Chapter 4

The few of them looked awkward for a moment, then rolled their eyes.

"The whole school knows you tried to steal her award. What have you got to be shameless about?"

"You saw me steal her award with your own eyes?"

That shut them up. Just as they were about to argue back, the host announced the ceremony was starting.

"The top comment on our official site is a request to see the robot in action. Before the award is presented, would everyone like to see it?"

The crowd cheered. "Yes!"

The ones I'd just put in their place clapped hard while shooting me sidelong looks.

Eva walked up onto the stage with a bashful smile and picked up the remote.

Under her control, the robot successfully carried out the commands to fetch an object and sweep the floor.

But when she ordered it to dance, the robot gave a low-battery warning and froze on the stage.

I smiled a little.

Because I'd been rushing to enter it for the award, I hadn't had time to fit the robot with a high-capacity battery.

This battery couldn't possibly get it through the whole performance.

But if you wanted to swap the battery...

The host faltered, then quickly moved things along. "Looks like the robot's tired. Eva, would you mind changing its battery?"

Eva went over to the robot, found the battery cover with practiced ease, and opened it.

But when she went to pull out the old battery, a prompt box appeared on it.

"Please enter password."

Eva froze.

She thought for a second, then quietly raised a hand to shield the keypad and typed in my birthday.

0-9-1-3.

The robot gave a sharp alert. "Wrong password. Three failed attempts will lock the machine."

Eva's hand began to tremble.

She reached out again and entered Stewart's birthday.

1-1-0-6.

The robot sounded the error alarm again.

Beads of sweat broke out across Eva's forehead, and she could barely stay on her feet.

Zane Lambert from the award committee frowned.

"Eva, did you build this robot on your own?"

Eva nodded quickly. "I made it myself, I really did, Director Lambert, please believe me..."

Zane asked, "If that's the case, why can't you even get the password right?"

Eva bit her lip and put on her usual wronged expression.

"I, I'm just too nervous, my mind's gone completely blank..."

"Director Lambert, I'm just a housekeeper's daughter. I've never been on a stage like this. Forgive me for embarrassing myself."

Her eyes darted, and she pointed at Stewart.

"Stewart knows it. I was afraid I'd get nervous and forget the password, so I told him on purpose!"

Stewart froze for a beat, then quickly nodded.

"That's right, Eva told me. Let me think, what was the password again..."

While making a show of thinking it over, he quietly nudged me beside him.

"What's the password? Tell me quick, don't leave Eva hanging up there!"

I adjusted the brooch on my chest and tilted my head toward Stewart.

"It's Eva's robot. How would I know the password?"

Stewart forced his voice down, but he couldn't hide the panic in it.

"Eve, quit playing dumb. This is your invention. If you don't know the password, who does!"

The words were barely out before the eyes of the entire school turned on us.