“Well, then as some of you already know, I am the current director of the USRC but also a certified science lecturer, university professor, aerospace researcher, proactive inventor, and most of all your favorite star, Melon-chan!”

…

“I was expecting a little more of a welcome than that…, I should have used the pyrotechnic effects I had prepared, it would have had more impact, noted for next time.”

“Professor Melon please, let’s get down to business.”

“Yes, I’m coming to that Miss Kotegawa. So in the first instance…”

Melon-chan-sensei takes out a remote control from the pocket of his coat and while turning around, he turns off the light in the room and activates the giant screen.

“I am honored to present to you this morning, Kumiai student ID card and its new feature, the K Pass.”

An animated video starts on the screen, the design of the card is presented with a short summary of its basic functions.

“For students who were already here last year, this is just a refresher, but it doesn’t hurt to review the basics. Kumiai student ID card acts as both your campus ID but also your island ID and is what allows you to be able to enter the campus grounds as well as track your academic records online.”

Melon-chan asks all students to take out their smartphones to demonstrate, he also takes out his own to explain the procedure.

“Please activate your QR code reader to scan the symbol I am currently displaying large on the screen. This will redirect you to the website that serves as the new platform for the school. I recommend you install the app directly which is much more convenient.”

All the students then take out their smartphones and install the app. On Rina and the girls’ side, Aya is pleased to see that the points she used this morning to pay for her snack have been debited from her account.

“Ah, indeed I only have 520 points left on my card according to the app. How about you?”

“We do have our 1,000 points in the account. I wonder if I could use them at the bakery to pay for my cookies?”

“I hope to use them in cultural spaces or to buy books.”

“Melon-chan-sensei will probably talk about it later.”

Let’s get to the point, Melon changes slides, a list of items is displayed before the eyes of the students who are confused by all this information.

“I can already see by your faces that the mass of information is going to be too much for your little heads but don’t worry I’m going to condense it all right now and if you want more details, there’s a special section in the app where you can find all the information you’ll be given this morning.”

Melon first begins by talking about the direct benefits that on and off campus, as I am magnanimous, I will honor you with a small summary even more condensed than the professor.

Here are the key points:

* Spend the accumulated Ai Coins in partner stores, to get discounts or free products/services.

* Acts as an administrative pass and replaces the standard form of school record with a digital version, students can know in real time their grades, appointments, schedule via the linked app.

* Allows you to register for exclusive in-school or out-of-school events or activities.

“Knowing that all the partner locations will have signage to indicate that they accept the card so don’t worry, it’s very easy to know where you can use it. And since the app is well done because it was partly designed by myself and my assistants, you can also find all these partners on another dedicated section of the app. Isn’t life great?”

Excitement can be felt in the stands, a hubbub takes place, students are already anticipating their future expenses and activities that they can do with these points.

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Melon promptly interrupts the excitement of the youngsters and takes the opportunity to talk about the conditions of use which are not as flexible as one might have thought.

“You seem pretty excited about these new opportunities and I understand you, but wait until you see the next slide first, because now we’re going to talk about HOW to get access to all these services.”

A table is displayed with checkboxes, showing the prerequisites necessary to have access to all the functions of the card.

“As you can see, having the card is unfortunately not enough to qualify for full access to functions. It was decided in several meetings between campus and island leaders that the new card would be a way to further boost student activities by adopting a merit-based bonus system. You’re going to have to earn those Ai Coins my little ones, mwahahaha!”

Again, I’m going to give you a little rundown on the rules that the other fool is mentioning.

The card system being based on merit, to take advantage of it you will have to meet certain conditions which are :

* Either join a Kumiai campus club and participate in its activities.

* Or have a student job on the island or off the island in a company validated by the administration of Kumiai and the school.

* Or be a member of an internal or external association to the island, also validated by the administration of the island and the school

“I understand that some of you do not have any special activities outside of class at this time. Those in this situation will not have access to the free points offered each month but will still be able to earn them by participating in events or winning competitions for example. Note that some services are only available if the conditions I mentioned earlier are met, again you have all the necessary information on the app.”

…

“They’ve gone big this year, no one expected a project of this magnitude. You already meet the requirements for extra points, Aya, you’re in the surf club and you, Sophie, you have the tea ceremony club and the literature club.”

“It’s true that now we don’t even have to think about anything, I wonder how many Ai Coins I could win if I were to win a surf contest?”

“And you Rina-chan, how are you going to do?”

“What do you mean Sophie?”

“I mean, you’re not in any clubs, you don’t have a student job and you’re not in any associations right?”

“…”

“…”

…

Critical hit for the MC.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAH !!!”

Rina’s uncontrolled scream causes the entire room to turn on her, shocked by this deep horror. Melon intervenes to regain the students’ attention.

“AH! I definitely recognize the desperation of a student who realizes she wasn’t doing anything with her life until then, MOUAHAHAH!”

He barely has time to finish his sentence when a shadow appears behind Melon and gives him a quick kick behind the knees which makes the scientist sprawl pathetically.

A woman comes out of the shadows of the stage and approaches Melon.

“Thank you Christopher for that intervention, you can go back to your row.”

* Bip Bip *

“Thank you for using my services Miss Wilson.”

If we analyze the situation well, a small robot named Christopher, barely one meter high, has just laid Melon to the ground with a sweeping kick?

“Stella, was it necessary to have Christopher-kun intervene in this way at this time?”

“You never give me a choice Professor, aren’t you ashamed to put a young girl to shame like this? And besides you are wasting everyone’s time, the rest of the program is ready so get moving.”

* Melon whispering *

“Tyrannical woman, turn my own creation against me, I will cut your salary in half…”

A terrible look comes to crush Melon even more to the ground, a growing murderous intent puts the room in a strange mood.

“What did you say ?”

“Double, I said double your salary.”

“Um …”

Melon gets up, wiping his forehead as if he had narrowly escaped death. He takes his place behind the desk, puts his hair back in place and rearranges his white coat.

* Throat clearing *

“Okay, so… uh… Yes, this is Miss Stella Wilson, my personal assistant at USRC and also the co-creator of the project I’m about to present.”

“Nice to meet you, if you don’t understand what this moron is explaining feel free to come meet me in the future.”

Laughter and applause can be heard from the stands. It feels like we’re replaying this morning’s scene on the shuttle.

“Hum hum… I’m going to take advantage of this morning to present to you this time a personal project that I elaborated with Miss Wilson, here present and that was authorized by the Kumiai administration. This is just the beginning of a long list of inventions I have in mind but I think you’ll like it… CyberTroopers Support Units! Move on!”

…

Nothing happens.

…

Miss Wilson facepalms.

“The name of the trial group is KS00, please give the order with the correct name please.”

“HOW?! I had programmed CyberTroopers Support Units!”

“I changed it because it didn’t make sense, I gave the name of the project that we shared with the administration, KS00.”

“But it sounds bad ksou, ksou…”

“Please deal with it, and it’s not “ksou” but K S 0 0.”

“Well, “ksou” units, move along…”

A line of five robots with Christopher moving to the front of the stage.

“And in addition there are only 5 of them? Where are the other 95?”

“Did you honestly think I was going to bring the entirety of the units on stage?”

“Nothing is going well…”