I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"God... no, um... demon? That doesn't seem right either... Sensei seemed to have used the name of that strange ability back then..."

Alona's 'CPU temperature' seemed to be getting higher and higher. Soon, Amamiya saw that the girl on the screen had cutely curled her eyes into a mosquito coil and started 'shaking her head and swaying from side to side' on the screen.

"Huh...? Well... anyway, it seems to be related to Sensei's... special ability... something like that?"

At this point, Alona couldn't continue—because she didn't know how to understand the email sent by Shichigami Rin from the Federation Student Council.

“Sensei…Arona can’t explain it clearly. For more details…you should see for yourself.”

Realizing she couldn't even read an email, Arona ultimately chose to 'give up on herself'.

After squinting and sighing softly, she suddenly grabbed an app with a blue background and a white icon—

It was an application with a blue border and a white envelope design. For some reason, it gave me a strange feeling of unease and unease.

Like reaching for something, after rummaging through the app icons a few times, Alona pulled out an email and handed it to the screen.

[Shichigami Rin: Sensei… Thanks to you, the pressure on the Federation Student Council has lessened considerably. Today I have some time and would like to consult with Sensei about… the abilities you demonstrated during the battle to 'retake the Sharai Building'.]

The Federation Student Council commissioned the Truth Department of Millennium Technology Academy to gather intelligence on 'the power Sensei used in the battle'... a power called 'Persona'.

[Because you used a wide-range 'psychological attack' on those delinquent girls during the battle... the Federation Student Union's medical facilities, especially the psychiatric ward... are currently suffering significant impact.]

We conducted physical and psychological tests on the delinquent girls affected by 'psychological attacks' and discovered some abnormal phenomena...

[Additionally, there are some things about 'Persona' that I may not be able to elaborate on.]

[Since these messages are not convenient to convey in an email, Sensei... could you please come to the Federal Student Council?]

The email, hundreds of words long, was filled with various questions about Amamiya's "Personality" and the abilities it displayed.

Amamiya now understood why Alona couldn't understand the email.

First, Rin's statement took into account the possibility that the email might be intercepted or deciphered, so she deliberately used some ambiguity.

Also...like those stories like, "I'm actually a phantom thief who can steal hearts. I'll sneak into your mind and, with toy guns and replica knives, fight against the mythical monsters and legendary heroes deep within your heart's sanctuary"...

No one would believe something like this if I told them!

Unless one has witnessed the power of Persona firsthand... no one could possibly conceive of it using such simple words with their extraordinary imagination.

...Clearly, a "dumb AI" cannot do this.

"...sensei?!"

On the screen, Arona pouted and made a "mmm..." sound, indicating her displeasure.

"Arona seems to sense Sensei's malice... Sensei, are you thinking about Arona's 'performance issues' again?"

Amamiya: "...No."

That being said, with her thoughts exposed, Amamiya couldn't help but glance at the AI ​​girl, who looked somewhat like a "virtual desktop pet" due to the screen filter, with a slightly surprised look that seemed to be asking if it was real or not.

—Is she really an 'AI'?

Why is she not good at the areas where AI should be good (referring to message processing and other things), but so perceptive about the human world (inner thoughts)?

Through the screen camera, Alona saw Amamiya's 'shifted gaze' and had an expression that said, 'I knew it.'

Then, the AI ​​girl crossed her arms and turned her head at about a 30-degree angle, using the most 'vicious' words she could think of to 'insult' Amamiya: 'sensei... idiot, despicable... malicious... in short, very bad! ╭(╯╰)╮ Hmph!'

That said... this kind of 'AI girl's insults, which aren't very damaging at all, might not even be considered an 'insult' in a certain sense...

Or is it a special kind of "reward"?

【~???~】

Although I was nominally angry, for some reason I seemed a little happy... so I even gained more affection?

Seeing the three eighth notes suddenly float out from behind the screen and fly onto her, Amamiya was slightly taken aback, suddenly unsure of Alona's 'inner world'—

Along his journey, he encountered countless 'helpers'.

Those who possess the Arcana know almost instantly how to negotiate with the other party and how to win their favor the moment they see it...

This law is so strong that even the "other" AI girl currently dormant in Amamiya's phone cannot escape it.

So far, the only two exceptions are Fox Saka Wakamo, with whom I suddenly gained affection...

There's also an AI girl who accompanies you as an "assistant," but most of the time you have to communicate with her from a different "world."

'The way she gains favor is really strange... Maybe Alona is just happy because she 'hasn't been able to communicate with anyone for a long time,' and now she has someone she can communicate with consistently, which is me...'

"So...Sensei, are you going to the Federation Student Council today?"

Alona asked at the opportune moment, adding a reminder: "Sensei... it's getting late, if we go any later... we might be late!"

"I know……"

After thinking for a moment, Amamiya said to Alona, ​​"Alona, ​​please reply to Rin's message for me and tell her that I will be there this afternoon."

"So what's Sensei going to do this morning? Visit other schools? Or..."

"Solve the 'hidden troubles'."

Amamiya said in a very serious tone.

How to resolve...the hidden trouble?

Oh... sensei is talking about 'last night's night raid', right?

After a moment of stunned silence, Alona realized what Amamiya was talking about. Then, she curiously moved closer to the screen, looking at Amamiya from a wide-angle perspective that seemed to be trying to squeeze out of the screen, and asked with great curiosity, "...So how is Sensei going to resolve this incident?"

Without hesitation, Amamiya satisfied Alona's curiosity with a single word, successfully piquing her even more interest.

"Straight hook fishing".

...What does "fishing with a straight hook" mean?

Alona wanted to ask more questions, but Amamiya showed no intention of answering.

He picked up the lunchbox from the room and headed straight for the kitchen.

'Currently, Xia Lai's various mechanisms are still not perfect enough...'

'It would be great if we could set aside a dedicated workshop for storing various tools and equipment, such as miniature machine tools, and a room for storing server nodes and other similar equipment…'

Lost in thought, Amamiya shook his head, recalling the 'handicraft skills' and 'hacking skills' he had learned.

Skipping over the meaningless morning routine of washing up and eating, Amamiya then spent two or three hours meticulously preparing her masterpiece—a glowing [Lubran's Ultimate Curry].

The curry was carefully packed into a charcoal-fired bento box with a 'wheat ear' symbolized by the Inari god, and then Amamiya weighed this exquisite masterpiece in her hand.

Amamiya narrowed his eyes slightly and deliberately wandered around the office... before placing the deliberately made 'fishing trap' on an empty table in the office.

As of now, Amamiya has not yet obtained the contact information of Wakamo Kitsaka, who seems to have special feelings for him.

However, the downside is that the other party seems to be lurking in the shadows at all times, concealing their whereabouts while spying on them in some way that they don't yet understand...

In order to try to have a further conversation with this Wakamo Kitsaka, Amamiya could only try this "fishing method" of "fishing with a straight hook" - if the other party took the bento box, then he should also be able to see the contact information that Amamiya had specially engraved on the bottom of the bento box.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Amamiya took the Shittei no Hako and went downstairs in the elevator.

In fact... he could certainly use a little bit of 'social engineering' to reverse engineer and investigate this girl named 'Kitsaka Wakamo'.

But clearly... that's not romantic at all.

That's not the kind of behavior you should do when you want to make friends with someone.

"I hope my 'clumsy' method will achieve the kind of coincidence I want."

After reflecting on her experience, Amamiya used Alona's navigation function to determine the nearest station and compared several modes of transportation within Kivotos.

As a near-future modern city, Kiwatos's transportation system is actually very similar to the one Amamiya is familiar with.

Whether it's the subway, bus, tram, railway, high-speed rail, taxi, or car, all modes of transportation are available in Kivotos and have always been the mainstream.

In contrast, Amamiya's near-experience of "traveling to the target point by helicopter" was actually a kind of "special luxury".

This is a city in the near future... but it's not so luxurious that you have to use a helicopter for every trip.

Helicopters, and similar flying vehicles, are only worth deploying for specific purposes or operations.

I bought a ticket, entered the station, and then sat down in an empty seat.

Realizing that no one was paying attention to her, Amamiya decisively took out a book, ready to kill some time.

"There are still a few pages left in this book, 'The Expedition to Kivotos'... If I finish reading it, I should be able to gain some [knowledge]..."

As Amamiya was pondering this, he had just opened the list of labels he had written down when a book came into his view and blocked his sight.

The book that blocked his view was "The Mask of the Red Death".

Amamiya slightly raised her head and met the energetic gaze of the 'Black Cat Princess'.

"We meet again, sensei."

Chapter Twenty-Four: The "Clowns" of the Federal Student Council

"We meet again, sensei."

Amamiya was slightly taken aback—mainly because he hadn't expected it to be such a coincidence.

It was only a day or two before we bumped into each other on the same train.

What surprised him even more was... the girl's energetic smile, and the book in her hand, which Amamiya had given her as a token, which she also carried with her.

It really is a coincidence...

However, Amamiya did not make any tactless remarks such as "What a coincidence" or "You look like you've had a good rest."

As Amamiya took the book from Serika with one hand, she made a gesture of taking off her glasses with the other—the large, non-prescription glasses that served as a 'mask' were removed, and Amamiya's instantly 'otherworldly' charm was brought into play in that instant.

“It seems you’ve already checked with your companions… Well then, let me reintroduce myself. My name is Amamiya… You can also call me Sensei.”

"Please take good care of me, Kuromi Serika-san."

Negotiations with assistants like Serika... can't be done so "casually".

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Celery lowered her head stiffly and responded softly in a slightly hesitant voice, "Ah... um. um."

“I am a member of the Countermeasures Committee of Abydos Higher Academy… Kuromi Serika. Um… Sensumi, nice to meet you.”

Analyzing her 'evasive' or 'reluctant' behavior, which is remarkably similar to that of a feline, Amamiya could probably guess that perhaps she felt a slight, indescribable guilt due to this momentary 'sense of contrast'.

As the saying goes, "A lie doesn't hurt, but the truth is the sharpest knife."

For a small group of people, the best way to 'resolve misunderstandings' is for the person being misunderstood to be exceptionally sincere—but that sincerity could become a sharp knife that hurts others.

Under rare and exceptional circumstances, it is possible to exploit 'human weaknesses' to attempt to establish a relationship with the other party...

【~???~】

'I wonder if this Sensei can help us out of our current predicament...'

With some nonsensical questions churning in her mind, Celery was slightly lost in thought.

'We've arrived at XX station...'

It wasn't until the train's arrival announcement temporarily snapped the girl out of her 'daydreams' that she realized she seemed to have some scheduled work to do.

"Sorry, sensei... well... let's talk again sometime."

After saying that, Qinxiang hurriedly went to the exit, mingled with a group of students getting off the train, and squeezed her way out.

It carries a sense of 'fleeing in panic'.

"Still haven't been able to establish a bond... But there's no rush, at this rate it should be soon..."

After watching Serika leave, Amamiya finished reading "The Expedition to Kivotos".

"Hmm... I've finished reading it."

"So this is what some of the core aspects of Kiwatos are like..."

"I feel like my knowledge has increased slightly."

……

After getting off the train, Amamiya, carrying the Shitei no Hako, followed Alona's navigation on the tablet and walked all the way to the Federation Student Council.