Blue Archive story · Club stories, Story 1
Proof of Concept 1
1 scenes, 94 lines
1. Seminar Conference Room
94 lines
Now that everyone's here...
As you already know, the Budget Review Committee Conference is a periodic gathering where we review the research and development prospects of each club and allocate funds accordingly.
If a club wants better funding, it is up to us to determine if they can earn it, usually by their ability to create useful products.
The last conference was filled with bizarre items that had no practical purpose whatsoever. As was the conference before that...
I... I still believe in the potential of our students, however.
We'll begin with...the New Material Development Club's Cushy Cement!
Cushy...?
Yes! It's a new, innovative approach to cement!
...What exactly does it mean for cement to be...cushy?
As you all know, cement is a beloved material in construction due to its malleability while wet and hardness while dry.
However, cement has one fatal flaw... When it hardens, it becomes way too hard!
People live in buildings! But according to our research, the average person's body is much weaker than cement, so if someone falls or bumps into cement, they could get injured.
However, Cushy Cement solves this problem by remaining soft even after it hardens, so not only will you not get hurt, you might even be tempted to lay down on it!
A building material that's soft to the touch? Truly revolutionary...
Hmm... This is all very interesting, however...
If it's that soft, how exactly would it not bend under the weight of other construction materials, such as steel or bricks?
Ah... Well, about that... As they say, the best inventions leave room for improvement...
So, to be clear, you took a building material often used for foundations and other purposes reliant on durability and toughness, and made it soft?
Rejected!
N-Nooo!
Next!
The next item is the Dragon Duster proposed by Murokasa Akane.
Huh? Akane? C&C submitted a research proposal?
*whisper* C&C's budget is already allocated separately based on operational scope... Is that not enough?
Oh, no, this isn't a C&C proposal, it's from me as an individual.
I am a dedicated member of C&C...
But I am also a student of Millennium Science School.
Contributing to the academy's technological advancement by proposing new ideas is just another service I wish to provide!
What an excellent attitude for a Millennium student! We must all pursue innovation and creativity whenever possible.
I have a bad feeling about this...
Let's hear her out. How is this Dragon Duster different from an ordinary duster?
Dusters are one of my favorite cleaning implements.
However, I often encounter stains that ordinary dusters simply can't remove.
There's obviously a limit to how many cleaning tools I can carry at once, and going out of my way to get another one is cumbersome and time-consuming.
So I came up with the Dragon Duster... A duster equipped with a compressed gas sprayer!
Compressed gas sprayer...?
Not just any gas. Upon activating this function, the compressed gas will ignite as it's sprayed, completely incinerating the target!
No stubborn stains or sticky substance can withstand the Dragon Duster's cleansing flames.
A tool that spews fire...
Akane, that's a flamethrower.
Oh... But is it a novel flamethrower?
Next is...
Oh my... This is a proposal from Momoi of the Game Development Department, who received a special award for the last Millennium Prize.
Heh heh... Yuuka might be the Cold, Unfeeling Accountant, but she'll be begging to invest once she sees my impeccable proposal.
Rejected.
W-Wait! You didn't even hear it!
I don't need to. The Game Development Department just plays games all day instead of doing any actual club activities.
Th-That's unfair! When we work, we deliver!
Besides, we already came up with a profit model that utilizes advanced technology!
...A profit model that utilizes advanced technology?
Yes! This proposal is a game design that implements the latest blockchain technology!
When you play games, you often earn in-game currency, right? By using this technology, we can just convert this in-game money to real money!
So, by just sitting down and playing games, you'll make money! Heehee.
It sounds plausible. If you tied it to a cryptocurrency, it would allow players to cash out.
Right, but who would be exchanging cash for this?
A few proposals seemed promising.
There was a 37% increase in proposals that planned to use emerging technology compared to last year.
Is that even a good thing? None of their proposed uses of those technologies made any sense!
...I simply don't understand why everyone is so enamored with such impractical research.
Our job isn't to decide the direction of the research.
And who knows? The research may look meaningless now, but it could become the foundation of revolutionary technology in the future.
...The Millennium Problem.
...
Seminar, what could be considered the heart of Millennium, was originally a gathering of researchers with one goal: to find solutions to the seven unsolvable problems of the modern world.
Countless experiments, approaches, tests, and more were conducted in order to crack these problems... And as they expanded their efforts, what we know as Millennium Science School came into being.
Of course, most students these days don't even know what the problems are...
But each piece of research, each wild experiment, it's all a part of the process of solving those seven problems.
...I suppose so. As long as there's a sliver of a chance of progress, all thinking and experimentation at Millennium is encouraged and recommended.
However, nobody can know whether these wild ideas will actually bear fruit, but we can know what our budget will look like.
We can encourage students all we want, but if we fund them endlessly, the academy will go bankrupt.
Heehee. Great researchers often only notice practical things such as time and money once they've run out.
Millennium School is so lucky to have a treasurer as brilliant as Yuuka.
...You're messing with me, aren't you?
If you're so worried about Millennium's finances, why didn't you speak up more?
When we were debating the utility the AI Research Department's so-called Smart Bomb, which they claimed could determine when to detonate without human input, it would have been more persuasive if you'd said something, Noa...
Sorry, but I'm just a secretary.
A good secretary doesn't interject, no matter the circumstances. We must be as neutral as our records.
What convenient logic...
It sounds like you pick and choose when you want to be Seminar's secretary and when you want to be Ushio Noa...
Heehee! Whichever I am, it won't change the fact that I like you, Yuuka!
Did we skip a proposal during the budget review?
Impossible. We heard from every club on the list.
Hmm... The person who wrote the proposal was...
The president of Veritas?!