I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

He squatted on the balcony, supporting his knees, carefully observing the flowerpots, his words tinged with doubt yet gentle.

"And the 'Star of Bethlehem'... they were frozen all night... even though the soil in the flowerpots was frozen solid, they... were still very resilient."

Saori's sudden appearance somewhat startled the three people in the living room.

Saori, who immediately sensed the gazes, clapped her hands and spoke seriously, "Everyone..."

"Get ready."

"We need to go find Sensei next..."

"Fight to change our future and the future of many more people."

Chapter Thirty-Three: The "Adventures" of the Girls, Gehenna

Today is the day the Eden Treaty was signed.

Under pressure from "many factors", the white-haired girl got up very early.

"Chairman... don't move yet, your hair needs a little tidying up... okay, it's ready."

"These clothes were specially prepared for you... It seems to be getting colder lately, so please keep warm..."

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, Hina, who was being manipulated like a 'dressing doll' by her own administrator, had a cold, expressionless face.

Having already changed into her winter disciplinary committee uniform, she didn't exude the imposing authority expected of a 'disciplinary committee chairperson.' Instead, she seemed to be wondering, with a hint of impatience, if she wasn't ready yet.

Noticing that the chairman seemed a little impatient, Ako quickly sped up, smoothing out the wrinkles in her clothes and getting all the necessary decorations in place as soon as possible.

"It's done... Chairman, we can set off now."

Hina didn't say a word, picked up the heavy machine gun she had placed next to the full-length mirror, and walked out.

With the soft thud of her boots on the ground, the annoyance and disdain on the girl's face vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling and dignified air.

As soon as Hina opened the door, she felt a chilly wind rushing towards her.

……what happened?

The weather seems to have gotten much colder overnight.

The girl frowned slightly, but didn't pay much attention. She followed Ayako into the car and drove to the airport, where they boarded a plane that was already prepared for their flight to the Trinity Self-Governing Territory.

Under the control of air traffic controller Gerina, the plane carrying several core members of the Pandemonium and the Disciplinary Committee quickly took off into the clouds—

The girl initially thought that waiting for the plane to land at its destination would be very 'boring'.

Resting with her hand on her chin against the back of the chair, she glanced out the window at the seemingly endless stream of clouds, and...

Wait, what is that?

The girl's purple eyes widened slightly as she glanced at the "spectacle" towering in the air.

She blinked, momentarily wondering if she was seeing things.

"Ayako..."

Sitting next to Hina, the blue-haired administrator, who was organizing documents, turned slightly to ask, "Chairman, what's wrong?"

Hina hesitated for a moment, then began, "...Ako, did you see 'that thing' outside the window?"

Ako paused her work and asked in confusion, "'That thing'? What are you talking about, Chairman...?"

Before she could fully voice her doubts, she swallowed them back.

The scene unfolding before my eyes was truly a magical reality.

Upon realizing what she had seen, Ako immediately reacted similarly to Hina—first blinking, then rubbing her eyes, repeatedly checking if there was something wrong with her visual system.

"That's... a tree?"

Ako frowned, her keen senses immediately recognizing the anomaly: "And... it's not an ordinary tree..."

"Leaving aside factors like the height and diameter of the branches... is it really possible to build a city on top of a tree canopy...?"

The absurdity, the bizarreness, the doubts… all that Ako felt when she “saw something impossible clearly appear before her eyes” ultimately coalesced into an “unbelievable” emotion, which made Hina breathe a slight sigh of relief.

It seems... the problem wasn't with my own vision or common sense.

This tree... its canopy contains trees from a real city; it has truly appeared...

But why?

What on earth is that?

How did it stand up in the Holy Trinity area overnight?

Moreover, judging from its location... it seems to have grown directly from the center of Trinity College?

"Chairman, what are you talking about? What tree?"

Sitting in another window seat, a silver-haired girl with twin ponytails swayed her particularly lively-looking pointed tail.

She looked out the window, mimicking Ako and Hina's actions, but all she saw was emptiness.

Ako was even more surprised: "Iori, can't you see it?"

Iori shook her head.

Chinatsu, who was sitting next to her, then said, "I didn't see the [tree] you were talking about either... Could it be that you and the class president are having a 'collective hallucination' because you've been under too much pressure lately?"

'Collective hallucination'—can hallucinations be completely identical?

Aya ignored Chinatsu's 'guess' and decided to go to the first-class section to verify it.

After negotiating with the members of Pandemonium who were serving as flight attendants, Ako successfully entered the first-class cabin that Pandemonium had "booked out".

As soon as Ako entered first class, she heard Ibuki's incredibly energetic and lively childlike voice, which was impossible to dislike: "Wow~ the 'big tree' outside the window is so tall and so big—"

"Did Iroha-nee see it too?"

Chiaki, who was pondering what angle to take a picture from later, blinked and said, "Huh? Iroha saw it too? Are you really not just playing along with Ibuki?"

The red-haired girl, whose hair was so thick it gave off a 'fluffy' impression, reluctantly put down her book and shrugged at Chiaki, who was looking at her: "I don't need to be perfunctory about things that sound completely unrealistic."

The silver-haired girl, whose face was pressed against the airplane window and whose devil horns were almost piercing through the soft internal equipment on her head, suddenly spoke.

"Are you... talking about that tree? By the way, I saw it too... What exactly is that thing? It seems to have grown directly from the campus of Trinity College. Could it be some kind of new biological weapon?"

"No, no, no... it's impossible no matter how you look at it..."

Iroha sighed softly, "Even if it's some kind of 'biological weapon,' it's unlikely that a city could be built in the treetops in a single day, right?"

After listening to the conversation of the Pandemonium group from the cabin entrance, Ayako was certain that the current situation was definitely not just a hallucination of the chairman and herself.

She retreated to the cabin where the Disciplinary Committee was located and relayed the information she had heard to everyone in the Disciplinary Committee.

Ayako's narration made Hina even more puzzled, while also causing Iori and Chinatsu, who hadn't seen the "tree," to fall into deep thought.

Some people can see it, some people can't...

'What exactly is this related to...?'

Yako was also pondering.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her.

"You guys say... the reason why some people can see this 'anomaly' while others can't... could it be related to Sensei?"

Having caught the girls' attention, Ako gathered her thoughts and continued to explain her point of view with pride and confidence: "Based on my observation... the percentage of Pandemonium members who saw the 'tree' compared to the percentage of us disciplinary committee members who didn't see the 'tree' is significantly lower."

"At present, if we only consider the relationship between the Disciplinary Committee and Sensei, and the relationship between the Pandemonium and Sensei... it is clear that our relationship with Sensei is deeper."

"So... I have some doubts. Whether or not your [affinity with Sensei] has reached a certain threshold directly determines whether or not you can directly see the existence of the 'tree'."

Yako's explanation made all the members of the disciplinary committee in the cabin suddenly realize something.

Although Ako's "theoretical basis" is very superficial, and can even be said to be completely unreasonable—

However, the girls of the Disciplinary Committee, based on Ako's theory, all remembered a phantom thief-themed game that had recently become a hit in Giwatos—Persona.

This game mentions it in its later 'plot synopsis'...

"To forge deep bonds with your companions... and help them see through illusions and perceive the truth."

Although it's just a simple slogan, it's quite intriguing when combined with the current situation where some people see it while others don't.

"So... our bond with Sensei is already quite strong?"

One of the disciplinary committee members, with short hair, lowered the brim of her hat and spoke cautiously to her companion with a slightly flushed face.

Her companion—a girl with similarly short hair—nodded with a complicated expression: "Captain Iori and the others didn't see it... but we did..."

In an instant, whispers and discussions began to circulate inside the cabin.

With this basic guess, Hina, Chinatsu, Iori, and the other 'core members of the Disciplinary Committee' all keenly realized what exactly this towering tree that reached into the clouds was.

"A 'temple' in the real world..."

The white-haired girl, who had taken a break to complete Persona, looked out the window at the approaching tree and murmured softly.

"Sensei... what are you doing now...?"

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Twilight Song for the Rebels

What is Amamiya doing right now?

The answer is... a "pre-battle mobilization" before infiltrating another world.

Stepping onto the grounds of the Trinity campus, the overwhelming sense of "grotesqueness" emanating from everything here, so different from the real world, made the four girls from the cram school who were with them, as well as Akira, feel a little suffocated.

The floor felt soft as dust underfoot, and various translucent plants growing under the World Tree sprouted from the ground, emitting an alluring fragrance made of lies.

The students walking on campus became like marionettes, their faces all bearing the devout expressions of pilgrims.

All of this gave those of them, who had normal cognition and had not been "distorted and contaminated," a chilling feeling.

After observing the situation of pedestrians on the street for a short while, Jing sighed deeply: "The situation is getting worse and worse..."

The group, including Hifumi, who was "experienced in phantom thieves," had no idea that after the announcement, the "rewriting of the real world by the perceived world" would become increasingly absurd and bizarre.

This scene even made her hallucinate the so-called "false god" that Amamiya had briefly described to her before, and how it was eroding and changing the real world.

At that time, the Phantom Thieves were once at a disadvantage, and even disappeared from everyone's memory...

But as the members of the Phantom Thieves gradually awaken and hope is rekindled, the Phantom Thieves reappear, and the false god's conspiracy gradually falls apart.

When Hifumi realized that the curly-haired young man beside her was not flustered at all and remained as usual, she felt much more at ease.

yes……

Sensei, no... JOK, he's been through something similar...

He has fought more than one being so powerful that he can rewrite reality with his own understanding.

The girl tied her long golden hair into a ponytail, and the worry in her expression gradually disappeared.

"No matter how bad the current situation is... our goals remain unchanged."

"That is... to take Beatrice's desires into one's own hands!"

Sensing the slight surprise or encouragement from her companions, the girl's golden eyes seemed to ignite with a bright golden flame.

After making some preparations, she delivered her hastily prepared 'pre-battle declaration' in one go.

"We have broken free from our own 'fate'... If tragedy awaits us, then we will try to rewrite it!"

"What awaits us ahead is Ragnarok, but we... must forge ahead!"

"Our story of youth..."

"We should decide for ourselves and rewrite it ourselves!"

Amamiya silently watched the girl who was conducting 'pre-battle mobilization'.

In a short period of time, she has transformed from a "girl who longed for the extraordinary" into a shining star with the potential to be a true "ace".

That's exactly the kind of spirit I'm looking for...

Not long ago, you participated as a 'facilitator' in someone else's story of changing the future.

Now, it's your turn to be the protagonist of this story.

Don't panic... Spread your wings and fly high. If you haven't reached that level yet, I'll definitely lend you a hand.