One hundred and five - Five performances?

"On that note," said Beryl, turning over the pieces of paper on the table. "Let's have a look at what the rest of your week looks like, shall we? This first sheet is a summary of the things you've missed while you've been away. This second sheet is your timetable for the rest of this week."

Stacey took a glance and groaned at the list of topics she had to catch up on. The at the pile of information that had been stacked on a table for the side for her to peruse in detail. Her groan dropped a semitone at the packed schedule.

"Woohoo," she said in a glum voice and pointed out her short and meagre slots of free time. "I'm so excited to get stuck into all of this. I will be happy to take a diving leap into it all tomorrow. Thank you for all of this. I guess I can only squeeze in the extra things I missed into these times."

"Stacey, that's your bedtime," Beryl shook a finger. "You can't keep skimping on sleep."

"I won't be able to sleep if I can't get everything I needed to do done though," Stacey argued. "I'll stay awake at night thinking about it. I may as well use that time to get things done. I can also use these free time slots."

"Stacey, those gaps are so that you can socialise and eat," scolded Beryl. "For your mental health and your future, you need to interact with other people and network."

"If I don't want to get spanked every week, I have to work harder," Stacey disagreed. "Especially in those areas where I'm weak. I'm not a comedian. Nor am I a masochist. I don't want or need people to laugh at me being publicly humiliated. It's demeaning and detrimental to my dignity and self-esteem. It's bad enough that people are trying to control my life or to treat me like an object that can be sold or bartered. I don't want people to keep telling me what I deserve. I'm not a commodity and I've done nothing but work my hardest to survive. Girls aren't playthings to be taken advantage of in battles by humans or beasts. We aren't just baby making machines. We are equals, because just face it, men can't reproduce on their own. If the Ancients and beastmen need human females to reproduce, then that's too bad. That can't keep stealing our people. That's not fair."

Beryl clapped a hand over Stacey's mouth and gestured to the cameramen who stopped the cameras. Mindy reviewed the videos, sweating. She pointed at where the cameramen should delete the recording from. She made some notes.

"Delete everything after 'work my hardest to survive'," Mindy checked her handwritten notes and said to the cameraman.

"I've done it again, haven't I?" Stacey looked at Beryl when Beryl took her hand away. "I've run my mouth off again."

"We've deleted it now," Beryl dabbed at the sweat on her forehead. "Don't worry. Just keep any opinions you have regarding your feelings as a woman, the Ancients and Beastmen to yourself. We don't want to start another war, do we?"

Stacey shook her head.

"Talking about gender equality, women's marriage rights and things like that is already borderline scandalous," Mindy said in a weak voice. "It only works for you because you don't know anything. Even so, whatever you say on a deeper level about society is going to cause waves."

"No wonder conversations are always so superficial," Stacey sighed and then froze when she saw how everyone in the room had just paused to give her an incredulous look. "No, I mean, most conversations revolve around food, clothes and makeup. Things like that. No one ever talks about deeper issues like relationships, current affairs and issues in society today or how they really feel. I didn't mean to offend you all and say that you're all superficial. That's not what I mean. I'm just saying it's easy to make casual friends and acquaintances with those kinds of topics. There's nothing wrong with those topics. It's just harder to connect on a deeper level and meet genuine people and see who are genuine friends. It's probably the same in any society though," Stacey waved her hands. "Please don't be offended and get me wrong."

"Unfortunately what you've said is too true," Beryl waved a hand to calm Stacey down and everyone else came out of their shocked state. "You've hit the nail on the head, but this isn't the time or place to talk about such issues. The good thing about you, Stacey, is that you're so direct and blunt. We all appreciate that. The downside is that sometimes the truth hurts and is harder for some people to accept than others. In which case, you can accidentally offend people. So, unless you know you're in a very safe place - and I'm not saying that this isn't a safe place now, I'm just saying that unless you're in a private setting where there aren't any recording devices around, please don't air all your opinions without a filter. I'd hate to one day wake up to the news that you've died or disappeared in a mysterious accident or been kidnapped and never heard from again."

"Oh," Stacey shivered. "I understand."

"We're going to go back to the much, much safer topic of your schedule for the rest of this week," Mindy announced, consulting the notes she had been taking during the interview. She adjusted the pen she'd stuck on her ear. "Feel free to grumble about it more, Stacey. Everyone ready? We're going back to the point where Stacey said she needs to work hard to survive. Beryl, you'll need to react to that in three, two, one."

"Stacey, you do need to study hard," Beryl reached out to pat Stacey's hand, "but you need to balance your work with leisure. Everyone needs a balanced work-life. Otherwise it will affect your mental and physical health. Look how much weight you've lost."

"Girls, girls," Stacey wrinkled her nose at Beryl and then beckoned to her roommates with a cheeky grin. "Did you hear that? I need to gain weight. I need a better work-life balance. What better way than to eat my way to recovery while I study? Quick, go out and gather all the Miluoluo fruity yoghurt drinks you can find with plenty of snacks like those Wiringa Sweets and those savoury salted twists and veggie chip things. Get a variety or I might get tired of just one flavour. I feel a study-a-thon coming on."

"Stacey," Beryl shook her head and rolled her eyes at the camera. "Are you even listening to me? Why do I feel like everything I said just went over your head?"

Meanwhile, Stacey's roommates had began running in and out of the room to pile boxes and packets of snacks and drinks all around her. A box of fruity yoghurt drinks was upended in Stacey's arms. A few other trainees peered in the door to see what was going on.

"Hold it!" Beryl called out in a loud voice, so that everyone in the room became a statue looking at her. "Let me finish making my announcement before you all continue making a mess," Beryl said, bringing a hand to her forehead. "Stacey, your ranking challenge for this week will require you to have a performance with a group for each stream. You can go find whatever team is willing to have you and that you want to join for each stream. That means you have five performances to perform for every ranking challenge from now on. The elimination challenge continues to only require a single performance in a group or on your own."

"Five performances?"

"You mean she has to do six performances a week?!"

Chastity's hand slipped and she accidentally dropped a bottle on Stacey's head. Stacey almost fell out of her chair, holding her head.

"Stacey! Sorry, sorry. So sorry. Are you alright?" Chastity asked.

"I'm fine," Stacey smiled at her and brushed Chastity's hands off. "It didn't hit hard. Just surprised me."