I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Noah seems to have already investigated this matter.

She lowered her eyebrows slightly, showing a momentary surprise, and then the relaxed and carefree smile that flowed across her beautiful face became even more ethereal.

“Sensei… So, you specifically looked into this? That makes things easier…”

"Sensei..."

Under Yuka's increasingly tense gaze, Noah casually uttered a word and then asked, "Have you ever heard of... 'hot spring trip'?"

Hearing Noah casually utter a heavyweight word, she immediately flew into a rage.

"Noah?!"

Yuka, already so embarrassed she covered her face with her hands, seemed on the verge of fleeing, her voice trembling slightly: "What are you talking about all of a sudden?! A hot spring trip and all that, it's just too..."

"Huh?" Noah blinked in confusion. "You've already established a 'special relationship' with Sensei, and you're the most important person to each other... Yuuka-chan, are you still shy about these little things?"

Yuka was both embarrassed and angry, but she didn't know what to say.

She really wanted to say, "This is clearly not a small matter," and she also wanted to slightly condemn Noah's overstepping of boundaries by blurring the lines of distance, but—

"Hehe... Yuka-chan seems to have a lot to say. But before that, how about listening to my 'personal opinion'?"

The unique label of "literary girl" gives Noah a gentle and refined, snow-white and jade-like temperament that makes her even more endearing.

Compared to Yuka's innocent, naive, and reserved nature, Noah's emotions are deep, steady, and enduring, like a babbling brook that never runs dry.

Her emotions never seemed to attract attention, yet like a hidden hunter, danger lurked beneath seemingly ordinary proposals—

"If Yuuka-chan feels a little bad about it, you could try inviting Yuki or President Rion to join us, right? After all... with more people, Sensei can't really do anything, can she?"

Yuka seriously considered Noah's suggestion, which sounded like a strategy to help her, the 'secret admirer,' avoid suspicion.

Although... bathing in a mixed-gender hot spring with Senskirt is indeed a very bold and unbelievable idea, it does seem quite tempting...

And Noah was right after all...

If you want to avoid any suspicion from Noah, just like at the pajama party last time, at least invite Xiaoxue, and nothing should happen directly...

As Yuka pondered this, she was unaware that Noah had actually only proposed a strategy of 'divide the targets'.

She borrowed Yuka's underlying worry: "Something embarrassing will definitely happen if I go to the hot spring with Sensei, but it's not safe to go with Noah..."

And, the wishful thinking that 'if we include Yuki and Rion as well, and everyone does it together... Sensei probably won't be able to do anything.'

Begin your hunt in a 'stealthy' manner.

"Sen, Sensei... how are you feeling? About... the 'hot spring trip' and stuff..."

“Speaking of hot spring trips… an important element related to them is the yukata, right?” Amamiya smiled gently and calmly, getting straight to the point. “I’d like to see Yuka wearing a hot spring yukata.”

【~???~】

"Eh?!"

Yuka's shy gesture of covering her face paused slightly, and she instantly froze, like a piece of software that had fallen into an 'unresponsive' state after being overloaded.

After letting out a blank sigh, Yuka couldn't stop imagining herself and Sensei embracing each other in the sunlit hot spring corridor at dawn.

After bathing, wearing only their pajamas, they sat together under the eaves, gazing at the empty courtyard filled with rising steam...

They embraced each other, gazing at each other closely through the misty fog...

'Hehehe...'

"Yuka-chan~ My mouth is watering, isn't it?"

After a moment of panic, Yuka instinctively covered her mouth—but after realizing she hadn't actually drooled, she quickly switched to a dry cough.

"Ahem... Noah's 'hot spring trip' does have some merit... However, that will have to wait until after the Millennium Grand Prix is ​​officially held."

“Indeed…” Noah agreed meaningfully, “Why not treat the ‘hot spring trip’ as a way to relax after the ‘annual meeting’?”

"After a busy year... it's only natural to relax a little at this time so that you can work even harder next year, right?"

Noah's words seemed to carry little weight, as if they were nothing more than a commonplace agreement.

But it was this seemingly insignificant agreement that became the most important sentence Yuka used to convince herself.

'indeed……'

'After a whole year of hard work, shouldn't I finally be able to relax and let loose without any pressure?'

Yuka felt that this was a very feasible idea and her heart was filled with anticipation—however, she still carefully declined Noah's seemingly impromptu suggestion.

"Well, let's talk about this later."

"Back to the matter of the seminar... Sensei, thank you for your help today..."

Noah then clasped his hands together and thanked them along with Yuka: "Well then, thank you for your 'special attention' to us, Sensei~"

Yuka, who had finally managed to be serious, instantly lost her composure and glared at Noah, who was deliberately emphasizing the words, with a hint of annoyance.

【~???~】(From Noah)

I could feel the anticipation coming from Noah.

Coopation has been improved!

【Raw Salt Noah (Star) ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆】

"Well then, thank you Sensei for lending us some time~ We'll be relying on Sensei again in the future."

Chapter Eleven: Daily Life at the Tutoring Department

The first rays of morning light shone through the gaps in the curtains into the room filled with Perolo's decorations. The girl, awakened precisely by the alarm clock on the bedside table, sat up sleepily.

'Haa~'

'I also have the "phantom thief operation" I arranged with Sensei today... I can't slack off.'

Muttering softly, Hifumi began her daily routine of washing up and having breakfast.

She tidied herself up neatly, and even in the mirror, she didn't look particularly 'ordinary'. After fixing her unique elf-ear hairstyle and the small embellishments on her clothes, and confirming that she was 'as ordinary as ever,' she hurried but not in a rush to the tutoring center.

'This kind of life... seems quite promising...'

'It's like the ideal "daily life" I've always envisioned...'

'A phantom thief with a student's dual identity...'

The game development team's masterpiece, which became an instant hit across the entire Kiwatos internet upon its release and is widely regarded as the "ninth art," was something that Hifumi naturally noticed immediately and downloaded to play.

Hifumi bought a top-of-the-line Perolo-themed gaming console and spent almost a week of her "spare time" fully experiencing all the currently released chapters, giving it a very high rating.

Claiming to be a game compiled from Sensei's records of phantom thieves' activities, Hifumi believes that it not only truly delivers on its promises without any false advertising, but also embodies her ideal of the most beautiful youth.

Unlike others who can only play games...

The girl has her own little secret.

Not only can she play games, but she can also personally experience the daily life described in the so-called "Phantom Thief's Record," where she switches between the identities of a student and a phantom thief.

During the day, study hard, strengthen relationships with your friends, and unlock 'bond skills'.

After school, in the evening, the Phantom Thieves assemble and head to another world to make bad guys repent, explore and conquer the palaces, and make those greedy big shots pay the price they deserve...

Upon arriving at the tutoring center, as usual, she did a simple cleaning of the classroom, which was neither too big nor too small, and opened the windows for ventilation. After that, Hifumi sat in her seat and leisurely opened a book to start reading.

Before long, the other three members of the tutoring department also entered the club activity room.

Perhaps because of the presence of people, the empty room gradually felt more 'full'.

Good morning, Hifumi-chan~

The pink-haired girl's slightly provocative voice, which spoke of a girl with genius-level academic ability who had "fallen to this state" due to various psychological reasons, made Hifumi temporarily put down her focus on the book in her hand.

"Good morning, Hanako-san."

After greeting the other person with a smile, Hifumi automatically ignored the slightly surprised expression on the other person's face, which showed a slight frown.

Once she realized everyone had arrived, she strode to the front of the classroom, picked up the chalk, stood on tiptoe, and quickly wrote a set of standard and beautiful chalk characters.

Hifumi tossed the remaining short piece of chalk into the small chalk box used for storing chalk stubs, brushed the chalk dust off her hands, and turned to the other three members of the tutoring club to announce today's 'Academic Ability Enhancement Plan'.

"Today, everyone's pre-study focus is on the topic of 'factoring'... If you follow this step, from simple to difficult, the study of this topic should be completed in about two to three class periods..."

"Then, I'll ask Sensei to come and help us conduct a 'mock exam'... In order to prevent anyone from being expelled, we must be fully prepared before the official 'academic ability test' arrives..."

"In addition, I've already thought of a special reward for the mock test to motivate everyone."

While cleaning the chalk dust off her clothes, the girl solemnly and meticulously read out her recent plans under the 'surprised,' 'confused,' and 'curious' gazes of the other three members.

"Do you all like Momo Friends? This time, we'll use a collectible Momo Friends doll as an incentive for the mock exam... as well as some other rewards that are more suitable for everyone."

After saying everything she wanted to say in one breath, Hifumi Akari's bright eyes swept over the members of the tutoring club, expecting them to give any opinions or responses.

however……

The other members of the tutoring group, however, simply looked at them quietly with a 're-evaluation' gaze.

"……?"

"Um... does everyone have any objections?"

Sensing that the atmosphere was a bit off, Hifumi coughed lightly, then asked hesitantly.

"Oops..."

After a brief silence as they looked at each other, Hanako half-covered her face with her hand, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back for a moment.

"How should I put it... I do have some opinions, but these opinions are directed at Hifumi-chan~ It feels like Hifumi-chan... suddenly seems like a different person?"

As Hanako spoke, she suddenly began to perform normally—she ripped off her tie, revealing her voluptuous and slender figure, which was more mature than the other three in the cram school, while wearing a school swimsuit.

Hanako, still holding the collar-tugging gesture, quietly watched Hifumi, hoping to see some 'interesting' reaction from her as usual.

"What are you doing?!"

"H, that's not allowed—"

Koharu was the first to get angry, while Hifumi didn't react much... she didn't even have her usual awkward "hahaha" smile.

"Hanako-san...why did you suddenly do this?"

"Even if it's to protect your image, reputation, or other personal reputation, it's best not to do such a thing."

The reaction was surprisingly calm.

Hanako's gaze deepened for a moment, then she dressed as if nothing had happened.

"Does Hifumi-chan have any special plans for today?"

Responding to Hanako's slightly resentful question was Hifumi's voice, which remained overly calm and reserved.

"Hmm. I have to do my duty in Xia Lai today, so I can't accompany everyone to complete today's academic improvement plan... However, to prevent everyone from slacking off... I will check when I get back!"

Hanako:……

Weird.

What happened to that ordinary girl who could have been described as a "country bumpkin" at Trinity College?

It seemed as if the flattened shape had transformed into something like a phoenix... radiating a peaceful yet dazzling light.

After leaving ample room for imagination for Hanako and her two companions, and with a fleeting glimpse of a figure carrying Perolo's backpack, Hifumi's figure disappeared into the morning light of the street.

Hanako, who remained in the cram school, stared into thought as she watched Hifumi's retreating figure disappear into the direction she had gone.

'Hifumi-chan's changes are so strange...'

'Did Sensei bring this?'

Hanako glanced at Azusa, who seemed quite curious about the situation, and at Haru, whose cheeks were flushed redder and who seemed restless, and then lowered her head, biting her nails as she pondered for a moment.

'How about...'

'Should I persuade them to go and take a look...?'

Chapter Twelve: Hifumi's "Daily Life"

‘Rumble—’