I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Immediately, Amamiya felt as if a gentle gaze, tinged with a hint of teasing, briefly met her eyes.

“Indeed… there is a special request that Yuriko needs to make.”

The girl tilted her head slightly, instantly switching to professional mode, and spoke in a serious yet distant tone: "What does Sensei need me to do?"

"It's about helicopter maintenance."

When Amamiya mentioned it, Yuriko's eyes sharpened noticeably.

She nodded immediately, and then, like a seasoned doctor examining a patient, began asking questions about the helicopter that needed repair.

"Corrosion inspection? Engine cleaning? Or perhaps a major periodic inspection?"

"The specific model of the helicopter?..."

After asking several questions and receiving only silence, Yuriko gradually realized something was wrong. She ended her questioning and chose a simpler approach to "get straight to the point": "Where is that helicopter that needs maintenance?"

She opened her mouth, but realizing she couldn't speak, Ayane quickly replied, "It's in the hangar inside the resort..."

"Then let's go right away."

Yuriko's decisive attitude left the girls on the countermeasures committee looking at each other in bewilderment once again.

'Did they... invite an expert?'

'The chances of repairing the helicopter have suddenly increased significantly...'

Meeting Yuriko's questioning gaze, Amamiya nodded and then led her directly to the hangar that had been cleared from the resort, which showed obvious signs of disrepair.

As the hangar door opened, Yuriko waved away the dust that rushed towards her, put on her goggles, and turned her gaze to the prototype of the SH-60 B Seahawk helicopter, which showed no signs of damage.

Once she was in work mode, the fox-eared girl was unusually focused. She completely ignored the attempts and questions from the other girls on the countermeasures committee. She slowly circled the helicopter, carefully observing its condition.

It wasn't until she took out a tablet, put away her goggles, and began to think that Amamiya leaned over and asked, "What's going on?"

While asking the question, Amamiya glanced at the contact interface of the tablet Yuriko was using—it seemed to be a website for ordering replacement and maintenance parts.

The girl operating the tablet didn't even look up, calmly asking, "Have you read through that 1000-plus-page user manual?"

—Clearly, this question is directed at Ayane.

Amamiya turned her gaze to Ayane, and immediately saw that Ayane's elf ears were drooping slightly, and she looked embarrassed and didn't know what to say.

"Ah ha ha……"

Ayane responded with her signature 'smile that eases the awkwardness': I didn't finish watching it.

Yuriko didn't try to understand the meaning behind Ayane's dry laugh. Instead, she conjured up various inspection tools out of thin air and continued in a serious tone of a senior guiding a junior: "Since you're the one who handles all the ground crew maintenance and flight operations... you'll have to memorize all these thousands of pages of documents."

“Or at least you have to memorize the flight manual,” the girl paused, then glanced briefly at Ayane, “and you have to be able to memorize the table of contents as well… that way it will be easier to check after an accident.”

Ayane: "..."

She couldn't even manage a forced laugh anymore, and her face grew increasingly bitter.

She understood Yuriko's 'admonition' perfectly.

If we really had to name a specific 'golden repair time' for such sophisticated and large equipment as helicopters.

If no abnormalities are found at the beginning of maintenance, and the helicopter malfunctions later in operation... even if it doesn't crash, the repair cost will be hundreds or thousands of times higher than the cost of 'doing an inspection'.

But it was precisely because she could understand that Ayane felt a wave of dizziness – she suddenly felt that it would have been better not to buy the plane at all.

A repair manual starting at over a thousand pages—you have to memorize it…memorize it…

Is this really a task that a normal person could accomplish?

Ayane looked bitter, while the other four members of the Strategy Committee instantly felt that this girl with the air of a junior suddenly became 'unlovable'.

—They are truly professional.

But it was truly harsh...

Even though they knew it was for their own good, they couldn't bring themselves to hate it...

But this 'questioning and disdain from technical personnel' still left everyone with mixed feelings.

"A major phase maintenance check is performed every 360 flight hours, and a preventative maintenance check is required every 40 flight hours."

While disassembling the helicopter, Yuriko casually remarked, "They don't really inspect anything that's not original. I can only say... they're really careless."

"Ground crew..."

Yuriko wanted to say something more, but sensing that the atmosphere was a bit off, she ultimately remained silent and swallowed the rest of her words.

Although she wasn't very good at reading the atmosphere, she understood that some things were inappropriate to say in the current mood.

"Sensei, come and help me."

Amamiya snapped his fingers, temporarily changed into a phantom thief outfit that would never get dirty and came with cut-resistant gloves, and stepped forward to assist Yuriko in disassembling and inspecting the helicopter.

"Have you found anything?"

"Um... I'll keep it simple."

Yuriko cleared her throat, and after examining the internal parts of the helicopter, she wore an expression of 'understanding'.

"The main fuel line connector broke off due to aging, and a large amount of metal debris entered the fuel line. One side was held in place by a magnetic plug, which only caused a decrease in flow... The other magnetic plug was not held in place."

While pondering, Yuriko tilted her head and asked Amamiya, "Sensei... when you were on the plane, before it crashed, did you hear a strange sound?"

Amamiya reviewed the situation and nodded.

"That's the sound of the heat exchanger being damaged by metal shavings." Yuriko explained seriously with a cold face, "In plain terms... due to 'inhaling foreign objects,' half of the heart of this aircraft has become abnormal."

“There was damage in a system line shared by the two engines, and large pieces of metal debris entered the line. The debris flowing to one of the engine lines was caught by a magnetic plug, but this also caused a decrease in fuel flow.”

"The other engine failed to trap the debris, allowing it to enter the heat exchanger between the fuel and oil systems. This damaged the heat exchanger, causing the oil and fuel in one engine to become completely ineffective, resulting in an immediate shutdown."

Amamiya tried to understand it from a non-professional perspective, and then said incredulously, "This sounds... exactly like something that could only happen when a component has aged to a certain extent?"

"We can't rule out the possibility that the new helicopter might also have similar problems due to factors such as inadequate quality control or design flaws." Yuriko first shook her head seriously, then nodded. "However, Sensei is right to some extent—this kind of 'crash' is very much in line with the way old, dilapidated aircraft die."

Ayane blinked, looking bewildered and confused, as if she had been tricked.

"That is to say..."

Yuriko calmly acknowledged Ayane's 'overtly obvious' guess: "That's right, the black jet you bought... cough cough. SH-60 B Seahawk."

"There's a 99% chance it's an old machine that's probably older than you, and it's on the verge of being scrapped."

"what?!"

Ayane was stunned for a moment before raising her voice in extreme surprise: "But when the seller sold it to me, they said it was 95% new..."

Yuriko calmly looked back, though she didn't speak and her expression was almost unreadable. However, Amamiya clearly sensed from her fleeting glance the kind of "Are you more professional or am I?" that a professional is being questioned, conveyed through their eyes or other small gestures.

"That only means you've been scammed."

After Yuriko's words made Ayane's eyes well up with tears, as if her money had gone down the drain, she went on to explain her "repair suggestions".

"I recommend replacing the engine and inspecting the entire main fuel system. In addition, for safety reasons, the fuel lines should be replaced."

"This is basically at the level of completely dismantling and overhauling the aircraft in the hangar... Well, I mean, even a senior ground crew member and aircraft engineer... even if you call the designer of this aircraft, they couldn't possibly fix it by themselves in a few days."

"If there is no maintenance at all, the replacement parts will need to be purchased and airdropped, which will only make the time and cost more exaggerated."

"So, you understand how serious the problem is, right?"

Amamiya nodded seriously.

This is to the point that even an outsider like him could immediately understand just how exaggerated it was.

"so……"

Yuriko sighed softly, then her eyes brightened as she spoke, "Sensei, I will accept your request. But..."

"I need to stay on the resort island for a while."

This can no longer be called a hint; it's an explicit statement.

Before Yuriko could continue, Amamiya made a promise: "I will prepare accommodation for Yuriko at the resort."

Having received a seemingly intuitive and expected answer, the girl imagined her vacation in the near future, and a smile gradually brightened as she looked up at her lips.

"Then..."

[I sensed a novel emotion emanating from Yuriko.]

My bond with Yuriko has deepened...

【Yuriko Tennishi (The High Priestess) ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

[★5 Ability "Vehicle Maintenance Tips" is now unlocked]

"Please, Sensei."

After a moment of relief, Yuriko immediately turned her attention back to the plane.

"If it's just a simple repair, that's easy. The T700-GE-401 isn't a new engine; they should have some in stock. Including the entire fuel system, it should only take a few tens of millions of credits. I'll have to ask the supplier for details..."

"However, simply replacing the engine and fuel system can only solve the current problem. I cannot guarantee that the entire aircraft's structural components and other systems are still within their normal working lifespan, especially since you have just experienced such a serious malfunction."

Yuriko took out her tablet, opened the calculator function, pressed a few buttons, and then displayed an enormous number that made Ayane feel dizzy.

"If the entire machine is completely disassembled, overhauled, and refurbished, I remember seeing before that the purchase price of a brand new SH60B is about 3.3 million credits. The price of completely refurbishing such an old machine should be about the same as that of a new machine."

Ayane: "..."

After a brief silence, the girl lowered her head. Her red-rimmed glasses reflected the light, but did not reveal her now dim and lifeless golden eyes.

She gave a low laugh, a forced laugh that carried a sense of shattered collapse.

"Ha ha……"

"Hehehehe..."

Nomiya and Hoshino stood on either side of Ayane, supporting her as she swayed and nearly collapsed, covering her face with her hands as she was about to cry.

“Well, well…”

The blonde girl forced a smile: "To put it more broadly, this might be an unprecedented 'special experience,' you know? Ayane-chan, cheer up a little..."

Hoshino, who was standing to the side, could no longer maintain her lazy smile. She spoke seriously and echoed Nomiya's words in a comforting tone: "After all, it's a rare vacation... Ayane-nee, you shouldn't think too much about it, right?"

“This ‘large machine’ that everyone worked together to purchase represents precious memories for everyone… If it were to end up being scrapped, Ayane would probably be even more upset, right? So the current outcome is much easier to accept…”

Amamiya finally came to Ayane's side, sat down cross-legged, and used the "Voice of the Stars" (Tama's bond skill) to soothe Ayane with a light hypnotic approach.

"Don't think about those things for now... just have a memorable vacation."

"Compared to the distortions in the mental world, physical difficulties are easy to overcome—if you can overcome it the first time, you can overcome it the second time, and many more times..."

"Let's accumulate these experiences little by little and apply them in the future."

Amamiya's words of comfort were rather vague, but they were amplified by the bond skill... so even though they were just empty words, they made people subconsciously feel that they made some sense.

Moreover, Amamiya's services go beyond mere empty words of comfort.

"Regarding the aircraft repair..." Amamiya turned to look at Ayane and made a serious promise, "In order to prevent everything that everyone in Abydos has worked so hard to gather from going to waste... I will help."

"This is to 'preserve everyone's shared memories,' so spending a little more money isn't a big deal, right? Although the price is ridiculously high, it's... after all, 'for everyone's sake,' so I'll just contribute a small portion."

Chapter 71 Now it's Ayane's fantasy time.

"Have you finished discussing everything? If you've finished your discussions, I can start customizing the parts."

"Some repair parts are not easy to find, but since it is a commission from Sensei, we will not charge redundant fees such as intermediary fees and handling fees."

Amamiya let out a long sigh and almost gritted his teeth as he said, "Let's customize it to the 'best specifications'."

【~???~】(from Yuriko)

Although this request was a 'time-consuming, laborious, and unprofitable' one for her, perhaps due to the swimsuit atmosphere or the vacation mindset, Yuriko momentarily revealed a serene smile that Amamiya had never seen before.

The fox-eared girl holding the tablet simply nodded: "Mm."

With Yuriko's soft "hmm," Ayane felt all the strength drain from her body.

It surprised me that……

It was clearly the entire community in Abydos who pooled their money to buy that large piece of equipment...

But this happened after it was only opened once after delivery...