I would show, the special love I have for you, my baby blue

“CARLY!”

Upon seeing Carly hurl all over the floor, Dani and Dawn immediately rushed over to her. Dani got there first, of course, helping the grungy-looking girl keep her balance as she finished throwing up. Dawn reached her a few seconds later, and the worried look on her face was replaced with a mask of professionalism.

“What’s the problem?” Dawn asked. “What have you eaten today? Is it your stomach? Do you feel anything else wrong? Migraines? Dizziness? Chills?”

She tucked back the cascade of black hair tumbling over Carly’s face and took her temperature. “No fever… that’s good at least…”

“I-I’m fine,” Carly said, fumbling for a napkin to wipe her lips instead of using her sleeve. Even as shaken as she was, Carly would never ruin her cosplay over something like this.

“You’re not fine,” Dawn growled. “I don’t know if you’re sick or what, but I know you’re definitely not fine.”

“How did this happen?” Dani asked. “You said you weren’t feeling well yesterday, did you come down with something?”

“That would never happen.” Sylvia approached the girls with a calm expression. “Here at Harem Hotel, we have taken special precautions to ensure that all you girls are in the peak of health. So long as you are on this island, you won’t have to worry about disease, grievous injury, or ****.”

She glanced at Gina and smirked. “…With some obvious exceptions, of course.”

“Sh-She’s right,” Carly said, shaking free of Dawn and Dani and standing up. She continued to **** her smile. “I was just really stressed out, that’s all.”

“It could be,” Sylvia nodded, stroking her chin with exaggerate thoughtfulness. “Or… it could be something else.”

“Like what?” Dani asked, glancing to Dawn to see if the doctor had any insight.

Dawn rose to her feet and adjusted her glasses. “There are numerous reasons for nausea symptoms,” she noted. “Stomach flu is one, food allergies, food poisoning, gastroesophageal reflux-”

“What the hell is THAT?” Gina made a face.

Dawn ignored her and kept going. “Motion sickness, migraines and concussions, types of medication…”

“…And don’t forget morning sickness,” Sylvia stated.

The room went cold and Dawn’s eyes widened. Nick felt dizzy and turned to Carly, who looked horrified.

“But that’s…” She whispered, shaking her head frantically. “No, it’s not that, it’s not!”

“Are you sure?” Sylvia smirked. She turned to Nick. “Remind me again, did you two use protection when you were together? I seem to recall multiple instances of your coupling, after all.”

Nick went pale and felt like he was going to be the one to throw up.

“W-Wait,” Mary stammered, taking a cautious step forward. “Carly can’t be… pregnant, can she?”

“Why?” Sylvia glanced her way and raised her eyebrow coyly. “Jealous?”

Mary gasped and went ramrod straight. Her face turned a deeper shade of red than her hair.

“N-NO!”

“I’m not pregnant!” Carly shouted, clutching her stomach. “It-It’s too early for that anyway, right?” She looked fearfully at Dawn, who still seemed shaken. Realizing she was being addressed, the doctor flinched and her tail straightened out. Her ears leapt up and she adjusted her glasses.

“Y-Yes, that’s right,” Dawn coughed. “Morning sickness usually begins within the first 6-9 weeks of pregnancy. Even if Carly was at her most fertile when she slept with Nick-”

“I wasn’t,” Carly hissed. “It was a safe day!”

“…Yes, well, even if the embryo had implanted that very night, that wasn’t even 6 days ago. It would be far too early into a pregnancy for symptoms to occur,” Dawn assured everyone.

Carly sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God…”

“What’s the matter?” Sylvia purred, leaning in close to the worn-out woman. “Not a big fan of pregnancy? What a shame. As a mother myself, it’s quite fulfilling. You really should give it a try someday.”

Carly’s eyes widened and her pupils shrank into pinpricks. She whirled around and punched Sylvia right in the face, knocking off her top hat.

“CARLY!” Nick shouted.

“Are you crazy?!” Dani remembered her own experience with using **** against the host and what had happened to her because of it.

The blonde was uninjured by her fist. She gave Carly a blank stare, not reacting in the slightest to the anger in the other woman’s eyes.

“…I’ll let you have that.” Sylvia’s voice was devoid of emotion. She knelt down and picked up her hat, dusting it off and flipping it back onto her head. “In light of your circumstances, I’ll let you have that. But don’t try it again.”

Carly just glared.

“Come on, Carly, it’s not worth it!” Dani urged, grabbing her buddy and holding her back as gently as she could.

“That’s right, **** won’t solve anything,” Dawn agreed. She remembered as well as Dani what had happened to her.

“What’s happening right now?” Kim asked, shaking her head in confusion. Carly had always seemed to be the most easygoing out of them all. To see her react with his much anger and hostility was frankly shocking to her.

“I’m telling you, I’m going to be fine,” Carly said. “It’s not morning sickness or the flu or anything like that. I’m just… feeling a little under the weather.”

Her explanation was fluffy and meaningless. But given what they’d just seen, no one really felt comfortable calling her out.

Mimi stood off to the side, feeling a strange murkiness inside. She couldn’t explain what it was, but it made her uncomfortable. She held her hand over her own stomach.

“Now then!” Sylvia tapped her cane on the ground. “This has been a very intense moment, my girls. Hopefully, Carly will begin feeling better soon, but in the meantime, I have an announcement to make!”

Nick scowled. He didn’t like the cavalier way Sylvia was shrugging off Carly’s condition. Whatever was going on with her, it clearly had something to do with Mimi. But he didn’t feel comfortable bringing that up in front of everyone without Carly’s permission first.

“What announcement?” Dakota asked, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s something a little similar to an event,” Sylvia chirped. “But don’t worry, there won’t be anything at stake like BP or VP or the like. It’s just a fun little activity to pass the time while we wait for the next round!”

No one said anything. The air sat heavy around them as they considered what Sylvia would think counted as a “fun little activity”.

The image was not encouraging.

“What kind of activity?” Rose asked cautiously.

“It’s very simple,” Sylvia chirped, strolling over to Nick and draping her arm over his shoulder. “While I’ve been running this show, a thought kept occurring to me. ‘Why is it that only the master’s harem is getting transformations?’ On other shows, the master gets the occasional transformation as well, but not on here. And that just feels wrong!”

“Wait, what was that?!” Nick exclaimed, pulling away from Sylvia in shock. “You want to transform me next?!”

“Precisely!” Sylvia grinned. “It’s really only fair. All these girls are doing their best to look appealing to you, going through all manner of transformations to become better members of your harem. And what are you doing? You work out a couple times with Dani and that’s really it. Your hair’s still a mess, you still have a bit of a gut, face it my boy, you’re not exactly a catch.”

She batted her eyelashes and leaned in close, tilting her head to the side.

“Of course, that’s just in a physical sense. In terms of being a decent guy, you’re top of the tops my boy,” she cooed. “There’s a reason why a sweetheart like Mary is head over heels for you.”

“H-Hey!” Mary exclaimed. She didn’t deny the allegation, but it still came as an embarrassment to hear nonetheless.

“So what is the point of this?” Dakota demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re going to give Nick a transformation? So what? Who cares about that?”

Sylvia turned to her in surprise and batted her eyelashes. “Who cares? I would think that you care, my girl. Wouldn’t you want to turn Nick into your ideal man?”

Dakota snorted. “What’s there to change?”

“Ah, and that’s why you’re such a great woman,” Sylvia chortled. “Standing by your man no matter what. But let’s get back to the matter at hand: the event itself.”

She swept her cane across the room.

“Because Nick’s upcoming transformation… will be determined by one of you.”

Everyone took a second for that to sink in.

“What do you mean by that?” Dawn asked.

“Simple,” Sylvia replied. “For the remainder of this round, I want each of you to come up with a transformation that you wish to give Nick. Something that you feel would make him a better host. Perhaps more like your ideal, or perhaps just something that you think would be beneficial for him. I’ll allow quite a bit of latitude on this. And at the end of the week, your choices will be presented to the audience, and they will vote on which one they like the best. And Nick will receive the winning transformation! See how that works?”

More silence fell over the crowd.

“Wait, so… we could ask for anything?” Dani clarified, her jaw dropping. “Like… anything?”

“Within reason, of course,” Sylvia nodded. “So nothing like turning Nick into a superhuman or creating multiple copies of him. He must remain human, the single master, and most importantly, he must remain male. If you change those details, it somewhat ruins the premise of the show, you see.”

Dani baulked, averting her eyes. That thought had crossed her mind for a fraction of a second.

“But still, other than that, anything is possible? Like, we could make him more sexually dominant?” Gina asked, licking her lips.

“Certainly,” Sylvia said, shrugging. “That’s a very common transformation on these shows, in fact. So long as he remains Nick on a fundamental level, you can propose transformations to be more sexually dominant, submissive, hell, you could make him completely sexually naïve if you want. The audience will decide for themselves what they find most appealing.”

Her proposal left the girls with a lot to think about.

Finally, Mary said the words that were on most of their minds.

“This… is wrong!” She cried.

“Oh? Whatever do you mean by that?” Sylvia asked, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

“It’s one thing, to be **** through whatever transformations you want to put on us, but it’s another thing entirely to subject someone else to that of our own will!” Mary exclaimed. “Forcing us to come up with a transformation to impose on him… it’s grotesque!”

“I prefer to think of it as empowering,” Sylvia replied. “Think of it! All this time, you ladies have been subjected to the whims of the audience and myself. But now you’ve finally gotten a chance to strike out for yourselves, and get what you want. It’s a strike for women everywhere!”

“That’s ridiculous!” Dawn sputtered.

“And besides, it’s not like you’ll be inflicting harm,” Sylvia reminded them. “You’ll be giving your master a tool to appeal better to your needs and wants! And isn’t that what it’s all about, really?”

“Sylvia…” Nick glared at her. “They’re right. This is wrong. Completely wrong.”

Sylvia pouted. “Oh, really?” She asked, placing her hands on her hips. “Are you telling me that if one of the girls wanted to give you a transformation you could use to help make her happy, you’d turn it down? Isn’t that a little selfish of you? After all the ways you’ve exploited them, you can’t make this one little sacrifice for their pleasure?”

“Exploited them?!” Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “If I exploited anyone it was only because you guilt-tripped me into it!”

“He’s right,” Rose nodded. “Don’t put this on him! He hasn’t exploited anyone!”

“I wouldn’t mind if he ‘exploited’ me like that again tonight,” Gina snickered. “Right, Carly?”

Carly was still a little tense, but that did manage to get a smile out of her.

Sylvia sighed, removing her hat and bowing. “I understand that this might be difficult for some of you. The notion of transforming another person, of being responsible for what happens to them, it is quite a burden to bear. Which is why there will be a deadline. All potential transformations are due on the day of the Popularity Poll. You have until then to come up with something. Anything at all.”

“And what if we don’t want to come up with anything?” Dani demanded. At the very least, she couldn’t think of any transformation that would make Nick be more appealing to her.

“Well, that makes things complicated,” Sylvia said, narrowing her eyes. “And I, for one, greatly dislike… complications. If that’s the way you want to handle things, then I don’t really have a choice. We need these transformations my girls. And if we don’t get them, well… some of you may be in for a rough ride.”

She let the threat hang in the air. Mary shivered and turned pale, glancing at Nick.

“Stop,” Nick said, stepping up to face Sylvia directly. He turned to the girls. “Listen… I get it, okay? You guys don’t want to transform me. I appreciate that, I really do. But we need to play the game. So whatever transformations you guys give to me, it’s fine. I can deal. Okay?”

“Are you sure?” Dawn asked, frowning. “I don’t want to **** this onto you…”

“It’s not forcing it if I accept it myself, right?” Nick tried to smile.

“We just need to come up with a transformation that you want,” Carly said. “Should be easy enough, right?”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Sylvia slapped her forehead with an exaggerated grin on her face. “You will not be allowed to consult Nick on his potential transformations, my girls.”

“What?!” Kim exclaimed.

“That’s not fair!” Mary wailed.

“It’s entirely fair,” Sylvia scoffed, crossing her arms. “It’s not as though I consult you girls when you’re transformed. Why should he be treated any differently? Because he’s a man?”

She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, clicking her tongue. “Tsk, tsk. There’s nothing that pains me more than women who bow their heads to the patriarchy. Where’s the equality?”

“That’s just ridiculous,” Gina scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“I’ll make it a little easier to follow your own hearts,” Sylvia continued, ignoring her completely. “The transformation you come up with will be totally anonymous. Even if yours is the winner, you will not be required to tell anyone that it was yours. Not even the audience! Aren’t I generous?”

“So… it’s a secret then?” Rose asked warily. “We don’t have to tell anyone… even when we’re planning…”

Nick could see the gears in her head turning. He wondered what she would come up with. Frankly, he wondered what a lot of them would come up with. Not everyone was like Gina and wore their heart on their sleeve (literally). A lot of these girls were fairly private.

“But alas, it is what it is. I say again,” Sylvia said, raising her cane, “before the next Popularity Poll, you must each come up with a transformation. One I approve of, of course. That should be more than enough time to explore your options, and consider your hopes!”

“Wait, I have one more question,” Dakota said, frowning. “Why are you just telling us this now? This is something you should have mentioned at the beginning of the round, right? So everyone had the most time possible to think about it?”

She glared at Sylvia, but the other woman didn’t flinch.

“Well, I was going to bring it up yesterday,” Sylvia admitted. “But then, that would have brought down the mood of the movie celebration! And I just couldn’t have that. So I postponed it for a day so you ladies could have your fun!”

“That’s ridiculous!” Rose exclaimed.

“Maybe, but it’s the truth,” the host replied with an icy smile. “And this certainly isn’t something I came up with off the top of my head because I was upset that no one invited me, I promise.”

Ah. The truth comes out. Nick rolled his eyes in disbelief. She was just throwing a temper tantrum.

“And so, with that in mind, feel free to come up with whatever ideas you like!” Sylvia urged them, lowering her cane. “In fact, we have an entire catalogue of potential transformations for consideration!”

A giant binder stuffed to the brim with files appeared in the air, and dropped onto the table with a thud. The entire room shook.

“…You’re kidding, right?” Kim shook her head in disbelief.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Sylvia turned and strolled over to Kim. “Someone’s going to be late to work if she doesn’t get a move on!”

“Wait!” Kim cried, but before she could do anything Sylvia flicked her cane and she was banished from the room.

“Kim!” Mary cried.

“I’m sorry sweetie,” Sylvia said, patting the redhead on the shoulder. “But a working girl like her can’t afford to spend all her time hanging around. Looks to me like you picked the wrong friend to spare from elimination.”

She shook her head and clicked her tongue. Mary fixed a glare on Sylvia that would have made mortal women shake, but the host just shrugged it off and turned her focus back to Nick.

“As I said before, it’s against the rules for any of them to consult you about their ideas,” Sylvia reminded him. “But there’s nothing that stops you from telling them what you want.”

Nick scowled. “What I want is to not have to put up with ridiculous stuff like this.”

Sylvia shrugged. “We all do things we don’t want to do every day,” she offered, a lame response if ever he heard one. “In the meantime, enjoy yourselves!”

And with that, she popped out of the banquet hall and left the girls and Nick to finish their breakfasts, and figure out what to do next.

Nick went over to Carly first. No matter what she said, he knew that she wasn’t okay.

“Carly…” Nick reached out to her, but she shook her head.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn’t hear. “I know my reaction was ****. But I’m really okay.”

He stared at her until she admitted the truth.

“…Okay. I’m not okay.” She hung her head. “But I can’t just push my problems onto other people.”

“Look, if you’re upset with Mimi because she looks like you-”

“That’s not it!” She exclaimed, drawing the attention of the others. She gasped and seized Nick’s wrist, dragging him off to the corner. She repeated herself a little quieter. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” He asked. “I want to know, so I can help.”

Carly shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

She couldn’t even meet his eyes.

Sylvia watched all of this from the monitor. She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Poor thing. She really needs to be more honest. She’s done a great job of appealing to the master and you all in the audience before now, but something like this can’t stay bottled up forever. In the meantime…”

She turned to address the audience directly.

“These girls will be coming up with transformations. But for some of them, they may have a hard time figuring out just what they want to happen to Nick. And frankly? That’s boring. I don’t need Mary’s ‘the master wants to hold hands more often’ transformation, I just don’t. Ick. No, it would be best if I heard a little bit from all of you first! What would YOU like to see for Nick? Perhaps I can use those ideas to guide a few wayward souls in a better direction,” she chuckled ominously.

Then she shrugged.

“If you like, of course,” she said, winking. “Whatever ideas you have for the ladies to suggest, it couldn’t hurt!”