Watch the light across the sky tonight. People gather on the beach to see.

Nick had such a relaxing day in Dream Alley living out Rose’s fantasy married life that he was actually a little slow to wake up in the morning. With a yawn, he sat up, rubbing his eyes, smelling the sweet aroma of food cooking in the kitchen.

His first thought was Mary. But when he looked over to the kitchen he saw that she was standing outside the door, arms crossed over her chest, looking a little uncomfortable.

Curious, he climbed out of bed and approached her. “Mary?”

“Rose is in the kitchen,” Mary said, nodding to the door behind her. “She wanted to cook breakfast for you… and threw me out.”

A rueful smile touched her lips. “Lucky you,” she teased him lightly.

Nick couldn’t help but smile as memories of the day before crossed through his mind. She hadn’t just cooked him breakfast in the dream, she wanted to use her culinary talents for his sake in the real world, too.

Some things about Rose never changed, and Nick was quite glad for that.

He had enough time to get changed and take a shower. Just as he stepped out of the bathroom, adjusting his clothes, the door to the kitchen opened and Rose stepped out.

She looked magnificent. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back, forming a bright halo that framed her heart-shaped face and beautiful smile. Her blue eyes seemed to shine as she approached him, gazing adoringly into his eyes.

“Good morning, mon compagnon,” she greeted him.

Nick turned red. “Rose, your hair, it… wow.”

After what they had done last night and how much money they made, Nick anticipated that Rose would have a lot of hair. He’d seen it himself. But now, looking at her, it really sank in just how long it was. The tips practically touched the ground!

Hopefully she could handle it.

“Do you really like it?” Rose beamed at him, striking a pose while she bounced her hair slightly. “I spent a lot of time brushing it this morning to get it looking just perfect!”

She let out a swooning sigh. “I usually wore my hair long, before coming onto this show,” she admitted. “I like it better that way.”

“Well, it certainly looks nice,” Nick assured her. In spite of his fondness for short hair, his preferences weren’t that exclusive. He could definitely appreciate longer hair, especially when it looked as nice as hers did.

She basked in the compliment with a big, dopey grin on her face. Then, like waking up from a dream, she regained her focus.

“Now, onto breakfast!” She cooed. “I took the liberty to cook the same thing we had yesterday morning. You know, on our nice, easy family breakfast? Just you, me, and the kids?”

Mary blinked. “What was that?”

“Hmm?” Rose looked innocently at her. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Kids?”

“Oui, yes,” Rose said, suppressing her sneer of triumph. “For our date yesterday, I imagined a beautiful future for Nick and I, living together in wedded bliss, with the most adorable children… haah… it was such a shame to have to leave them…”

Mary smiled as nicely as she could manage. “Well, it certainly sounds like you all had a lovely time together,” she replied. “I still haven’t thought about how I’m going to spend my night tonight with my husband, if I’m being honest.”

Nick had almost forgotten. Because there was no longer an Auditionee, the night after the challenge each round would be spent with Mary. That was a nice gesture on Dakota’s part, to say the least.

…Even if it did end up resulting in a cold war between the two women in front of him.

“Let’s think about that all later, okay?” Nick asked, stepping in to stop the two girls from cutting each other down any further. “I’m feeling rather hungry. Breakfast?”

“Of course!” Both girls said in unison, happy to make Nick happy.

Nick suppressed a sigh and sat down at the dining table. The challenge hadn’t even started yet, and already he was forced to wade through competitive women.

---

On the subject of competition…

Dawn stumbled through a field as mortar shells exploded around her. She looked about frantically, lost in a haze. People were shouting off in the distance and punctuating their indecipherable words with gunpowder, but she couldn’t worry about any of that right now.

She was tired, soaked in strange substances, and so dazed she could hardly think straight.

“Dawn!”

Her cat ears twitched and her tail flicked up at a familiar voice. She whirled around and saw Nick’s head, clad in a WWII helmet, peaking out of a foxhole dug in the earth.

“Nick!” She wanted to cry as he waved frantically at her, but no sound escaped her lips.

She jumped and ducked for cover as the ground she’d been standing on exploded, and landed on top of Nick as dirt and ash rained down on the both of them.

What’s going on?! She screamed at herself now that she finally had a moment to breathe. Why am I in a warzone?!

“Dawn…” Nick held her shoulders and lifted her off of him, looking deeply into her eyes. “Are you alright?”

“I… I don’t…” She looked up at him, dazed, hardly able to process what he was saying. Just being there snuggled up beside him was driving her wild. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest as her tail flicked behind her, and she could feel her face flushing.

She clenched her legs together as sticky juices slowly oozed into her panties.

“No… you’re not okay,” he said seriously, and yet, his voice carried a suggestive, throaty tone to it, almost like he was trying to seduce her.

But that was crazy… right?

“…Nick?” She finally managed to get out his name, and looked up at him in wonder.

“You’re so hot… not just your temperature,” Nick said softly, pressing his hand over her forehead. “You’re hot all over.”

He leaned forward and kissed her, and Dawn’s eyes widened in utter shock. What was he doing!? Why was he kissing her?! Sure it was nice, but-!

There was a war going on!

More shells exploded around her.

“We-we can’t-!” She stammered out, pulling away from him. “Not right now-!”

“We should have done this before,” Nick hissed into her ear, pushing her down into the dirt. He was more aggressive than usual but she didn’t mind one bit. Her heart pounded with excitement as she lay helpless beneath him, staring up at him with excitement. “Before the war started… we should have taken care of your needs back then.”

He reached down and began to rub his fingers against her panty-covered slit. A squeaky moan escaped Dawn’s lips as she thrashed beneath him.

“Yes… please!” She moaned, feeling the orgasm just about to strike.

…Except, of course, Dawn’s body picked just that moment to wake up.

“…Huh?” She looked around, panting. It took her a second to process that she wasn’t in a foxhole in the middle of a battlefield with her beloved on top of her, driving her to orgasm. She was in the comfy embrace of the Luxury Suite’s double bed, with a denied orgasm.

As her heart slowed down and she gradually regained her sanity, she shivered in frustration. “You’ve gotta be kidding,” she muttered, sitting up and shaking her head. “Seriously!?”

After so many nights of this stupid suite making her sleep in until late in the morning, NOW her body chose to wake up early?! When she was so close to-!

She gasped, realizing that certain parts of her dream had not been a dream. She threw the sheets off her and looked down at the stains seeping into the lower half of her mattress.

Nick may not have pleasured Dawn to completion in her dream, but he’d definitely gotten her most of the way there.

I thought I told Morgana no sexy dreams last night! Dawn fumed. She had no idea what that haphazard dream was about, but it was a hint of some kind. Something to do with the challenge today.

Unfortunately, she was so overstimulated from the sexy elements of the dream that her brain didn’t even want to try to figure it out.

A twitch between her thighs made her twinge, and she felt a burning urge deep within her loins. Looking over at the snoozing Morgana, snoring away with a dopey, carefree smile on her face, Dawn recalled dream-Nick’s advice.

“We should have taken care of your needs back then.”

Well… I certainly don’t want to begin today’s challenge feeling horny and worked up, right? Of course not. This is perfectly natural. Just manual stimulation so I can clear my thoughts a bit, that’s all! She assured herself, creeping out of bed and sneaking over to the bathroom.

She could “review” the “hints” in her dream to her leisure behind a locked door.

---

“Nick, would you like me to feed you?”

“Here, Nick, I think this is my best yet!”

Mary and Rose sat on each side of Nick, both offering him up forkfuls of food.

They looked at each other.

“…I’m his wife,” Mary pointed out. “It’s my job to feed him.”

“But last night was my night with him,” Rose pointed out. “You can feed him all you like on your night tonight.”

Breakfast had not made things better. Nick was actually grateful when Dakota appeared in the suite with an amused smirk on her face, tapping her cane on the ground to get everyone’s attention.

“Good morning!” She greeted the room with an exaggerated bow. “I do hope I’m interrupting something salacious?”

“Yes, you are!” Holly groaned. She was sulking in the corner. “They aren’t even letting him eat food off of their naked-”

“Holly, why don’t you go on ahead?” Dakota flicked her cane and banished Holly to parts unknown.

“Holly!” Nick cried in alarm, jumping up from his seat. “Dakota, what are you doing now?”

“Calm down, calm down,” Dakota crooned, approaching him with a slinky walk that reminded him of a serpent. “I just sent her to the usual place. Have you lost track of time already, with these two lovely ladies trying to out-tradwife each other?”

Nick blushed. “Tr-trad-?”

“Just a joke,” Dakota giggled, casting a glance at Mary and Rose. “My point being, though, have you all checked the time recently?”

She tapped her wrist, and then pointed to the golden grandfather clock by the wall. …Or grandmother clock, more accurately, judging by the etchings of beautiful older women splayed out across its surface, looking far sexier than their age would suggest.

Nick wasn’t sure what to say.

“It’s time for the challenge,” Dakota clarified for him.

“O-oh, right,” he stammered, blushing. “I almost forgot.”

He almost felt relieved. After dealing with the sparking rivalry between Mary and Rose, for the first time he was actually looking forward to a challenge to take his mind off of things.

“You’re the last ones, by the way,” Dakota added. “All the other contestants have already finished breakfast and arrived at the beach. Including Gina, and, well… that’s really gotta sting. You’re tardier than Gina?” She clicked her tongue with a “tsk tsk” and shook her head. “Amelia won’t be happy with that.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Stop posturing,” he groaned. “Just take us there.”

Dakota smirked. She stepped back and lifted the hem of her dress in a curtsy. “…As the master commands.”

She straightened up and tapped her cane, and in an instant the room began to spin around them. Nick struggled not to get sick as the golden walls gave way to bright blue skies, deep green seas, and white sand.

He was never going to get used to being transported like this.

Seconds later, the four of them were standing on a familiar stage. Nick looked around, needing a moment to process. It had been so long since he was last here, he’d almost forgotten.

There had been some slight changes.

While the throne of exaggerated opulence that was meant to be his seat hadn’t changed at all, right down to Holly chained to the leg like an eager puppy, there was another, more modest seat to the side of it, painted bright white.

Mary gasped. “Is that for me?” She looked to Dakota.

The host nodded. “Of course it is,” she chirped. “After all, you’ve been eliminated from the competition, but not the harem. It only makes sense that the master’s lawfully wedded wife be given a seat beside him, unlike our contestants in the cheap seats down there.

She gestured down to the sands below. Four more chairs had been brought out of storage, and now a half-circle of twelve seats ringed the fire pit before them. Faces ranging from surprise to amusement to shock to impatience could be seen among the eleven contestants (and Marley) who had been waiting for them to show up.

“…Well, at least there’s seating for everyone, right?” Gina called from below. Dani giggled.

“Yes, there’s room for everyone now!” Dakota chirped, approaching Nick. “Which reminds me…”

“Waauugh!”

As Dakota passed Rose, she lightly shoved her off the stage.

“…There we go. Perfect!”

“Hey!” Rose scrambled to her feet, uninjured but obviously irate. “What’s the big idea?! Do you know how long I spent on my hair this morning?! Now there’s sand in it!”

“Terribly sorry,” Dakota said, her smirk showing just how sorry she wasn’t. “But the master only shares the stage with hosts, wives, and eliminated contestants only. And in spite of your fantasies, you’re none of those yet. But you’re right, that may have been a little much.”

She waved her cane and Rose’s hair straightened out, the grains of sand tumbling off it. She looked just as perfect as she had this morning.

“Better?”

“Err… I guess,” Rose said, nodding. She quickly scurried to her seat, only to realize that if she sat down, her hair would pool around her again, resulting in the same problem.

Vivian snickered as Rose turned red, and ultimately decided to just stand next to her chair instead.

“Good morning, my dears!” Dakota crooned, turning to address the audience. “Welcome, one and all! We have a very exciting day in store for us today, and does anyone know why?”

“Ooh! Ooh! I know! Me, me!” Sylvia’s hand shot up immediately and she practically jumped out of her chair.

A few of the other girls giggled, and Gina rolled her eyes playfully. Amelia looked at Sylvia with an expression that could almost be called sympathetic.

“…Yes, Sylvia?” Dakota asked, barely suppressing laughter of her own.

Sylvia stood up proudly. “It’s the challenge today!” She said, as if Dakota’s question wasn’t rhetorical and there was someone here who honestly didn’t know.

Ella gulped. “Ch-challenge?” She squeaked. She knew it was coming, but that didn’t help her anxiety.

Morgana felt the same way. She shifted slightly in her seat, playing with her twintails. She’d taken the time to tie her hair up today (after Dawn took an inordinately long time in the bathroom this morning, for some reason) because she wanted the boost to her confidence. She had a feeling she was going to need it, given what happened in the last challenge.

“That’s right, Sylvia,” Dakota nodded. “But today isn’t just the challenge! For several of you, it’s also your first challenge! So I thought I’d take a moment and ask, does anyone have any questions?”

Amelia was an icy wall. Vivian just smirked. Ella was too flustered to speak up, not wanting to draw attention to herself, and it wasn’t like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin could say anything at all.

“…Well, so much for that,” Dakota smirked. “Anyway, yes, today is your challenge! And I’ve got a fun and exciting one, with just the right amount of eroticism our viewers have come to expect from this show! But first…”

She scanned the crowd of girls and smiled, twirling her cane.

“…The Popularity Poll!”

Nick’s heart sank. That’s right. I almost forgot. He’d been so caught up in his date with Rose yesterday and the challenge this morning that the Popularity Poll had completely slipped his mind.

Dakota cleared her throat. “The Popularity Poll is a staple of Harem Hotel, of course,” she said, breaking into a speech. “And it’s often been a nailbiter- especially now, since Miss Popular over there is no longer in the running!”

She waved her cane at a blushing Mary, who scurried to her assigned seat. Nick sat down next to her, wary about where Dakota was going with this.

“Not only did Mary’s departure from the contestants result in a bit of a shakeup,” Dakota continued, “but four new contestants were added to the group as well! That’s definitely going to upset some things.”

“I should hope so!” Vivian said, nodding. She lounged back in her seat, stretching her arms over her head. She was wearing a sleeveless black top and a leather vest like that of a cowboy, along with long leather pants. A narrow-brimmed cowboy hat rested on her head. She definitely looked dressed for rugged competition.

“Yeah, let’s get this started!” Carly shouted, hopping up from her seat and nearly spilling her sister into the sand as she did so.

Carly looked ready to compete as well. She was wearing a rather interesting outfit- Nick didn’t think it was from an anime, so much as a military-themed cosplay. A camouflage jacket left unbuttoned for her large breasts and a black sports bra beneath it, along with camouflage shorts and a camo hat. It was definitely an odd outfit.

When Dawn saw what Carly was dressed as this morning, she’d wondered just how much of her dream was metaphorical. The tomboy sat back down next to her sister on their chair, struggling to get comfortable with both of them there.

“As I said, there are a few changes to the roster,” Dakota continued, clearing her throat. “Previously, the Popularity Poll was conducted with the eight mainstay contestants and the Auditionee. But now, our numbers have increased to twelve girls. And this may cause some problems.”

Amelia leaned forward. “Oh?”

“Wh-what problems?” Ella sank deeper into her chair. The last thing she wanted was for her presence to make things worse for people!

“Well, it’s not so bad,” Dakota mused, stroking her chin. “Just an issue in how these things are arranged, I’m afraid. You see, it’s been a running theme that contestants get Bonus Points proportional to the percentage of the vote they received. For each 3%, they would receive 500 BP! Quite generous, wouldn’t you agree?”

She shook her head. “But with the votes being split twelve ways, instead of nine? That’s so little BP! And I want you earning MORE of it, not less! Even with the boons you lovely ladies received from Gina’s party, it still doesn’t seem like enough…”

Dakota sighed. Then she scowled. “Not to mention we’re getting fewer and fewer votes for these things,” she added under her breath.

In a flash, her smile returned.

“So I’m changing the rules slightly! Oh, don’t get me wrong, the amount of BP you’ll get will still be tied to your percentage of the vote, I just want to adjust the numbers a little differently, that’s all! Now, instead of receiving 500 BP for every 3% of the vote you ladies receive, we’ll adjust for inflation and give you 500 BP for every 2% instead! That certainly seems fair. And that way, you’ll all receive quite a generous allotment!”

Nick wondered what the results looked like, if Dakota was changing things up like that.

“That certainly makes the math easier,” Dawn agreed. “But wouldn’t it result in people who get a bigger percentage of the vote getting even more BP?”

“Well, yes, but this way, even if you get a tiny sliver of the vote, you’ll still get a good bundle,” Dakota chirped. “That should balance things out.”

Dawn wasn’t convinced, and neither was Amelia. But neither of them said anything.

“I’m curious myself,” Vivian said, leaning forward. She wanted to see the economy of this island in action. She hadn’t been here for the last Popularity Poll, so this would be her best chance to get a real look at how the numbers would shake out.

“Before I present the results, however,” Dakota interjected, “it’s time to do some bookkeeping! And that means, showing you where everyone stands in the rankings! There have certainly been some shakeups, VP-wise!”

With a wave of her cane she summoned a black screen, and projected the girls’ names onto it.

1st: Morgana – 87 VP

1st: Rose – 87 VP

2nd: Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 80 VP

3rd: Kim – 79 VP

4th: Amelia – 73 VP

5th: Carly – 65 VP

6th: Gina – 60 VP

7th: Dawn – 59 VP

8th: Vivian – 55 VP

9th: Sylvia – 50 VP

10th: Dani – 47 VP

11th: Cinder/Ella – 43 VP

“These results are quite an upset!” Dakota declared.

And by that, she meant that Rose was quite upset by them.

“Wait, why is Morgana above me on the board?!” Rose demanded. “We have the same number of points, so why aren’t I above her?”

Morgana squeaked. She was having a hard time just believing she was tied for first!

Dakota smirked. “M comes before R in the alphabet, that’s why,” she said, providing a plausible reason for her decision other than just finding Rose’s frustration at never being on top amusing.

Rose scowled. But she didn’t say anything.

“Now then, as Rose so passionately drew our attention to, some of you ladies are a lot further ahead than others!” Dakota indicated. “87 VP! That’s almost halfway there! If you’re in the bottom half of this list, you better start working hard to find ways to appeal to the master!”

“We have to get to 200 VP, is that right?” Vivian asked, a frown touching her lips for the first time all morning.

“Correct,” Dakota nodded. “That’s why you need to hustle! A few of you didn’t earn a single VP last round, did you know that? Just goes to show, you can’t get anywhere without having sex with the master!”

Nick turned red.

“That seems unrealistic,” Amelia indicated. “Even if someone were inclined to interact sexually with the master-” she took great care not to use Nick’s name- “with the current amount of Victory Points, it would be unthinkable to get up to 200 VP solely through that.”

Nick didn’t want to say anything, but he felt the same. He’d done a lot of sexual acts with Rose, for example, and she wasn’t even at 100. How much more could they really do together?”

Dakota scowled. “There are many methods to gain VP that you’ve yet to uncover,” she replied bluntly. “Including winning challenges. Don’t worry, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to do so very shortly.”

Sylvia sighed. She hadn’t said anything, but her thoughts were similar to Amelia’s. The show would almost be wrapping up soon, if she had still been the one running things. Clearly Dakota was refusing to let go.

Dakota loudly cleared her throat.

“Now! Where were we? Oh, yes, that’s right. The Popularity Poll! Now, since you’ve all seen your standings in terms of the actual harem ranks… or lack of standing, as it were,” she added, smirking, causing Ella to shiver.

She snapped her rubber-band, frustrated at how low she was compared to everyone else. Only Dani was close to her, and she clearly didn’t even care!

“…Let’s take a look at how much BP you girls have managed to accumulate, shall we?” Dakota waved her cane, and the results shifted again. “After all, that’s what these results are for, isn’t it?”

1. Rose – 9600 BP

2. Dawn – 8000 BP

3. Gina – 7900 BP

4. Carly – 6200 BP

5. Sylvia – 5900 BP

6. Kim – 5600 BP

7. Dani – 4200 BP

8. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 3700 BP

9. Morgana – 3300 BP

10. Ella – 3200 BP

11. Vivian – 1700 BP

12. Amelia – 1300 BP

“There, that’s much better!” Dakota declared. “As we can see, most of you girls have a nice chunk of BP to spend! And those of you with so little, it’s because you’ve been spending it like crazy! That’s the kind of competitive expenditures we like to see on this show! Keep up the good work!”

“Wait, why does Rose still have 9600 BP?” Kim demanded, frowning. “She went for a date in Dream Alley, right?”

“Look at her hair,” Dawn pointed out, gesturing to the long golden mane flowing down Rose’s back, that she didn’t have the last time they’d seen her.

“Yeah,” Marley nodded. “She must have gotten her BP back somehow.”

“Maybe from her bounty sheet?” Her sister mentioned from beside her.

“That would make sense,” Dani agreed. She also noted the huge jump in VP Rose had gotten since last night. They must have done something really significant last night, to earn that much.

Holly’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh, Rose!” She gasped from her seat at Nick’s feet. “You actually did it?!”

Rose turned scarlet. “What I may or may not have done is of no one’s concern but my own,” she said testily. One look at her face answered that question, though. She just hoped nobody pressed the issue.

Kim still wasn’t convinced, but if those were the rules, she wasn’t going to argue. She sat back in her chair and glanced at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who was drumming her fingers impatiently on the chair.

The assassin clearly didn’t care much for these number games. She wanted to get on with the challenge already!

Kim honestly couldn’t blame her.

“As you all can see, there’s quite a lot of BP in circulation,” Dakota noted. “And the plan is to add even more! That’s why, don’t be surprised when you see those numbers start to jump when we get to the results!”

She raised her cane, and everyone fell silent.

“Now… shall we see who places where?”

With a swing of her cane, the screen shifted again. Several surprised gasps rose from the crowd as everyone looked at the new results.

1. Kim – 11.7% +2500 BP x2 = +5000 BP

2. Rose – 10.73% +2500 BP x2 = +5000 BP

3. Dawn – 10.71% +2500 BP x2 = +5000 BP

4. Gina – 9.67% +2000 BP x2 = +4000 BP

5. Sylvia – 9.09% +2000 BP x2 = +4000 BP

6. Morgana – 8.86% +2000 BP x2 = +4000 BP

7. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 8.25% +2000 BP x2 = +4000 BP

8. Cinder/Ella – 7.1% +1500 BP x2 = +3000 BP

9. Vivian – 7.08% +1500 BP x2 = +3000 BP

10. Carly – 6.73% +1500 BP x4 = +6000 BP

11. Amelia – 5.51% +1000 BP x2 = +2000 BP

12. Dani – 4.56% +1000 BP +1000 BP x2 = +2000 BP

Dani sighed. “…Yep,” she said, not even surprised at this point. “Who would have guessed? Right there at the bottom.”

Dakota blinked. “You don’t seem surprised by that.”

The tomboy rolled her eyes. Why would she be? After all, the audience had made it clear by this point that they weren’t her biggest fans. Adding more girls to the rankings would only make her percentage of the popularity polls decrease, not increase. Even if all the new girls fell in the lower half of the rankings.

Which came as a surprise to some of them.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened in shock. She couldn’t read the words or the numbers, but she could see her name was the longest… and how low down the list she was. She didn’t know precisely what place, but she was in the bottom half. Unacceptable! She puffed up her cheeks in frustration and crossed her arms over her chest, obviously unhappy.

As for unhappy…

“Second!?” Rose couldn’t believe it. Normally, second place would have thrilled her- it was the highest ranking she’d ever gotten!

…Which was precisely the problem.

She’d hoped, that with Mary no longer in the running, she’d finally take her rightful place in first.

The audience clearly had other ideas.

“I… I don’t believe it…” Kim stammered, shaking her head.

Dakota laughed. “Oh, believe it! It seems like we had a dark horse in the running this time,” she crooned, shaking her head. “Kim, after a long and arduous struggle up from the bottom, has finally regained her position as most popular! Congratulations, Kim!” She applauded the asian girl with a bizarre mixture of sincerity and sarcasm that only she could fully master.

Kim just stared slackjawed and shook her head.

Dawn frowned. “Just as I thought… the new BP distribution rate, it favors the top percentages even more.”

“True,” Marley nodded. “But everyone at the bottom got a lot, too. From the perspective of wanting more BP in circulation, this move certainly makes sense.”

The BP doubling boon that everyone received didn’t hurt, either. Speaking of…

“You’re kidding!” Carly’s jaw dropped in shock. “6000 BP!? Just like that!?”

It was such a ridiculous number it was practically obscene. It completely overshadowed the fact that she was in the bottom three. Normally, being unpopular was something a girl like Carly would take umbrage with- and Marley had been concerned about her sister’s placing for exactly that reason.

Well… I guess she was ready for this outcome. After all, she didn’t have a lot of opportunities to be with Nick this week. But there’s always next round, I suppose. Marley was just relieved her sister was happy.

“Oh, well,” Vivian mused, leaning back in her seat. “Can’t win ‘em all.” It was rather refreshing, not being the richest woman around for once. More interesting for her, though… “…So I got that close to Ella, then?”

Dakota blinked, then smiled. “…Yes, that’s correct,” she said with a purr. “This poll was quite a close one! Two different spots were determined by the difference of a single point! That’s right, Cinder and Ella just barely slipped above you in the last seconds, just as Rose and Dawn dueled it out for second place!”

She turned to Rose with a smirk. “I’m sorry, but it certainly wasn’t the mandate you were hoping for, I’m afraid.”

Rose sulked at her.

Ella just marveled at how much BP she’d received. “I… I’m not last,” she squeaked out. Not only had she gotten far higher in the polls than she’d anticipated- she’d expected she’d be in last place, for obvious reasons- but she’d even managed to beat such outgoing, attractive women like Vivian and Carly! It was unbelievable! But… she’d done it.

“That’s great, Ella!” Morgana said, giving her a smile. She’d sat next to Ella just for this purpose.

Sylvia was far less humble. “I’ve got so much BP now!” She bragged. “I wonder what I’m gonna do with it all? Ooh, definitely go to Dream Alley! Or maybe upgrade a transformation…”

Gina nodded thoughtfully, a little curious herself. She’d mostly been ignoring her BP up until this point, but with this much…

“Now then!” Dakota loudly drew everyone’s attention by tapping her cane on the stage. “It looks like everyone’s had time to look over the numbers and see how much they’ve won, and what their rankings were, yes?”

A chorus of nods, some happy, some frustrated, rose around the half-circle.

The host smiled.

“Magnificent. Then let’s show how much BP everyone has now, shall we?”

The numbers began calculating onscreen… and it was quite a shock, to say the least.

1. Rose – 9600 BP + 5000 BP + 14600 BP

2. Dawn – 8000 BP + 5000 BP = 13000 BP

3. Carly – 6200 BP + 6000 BP = 12200 BP

4. Gina – 7900 BP + 4000 BP = 11900 BP

5. Kim – 5600 BP + 5000 BP = 10600 BP

6. Sylvia – 5900 BP + 4000 BP = 9900 BP

7. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin – 3700 BP + 4000 BP = 7700 BP

8. Morgana – 3300 BP + 4000 BP = 7300 BP

9. Dani – 4200 BP + 2000 BP =6200 BP

9. Ella – 3200 BP + 3000 BP = 6200 BP

10. Vivian – 1700 BP + 3000 BP = 4700 BP

11. Amelia – 1300 BP + 2000 BP = 3300 BP

The results were shocking. Previously, people were lucky to have BP in the high thousands. But now, 5 contestants had broken the 10000 BP mark thanks to the boons. Dakota had really ratcheted things up this round, and even the contestants on the bottom of the rankings had a nice nest egg now, comparable with where most girls had been last round.

Nick had no idea what Dakota was planning, giving everyone this much BP to work with.

But she was clearly giving them a lot of it, for better or worse.

“Wait… 5000 BP?! Then that means-!”

With a screech of surprise, Rose’s hair, which was already obnoxiously long, grew even longer, pooling around her feet. Her golden tresses mixed into the sand and she almost tripped over them.

For her, it was definitely “worse”.