5. Seeing is Believing

Seina and his roommates are watching a comedy show on TV, only to be interrupted by the daily chore of roll call. Holograms of two Academy officers appear and subject them to a scan before warning the trio to get a good night’s rest- tomorrow is the entrance ceremony. Seina is all ready to obey their suggestion, but Kenneth and Rajau have a different idea. With such a diverse community at the GP, every night there’s a different excuse to have a party, and the boys want to join in the fun.

Having snuck out of the dorms, Seina is worried that they will get caught, but Rajau assures him that he has handled the security systems. Still, with so many people about, it’s best to be quiet- if they are discovered then they’re sure to be ambushed by the flying security robots, who punish curfew-breakers by spraying them with an obscene tattoo. Kenneth has one from a previous excursion, but fortunately it is hidden under his hair.

It all seems to be going well, until the trio reaches the storage warehouse that provides a sneak exit out of the Academy. Rajau manages to crack the lock, but trips an alarm in the process. Now, Kenneth, Rajau and Seina are the target of the security robots. And as they flee through the warehouse, they stumble into a bunch of other students in exactly the same predicament.

Running through the warehouse, the students spot an aircar, but obviously, it is not going to hold everyone. Deciding to eliminate the competition, Kenneth trips up the other students, who are immediately set upon by the robots, whilst he, Rajau and Seina make a beak for it. Unfortunately, although Seina gets to the car, both Kenneth and Rajau are victims of the robots’ tattoos, getting hit right in the face.

Despite the setback, the trio finally make it out, and head into town for some fun. Unfortunately, the tattoos on their faces are an immediate girl deterrent, so Rajau has to come up with a cunning plan…

It turns out that Rajau’s plan is nothing more than he and Kenneth putting paper bags on their heads, but although it attracts a few stares, the trio nonetheless heads for a coffee bar. To their surprise, however, they are greeted by none other than Amane, and she certainly seems a lot quieter and even friendlier than usual. Rajau and Kenneth are delighted to meet the beautiful Amane, and are amazed that Seina knows her. Things seem to be looking up even more when Amane takes them to a private table in a cosy bar and begins make some rather overt advances towards Seina. But things aren’t as they seem, and instead of whisking the boys off for a little ‘action’, they find their booth dropping through the floor whilst they are gassed into unconsciousness!

Awakening somewhere underground, the trio discover that their captor is not really Amane, but rather Erma wearing a holographic disguise. They have been captured as part of ‘people hunting’, in which subjects become guinea pigs for lab experiments. Seina is sure that he is going to end up as a bunch of organs in a jar, but Rajau assures him that the tests are just simulations.

At the lab, Seina is strapped into something that looks disturbingly like a souped up electric chair. Fortunately, all the scientists want to do is collect personal data, a surprisingly quick and painless act. Released from the chair, Seina decides to go and see how his friends are doing. Hearing their screams, he rushes to rescue them, only to find that they would rather not be rescued. The two boys are having the time of their lives- having been stripped naked, they are being given a thorough inspection by a team of beautiful female scientists.

The experiments over, Erma takes Kenneth, Rajau and Seina back to the Academy, but unfortunately for them, they are not home free. Walking through the grounds, they find themselves surrounded by security robots, and this time there is no escape.

Back at the lab, Erma learns that Seina’s bad luck has led to his personal data somehow linking to an outside network and creating a computer virus. The data is recovered, but to Erma’s disappointment, the holographic Seina is a gravel-voiced, SD version of the real thing.

Meanwhile, whilst Seina tries to wash off the tattoo the robots gave him, Rajau and Kenneth are boasting about Seina’s antics on their night out- to none other than Kiriko. Seina tries to explain, but only succeeds in showing his tattoo to Kiriko, annoying her still further. Still in a good mood, Kenneth and Rajau wonder if Seina will be needing a plastic or paper bag of his own…