I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Whether it's to relax or to understand what others are thinking...

For various reasons, the seemingly ordinary 'New Year's shrine visit' is actually a very important social activity.

However, although Rion now intends to participate, she has no prior experience in the field and therefore cannot explain why.

After some deliberation, she decisively shared her intentions with Amamiya, seeking her opinion.

"Sensei, do you have any opinions regarding 'New Year's shrine visits'?"

Rion's reaction made Yuka even more uneasy.

Images uncontrollably surfaced in Yuka's mind: steaming hot springs, swirling and intertwining with the rising vapors; herself and Sensei soaking in the same hot spring, intimately pressed together, and then...

Yuka, who was 'entering fantasy time', obviously didn't notice that Yuki was staring at her bright red earlobes and chuckling to herself.

Xiaoxue blinked, noticing Yuka's momentary lapse in expression, and immediately asked 'innocently' in a loud voice, "Yuka-senpai, why did you suddenly blush?"

Yuka, lost in her fantasy, paused slightly, startled awake.

She immediately felt the gazes from Noah and Rion.

She took two big gulps of sports drink, which made the smell of alcohol on her body stronger, and the blush that seemed to come from being drunk spread from the tips of her ears to her collarbone.

Faced with three gazes of different intents, she tried to cover her tracks by saying, "It's probably...it's probably because of the alcohol...I think I'm a little drunk..."

At this moment, Rion, who was deep in thought, made a decision: "There are indeed merits to visiting shrines during the New Year."

She turned to Amamiya, her red eyes filled with seriousness: "But the specific arrangements still require Sensei's guidance."

Rion, I appreciate your willingness to ask questions when you don't understand, but...

This is just a small event, there's no need to take it so seriously...

Under the watchful eyes of four people, Amamiya coughed lightly: "How about we make it a small-scale, private event?"

“Private…” Yuka repeated unconsciously, her fingertips tracing messy watermarks on the glass bottle.

Completely oblivious to the wrong keywords, she seemed to be fantasizing about a hot spring trip where she and Sensei were intimately involved.

This time, Noah, who had been watching Yuka's actions in advance, suddenly gave a meaningful chuckle just as Yuka was about to lose herself in thought.

Noah's meaningful chuckle instantly brought Yuka back to her senses.

In her panic, Yuka took another sip of a beverage containing Soma spirits.

Whether she was genuinely drunk or her fantasy had been 'shattered' by Noah, she even had a blush on her neck this time.

Although Rion is not a 'common sense person with extensive knowledge of life,' she is not someone who is truly detached from worldly affairs.

Although she didn't know much about it, Krine did know... about the various customs of some regional academies.

Rion knew that, apart from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the area with the strongest 'New Year's atmosphere' was probably only the Hyakki Yagyō Joint Academy.

If we were to define the keyword as "worship," then the most popular aspect of this type of culture is the Night Parade of Hundreds of Demons.

She was completely absorbed in her new project, her pen scratching across the notebook: "Ghena's hot spring trip; or a New Year's shrine visit with a parade of a hundred demons..."

After talking to herself for a short while, she suddenly stopped writing, and looked up with a rare hesitation: "If there are any oversights in my plan..."

Please correct me.

Amamiya twitched the corner of her mouth: "...It's just a routine activity, Rion, there's no need to be so serious."

After a pause, he changed the subject: "However, Rion, this kind of 'not trying to do something you don't understand or are not good at, but asking for others' opinions' is a very special and commendable quality."

"You really are making changes, Rion."

"Have it?"

Amamiya reached out and pressed her tense shoulder, feeling the slender body beneath his palm gradually relax.

After staring intently at Rion for several seconds, Amamiya said earnestly and firmly, "Learning not to be ashamed to ask questions and seek help from others is the best proof."

【~???~】(from Liyin)

"...If there really is such a thing, it should be Sensei who taught me it."

As dusk deepened, Rion's eyes shone even brighter behind her glasses. She pushed her notebook in front of everyone, a snowflake still clinging to the corner of the page—on it, written in neat, almost printed handwriting, was a "Preliminary Plan for a Hot Spring Trip".

The best time to make a change is always "now."

Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, she smiled radiantly.

"...Isn't that so?"

[End-of-volume remarks]

—First of all, let me say this.

Why divide it into volumes?

This is to make it easier for readers to read, and also to make it easier for the author to write the subsequent plot.

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Okay, as usual, I've written this first, and now it's time for my usual rant.

Regarding this volume... in my personal opinion, it's just average—nothing extraordinary, but it also didn't completely ruin its own performance.

For me, that's already a pretty good performance...right?

The plot was indeed a little bit dragging, but that's okay.

The next volume is expected to have 40 or 60 chapters, which will be the conclusion of the "Eden Treaty" storyline.

Beatrice will be severely punished at that time.

(Shoot them all dead with armor-piercing bullets!)

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The Emperor's Sideways Gaze in Volume Two

The next volume will be about the emperors.

Who exactly is the "emperor"?

Kayoko; Makoto, Misaki.

Furthermore... punish Beatrice severely!

Say the important thing three times!

The Emperor's sidelong glance

Chapter 1: How terrifying is a well-funded engineering department?

"JOK, I'm back!"

Late at night, Amamiya, who had just returned to the Xialai residential area, hadn't even had time to check the messages that popped up on MomoTalk today when she first heard the voice of AI girl Sophia, which always seemed energetic and lively.

The AI ​​girl's ever-energetic voice pierced the night, echoing crisply against the glass.

Amamiya looked in the direction of the sound and saw a red-haired girl on the balcony outside her room window. Her toes lightly touched the anti-gravity ring, and her skirt billowed in the evening breeze like a delicate white lily blooming in the night.

After opening the window and letting her in, Amamiya curiously looked at Sophia, whose equipment had been completely upgraded by the engineering department.

Amamiya sidestepped the girl and let her float into the room, glancing over her brand-new gear.

After completing the final testing phase and making a brief appearance with Sofia at the Millennium Grand Prix awards ceremony...

The girls in the engineering department seemed to have their maternal instincts, hidden deep within their souls, completely awakened by Sophia's cry of "Mom." Therefore, they got Sophia a brand new set of 'equipment'.

For example, there are high boots that look like they have a gothic style, but actually have an anti-gravity ring on the sole, giving them the ability to fly near the ground.

For example, that pure white knee-length flared skirt and stockings were decorated in a style similar to 'white gothic', with many miniature technological devices that even Amamiya couldn't immediately discern the function of.

Even Yuriko, who recently returned to the engineering department, provided Sofia with some financial assistance.

The large-caliber revolver with a sandy yellow paint job, which Sofia had clipped to her thigh holster, was clearly Yuriko's creation.

After examining Sophia and confirming that she was alright, Amamiya asked in a gentle, elder brother-like tone, "How does it feel to have a 'body'?"

【~???~】

"Very special..."

Sofia pondered for a while, and ultimately, lacking both vocabulary and life experience, she chose the complex word "special" to evaluate her feelings since acquiring the bionic body.

"It's like compressed data suddenly unfolding into a starry sky."

Sofia's assessment was strange, but not incomprehensible.

The AI ​​life that was once confined to a mobile phone chip can now stir up the air with the trembling of its eyelashes, and even the mist that condenses in the corners of its eyes when it is moved—this body, codenamed "Erpis," was originally a precise container born to hold the warmth of the soul.

A slight pulsation appeared in the halo deep within her pupils, and a mist seemed to well up at the corners of the AI ​​girl's eyes.

"...Thank you, JOK!"

Sensing Sophia's tearful emotion, Amamiya chuckled and gently stroked the AI ​​girl's incredibly realistic red hair.

"No need to thank me. After all, Sophia is my companion who has accompanied the Phantom Thieves on their journey."

He changed the subject, then asked with some curiosity, "Speaking of which, Sophia..."

Noticing Amamiya's confusion, the AI ​​girl looked up at the opportune moment: "Eh? Is there anything else you want to ask, JOK?"

"If Sophia always maintains this 'human' state, she won't be able to stay by my side all the time... Has the engineering department optimized or resolved this issue?"

Sophia immediately understood Amamiya's intention. She slightly puffed out her chest, inadvertently highlighting her youthful and innocent figure.

"Don't worry, JOK, this is a problem that the engineering department's 'mothers (creators)' thought of from the very beginning and have already solved perfectly!"

The girl suddenly smiled slyly, and her entire being disintegrated like a shattered kaleidoscope. Nanoparticles poured down like a galaxy, half of them seeping into her coat and turning into invisible weight, while the rest collapsed in her palm into a custom-made phone—her chibi-style image was making a funny face on the lock screen.

"Form switching protocol activated!"

Amamiya was somewhat surprised to witness something so futuristic, even bordering on the realm of metaphysics, happening right before his eyes.

But then he felt that his 'clothes' were much heavier than before.

"The 'mothers' (creators) of the engineering department adopted a no-holds-barred approach to 'piling on materials' when they first designed this body—so this body also has many strange functions."

"From now on, I can become like this, transforming into all sorts of electronic gadgets that JOK carries around... But since we have to follow the 'law of conservation of mass,' the extra parts will have to be hidden in JOK's clothes..."

"Therefore, if JOK wants to carry me in a portable form... he will have to bear an additional weight equivalent to my weight... that is, 80 kilograms."

Amamiya fiddled with the phone that Sophia had 'conjured', and nodded after confirming that its functions were no different from her own phone.

As for the extra 80 kilograms of weight that had appeared out of nowhere...

It was nothing more than a drizzle to him.

Amamiya couldn't help but admire the level of technology that Sophia displayed, which was almost like 'supernatural ability'.

To be honest, an engineering department with a sufficient budget is truly terrifying.

They've even managed to create a "technological marvel" like Sofia...

After chatting with Sofia for a while longer, Amamiya opened momotalk to reply to today's messages.

Today, due to the Millennium Grand Prix and subsequent discussions with four girls at the seminar regarding "New Year's shrine visit" and "hot spring trip," it got very late, and there wasn't enough time to deal with these evening invitations.

I've already missed the invitation, but to maintain our relationship, I can't leave the message unanswered.

Noah: Details about the New Year's worship ceremony...

'...'

[Hifumi: Sensei, about the mock exam for the cram school...]