I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"How are you feeling, Alona? Has your mood improved?"

The girl covered her burning lips and took a half step back, tears welling in her eyes: "Sensei... idiot! Bad! You scumbag who doesn't understand girls' feelings! You womanizer!"

"But... but a first kiss should be romantic, right...!"

With that, she kicked up a virtual splash of water, turned and ran, leaving behind the words, "I hate Sensei the most!"

[...I sensed Alona's affection.]

Coopation has been improved!

【Alona (World) ★★★★☆】

As Alona disappeared on her jog, Amamiya felt a sudden dizziness—when he came to his senses, he had already been "invited" out of the Shitei Box by Alona.

The Shiting Box, which had just been fully charged, now had its battery level drop back to less than half.

Moreover, it seemed to be 'overloaded', and the temperature it felt was frighteningly high.

After being "invited" out by Alona, ​​Amamiya gave the worried Sophia a helpless look, and then poked the Shitei no Hako.

—As expected, there was no reaction.

It seems that Alona is very likely... no, definitely going on strike today.

"Did it work, JOK?!"

Sophia, who witnessed Amamiya enter the Shitten Box and then emerge from it shortly afterward (without seeing what happened inside), was very curious.

"I guess it's a success..." Amamiya smiled wryly, "However, Alona needs some peace and quiet... she probably won't be talking to us for a while."

"Let Alona have some peace and quiet first..."

Amamiya put away the Shitei Box, picked up her phone, and changed into Xia Lai's uniform.

"Sophia, do you have any 'to-do' tasks for today?"

Alona is on temporary 'strike', so the responsibility of 'assistant' naturally falls on Sofia temporarily.

To Amamiya's question, Sofia only 'thought for a moment' before giving a definite answer: 'JOK, I'm going to the engineering department today...'

"It's time for the 'physical check-up' that Utahara-senpai mentioned!"

Chapter Fourteen: Is an explosion a routine operation for the engineering department?

As we all know, the iteration of 'mechanical equipment' requires continuous improvement and refinement based on the prototype, involving round after round of changes in data, configuration, and other aspects, in order to gradually approach perfection.

Sophia also obtained the 'Bionic Body Erpis'.

The engineering department did indeed use a lot of technological advancements and put in a lot of effort when developing this bionic body. They even used a small portion of the "black technology" from the "Nameless Gods" (provided by Yuriko) – it was a huge investment, burning through materials and money without regard to cost.

Even so, this does not mean that Sofia's body was necessarily 'perfect'.

After the basic handover with the four girls in the engineering department, Amamiya was given a crucial instruction by Utahara: [You need to bring Sophia to the engineering department regularly for a 'physical check-up'].

Initially, the frequency of physical examinations can be very high, but as data sampling gradually stabilizes, the frequency of examinations will gradually slow down, and the comprehensiveness of the examinations will decrease from "comprehensive" to "partial".

"...Do you need a physical examination?"

Amamiya pondered for a moment.

Based on his estimation of the engineering department's efficiency, a full-body checkup for Sophia would probably take from morning until afternoon or even evening.

Since that's the case, we can only postpone the plan to "go to the Temple of Demons to build rapport" until the evening.

"Since today is the day for a 'physical check-up'... let's go get a check-up first."

Considering the purpose of this trip, Sofia did not choose to break herself down into countless nanomachines and attach them to Amamiya's clothes as 'invisible weights'.

After changing into a pair of shoes in the entryway, just like Amamiya did, the AI ​​girl hummed a little tune she had just made up, bobbing her head as she followed Amamiya lightly onto the train that had departed early that morning from the [Trinity] region to the [Millennium] region.

The ancient self-governed area was bustling with activity in the early morning.

The giant electronic screen on the exterior of the building has started playing the morning news compiled by the millennium-old "News Department". Various electronic devices have also gradually switched from "night" to "day". Neon lights, high-tech signs and other lights that have been on all night have gradually turned off.

After wandering around the academy for a while, Amamiya took Sophia to the engineering department.

Just like last time, as soon as Amamiya approached the engineering department building, she felt a faint gaze.

This elusive gaze lingered on him for a brief moment before quietly disappearing—and then, without Amamiya even needing to inform the engineering department members, the heavy metal door opened on its own.

This must be the gaze of the 'albatross' who established a relationship with Yuriko...

After glancing ambiguously at the clouds in the sky, Amamiya immediately led Sophia directly into the event building.

They navigated the corridor with practiced ease and arrived at a spacious, workshop-like area where the four 'master craftsmen' of the engineering department often frequented.

As soon as he entered, Amamiya saw what the four members of Utahara were doing.

They were gathered around a "mechanical angel" that looked about ten meters tall and was assembled in an exaggerated way.

Among them, Geyuan's eyes were burning as he skillfully rummaged through his engineering equipment box to find various assembly equipment. Standing on the engineering frame, he made fine adjustments to the dense circuit equipment on the chest of the [Mechanical Angel].

"[Artificial Persona]...I wonder how much of the Persona's power it will unleash..."

"In terms of model and design, the strength of this prototype should be about 10% higher than the previous one..."

Utahara-be Junjiu V? Tumor Researcher Bar casually adjusted the high-precision equipment in front of him, muttering to himself.

Meanwhile, Hibiki and Cortoline, who were in charge of the other parts, also seemed to have entered a state of 'frenzy'.

Hibiki, excited and expectant as she connected the cables to the unfolded steel wings of the [Mechanical Angel], exclaimed, "This time it should be able to fly..."

Cortoline pushed up her unusual teardrop-shaped glasses, her expression also quite excited: "This might be a new direction for research..."

Only Yuriko, as a junior, was not very optimistic about the three seniors' "new invention".

“Seniors…”

She wanted to speak up and persuade the three seniors to stop their reckless behavior—

The Albatross has just contacted me via communication. This "hastily and crudely constructed framework" is "coming into life" due to the addition of "otherworldly materials".

Yuriko spoke up because Albatross had told her that if she didn't stop them, they might create something like the Nameless Guardian.

It's a full ten meters long, and even though the assembly is currently rudimentary and it's not armed—if it were to move, its destructive power to the various internal facilities of the engineering department could reach catastrophic levels.

"I think we can put the [Artificial Persona] project on hold for now. Sensei just happened to be in the engineering department..."

Before Yuriko could finish speaking, Amamiya saw the ten-meter-tall [Mechanical Angel] suddenly move. Strands of black and red light, symbolizing [Shadow], rose from the [Mechanical Angel]'s rapidly closing breastplate.

"Seniors, watch out!"

In a moment of desperation, Yuriko raised the grenade launcher in her hand—

Considering the possibility of accidental injury, she hesitated for a moment and did not fire.

"Sensei!"

Amamiya didn't act immediately; instead, she sighed first.

The engineering department is actually experimenting with "artificial personas"...

In various types of tokusatsu works, isn't this kind of "artificially created, conscious, and powerful war unit" just like "creating a father" for oneself?

Speaking of the "artificial Persona," according to Amemiya's understanding, some groups have indeed attempted to create them—leaving aside the unsuccessful works, let's just talk about the successful ones...

【Special Shadow Suppression Weapon Type 7 - Aquis】

The meaning behind this name left a deep impression on Amamiya.

After sighing, in order to prevent the "mechanical angel" created by the three members of the engineering department from causing a major incident, Amamiya decisively took action.

"Psona—! Prometheus!"

A deep blue flame erupted, and the unfathomable computing power was instantly pushed to its peak.

With the help of [Hacker's Sense of Smell] (Chihiro's Bond Skill), Amamiya instantly found more than one weakness.

In order to downplay the situation, Amamiya did not directly use attack magic to blast the out-of-control [Mechanical Angel] into dust.

"Sophia!"

"Understood—Leave it to me, JOK!"

A few strands of eerie blue flames also ignited on Sofia's body.

Once she entered battle mode, her pupils were covered in a deep blue.

"Psona, Pandora!"

"Kegaon!"

"Kougaon: Deals a large amount of Blessed damage to an enemy."

As she released the magic, Sophia also drew her revolver from her thigh holster. The golden cylinder spun slightly, emitting a pleasant, crisp sound.

As a 'high-performance AI', and with Amamiya's guidance, Sofia doesn't need to aim at all.

Without a flicker of her wrist, she fired six shots in quick succession.

A beam of light from heaven condensed into a needle, and guided by Amamiya, instantly pierced the core of the [Mechanical Angel].

The roaring large-caliber bullets followed closely behind, easily piercing through the vulnerable limb connections exposed during the [Mechanical Angel's] movement.

The braking force provided by the large caliber, along with the 'killing power against large targets' of the [Shadow-Specialized Equipment Ammunition], had an excellent effect.

This colossal mechanical creation, standing ten meters tall, was forced to "fall silent" after running rampant for less than five seconds.

Amamiya went over to check on the three girls from the engineering department—and breathed a slight sigh of relief after confirming that they were almost unharmed.

"Are you okay?"

Sofia's concern was more direct. She jogged over to Utahara, whose face was covered in oil, then to Hibiki, whose goggles were cracked, and finally to Cortori, whose shirt button had popped off.

After confirming the situation of her seniors, she raised her hand and cast a [Media] healing spell.

"The seniors... seem to be injured?"

"I did get a few injuries, but they're all minor..."

Kahara was slightly embarrassed, but not afraid at all—clearly, she was already used to this kind of situation.

Not to mention Utahara, Hibiki and Cortori all showed similar behavior.

Only Yuriko, looking slightly helpless, drooped her ears, with an expression that seemed to say something but held back.

"I'm sorry, Sensei... This is a normal and reasonable R&D mistake. Please excuse the embarrassment."

Amamiya twitched the corner of her mouth but did not respond.

That's so dangerous... You're telling me this is ridiculous?

Amamiya was genuinely afraid that one day they would develop something like the Terminator and accidentally wipe out the entire academy.

"I won't say more... Let's halt this research for now."

The three of them, including Utahara, understood that Amamiya was thinking about their personal safety.

"Ah."

"...I'll try my best to figure it out next time."

"Next time, we will take safety precautions in advance."

Amamiya hesitated, wanting to retort, "Is there going to be a next time?"

Noticing that Amamiya was also somewhat speechless, Yuriko decisively offered her opinion: "I think it would be safer for the seniors to have Sensei present next time they research this kind of 'special technology tree'."

“Yuriko is right… It’s not that this can’t be studied, but it’s best to have a ‘professional’ present when it’s being studied.”

As Amamiya spoke, she gestured to Utahara with her eyes.

The song was immediately understood.

“A routine check, right?”

"Sophia... come with me."

Sophia was taken away by Utahara, Hibiki, and Cortoline—and unsurprisingly, from now until evening, they will be examining Sophia's body.

Yuriko did not leave with her seniors.

Firstly, since her 'specialized field' doesn't include bionics, she wouldn't be of much help even if she went there.