehlani just barely enough time to turn to face her roommate. She gives a soft smile towards Penelope, who barely notices the gesture. By the time she goes to give some sort of response, the moment has already passed.

“So, with that all said and done, that just leaves the final tour of the facilities!” Serenity announces… Before her smile falters as she turns towards the hotel itself. “At least, that is what would normally be done…” Serenity mutters, her attention turning back to the contestants. “However, I’ve decided that you are all more than capable of discovering things on your own time. So instead, I will be sending you all to your rooms with a quick bout of teleportation, and allow you to enjoy the rest of the day however you see fit!”

A wave of skepticism washes over all eight of the contestants, as well as Christian. Nobody says a word, but none are needed to let Serenity know exactly what they are thinking.

“H-Hey, don’t look at me like that. I promise, there’s nothing nefarious happening here! I just…” Serenity’s eyes glance away from the contestants. “I have something I need to take care of. Alone. In like,” Serenity glances at the screen. “Six, seven minutes? Maybe less?”

Serenity shrugs, before turning her attention back to the contestants. As she goes to whisk them away however, Serenity stops herself, the pendant’s glow dimming almost immediately thereafter.

“Wait, hold on! I almost forgot. I need to list out the ordering of this week’s date schedule!” With that, Serenity gives a small flourish up to the screen as the schedule is put up on full display.

1. Willow
2. Linda
3. Renee
4. Nikkita
5. Gail
6. Yukari
7. Kehlani
8. Penelope

As soon as she spots her name on the list, Renee scowls. However, she’s not the only one with a notable reaction.

“Hey, what’s the big deal?! Why am I stuck in the midcard again, huh?!” Yukari pouts, her gaze directly turned towards Serenity as she thumps her toe against the mat in annoyance.

“Hey, it could be worse, Yukari.” Willow speaks up. “Could be stuck curtain-jerking like me.”

“Oh, right. I’m supposed to feel so sorry for you, having to sit in my room with Renee while you’re busy jerking something other than the curtains.” Yukari bitingly replies.

Willow glares at Yukari. “Excuse you?” She seethes.

“You heard what I said.” Yukari strides towards Willow, going eye-to-eye with The Hardcore.

“Yeah? And you didn’t.” Willow’s gaze narrows in on Yukari. “You weren’t here when I got introduced, so I'll give you this one freely. But considering you were left unaware, allow me to make this loud and clear for you. I already have a girlfriend back home, and while I don't mind getting with someone like Christian, I do mind having to cheat on my partner to do so. So why don't you back off, Yukari?"

Yukari's rabbit ears bristle as she stares up at Willow. "Back off? What, you think that just because you got someone back in a completely separate dimension that I'm going to let you use that to your advantage?" Yukari scoffs. "You can say you have a girlfriend all you want, but the fact of the matter is that you're still going first! I don't want to wake up for breakfast in two days just to check the VP tracker and find out how much your relationship really means to you during the course of competition."

"Oh, so that's how it is?" Willow steps towards Yukari, using her slight height advantage to her favor. "Well then, what if I do end up doing something with him then, huh? If you think I'm strong enough competition to ignore my own goddamn girlfriend, then what are you going to do to stop me, rab-bitch?"

“Willow!” Christian calls out, briskly walking towards the both of them in an effort to try and prevent things from getting any worse. “Yukari! Both of you! Cut it out!” He demands, as all eyes fall onto Yukari and Willow.

Amidst their stare down, Willow breaks eye contact first. She lets out a deep breath as she goes to walk away, with Christian following shortly thereafter. Unfortunately for the Master, he misses the look of sheer disdain that flashes on Yukari’s face. The bunny girl’s fists ball up as she watches Christian walk off with Willow, until her own inner turmoil finally boils over.

“Yeah, that’s right! Back away!” Yukari calls, even gaining a smug look on her face as both Willow and Christian turn around. “Not so tough without your tools of the trade, are you? Or is it that you don’t know how to keep putting up a fight without someone else calling the spots for you?”

Willow bristles, turning on her heel to face Yukari once more. Before Christian can try and put a stop to things.

"The fuck?!" Willow strides towards Yukari, seething.

Only realizing her fault after the fact, Yukari steps backwards to put some distance between her and Willow. "Y-You heard me!" Yukari digs herself deeper. "I remember what it was like training with you, you know? How many times did I have to throw you into a rest hold during our matches so you could figure out what came next in the sequence? Oh right, you probably don't remember, considering how-"

Yukari isn't able to finish that sentence. Instead, Willow launches herself at Yukari, who barely manages to sidestep the attempted attack. Caught on the sidelines, Kehlani tries to rush forward in an attempt to break things up, only for Penelope to put an arm out in front of her. The smaller girl looks up to her roommate in confusion, yet The Anointed says nothing. Instead, Penelope gestures with her gaze towards Serenity, who appears caught up in the drama. All the while, the other contestants stay watching as Willow tries to get at Yukari. After a few seconds though, finally some of them snap to action. Christian and Nikkita both jump in, with Christian grabbing Yukari while Nikkita holds Willow off. Despite their thrashing, Willow is unable to break free of Nikkita's grasp, while Yukari's struggles forces Christian to do the same. Soon enough, Linda and Gail are both joining in as well, helping Christian keep Yukari at bay. Of course, it's only when things are settled down that Serenity finally steps in...

“ALRIGHT, THAT’S IT!” Serenity bellows out, causing both Willow and Yukari to cease their struggling. The host’s pendant gleams as she looks between the two of them. “Save it for the challenge, you two! Today is meant to be your day off from everything, and while I appreciate the drama, we are simply out of time! So, you're all going to your rooms to get acquainted with your roommates. Dining hall is open as needed. Have a good night!”

With Serenity trying her best not to let her anger slip out too much, the host waves to the camera, before focusing her efforts on those currently containing the potential carnage inside the squared circle. As each of the contestants seemingly blips out of existence, Serenity smiles. Finally, things in the ring settle down as it comes down to just her and Christian. Before he can question her on why she stepped in now however, he too is sent away as he is teleported straight to the Master’s Suite. All in order for Serenity to finally be left alone.

Turning her head to the hardcam, Serenity watches as the cameras turn off momentarily, before collapsing down to her hands and knees. Serenity pants for breath, her amethyst's gleam dying down. After a few seconds, she pulls herself up to her feet, and checks the clock hanging over where the hardcam is located. With a strained smile, Serenity exhales a sigh of relief. “Just in time, too… I still have way too much studying to do~.” With that thought, Serenity herself finally is able to exit the ring.