But that you're happy to be back home

Because of how time dilation worked in the labyrinth, everyone stepped out of the archway signaling the maze’s exit and out onto the beach at roughly the same time, no matter how far they had been lagging behind getting to the exit. Out on the surface, scarcely an hour had passed, after all, even though an extensive amount of time had been spent within the maze’s depths. (How Nick and Mary could have witnessed everything that happened inside with those restrictions was a mystery known only to the producers.) The girls all stood in a cluster under a rocky outcropping jutting out of the shore, the exit to the maze carved out behind them.

They were finally free!

Everyone was a little surprised, facing a bit of a jolt as their bodies reacclimated themselves to being back on a normal timeline. And that wasn’t the only change.

“Oh, hey!” Dani looked down at her body, seeing that her dominatrix outfit had disappeared, and been replaced by the clothes she’d originally been wearing when she first entered the labyrinth. “My clothes are back to normal!”

“Mine toooooo!” Ella sniffled, practically in tears as she looked down at the modest pajamas she’d woken up in that morning. “I’m so glaaaaad…”

The negligee she’d had on before had practically been in tatters when she reached the finish line. She had no idea how she’d ended up in it or how she’d gained the power to walk through walls, but she was just glad she had something on that would keep her body covered. She just hoped that Nick hadn’t seen her like that…

“You don’t think Nick saw, do you?” She mumbled, looking down dejectedly. “I was practically naked… oooh…”

“Hey, come on, it’s no big deal if he did!” Carly said, coming over to her with a big smile on her face. She had no idea what kind of clothes Ella had been wearing (they never did end up running into each other in the maze) but she wanted to keep a positive attitude. “You’ll get some Victory Points for it, and that’s a good thing!”

Ella looked dejectedly at her and chewed on her lip in irritation.

“Hey, not everyone is fine with exposing themselves like you are,” Marley snapped at her sister. She did a quick once-over of her own clothes, and sighed in relief. She was back in her original dress, instead of that clingy princess costume, and it was slime free. Thank goodness.

Vivian bit her lip. She was going to offer words of encouragement to Ella as well, but held herself back when she remembered the confrontation she’d had with the other girl back in the maze. Ella obviously didn’t want anything to do with her.

Forcing a smile onto her face she stepped away, giving Ella as much room as she could without trying to make it seem too obvious that she was keeping her distance.

Morgana noticed, and raised a surprised eyebrow. Vivian? She wondered what was up with the other girl. Clearly something was the matter, but Morgana had never been the sort of person to reach out to someone else first.

“She probably won’t get any Victory Points anyway,” Sylvia said, walking over to Carly and Ella. Both girls looked at her in surprise.

“Really? Why not?” Marley asked.

“The goal of Victory Point distribution is to encourage girls in Daddy’s harem to do stuff for his pleasure,” Sylvia explained. “That’s why the producers are a little more scrutinizing about sexual acts done during challenges. In that last challenge, pretty much all of us had to masturbate in order to get through, and that would have been worth 2 VP. Carly, your score wouldn’t have changed, but Ella, you haven’t done anything like that, right?”

Ella’s jaw dropped and her face turned bright red. “Of-! Of course I’ve-! Never-! Done that… in front… of him… where he could see me…” She trailed off into a whisper at that last part, and no one quite caught what she said.

Sylvia shrugged. “Well anyway, my VP total hasn’t changed at all,” she said, holding up her hand and showing the 55 emblazoned on the back of it. “I’m guessing that Dakota set it so that Nick would conveniently miss all the things we did that would be worth VP in that challenge, or just didn’t count those points.”

Ella sighed in relief. “You mean… he probably didn’t see then?”

Carly shrugged. “Well, that’s boring.” Realizing what she just said she quickly added, “…But I’m glad that you didn’t get seen, Ella!”

Ella just gave her a look and sighed.

“Wait a minute!”

Dawn’s voice from the arch caught the attention of the other girls. Her flushed face was twisted into a furious expression. She jabbed a sharp finger at Ella, though the other girl wasn’t the target of her ire. “What’s going on here?! Why did you guys all go back to normal, but I’m still like this, huh!?”

She gestured to her wild mane of hair with a grimace.

“You got that from a transformation, right?” Kim pointed out. “You used your temporary transformation on it. It wasn’t something from the maze. Those changes all reset, but your transformations stayed the same.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded in agreement.

Dawn calmed down, realizing that she had full control of her mental faculties again. The fog over her brain had been lifted! And not only that, her breasts had returned to their original size! …Well, not quite their original size. Vivian’s enhancements from earlier in the round still remained. But they weren’t bulging out her top anymore, and that was the important part!

“It appears we have all returned to normal for the most part,” Amelia agreed, looking down at her clothes. She was pleased to no longer be running around in that skimpy jogging gear, and even more pleased to be dry. “Fortunate.”

“Speak for yourself!” Rose complained, cleansed of semen but still agitated. “I came in last place! I don’t believe this! I never come in last place, never! It’s not fair! What did I do to deserve this!?”

“Didn’t you use Jess as a shield?” Kim pointed out.

Amelia pushed up her glasses. “Twice,” she clarified.

“Who’s Jess?” Dani asked, confused.

“It’s a long story,” Sylvia giggled. “But let’s just say Rose got what was coming to her! Hehe… …Wait a second!”

She gasped and looked down at her bag. Lynette was gone! “Where’s Lynette?!” She cried, worry racing through her chest. “She’s not here! Lynette?!”

“The doll?” Rose made a face. “Don’t tell me you kept that creepy thing?”

Sylvia glared at her. “Hey! She’s not creepy! Don’t say that, she’s my sister!”

“She abducted you guys!” Rose defended her claim with a scowl.

Sylvia grimaced, unable to speak back.

“Holly isn’t here either,” Gina noticed, looking around. She’d been rather quiet for the most part, worn out from the challenge and just relieved it was over. She looked up and down the beach but saw no sign of the diminutive pervert. “You think something happened?”

“Allow me to answer that!” A chipper voice announced.

Sitting on a large rock with a big smile on her face was Nola! The little leprechaun waved at the contestants with a smile and hopped down into the sand. “Congratulations!” She chirped, applauding the girls. “You all made it out of the maze!”

“Some of us taking longer than others,” Rose muttered under her breath, still annoyed.

“You know where Lynette is?” Sylvia asked.

Nola made a face. “I’m not enough for you?” She huffed, crossing her hands over her chest. “Well, fine, if you MUST know, this exit is only for the challengers. …And Marley,” she added, looking at the bigger girl. “Holly and Lynette are waiting back at the main stage! I’m here to escort you guys back!”

“An escort?” Dani raised her eyebrow. “What’s the point of that? Couldn’t Dakota just tap her cane, and, well…” She waved her hand. “…You know?”

Nola let out a tired sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Dakota is… uh… …Well, look, it’s kind of a long story, so… can we just not, right now? Please?”

Everyone looked a little uneasy after hearing that. Nola, the motormouthed assistant host who wouldn’t shut up if you begged her, didn’t want to talk about something?

That was definitely not a good sign.

She looked at the girls with big, pleading green eyes. “If you come back with me to the stage, I’ll explain everything to you on the way!” She said adamantly.

Not seeing any other options, the girls didn’t really have any choice other than to follow along with what she asked.

“Great,” Gina grumbled as they trudged down the beach towards the stage. “More walking. Haven’t had enough of that today.”

---

“Shishishishi! What do you mean!?” Little Lynette was yelling at the producer, clearly irate. Not that she was very intimidating, small as she was. But she certainly had a mouth on her. …Not one that was moving, but still. “Why isn’t Mommy here?! You said… you said Mommy would be here!” She roared. “You said that if I helped you… I would get to see Mommy again!”

“And you will, I promise,” Mr. S said smoothly. “But right now, Dakota is taking a little personal time. That’s all. So she can come back ready to do her job better than ever. That is what you want, isn’t it, Lynette?”

“I don’t care about that shit!” Lynette snapped. “I want Mommy!”

“I don’t get what’s happening either,” Holly said nervously, looking at Mary and Nick for support. So much had changed while she was in the maze. “Dakota’s… missing?”

“We don’t know,” Nick said, shaking his head. “According to Mr. S she’s taking some time off from the show, but… what that means for the rest of us…”

Holly winced.

“We just have to believe she’ll be okay,” Mary said adamantly. “Dakota would never abandon you on purpose, Nick! That’s not the kind of woman she is!” She shook her head. “If the producer says she’s going to come back, then she’s going to come back! …I hope…”

Her resolve wavered at the last second and she sank back into her seat and sighed. “But I’m worried about her too…”

“I’m telling you, there’s no need to be worried,” Mr. S assured the three of them, shaking his head. “I see Dakota as my own daughter, in a way. I would never let any harm befall her, I guarantee it.”

He placed his hand over his chest. “This is all for her sake as much as it is for hers. Even though she’s an exceptional host, her feelings for you have, unfortunately, gotten in the way on occasion…”

The producer shook his head. “Hopefully when she comes back, she’ll be the sort of host you deserve.”

Somehow, Nick had the sinking feeling that what Mr. S meant by that was different than what he wanted that to mean.

“…Right.”

“Oh my gosh! She really ISN’T here!” Carly’s exclamation echoed across the beach.

Mr. S perked right up. “…And there they are right now! The lovely young ladies of your harem, Nola brought them just like I asked!”

He stood up from his chair and turned to the hesitant cluster of girls slowly approaching the stage. Amelia stood at the front, the least intimidated by the strange man in front of her.

“Geh!” The color drained from Sylvia’s face until it turned nearly as white as her hair. “Nola wasn’t lying, it’s the producer! What’s he doing here?!”

“Ladies, welcome,” Mr. S crooned, spreading his hands. “It’s so lovely to see all of you again! For those of you who don’t remember, my name is Mr. S, and as Sylvia just said, I’m the producer of this lovely season of Harem Hotel!”

He clasped his hands together and leaned forward, lips wide and eyes so tight they were practically slits in his skull.

“And I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to all of you for your hard work and dedication, all of you doing your best to make this one of the greatest seasons in Harem Hotel history!”

Gina gulped. “Um… you’re welcome?” She said hesitantly.

“Yeah… look, all that’s whatever, but… where’s Dakota?” Dani looked around uncertainly. “Nola said that she was on vacation or something?”

“In the middle of the show? That’s definitely not right,” Marley said, shaking her head.

Dawn couldn’t agree more. “Something’s up. What’s going on here?”

Mr. S’s smile flickered for a second before he reasserted it. “Ah yes. That. Well… it’s not a vacation per se… consider it… …Hm. Amelia, you’re familiar with the term ‘administrative leave’, are you not?” He asked the woman at the head of the group.

Amelia’s face shifted into an unpleasant expression. She narrowed her eyes. “…Yes.”

Not exactly a thorough answer. Of course, that was why Mr. S called her out in the first place, as he knew that her tendency to speak with few words would just confuse the others.

“Simply put, I could tell that Dakota was feeling stressed. The pressures of this job are quite something, you see! And to ensure that she wouldn’t become overwhelmed by the unusual factors at play in this current season, I recommended that she take a nice, long break to clear her head, so when she returns to her job, she can do so with the professionalism and skill that I know she possesses. Does that make sense?”

He flashed a catlike grin.

Sylvia blanched. “Not the pit of fire snakes!” She cried.

Everyone immediately looked at her. Nola cringed at the thought.

Mr. S scoffed. “Certainly not! I would never do something like that to my dear Dakota!” He said aghast, placing his hand over his breast.

Sylvia scowled. Oh, but he’d threaten her with it?

“So what, Dakota’s just gone now?” Kim frowned. “What the heck’s that gonna do?”

“I didn’t even get to say goodbye…” Gina mumbled.

“Are we going to get a new host then?” Morgana asked anxiously, already starting to panic.

Mr. S held up his hands and shook his head. “Ladies, please calm down. I’ve discussed this with Nick here at length, and we both agree that it would be rather difficult to bring a new host in at this time, with where you all are in the season.”

Nick blinked. Huh? This was the first he was hearing of this.

“Rather, Dakota won’t be gone very long, I don’t think,” Mr. S assured them. “For now, I think the season can be run without an official host, at least in the short-term. I’ll be sticking around for a few days to ensure a smooth transition, and when Dakota’s feeling ready, she’ll return and take up the mantle. Does that sound fair to everyone?”

Sylvia wanted to shake her head, but she knew better than to get on the bad side of a producer. So she just robotically nodded, quivering like a leaf.

Following Sylvia’s lead, the other girls all regarded the situation with skepticism at best, worry and distrust at worst.

“Does that mean you’re going to be assigning us transformations?” Dani asked, scowling.

Mr. S blinked. “Oh, that’s right, I forgot! You girls DID just finish a challenge, didn’t you? Where are my manners…”

He snapped his fingers and a screen appeared over the stage. “Now, if you ladies would take your seats, we can proceed!”

The girls all sat down hesitantly as the screen flared to life, broadcasting the results of the maze.

“If you’ll look, we can see how well you all did in this challenge! …Mm, mm, mm… quite a surprising ranking,” Mr. S said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Lower ranks than I would have thought for a lot of you ladies!”

2nd- Dani

2nd- Ella

3rd- Sylvia

7th- Carly

7th- Gina

7th- Morgana

7th- Vivian

8th- Dawn

10th- Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin

10th- Kim

11th- Amelia

12th- Rose

Nick was also surprised by the rankings, but he was pleased by what it meant.

“That just shows they were working together well,” he pointed out. “Like with Gina and Carly and Vivian and Morgana, they all agreed to exit at the same time, so they all came in seventh. Instead of someone staying behind for the sake of everyone else, they all wanted to finish it together! …Isn’t that a good thing?”

Vivian said up in her chair, surprised and happy that Nick was giving her so much praise.

“I suppose you could think of it like that,” Mr. S mused. “Indeed, the girls definitely showed how much they cared for each other… and you could say that’s a good thing… …But it might not be the best thing for their scores, I’m afraid.”

He shook his head. “Now, I don’t have a cane to tap, but, ahem…” He knocked on the side of the screen like he was hitting an old TV, and the image changed. VP totals were added to the side of the names, to signify how many VP each contestant got for their ranking in the maze.

2nd- Dani + 15 VP

2nd- Ella + 15 VP

3rd- Sylvia + 13 VP

7th- Carly + 9 VP

7th- Gina + 9 VP

7th- Morgana + 9 VP

7th- Vivian + 9 VP

8th- Dawn + 8 VP

10th- Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin + 6 VP

10th- Kim + 6 VP

11th- Amelia + 4 VP

12th- Rose + 2 VP

Everyone looked at the scores in shock. Dani’s jaw actually hit the ground.

“So… so much,” she stammered, shaking her head.

“Isn’t that a little TOO generous?!” Sylvia couldn’t believe her eyes. “I got 13 VP for third place?!”

“I’m not stingy,” Mr. S said, shaking his head. “This was a long and grueling challenge, so it’s only fair that you all get a little something. Even our girl in last place.”

Rose’s frown lifted slightly. She may have gotten last, but even she got 2 VP for all her hard work. It could have been a lot worse.

Morgana’s head was spinning. “So then… our points get added up, and we get a total of…”

“Ah, you’re getting ahead of things,” Mr. S chuckled. “First, shall we take a look at how much VP everyone started with before the challenge? Just to see where it all began.”

He hit the screen again and it shifted to show how much total VP the girls had accumulated.

1st: Kim – 101 VP

2nd: Rose – 100 VP

3rd: Morgana – 99 VP

4th: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 96 VP

5th: Dawn – 82 VP

6th: Dani – 81 VP

7th: Carly – 78 VP

8th: Amelia – 76 VP

9th: Gina – 75 VP

10th: Vivian – 73 VP

11th: Cinder/Ella – 60 VP

12th: Sylvia – 55 VP

“And now, adding up your points from this last challenge, and you’ll see that there have really been some winnings!” Mr. S chuckled. “Talk about progress!”

1st: Kim – 101 VP + 6 VP

2nd: Rose – 100 VP + 2 VP

3rd: Morgana – 99 VP + 9 VP

4th: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 96 VP + 6 VP

5th: Dawn – 82 VP + 8 VP

6th: Dani – 81 VP + 15 VP

7th: Carly – 78 VP + 9 VP

8th: Amelia – 76 VP + 4 VP

9th: Gina – 75 VP + 9 VP

10th: Vivian – 73 VP + 9 VP

11th: Cinder/Ella – 60 VP + 15 VP

12th: Sylvia – 55 VP + 13 VP

And with those points added, the girls got to see just how much VP they had now, and how much the totals had changed.

They were stunned.

1st: Morgana – 108 VP

2nd: Kim – 107 VP

3rd: Rose – 102 VP

3rd: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 102 VP

5th: Dani – 96 VP

6th: Dawn – 90 VP

7th: Carly – 87 VP

8th: Gina – 84 VP

9th: Vivian – 82 VP

10th: Amelia – 80 VP

11th: Cinder/Ella – 75 VP

12th: Sylvia – 68 VP