I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"Ha ha……"

It was still the same unhurried, light laughter, and the same seemingly controlled pace of speech and corresponding emotional expression.

"Before we get to the main topic... please allow me to briefly 'deviate' from the subject, Sensei."

"First of all... I'm very interested in the power you've shown called 'Personality Mask'... It's said that during the battle to retake the Xialai Building, you summoned more than one Persona Mask and had them unleash what appeared to be 'wide-area buff magic' and 'wide-area mental interference'..."

Amamiya raised her eyebrows slightly, but remained silent, waiting for Himari to continue.

After a deliberate pause, seemingly confirming Amamiya's intention to engage in conversation, the white-haired elf girl slightly raised the corners of her mouth, displaying a momentary sense of confidence.

"Sensei, do you know who's responsible for blocking and intercepting information about 'Persona'? Heh... It took Beritas... and me, a genius, clear-headed, sickly beauty... a considerable amount of time to deliberately block those videos circulating online."

...So the news about Persona that gradually 'disappeared' from the internet was intercepted by Beritas and the "Special Phenomena Investigation Department"?

"That power called 'Persona'... Before we get to the main topic, could you please demonstrate it briefly?"

Amamiya nodded, noticing the other party's seemingly 'impaired' appearance, and prepared to summon a personality mask to cast a recovery spell.

"Psona! Messiah!"

'call……'

As if she had been prepared, the moment Himari created an invisible vortex around Amamiya, she had already placed her hand in front of her cheek and activated a portable function on her smart wheelchair, generating a force field shield to resist damage.

"Seeing the 'Persona' summoned with my own eyes... it really feels different..."

Her light purple eyes held a longing and curiosity for "mysterious things." Unconsciously, she straightened up slightly and began to mutter to herself as she observed intently.

【psona - Messiah (Arcana: Judgment)】

[Introduction - Another name for Jesus Christ. Legend says He will appear before the Last Judgment to become the savior of the good.]

Appearing in numerous forms across various mythologies and folklore systems worldwide, it is a fairly widespread figure. Its name, "Mesah," is now recognized as a synonym for 'savior' in many myths and heroic tales.

Bound by chains of judgment, carrying a coffin that may contain a sinful soul, his pure white holy robe exudes a mysterious radiance unique to "sacred souls".

"Sacred Song."

The scattered emerald green light converged as the savior raised his hand, and all the light in the room was simultaneously stripped away at that moment.

In an instant, the room became so dark that it seemed to transform into a shimmering galaxy composed of countless emerald green specks of light.

[Sacred Melody: Restores all HP to all allies and removes all negative effects.]

"This...this feeling...!!!"

Still reeling from the 'mysterious magic,' Himari was now genuinely astonished.

She could clearly feel the effects on her body the moment the 'emerald green galaxy of light' converged upon her.

It's like suddenly running into a sunny outdoor spot, getting tired, and then lying down on the grass to rest...

An unimaginable feeling, like being surrounded by warm sunshine, a 'bright spring day' feeling... that makes you feel like your body is getting better...

Wait a minute, it doesn't seem like it's just my imagination.

This kind of 'magic' is not the kind that has fancy lighting effects but is actually quite weak...

It... really 'improved' its body?!

But how is this possible? !

【~???~】

Noticing Himari's momentary surprise, and noticing that the halo above her head seemed to have become more lustrous and 'solidified,' Amamiya was certain that her 'Great Healing Magic' would indeed have a significant effect on the students—it could even clearly enhance their physical constitution.

"how?"

After a moment of surprise, Riju removed the 'barrier' from the smart wheelchair, and quickly regained the natural elegance of 'confidence' that had set her apart from her astonishment.

"...Sensei's 'Personality Magic' was indeed surprisingly effective. This is an indisputable fact."

"However...hehe..."

Seemingly realizing why Amamiya had unleashed such a powerful healing spell, the girl suddenly chuckled, "Sensei... I appreciate your kindness... but your 'magic' might be ineffective~"

As she spoke, she lazily lifted her foot slightly to indicate that she was not actually paralyzed.

“Sensei cast such a ‘restoration spell’ on me, such a genius and beautiful girl… because Sensei saw me sitting in a wheelchair and therefore thought I was a ‘disabled person,’ right?”

"Actually...hehe...this is just my...reserve and energy conservation as the strongest beautiful girl in a thousand years."

【~???~】

Amamiya understood.

She's not disabled... The reason she uses a wheelchair is because she's lazy.

The kind of laziness where you're too lazy to even walk.

It's quite an unusual person to be sitting in a smart wheelchair every day for this reason...

Amamiya squinted, ignoring the other's self-pity and subsequent self-aggrandizement, and calmly asked, "Why are your self-descriptions always slightly different...?"

Riju: "..."

The perfect smile cracked for a moment.

After a brief silence and awkwardness, she acted as if she hadn't heard Amamiya's question and continued her topic without any embarrassment.

"The 'Persona' is an ability born from within... If such an ability is overexposed in reality, it will have some unpredictable effects on Sensei's 'phantom thief activities,' right?"

"Regarding this 'special' ability... it is recommended that Sensei heed Minister Beritas's advice and use it as sparingly as possible in front of other students."

"Changing the 'collective unconscious'... is a very difficult and troublesome thing, isn't it?"

Amamiya Kazutaka nodded with an expression of humility, as if he had never complained before.

"Okay, I've got it... Thank you for your advice."

【~?~】

"So... I've already witnessed the power of Sensei's 'Persona'... Next, Sensei should introduce me to... that AI girl named 'Sophia,' right?"

Amamiya felt as if she had seen a special, unique "cute" quality hidden beneath that "sharp tongue" disguise, the same kind of "cute" quality that Sakura Futaba possessed when she was "dorky." Amamiya's impression of her improved slightly.

He didn't refuse; instead, he took out his phone and waved it.

The AI ​​girl's sleepy voice, sensing the abnormal shaking of the gyroscope, soon came from the screen. At the same time, the phone screen automatically lit up without any user interaction.

"Waaah... Jok, it's so late. Did you call me out because you need something?"

After observing the environment through the front and rear cameras, Sofia quickly perked up and began to carefully observe the 'white-haired elf girl' sitting in the wheelchair.

“Hey… this girl, she’s in a wheelchair… Jok, is she disabled… she looks so pitiful…”

Himari, who was supposed to introduce herself, was speechless.

After a slightly awkward pause, Riju changed her 'unique' self-introduction opening and gave a relatively simple self-introduction.

"I'm the head of the 'Special Phenomena Investigation Department,' Akihiro Himari... Nice to meet you, Sophia."

Sofia on the screen naturally waved to Himari.

"Celebrity Himari... I'll remember that. Hello, I'm Sophia, Jok's assistant, and also 'humanity's best friend'!"

"Speaking of which... you give me the impression of being like an 'old lady'..."

Riju: "..."

It's confirmed, this is definitely a 'special AI' with self-awareness...

It's rare.

This AI life form is actually installed in a mobile phone whose design is already outdated...

With a scrutinizing gaze, she stared intently through the screen at Sophia's almost human-like subconscious movements and the response of her gaze. After a brief moment, Himari drew her own conclusion.

This might be... even more advanced than "Cross God's Name," a truly human-emotional and AI-advantageous... a 'data life' that perfectly blends the advantages of both... or rather, a data life.

Her thoughts and actions are not limited to any kind of 'code'.

Or rather... for her, 'data code' is not 'brain' but 'body'.

Code does not provide thinking capabilities; it is merely a vehicle for carrying them.

“Himari… uh, Jok, can I call her Grandma Himari?”

Himari, whose face stiffened after being retorted by Sofia's words, looked like she was about to say something.

Amamiya: "..."

To be honest, he was starting to lose his composure.

I just really wanted to laugh.

"That seems a bit rude... so I'll just call you Himari-senpai then. Himari-senpai, you've been staring at me... are you curious about my 'way of being'?"

Himari nodded lightly and decisively.

Of course she was curious.

The reason for the establishment of the "Special Phenomena Investigation Department" is to track down the [Cross God Name].

The "Cross God Name" in the ideal is this kind of extremely special AI life form with its own thought patterns and intelligence.

After being 'reformed'... artificial intelligence that truly possesses life and emotions...

A simple and cute appearance...

Such an innocent and friendly introduction as "becoming a good friend of humans"...

Honestly, while she was curious, Riju gradually felt that... being called "Grandma" by her in a malicious way wasn't so unacceptable after all.

"So...would you like to see my 'source code'?"

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Riju: First Grandma, Then Mom, So Tired...

"So...would you like to see my 'source code'?"

Sofia's words, "naive and innocent," ignited all of Himari's curiosity.

For Riju to have such an artificial intelligence life form proactively offer to 'observe the source code' is truly unimaginable.

Just how rich and ingenious must her code be to create what it looks like today?

Instead of eagerly nodding and replying with words like "Yes, I really want to," Himari took a deep breath with great restraint before suppressing her emotion and surprise, and then asked, "Is it okay?"

Sofia replied calmly, "Sure."

Seemingly operating something, the AI ​​girl on the screen shaded her eyes with her hand and made a gesture of looking around.

"Hmm... Let me check the nearest area to see if there's any channel to send the code... Ah~! Found it!"

"Can I send my 'source code' directly to the smart device you have?"

Sofia on the screen imitated Amamiya's cool moves in the other world, making a very cool move, but one that would seem cringeworthy to an ordinary person. Perhaps because the move was made by a 'clumsy and cute AI' rather than the real Amamiya, the move not only didn't look cool at all, but was also funny and slightly cute.

"Go, Sofia II!"

"give it to me!"

After the other cloned 'Sophia' finished speaking, she went straight into a temporary window that looked a bit like a ventilation duct.

The next second, a holographic projection screen popped up on Riju's smart wheelchair. The screen automatically unfolded and began playing a program interface with incredibly concise code.

"..."

Himari then began to intently observe the code page projected on her smart wheelchair. After watching for a while, she finally let out a soft "Oh dear...", seemingly expressing her amazement.

"Wonderful; exquisite; a creation of genius."

After expressing her amazement at the code construction, which was so optimized that it was groundbreaking even within Kiwatos, Himari turned her gaze to Amamiya, who hadn't said much throughout and seemed to be waiting for her to finish reading the code.

"If I guess correctly..."

"Heh...Sensei. Her 'creator,' that woman named 'Ichinose Hisane'... should be a 'creator of genius beautiful girls,' just like me, right?"

Ichinose Hisane does indeed fall into the category of 'genius beauty' to some extent.