I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

For all these reasons, the little-known game development department has been unable to recruit new members.

Recently, after Amamiya resolved the matter with Abydos, Momoi, Midori, and Yuzu, the current three members, all knew or were aware of the online trend of 'Heart Thief' to varying degrees...

Therefore, Momoi and Midori wanted to invite Amamiya, the 'Phantom Thief Sensei,' to the game development department to work as a 'game development tester.'

Amamiya remembered what Yuka had said back then: "There's still a little over a month until the competition for the next Millennium Technology Academy Award, but it'll start in less than two months..."

If, by then, the members of the game development department are still unable to fill the membership gap required by the club, or fail to produce any significant results, then the club will face the risk of being disbanded.

“In Abydos, the school was shut down, and here it’s the society that was shut down… so it’s ‘from the same source’.”

After silently complaining to herself, Amamiya recalled the worried or other emotions on Yuka's face when she described the three members of the game club.

According to Yuka, the three members of the game development department are all 'special'... Considering that they often communicate using game jargon that others can't understand, they are really difficult to approach and hard to make real friends with.

In response, Yuka hopes that Amamiya can find a way to help the members of the game development department overcome this difficulty using 'adult teaching methods'—it would be even better if they could recruit new members.

After rubbing his temples, Amamiya, sitting on the train, could clearly feel the train's speed gradually decreasing.

'I'll have to buy my own personal vehicle later... Every time I have to take the subway or other public transportation, and then wait, it's really inefficient...'

After letting out a sigh, Amamiya had another idea.

'I possess many unique materials… including but not limited to those obtained from other worlds, and special otherworldly materials I've accumulated… Perhaps I could exchange materials with the engineering department and have them build me a custom vehicle?'

After adding this idea to his to-do list, Amamiya decided to discuss it with the engineering department members when he got back.

After getting off the train according to the station announcement, Amamiya headed straight for the game development department.

Since Yuka had specifically explained the location of the game development club beforehand, Amamiya had no difficulty finding it. He quickly found himself downstairs at the club's activity room.

Standing beneath the building housing the game club's activity room, Amamiya intended to take a moment to look up and survey the building's surroundings, its location, and other geographical features—a routine, simple reconnaissance.

Not all clubs have a club activity space as large as an entire activity building.

The engineering department, for example, has that level of activity space because they genuinely possess research and development capabilities.

Comparatively speaking, the size of the game development department's club activity room is roughly the same as that of the "Federal Investigation Department - Xia Lai" club activity room...

Yueyi (Seven) 〒栮0?SiV?Shirt'……'

Amamiya frowned slightly.

His long-standing experience as a 'phantom thief' honed his combat skills, allowing him to keenly sense the approaching 'danger' in advance.

The next second—Amamiya saw a 'white cuboid' measuring approximately 390 mm x 260 mm x 104 mm and weighing about 4.5 kg fly out of the glass window and fall straight towards Amamiya.

'...This is...a PlayStation game console?'

Amamiya neither dodged nor avoided the attack, but instead easily and steadily caught the next-generation mainframe that was flying towards him and almost hitting his head.

Amamiya squinted slightly, pondering who had done this, when she heard a voice that she recognized somewhat.

"Whoa... Is the PS console alright...?!"

Is it... Caiyu Lu, whom I met once before?

Following the sound, Amamiya looked up and gazed at the open window.

Then, his gaze met those emerald green eyes, which were filled with anxiety and panic.

"Sen, Sensei...?"

After briefly shifting her gaze from Amamiya to the PS game console in Amamiya's hands, Midori, who was perched on the windowsill, seemed to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

'Judging from this... I should be alright...'

'Was it caught perfectly by Sensei's keen phantom thief skills...?'

'If I smash it, won't it leave a bad impression on the Sensei, and might it also damage the game console... potentially leading to various problems...?'

"……green?"

"It's nothing, nothing, Sister."

The girl, who was leaning on the windowsill, took a moment to 'carefully admire' Amamiya's suddenly sharp eyes, which even his non-prescription glasses couldn't hide, and his exceptionally handsome, tall and imposing figure. Her eyes became slightly unfocused.

After replying to her sister nonchalantly, she then waved to Amamiya.

"Sensei... Welcome to the game development department, please come up."

Xiao Lü's greeting clearly caused a stir in the game development department's club activity room once again.

"Wow...Sensei is coming to the game development department?!"

After Momoi's voice, Amamiya seemed to hear the sound of a cabinet door opening and the clanging of metal.

It's hard to imagine just how chaotic and immature the game development department really is.

After sighing inwardly, Amamiya used her free hand to wipe her face.

After casually tucking the PS game console under his left arm like a briefcase, Amamiya, surrounded by clusters of eerie blue flames, waved to Midori.

And Little Green seemed to know, as if by telepathy, what Amamiya was going to do next.

She pushed open all the windows and made way for them.

Amamiya extended his right hand, and the grappling hook hidden on his arm in his magician's coat shot out with a sharp metallic 'whoosh', firmly hooking onto the edge of the metal window.

Immediately afterwards, relying on the pulling force of the grappling hook, Amamiya's figure transformed into a dark shadow.

Using the phantom thief's 'phantom movement technique', Amamiya flipped over and nimbly crouched down, standing on the edge of the windowsill.

As she retracted her grappling hook, Amamiya pushed the smoky mask on her cheeks up to the top of her head and glanced at the interior of the game development department.

...The indoor environment was relatively dim, seemingly due to the deliberate reduction of light sources without turning on the lights, intentionally creating a 'dark environment'.

The decor is somewhat unique, with a distinctive sense of the times.

Various game cartridges and gaming devices were neatly and evenly placed on the bookshelves. Labeled metal cabinets, game controllers scattered on the floor, and 'trash' items such as girls' stockings added a touch of 'uncleanliness' to the club, while also injecting a certain degree of life into it.

After lingering for a moment on the red-haired girl who was 'opening the cabinet door and about to crawl in', Amamiya looked at Momoi, who was slightly open-mouthed due to her extreme surprise at Amamiya's entrance, but who didn't say a word.

Finally, his gaze settled on Little Green, who was looking at him with an expression that was either adoration or something else.

"Hey... good morning, everyone in the game club."

“Sharai’s Sensei… is also a ‘Phantom Thief of Hearts,’ summoned here.”

Chapter Thirteen: Actually, I've been a Yuzu fan for a long time.

“Sharai’s Sensei… is also a ‘Phantom Thief of Hearts,’ summoned here.”

A deep blue flame blazed up as Amamiya began his 'self-introduction'.

Immediately afterwards, Momoi and Midori, for no apparent reason, seemed to hear a powerful background music, possibly used for battle.

Background music: Last Surprise

Momoi seemed to have recovered, blinked, and spoke in a shocked tone: "...I don't know why, but it feels like I'm being beaten up in the protagonist's normal battle BGM from the previous generation..."

This time, Xiao Lü didn't refute her sister's unreliable description, but nodded in agreement.

The smell was just too strong.

Sensei's unique entrance... did give her a similar feeling—

"The previous protagonist appears as a hidden boss in the new game, and then beats up the current protagonist to his own normal battle BGM."

"Um...Sensei, welcome to the Games Club..."

After the brief moment of shock, Little Green took the initiative to step forward and greet Amamiya with a slight tilt of her head.

"It's been a while, Little Green."

With the girl's slightly squinted eyes enjoying the moment, Amamiya casually took advantage of the height difference to give her fluffy, soft blonde hair a good rub.

【~??~】

Clusters of eerie blue flames, as he deactivated his 'phantom thief transformation,' instantly dissipated like ashes from a burnt-out fire, scattering into tiny specks of blue fluorescence.

"Who is this……"

Amamiya's gaze naturally fell on the red-haired girl who was still in the 'entering the closet' position, looking bewildered and as if she was considering whether or not to crawl into the closet.

Midori, who seemed to cheer up after being patted on the head by Amamiya, responded, "This is the head of our game development department."

Perhaps knowing that she could dodge the first day of the month but not the fifteenth, Yuzu, with one foot in the cabinet and her back to Amamiya, seemed to sigh deeply and make up her mind before slowly turning around.

"The head of the game development department, Yuzu Hanaoka..."

"Um...Sensei...Nice to meet you..."

[Assisted by: Hanaoka Yuzu / The Lonely Game Queen]

Arcana: The Hermit (IX.The Hmit)

[Assistance Relationship: Not Unlocked]

'Another one... "The Hermit"?'

Seeing the Arcana card above Yuzu's head, Amamiya mentally compared it to the three "Hermits" he currently knew.

Sora from the convenience store, the celery from Abydos, and nowadays... Yuzu from the game club.

These three special 'assistants' are quite different from the other two in their behavior, while Sora and Yuzu are somewhat similar... They are the kind of people who are not good at interpersonal communication and have a bit of 'social anxiety'.

"Grapefruit……?"

Will this Hanaoka Yuzu say "Ciallo～(∠?ω<)⌒☆"?

After a fleeting thought, Amamiya gently approached the club president, who looked to be only about 1.5 meters tall and slightly taller than the other two members. She bent down slightly to meet the girl's light blue eyes, which seemed to be in a state of 'dizziness'.

"Hanaoka Yuzu... huh? Hmm, she's a very cute child. I think you can be a little more confident."

【~?~】

Seeing the girl's embarrassed state as if she was about to collapse, Amamiya straightened up and looked away.

Unbeknownst to Amamiya, in that instant of his 'overpowering', Yuzu had become so delirious that she even hallucinated a vast wilderness of a Western fantasy RPG game world—

The 'hero' dressed in a black magician's outfit invited her, who was a priestess, holding a magic wand and wearing a pointed witch's hat.

The 'hero' standing against the light extended an invitation: "Would you like to join my party? This charming... priestess."

The unparalleled overwhelming force of 'Crimson Calamity Charm' upon close contact, though it lasted only a moment, left a profound impression on Yuzu that far surpassed the emotional fluctuations she had experienced from any other type of visual novel game she had played.

If the game development department weren't still the same game development department, she probably would have already figured out what to do after saving the world.

"Let's get down to business..."

Ignoring Yuzu's momentary daze, Amamiya took out the document that Noah had previously compiled and revised, and solemnly handed it to the Saiyu sisters, who were already prepared.

"Wow—Sensei's Phantom Thief Record! If a game were made based on this... it would definitely be a huge hit and sell like hotcakes!"

Momoi, her eyes sparkling, took the manuscript from Midori, who didn't seem very enthusiastic and appeared to be lost in thought. She then began to examine it.

"Hmm... I see. The Persona... By entering another world and making a contract with another 'inner self,' one can obtain the Persona's help..."

"Using an app from another world to switch between reality and the other world... In other words, we could consider adding daily interactions in addition to combat..."

"Personas can unleash physical and magical attacks, can be used in melee or ranged combat, and they all come from various well-known fictional characters..."

"For example, a swordsman wielding a sword can unleash a slashing attack, while a bandit wielding a bow can use it for ranged attacks..."

"High-level Personas, or Personas that have undergone a second awakening, will become gods from mythology..."

"The magical attributes of Personas are divided into physical; gunfire; fire; ice; wind; lightning; nuclear heat; telekinesis; blessing; curse..."

As she looked at it, Momoi held up the exquisite manuscript, 'produced by the symposium secretary,' as if it were a priceless treasure.

This is simply, simply—

"It's simply... a treasure trove born to make games!"

Feeling the gaming spirit within her boiling over, Momoi had a very good premonition—

I have a feeling that as long as these concepts are gamified and successfully released, they will definitely become a huge hit and sell like hotcakes!

"Sister... calm down first."

Little Green belatedly came to her senses and stopped her older sister from continuing her tirade.