Confrontation

On the morning of the convention, the girls all gather at the train station, where they will take a train to the convention center on the other side of the city. Once they arrive at the station, they, unfortunately, find out the train is delayed by half an hour.

“That is such a cute dress Rena-chan, you should wear that more often”

“Thank you ... Ti”

“How long have we been waiting? It feels like an eternity…”

Mona took a deep sight.

“To be exact… 4 minutes and 43 seconds”

“No way Ti, you must be lying”

“So Mona, have you thought about what to say once we encounter Mrs. X. You should make sure to not lose your temper”

“Relax… nothing like that is going to happen today”

“Not saying it’s me, but some people find you coming across quite rude sometimes”

“Ti, there is nothing to worry about. I have it all planned in my head. Just enjoy the nice trip today, it will probably be a while before we will be doing something fun like this again.”

“I don’t go to some nerd robot convention for fun, I am not a freak like you all”

“Look arrived… nice to see you today Nia”

“Whatever”

Mona’s stomach rumbles loudly

“Seem like I am hungry, who is up for grabbing some food?”

The girls went to eat some hamburgers at the station's fast-food joint. After having their stomachs stuffed full of overpriced reheated burger patties, Mona asked for the time again.

“Oh crap! 1 minute left… it seems like we got to run!”

The girls jump up from where they were sitting and dump their burger wrappers in the nearest trashcan. Then they’ll set in for a sprint through the train terminal to try to catch their train.

“Hot coffee!”

Screams Mona as she almost collides with the old newspaper seller guy.

Serena falls behind the other girls.

“Come on Rena-chan we are almost there!”

In the distance, they see their train has already arrived and the people are boarding.

“Almost there!”

Just as the conductor moves the little flute to his mouth after checking if everyone boarded. He notices the girls storming toward him and decides to wait for them to get in.

“Hee.. ehhh Thank you Mr.. Conductor.. ehhh”

Mona is completely out of breath.

“So where are you girls heading to today?”

“The robotics convention on the other side of town.”

The conductor looks a bit surprised these girls would be interested in something technical like that.

“Mmm.. It’s great to see your girls being interested in stuff like that.”

“They forced me!” Screamed Nia.

“Ahaha.. of course, they did”

The convention

The girls arrived at the convention with a few hours to spare before Ei Magoshi’s presentation about maidtrons will begin. They have to decide which of the exhibits they will check out to kill some time.

“Hey look, the creator of Robotgirl Misami is signing copies here!”

“Robotgirl what?” asks Nia.

“You haven’t heard about it Nia? It is one of the most popular manga being published”

“Well Ti, I don’t have the time to read all those manga thingies”

“Is there anything you+’d like to do here Nia?”

“Well… by the small chance we have any time left, we could stop here by the household appliances.”

Mona pulled a big grin on her face.

“Ahh so there is something you’re interested in something in this nerd hole Nia… interesting”

“I just think as future servants, we should keep up to date on the latest domestic technology, okay!”

“Alright, let’s also make a quick stop by the unemployment machine shall we?”

The presentation

“Okay everyone, time for the next presentation. She is mentioned as one of the most influential female engineers under thirty, having received numerous rewards in the field of engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Today she will be revealing the newest Maidtron model to the world, and you will be a lucky few who will get a quick glimpse of this technological marvel. Please reserve all your questions for the end. With no further ado, we present to you, the one and only creator of the maidtrons: Doctor Magoshi!”

Loud applause resounded through the convention hall.

“Yeah, that’s totally her.. Mrs. X”

Mona was totally thrilled because of the adrenaline.

“Thank you everyone for coming today! I have been waiting for this day for so long. As you might have heard already, today I and my team will demonstrate our newest maidtron model that is known under its working name: “M4DTR-10”. Wahaha The last year we have made numerous improvements to almost every aspect of our design. Firstly, I will give you a brief overview of all the new and improved features and after that, we will demonstrate our newest robot to you.”

After that Ei took about 20 minutes to explain various technical details about the new robot. Mona was listening really attentively as she felt genuinely interested in what this maid technology had to offer.

“And now it is finally time for the moment we have all been waiting for. Hereby I announce our most realistic Maidtron yet Estrella! Wahaha! Can you please come on stage?”

Another big applause from the audience.

A really realistic robot came walking on stage. It moved really fluently and from the distance, our girls were sitting it would be almost impossible to see the difference between the robot and a human maid. Ei had Estrella perform various tasks on the stage, serving food and drinks, vacuuming, doing laundry, and greeting guests. At the end of the presentation, when greeting the audience goodbye, the maidtron, unfortunately, froze up and had to be carried from the stage. Ei looked really nervous as she tried to assure the audience.

“Alright… that is bound to happen with a prototype like this. Thank you all for your time and we will be announcing the preorder date for these new maidtrons soon. Are there any questions from the audience?”

Mona went to line up before one of the microphones stands located at the front of the presentation hall. After a few turns, Mona was able to ask Ei her question.

“Hello my name is Mona, and I am your greatest fan. Let me ask you a question about how you started out pursuing this fascinating career?”

“Sure”

“Is it correct that you once were a student at a school for maids, but that you got expelled because you sucked and caused a fire in the robotics club basement while creating the first maidtron prototype?”

Ei recognized Mona as one of the girls from the maid school trying to expose her plans. She totally underestimated the ability of this strangle medley of misfits to track her down. Even though she must have felt really nervous about this, she did her best to stay calm and answer the question.

“Woh, that’s a long sentence. What was your name again Mona? It is true that is started working on my first prototypes in school when I was about your age. Some mishaps happen along the way, but that shouldn’t deter you from following your passion. Thank you, next question!”

But Mona wasn’t done yet with her.

“Wait, I have an important follow-up question. How many maidtrons are you actually selling? I looked up the prices and you could hire a real maid for years for the price of one of these. Are you actually making any profit or relying on the money from investors? Is that maybe the reason you have been sabotaging the maid school you got kicked out of by manipulating young girls to do your dirty work, hack the school, spray graffiti, and..”

Ei was nervously winking to one of the security guys to have Mona removed from the convention center. They interrupted her speech and escorted her outside. On the way out you could hear her screaming about all the stuff Doctor Magoshi had done. After this, Ei abruptly stopped taking questions and left the stage.

The other girls followed Mona outside of the convention center.

Outside the convention center

When the girls met Mona outside, she was still really angry. They all tried their best to calm her down.

“You said you wouldn’t lose your temper like that Mona!” said Ti.

“You are wrong Ti, this was totally worth it. You could see her getting madder and madder as Mona was talking. She wouldn’t leave the stage like that if Mona wasn’t pointing out the truth”

“I am proud of you for speaking up” Serena quietly spoke.

Mona calmed down a little from her friend's encouraging words.

“Wait, she left the stage directly after me getting escorted? That seems like a win to me”

“Yeah totally, let’s celebrate or something!”

“Let’s have a toast on the investigation squad for solving the mystery!”