I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

That said, it's about time to go to the engineering department and check out their 'experimental results'...

Or, take some time to check on Rion's situation?

"Sensei, it's time for you to get up."

Just then, a knock sounded at the door, followed by the voice of the girl who claimed to be her personal maid.

Amamiya scratched her head, sighed inwardly, and quickly changed into a set of Xia Lai's uniform.

As soon as he stepped outside, he met the eyes of his 'personal maid'.

The other person's eyes seemed to be twinkling with stars, and her blue, black, and white maid outfits were spotless and pristine—without a single stain.

In contrast, the Xialai residential area was completely unkempt.

"Sensei, what are the plans for today? If it's any outings..."

Amamiya's attitude towards this girl who was "so close" to her was somewhat complicated.

After a moment's hesitation, Amamiya reached out and helped her tidy up her hair, which, despite her careful styling, still had some minor imperfections.

"..."

She was slightly taken aback when she was suddenly patted on the head, but quickly closed her eyes as if enjoying it, and said in her unique, emotionless voice, "...So that's what 'patting the head' is."

"As expected of one of the ultimate rewards a master can give to his maid in anime and novels. It's really special."

【~???~】

Amamiya smirked, no longer intending to criticize where Toki had learned the 'maid rules'.

"Shi, it seems you're not doing a good enough job as my 'personal maid'..."

Amamiya quipped, "Generally speaking, shouldn't a personal maid also be responsible for arranging and confirming her master's schedule?"

As he said this, Amamiya casually pinched her cheek.

She had been enjoying herself, but suddenly became somewhat dissatisfied—however, she did not resist Amamiya's behavior of pinching her cheeks without explanation.

"I see... I understand."

What have you figured out?

Amamiya waited with amusement for what would happen next, and then heard him calmly say, "Sensei, is this your 'revenge' for last time?"

Last time?

Does it mean that Xiaoyu was on duty but was stared at by Shi all morning?

Does it refer to being pranked when you wake up?

Amamiya chuckled and replied, "You can think of it that way."

"Even if it's not 'revenge,' if I feel that pinching my cheeks can relieve stress, then as my personal maid, you letting me pinch your cheeks like this... isn't that within the 'duty of a maid'?"

【~??~】

"..."

Shi nodded silently.

The sense of accomplishment from saying the term "personal maid" is completely different when it comes from your own mouth versus when Sensei says it...

It felt like my efforts had been recognized... It was very special.

This feeling is different from the unique sense of accomplishment one gets after completing a difficult task assigned by President Rion...

It's more like the 'warmth' you feel from a completely unfamiliar soul in that instant of connection...

"Let me tell you about today's arrangements..."

Amamiya stopped what she was doing, took out her phone, glanced at it, and then coughed lightly.

"Today's main 'arrangement' is to go to Millennium to check on the Engineering Department's situation. Also... if there's enough time, we'll need to have further negotiations with the Maids' Department, or perhaps visit President Rion, who is currently in a state of repentance."

When the keywords 'maid club' and 'president Rion' were mentioned, Amamiya could sense that Toki's body stiffened slightly for a moment before revealing an indescribable resistance.

It seems she is still not ready to meet her 'seniors' and 'repentant Rion'.

This result was expected, so Amamiya did not intend to 'force' it.

"If you feel uncomfortable, you can refuse..."

"After all, you are just my 'personal maid,' not a tool that can be used at will."

“You can stay in Charlemagne as long as you want until you’re truly ready.”

【~???~】

The girl, whose eyes had been dim, suddenly raised her head again after receiving Amamiya's 'verbal assurance,' her gaze meeting Amamiya's.

"Sensei, won't your promise... expire?"

Amamiya chuckled and calmly replied, "I can't guarantee 'forever'... because the first lesson I learned was, 'First of all, never say forever.'"

"The word 'forever' is a rather heavy one... at least I'm not qualified to make that kind of promise."

“However, at least I am in Sharai, and in Kivotos every day… so Sharai will always be open to you, and will always be your place of refuge.”

[...I felt a sense of ease from that moment.]

Coopation has been improved!

[Asukama Toki (Emperor) ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆]

"...I will remember what you said today."

As he spoke, he took a step back and retreated to the doorway.

"I will be waiting for you here... I wish you a 'victorious return'."

After saying goodbye to Shi, who was temporarily residing in the Xialai residential area, Amamiya went straight to the office building and finished dealing with today's documents.

Around noon, Amamiya received several messages.

Noah: Sensei's 'relaxation' seems to be incredibly effective~ Yuka has fully recovered her energy.

Noah: [Photo taken.jpg]

Noah: I took some interesting photos!

Amamiya: ...

Good guy.

Amamiya always sensed a subtle sourness emanating from Noah's text messages.

After replying to Noah's message, Amamiya then looked at the message Yuka had sent her today.

Perhaps because they had only recently established a relationship and the spell had been 'interrupted,' Yuka seemed quite enthusiastic.

[Yuka: Sensei, good afternoon.]

[Yuka: How's your work progress today? Are you feeling any pressure? Are you eating a proper, balanced diet?]

Compared to Noah's message, which seemed to carry a slightly sour undertone, Yuka's message had a down-to-earth feel to it—even giving Amamiya a sense of being cared for, like "Yuka Hayase is a woman who could become my mother."

After thinking for a moment, he typed back: "Thanks for your help, Yuka... I'm fine here."

[As for Yuka... although the pressure has decreased, her workload hasn't decreased at all, has it? I'm getting ready to go to the seminar now...]

Yuka responded very promptly.

[Yuka: Then let's welcome Sensei in advance...]

[Yuka: [Embarrassed smile.jpg]]

[Amamiya: Is today the first day of 'sharing weal and woe'?]

[Yuka: (///////)]

[Yuka: Sensi, don't say such weird things...]

[Yuka: Speaking of which...Sensei, I recently had a very strange nightmare about the game club...]

[Yuka: I'm worried about them...Sensei, could you come with me to the games club?]

...A nightmare about the game club?

Amamiya was a little curious and asked Yuka what the specific content of her dream was.

Logically speaking, dreams... especially nightmares, are easily forgotten after waking up.

But perhaps because the nightmare was too vivid, Yuka still remembers it now.

[Yuka: I remember, it was at the Millennium Grand Prix awards ceremony... After I presented the award to the Game Club according to the script, I was attacked by all the participating Millennium student clubs...]

Is it really that scary?

Did the game department actually create a terrible game like "Space Robots"?

Amamiya gave a slight smile and immediately replied, "Okay, I'll head over to the seminar right away."

Chapter Twenty-Five: Alice, born to Yuka's mother

"so……"

After listening to Yuka's further account of her nightmare downstairs in the seminar's office building, Amamiya stroked his chin, pondered for a while, and then said uncertainly, "In Yuka's dream, the game club ended up developing a terrible game, and it even won an award..."

"Because the award was given to this bizarrely bad game, it aroused the dissatisfaction of all game developers, and then turned into a terrifying battle that plunged the entire academy into chaos..."

What is this?

"Sen, Sensi... don't look at me like that..."

Yuka, who was being scrutinized by Amamiya with a 'subtle gaze', turned her head slightly away guiltily, her tone clearly carrying the 'budding shyness' unique to a girl experiencing first love.

I would never say that I wanted to spend more time with Sensei, so I came up with this seemingly illogical reason...

"Alright...it's definitely time to go see if those kids have produced anything satisfactory."

Amamiya withdrew her gaze, and together with Yuka, who unconsciously revealed a smile, they headed to the game club's activity room.

It was still that club activity room, only a few dozen square meters in size, which seemed a bit cramped... The door was usually closed and the curtains were always drawn.

Amamiya pondered for a moment and realized that it had been a while since he had been to the game club's activity room. He observed that the most obvious difference between this activity room and the one he remembered was in its cleanliness.

It seems to have undergone a thorough cleaning or renovation... (The rest of the text appears to be random characters and symbols, possibly a corrupted or incomplete file.)

It's likely that Rion 'casually' renovated the club activity room when she sent out the robots to search earlier, right?

Standing at the door of the club activity room, Amamiya did not knock immediately, but looked at the girl beside her who had subconsciously linked her arm with his.

'Shouldn't we loosen up a bit by now?'

'What if the kids in the game club misunderstand...'

"Hey?!"

Realizing she had gotten so close again, Yuka let out a cute gasp, quickly releasing Amamiya as if she'd been electrocuted, and swiftly composed herself.

Amused, Amamiya waited for Yuka to finish adjusting before knocking on the door.

As the knocking sounded, Amamiya noticed that the various video game sound effects coming from inside the room suddenly stopped.

"Oh... has the game club had another visitor?"

"Alice will open the door right away..."

After a series of hurried footsteps approaching from afar, the door lock clicked open from the inside.

"Oh~"

Wearing a blue reindeer outfit and cute reindeer antler headbands, her petite figure and increasingly lively and adorable face seem to take her already exaggerated cuteness to another level.

After drawing out an "oh" sound, Alice imitated Santa Claus, stroking her exaggeratedly long bangs as if she were stroking a beard.

"HOHOHO~ Today is Alice the reindeer's Christmas!"