I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"No longer looking up to the mountains; no longer hesitating in the deep sea; no longer fearing the starry sky; no longer feeling lonely in the moon; no longer feeling alienated in the sun... This is the free will."

is that so.

Noah stared blankly at the ordinary pen in his hand.

I never imagined that such an ordinary pen could contain such a touching story.

That's all... Sensei...

Do you really not know what you're doing?

If your emotional intelligence isn't as disappointingly low as Xiaoxue's... then you can only be as profound as President Rion, no... the current acting head of the Federation Student Council, so deep that it's hard to detect.

Noah slowly tightened his grip on the high-end pen in his hand, and at that moment, he thought about many, many things.

Why think so much?

Just do what you want to do... isn't that enough?

Sometimes, it's necessary to make such a 'rash and rude' decision after careful consideration.

"...Sensei."

As she watched Amamiya finish painting three tickets with her exquisite skills, she suddenly parted her lips slightly.

Amamiya turned her head to the side: "What's wrong?"

"...I understand your thoughts."

Noah recalled the poem from the Classic of Mountains and Seas that came to mind when he first met Sensei.

(Chapter 30 of Volume 1)

Now, she can formally recite this line of poetry as a 'confession'.

Her smile was as beautiful as a flower, more radiant than morning dew or evening glow.

“Sensei…do you remember that poem you sent me in the style of the Classic of Mountains and Seas?”

Amamiya nodded. Of course he remembered—the line, "Two hearts yearning for each other, bathed in snow together; in this life, we may grow old together."

Seeing Amamiya nod, Noah seemed to relax even more.

“Then… I will also respond to your poem with a line from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.”

After a pause, she began to recite in a tongue-twisting, awkward, and somewhat adorably 'cute' accent from the Classic of Mountains and Seas: "May I be like a star and you like the moon, shining brightly together every night."

[...I sensed Noah's calm yet intense emotions.]

[They've developed a special relationship...]

There's no going back...

Coopation has been improved!

【Raw Salt Noah (Star) ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆】

[★5 Ability "Twilight Dawn" is now unlocked!]

Their eyes met briefly, and everything was understood without a word.

After reciting the poem, Noah calmly took the three tickets that Amamiya had drawn from his hand.

After a slight hesitation, she tucked two of the sheets into her notebook, carefully folded the remaining one, and put it back in her jacket pocket.

Then, the girl put her index finger to her lips, closed one eye, and gave Amamiya a wink.

"Sensei... please rest assured."

"I will convey your 'heartfelt wishes' to Yuuka-chan~"

Chapter Twenty: I love Yuka the most!

"Sen~sei~"

"Please explain!"

The Federal Student Union's office building in the suburbs of DU.

The girl, who was slapping the two tickets in her hand, looked at the smiling young man in front of her with a disappointed expression. He was inexplicably annoying.

"explain?"

Amamiya blinked, and asked 'innocently', "Explain what?"

Of course it's your shameless ticket!!

The girl gritted her teeth, angrily 'gritting her teeth,' but she didn't have the courage to say her words immediately.

I know you're an adult who's not good at managing distances... but how can you be like this!

Unauthorized 'production and distribution' of one-day wife vouchers... are you trying to make Giwatos even more chaotic?!

One should at least have a clear understanding of their own charm level—if such tickets were to actually circulate, there would surely be quite a few students who wanted to get their hands on them simply for the novelty or for various other reasons!

The many words in his chest eventually converged into a soft sigh.

"Hey... Sensei, please don't 'issue' such special tickets next time, okay?"

"If you don't want to cause any further trouble..."

Upon receiving Yuka's warning, Amamiya naturally clasped her hands together in an apologetic gesture, sincerely and eagerly admitting her mistake: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Yuka, I..."

"..."

Amamiya paused in her apology gesture, then suddenly changed her tune, saying very seriously, "I didn't release anything like that."

"Then what about the tickets Noah gave me? Noah told me that she personally received them from you, and that you drew them yourself..."

"Well... actually, I heard that Yuka has been so busy and exhausted lately because of various things, so I thought I would help Yuka in other ways. On Noah's 'suggestion', I made these tickets and entrusted Noah to give them to Yuka."

Amamiya put on a look of novelty and helplessness, as if to say, "So that's what the misunderstanding was."

"..."

Yuka stood there, stunned, holding two tickets, and began to brainstorm.

Sensei said it was specially prepared... so it can be understood that these tickets were probably prepared only for himself... at most, he entrusted Noah with the task and asked Noah to help keep the secret, thus giving Noah some as well.

So... can I interpret this as Sensei... doing it especially for me...?

For my own preparation...?

Yuka's knuckles turned slightly white from the excessive force, and upon realizing this, her heart rate spiked.

She squinted, trying to calm herself, and then asked, "Sensei... how many of these tickets did you make in total?"

Amamiya answered sincerely, "Three."

Yes... then my idea must be correct.

Sensei clearly made three copies, but Noah only gave him two at the time...

So, the remaining card, either Noah kept it for himself.

Or... is it that Noah received a "hush money" payment for keeping the secret when Sensei asked him to help deliver the message?

So, the whole story can be pieced together like this...

During the brainstorming session, Yuka seemed to vaguely see the reality of such an event.

First, the story should have started like this: After seeing that his recent situation was not very good, Noah went to Shalai to find Sensei for various reasons and explained his recent situation.

Then, after Noah explained her situation, Sensei expressed great concern and wanted to help her relieve stress by providing assistance in ways outside of official duties…

Then, it must have been Noah who interfered, perhaps out of a mischievous impulse, or perhaps for some other reason, Noah proposed a "special way to relieve stress".

Based on her understanding of her 'best friend,' Yuka could even imagine Noah's smiling, slightly teasing expression when he said, 'How about... Yuka-chan becomes your wife?'

Then... Sensei probably believed Noah's 'unreliable prank' and actually made three such tickets by hand, asking Noah to give them to her... But perhaps due to the negotiation, or perhaps because of Noah's own selfishness... in the end only two ended up in her hands.

The situation seems to be gradually becoming clearer—but now, there are still two 'variables' that I don't understand.

Firstly: Why would Sensei believe Noah's seemingly unreliable claims and specially create such a thing?

Secondly: What kind of "deal" did Sensei and Noah reach, or rather, why did Noah "keep" a card?

"Sensei..."

Yuka suddenly felt the two tickets in her hands getting hot, and her heart began to race with anxiety.

"Can you... tell me why we should follow Noah's... unreliable suggestion?"

After all, it sounded like a completely unreliable suggestion... even an average student could clearly see that.

Sensei, being a more mature adult, had no reason not to see that this was a 'prank'...

"Why?" Amamiya chuckled. "That's because I like Yuka, of course."

【~???~】

"Varied……?"

After a brief silence, the girl's mind went completely blank at a sentence uttered with a smile.

“W-What…?!”

Yuka's lilac-purple eyes trembled slightly from shock. She instinctively wanted to do something, but hesitated and made a cute gesture of covering her face with her hands, seemingly at a loss for what to do.

"Sen, Sensei..."

Her voice was noticeably lower, almost as soft as a mosquito's buzz—all her strength and rationality melted away in an instant, like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun.

"What...you just...said..."

"Huh? Yuka, didn't you hear me clearly?"

After a slight hesitation, Amamiya put on a look of sudden realization and, while the girl was twisting her clothes and trying to turn away several times in a state of confusion, leaned close to her ear.

"Because... I like Yuka."

【~???~】

'Because I like Yuka...'

'I like Yuka...'

"Waaaaah... Wait, wait a minute...!"

"Sensei... Do you know what you're saying and doing?!"

Yuka's eyes started to well up with small circles again, and she seemed to be on the verge of 'overload'.

"Of course I know what I'm doing."

Amamiya solemnly took a small black box out of his pocket and opened it amidst Yuka's increasingly flustered expression.

—It was a "ring".

Although it's neither a wedding ring nor an engagement ring, it's just an "ordinary piece of jewelry made from mythical gemstones and magical metals from another world."

But it was still a ring...

A ring, especially when given to a woman by a man of similar age, is imbued with a transcendent and special meaning.

"Actually, from the moment I first saw Yuka, I felt that Yuka was a good girl with a strong sense of everyday life."

Amamiya continued speaking in a serious tone, while taking Yuka's hand in his as she looked flustered.

Perhaps it was due to excessive nervousness, or perhaps it was due to the anticipation and peculiar panic within that nervousness—the moment her hand was taken, Yuka's mind went blank, and she involuntarily made the action of 'spreading her fingers and slightly raising her ring finger'.

'Wait... what am I doing?!'

'Sensei, is he... putting a ring on his finger?!'

'Get married?!'