I wanna be the one unforgettable

For Kim, stocking shelves and posing for photos had become a surprisingly ordinary part of her day. It was almost like something to ground herself. Every day, she’d spend a few hours at work, then get back to the others. It was a familiar and peaceful way to pass the time, and she was grateful that she wasn’t being consumed by it like she had before.

But it was so boring.

Kim had worked many boring jobs in her life, but this was one of the worst. Maybe if she actually had customers to interact with every now and then, that would be a different story, but nobody really came around to buy lingerie, considering most of the island population were faeries.

Secretly, she wished Mary wasn’t banned from wearing underwear. It was kind of a mean thought to have, but with the way her breasts were growing, if she’d been wearing a bra then she’d need new ones. There was always that goth girl, Morgana, to look forward to though. And maybe since Mimi- sorry, Marley, was no longer a slime girl, she might be willing to buy some changes in underwear.

Then again, she could probably just share with her sister.

Sigh.

Kim felt worse after thinking about Marley. Today had been a very strange day. When Kim woke up, she’d been reeling from the results of yesterday’s popularity poll, and the sharp drop in popularity she’d received from it. Then she’d gotten a scare from looking at her future self, who was tarted up like some schoolgirl prostitute, who flung in Kim’s face the very thing she’d been fearing- she was boring. Then she got naked. Then she got new memories of a girl who had once been part-slime turning into the twin sister of another girl.

Weird. Day.

While one would think that a girl who worked every job under the sun would be one of the more interesting people on the island, the fact was that Kim’s hectic schedule kept her from developing any hobbies or interests that she might be able to share with her newfound friends. Compared to Morgana who practically oozed character and intrigue, Kim…

Kim was boring.

She sighed again, sliding another box into place. I won the challenge… but I almost wish I hadn’t. Kim didn’t like transformations (after all, her last one had forced her to work here) but there was one thing they were useful for. If you got interesting ones, that would change the whole game. Like Mary, her old buddy. Sylvia had been trying to get to her before by talking about how much of a juggernaut Mary was in the game, and Kim couldn’t deny that she had a serious advantage. It seemed that with every transformation the farm girl got, she became even more popular. Whereas with Kim, each of her transformations just made her less interesting to the audience. She’d started out great, absolutely dominating the polls, only to have slipped down towards the bottom. It was a real relief she hadn’t gotten that transformation from the last round that made how attractive she was perceived be a reflection of her popularity, because she would have looked hideous right about now.

But maybe even that would be better than being boring… If I hadn’t gotten first, I might have been able to get a transformation that could turn everything around for me… and I wouldn’t have had to… do that.

Kim had never been one to quibble over popularity before, but now popularity directly translated to getting paid. More importantly than even that, though, Kim’s placement in the last challenge meant that she’d been the deciding vote. She’d picked Mary as her buddy, but the price for that had been…

Mimi… she’s now Marley. How does she feel about that? And Sylvia… Sylvia must hate me now, too, after what I did… aargh, this is such a mess! I wish I didn’t have to deal with any of this! Kim put another box in place, resisting the urge to smash it against her head and give her some brain damage. The biggest problem with busywork like this was that she couldn’t escape from her own thoughts.

“Well, looks like you’re working hard. Or are you hardly working?”

Kim whirled around in surprise. She hadn’t expected to get any customers. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

“…What do you want?” She asked suspiciously, staring at Dakota. The older woman stood in the doorway with a smirk on her face. She had one hand in her pocket and the other was holding a takeout box. Kim could smell the aroma of fresh food wafting towards her, and her stomach growled. She’d been so focused on her production for Nick’s meal that she hadn’t eaten anything herself today.

“Is that any way to talk to your new buddy?” Dakota winced and placed her hand over her heart. “I’m wounded! And here I was, coming to do something nice for you!”

“Nice?” Kim was justifiably wary. Given Dakota’s track record, she couldn’t be sure what the other girl meant by “nice”. She’d heard Mary in the bathroom plenty of times when they were living together, feeling the effects of Dakota’s last act of “niceness” first-hand.

Dakota frowned. “I am nice! That’s why I brought you this.” She ambled into the shot and set the takeout box on the counter, flipping it open. The smell of teriyaki chicken and steamed rice mixed with the aroma of steamed vegetables for a tantalizing scent that had Kim drooling.

“You didn’t get to join in our after-challenge lunch, so I thought you might be hungry.” Dakota slid the box closer to Kim. “Come on, I’m sure you can at least have a lunch break or something. I even got you these.”

She held out a pair of chopsticks towards her.

Kim raised her eyebrow. “Um, look, I’m grateful for the food, I really am, but I can’t use those things. You couldn’t have brought a fork?”

Just because she was Japanese, that didn’t mean she knew how to handle chopsticks. Dakota stared sheepishly at her and just shrugged.

“…Well, I’ll make the best of it, then,” Kim sighed. “Thanks.”

Dakota looked around the boutique as Kim ate.

“So how are you liking things around here?” She asked. Kim looked up from her food with a dull expression that said everything.

“…Ah.”

She set down her chopsticks and sighed again. “Look, it’s my transformation,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t like it, but I’m stuck with it. And besides, it could have been worse.”

Dakota nodded. She raised a fair point. Everyone remembered the horrors of Kim’s first few days on the job, when they never saw her.

“More importantly,” Kim continued, “it doesn’t exactly pay very well. I’m hoping you came here to make a purchase?”

Dakota rolled her eyes and snorted. “Please. I bought everything I needed the first day here.”

Kim scowled. So much for that.

“Besides,” she continued, “the whole appeal of the childhood friend is that we’re a familiar taste of home. Girls like Rose and Carly are the ones who best benefit from the sexy lingerie, you know? As for you…”

Dakota glanced pointedly at Kim, who was wearing a black brassier and matching lace panties. They looked nice, but only sort of nice. Fancy underwear could only go so far in making a plain girl like her into a beauty.

“Like lipstick on a pig, huh?” Kim hung her head.

“Eh, I think you’re too hard on yourself,” Dakota said, shaking her head. “Plain girls have their own charms too. You just need to find out what yours are. And I think you’ve already gotten a pretty good idea, hmm?”

Kim stared at her curiously. “…What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well, I’ll say this much, your transformation definitely is more helpful than you realize.” Dakota ran her eyes over Kim’s underwear-clad form. “In fact, I’d say it’s responsible for your victory in the challenge today.”

“Really? Why do you think that?” Kim couldn’t see the comparison between the two.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Because of your work in the shop, you’ve become comfortable with showing off your skin, right?” Dakota pointed out. “All those photos and modeling jobs, even if you don’t LIKE your body that much, you’ve sort of grown numb to people seeing it. And that’s a pretty small step away from going naked, right? So maybe if you hadn’t worked here, you wouldn’t have developed the courage to strip naked and present yourself to Nick like that.”

She shrugged.

“It’s just a theory, anyway.”

Kim could see the truth in her statement though. “So… because I worked here, I was comfortable enough to show Nick my naked body when the time came…”

She hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that it was pointed out to her, it made perfect sense.

“Well? Feel a little better now?” Dakota cracked a grin.

Kim smiled one of her customer service smiles. “Yes, I do,” she nodded. “But I would feel much better if you would buy something!”

Dakota rolled her eyes.

“Seriously, though, thanks for the food,” Kim said, closing the empty takeout container. “And the, uh… pep talk. Who knows? Maybe this could work out after all.”

Dakota nodded thoughtfully. “…What about Mimi?”

Kim flinched visibly, but her smile stayed plastered to her face.

“What about Mimi?”

“You don’t feel bad? About not picking her, and causing her to be eliminated?” Dakota asked. “After all, thanks to you, she’s had her identity practically replaced by a brand new person.” Dakota tapped her head. “I know a little something about what that’s like myself. It isn’t eating you up inside?”

Kim’s smile vanished and she turned around, beginning to rearrange some things on the shelf behind her. It was obvious that she was trying to avoid the conversation. Dakota just leaned lazily over the counter, letting the other girl’s guilty conscience get the best of her.

Finally, Kim let out a sigh, and slumped her shoulders.

“Of course it is,” she muttered. “If I had picked Mimi instead of Mary, then Mimi wouldn’t have turned into Marley. Mary would have been eliminated, but at least… at least she’d probably remain herself, right?”

How could Kim live with doing that to someone?

“It’s the way the game is played.” Dakota’s statement was cold, and did little to assuage Kim’s feelings of guilt.

“And that makes it okay?” Kim turned to her and scowled. “I erased her from existence!”

Dakota shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way.” She tapped her forehead. “Happened to me, remember? My history got rewritten, and I didn’t disappear. Mimi’s still in there. She’s just a little bit of someone else, too.”

“That still doesn’t sound okay,” Kim said, shaking her head.

“Well, maybe think about it this way, then. Mimi’s whole thing was about wanting to be human, right? She wanted to be human, and she wanted to be loved by Carly. Thanks to you, she has both of those things. Her elimination won her a life she never would have had as a slime.” Dakota shrugged. “Maybe you gave her exactly what she wanted.”

“I-I guess…” The line of reasoning made Kim feel a little uncomfortable. She didn’t want to think about what happened to Mimi as a good thing.

“Tell me something, Kim, do you really think it’s such a bad thing, giving someone what they want? If you were absolutely sure that someone could benefit from something, don’t you think it’s okay to give it to them? I’d even say you have an obligation to do it. Take Mary for example.”

“Mary?” Kim narrowed her eyes. “What about her?”

“Remember how she was in the beginning? Because I do. She was a mess. Filled with repressed emotions and upset at Nick over a misunderstanding. She didn’t know what she wanted, and even when she did, she didn’t want to actually go for it. But look at her now! Thanks to all those transformations, she’s willing to be honest with herself now. You saw her bake that cake for him this morning. I’d bet we’ll be hearing wedding bells by end of the round!” Dakota smirked, showing Kim an expression that looked like a twisted mix of sadism and genuine care.

Kim quickly looked away. “Still… that last transformation for Mary, it’s-”

“What about Holly then? Isn’t she happier now, since she doesn’t have to repress herself? Or Gina! She loves being Nick’s sex toy!” Dakota continued to press, and Kim was getting more and more uncomfortable with this line of thought.

“Look, Dakota-”

“And what about you?”

Kim’s protests died in her throat.

“…H-Huh?”

Dakota sighed. “Kim… you’re just like them, you know? You’re too afraid to pursue what you want, even though it would make you happy. Mimi wanted to be human. Mary wants to be Nick’s wife. Holly and Gina want to be his sex slaves. Everyone is happier now, because they’re being given what they want.” Her golden eyes glimmered with mischief. “Don’t you want a piece of that?”

Kim swallowed. “That’s…”

She remembered her first date with Nick, the way he pushed her to be greedy, practically forcing her to go to that amusement park, even though she didn’t think she deserved it.

It was possibly the most fun she’d had in the time she’d spent on this island.

Kim hung her head sheepishly and nodded.

“Look, I get it, okay? Sometimes, people need a little bit of a push to do what they want. But I think that’s different from changing them into an entirely different person.”

Dakota considered that and dismissed it. “But it’s still not something you need to feel guilty over. You didn’t know what would happen to Mimi. You didn’t know you’d be erasing who she was, if we can even call it that. So while I might be wrong about trying to push people towards being the kind of people they want to be, I’m not wrong about you, Kim.”

By this point, Kim couldn’t deny that.

“I should still apologize though,” she said. “And at least talk to her to see how she’s feeling, don’t you think?”

Dakota shrugged. “Sounds like a waste of time to me, but I won’t stop you.”

“Uh-huh.” Kim was still not sure if Dakota was a good person or a bad person. Or maybe she was a mix of both. But just talking to her like this, she didn’t feel that scary.

“So the question is, what are we going to do about you?” Dakota narrowed her eyes, and all of a sudden she was scary again.

“A-About me?” Kim stammered, turning pale. She covered herself reflexively. “What do you mean?” She asked.

“Holly got what she wants, Mimi, or Marley, whatever, she seems to have gotten what she wants, Mary and Gina are getting what they want, so what about you? What do you want, Kim?”

Well, that was the million dollar question right there. And on that topic…

“A million dollars,” Kim answered with a smirk. “Got that one in your back pocket?”

“Fresh out.” Dakota offered her a twisted smile. “But I’m serious. Because you’re acting pretty down for someone who just won a challenge, and I don’t think it’s because of Marley. So tell me, maybe I can help.”

While Kim doubted Dakota’s motivation for wanting to help, she didn’t think she could deny the results the other girl promised. She was hesitant, but she was willing to try.

“You’re right,” she admitted. “Something is bothering me. When you were in the kitchen, during the challenge, your assistant… did they seem familiar to you?”

“You were your own assistant too, huh?” Dakota cut to the heart of the matter, surprising Kim. She nodded jerkily, not sure what else to say.

“Um, yeah…”

Dakota sighed. “Look, Kim, whoever that was, I don’t think it was you. It was some evil you or something, right?”

“It was me from the future,” Kim nodded. “I was some trashy gyaru nightmare.”

Dakota stared blankly at her. Kim waved her hand.

“Look a gyaru is... not important. My point is, the future me, she was like this skanky slob who didn’t care about anything. But she was popular! More popular than I ever was in school! And you know what she said? She said that the reason she was so popular was because people found her fun to be around… unlike me.”

“Oh, ouch,” Dakota winced.

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Kim said glumly. “And the audience thinks the same way. They find me boring and unlikable.”

“Fuck ‘em.”

“What?!” Kim’s jaw dropped.

Dakota waved her hand dismissively. “Fuck ‘em,” she repeated. “Who cares what the audience thinks? Those bastards are fickle as hell anyway. You were in first place not too long ago, and the poll before that? I was in first. So my advice is fuck ‘em, who gives a damn what they think?”

Kim remembered Dakota being very invested in her popularity, actually, but didn’t want to contradict the angry dark-haired woman in front of her.

“But… the other me was right though,” Kim pointed out. “I am boring. That’s the whole reason I did that sushi nyotaimori in the first place, to show Nick how exciting and interesting I could be.”

“And it worked out!” Dakota’s eyes sparkled. “You figured out that there’s only one person whose opinion of you matters, and that’s Nick!”

“…I thought the only opinion of you that matters is your own?” Kim asked, remembering what she’d read about in those self-esteem books.

Dakota rolled her eyes as if to say “yeah, right.”

“Look, my point is that Nick’s the one who you should be trying to win over, not some faceless nobodies in the audience,” Dakota explained. “Just keep trying to excite him, and this whole thing should sort itself out.”

Kim winced. “But… I don’t think I can just do stuff like that all the time…” Naked sushi was a flash in the pan, and that idea had been given to her by her future self. When it came to unique ideas to please Nick, the ones that she came up with…

…Were boring.

“I’m not like Mary,” Kim said, staring down at the floor. “Or like the other girls. They get new, exciting transformations to show off their best qualities, and me…”

“Well, what if you could do something about that?” Dakota asked.

Kim stared at her. “Huh? But I got immunity. That’s why I didn’t get a new transformation.”

“True… but there are other ways to get transformations on this show, isn’t that right?” Dakota licked her lips, and Kim’s eyes widened.

“W-Wait, what? You’re saying you’d…”

“Why not?” Dakota shrugged. “What’s a transformation you’d like? Mary’s lactating boobs? Gina’s spankable ass? Dawn’s cat features? I’ll be happy to get you whatever you want to try out for a day!” She flashed a toothy smile. “Consider it a token of our newly-kindled friendship!”

Kim appreciated the offer, she really did. And it was a tempting one. But she shook her head.

“See… I don’t think that would help. If I’m just copying someone else’s transformations, that might just make Nick see me as even more boring,” she explained. “Like the only way I can appeal to him by stealing what makes the other girls special.”

Dakota blinked. “But… that is the only way you can appeal to him, because you’re so plain and boring.”

Her words slammed into Kim like a bullet train.

“Ow…”

“Sorry, but that’s what you’ve been complaining about, right? That you’re not interesting enough on your own. So if you can’t appeal to him as yourself, and you won’t copy someone else, what does that leave you?”

“It leaves me screwed, that’s where,” Kim sighed.

“…Maybe not.”

“Huh?” Kim looked up at her, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Well… you want an actual transformation, right? Something unique to you?” Dakota pressed. “Or at least, not something you just borrowed from somebody else?”

“If it’ll help me, yeah,” Kim nodded. “Which is why part of me wished that I hadn’t won the last challenge, so I could appeal to Nick with a new transformation or something. Is that weird? That sounds really weird. Like, Mary and Dawn get upset with their transformations, but here’s me, wanting more? That just seems weird to me.”

Dakota shrugged. “You want it for a specific reason, though, because you don’t have enough faith in your own appeal. But there is a way we can get you your own transformation too… albeit only temporarily.”

“I already said, I don’t want you to use your Cut/Paste transformation on me,” Kim said, shaking her head.

“That’s not what I was thinking of.” Dakota reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. She showed it to Kim. It was the list of purchasables.

“Huh?”

“Look, right here.” Dakota pointed to one of the options on the list.

• 1500 BP: Temporary random Transformation for self (Lasts for 24 hours after purchasing. Cannot be used more than once every 24 hours.)

Kim had completely ignored that the last time.

“So, wait, I can just buy a random transformation? Just like that?”

“Yup,” Dakota nodded. “It would only be temporary though. Of course, you could spend 4000 BP to buy a transformation vote for yourself, but you don’t have that much.”

Kim was definitely intrigued by the idea, but she had her reservations.

“Are you sure?” She asked. “It’s completely random… if it’s a really twisted one…”

Her rational, pragmatic side was taking hold, weighing the positives and the negatives.

“It’ll be fine,” Dakota promised, flashing a predatory smile that gave Kim some serious doubts. “…How about this? Make the purchase to test it out, and if it’s something really twisted and messed up that you don’t want, then I’ll just take it away. Sound good?”

She made a kissy face as Kim contemplated the possibilities.

Well… I did want to make a change… and this is all I can think of. Kim made her decision, taking out her screen and making a purchase.

Kim: 2200 BP – 1500 BP = 700 BP

She began to glow as dark light suffused her, and she transformed.