I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

There's actually a reason for that.

Amamiya pinched the bridge of her nose, pretending that the medicine was taking effect and lowered her head slightly.

"oh oh……"

Saya immediately ran away, moved a high-backed chair behind Amamiya, and then half-pushed Amamiya so that Amamiya could sit back in the chair.

“Sensei…” With excited gleam in her red eyes, Saya asked lightly, “How does it feel?”

Seemingly afraid that Amamiya might mishear or miss something due to the effects of the medication, she asked him several times with great 'patience,' just like a doctor questioning a delirious patient.

Amamiya waved her hand, indicating that she wasn't quite delirious yet: "It doesn't feel like much... it's more like the refreshing feeling of eating a mint."

"That's it..."

Saya seemed thoughtful: "As expected... But then again, why does this drug work so quickly on Sensei? On me, it should take at least ten minutes to take effect..."

"Is it because of factors like drug resistance...?"

She moved another chair over, sat back with her hands flat on the back, and swung the chair legs, observing Amamiya's 'clinical reaction' at close range. The silver-haired girl began to mutter excitedly to herself.

Lost in her focus, she temporarily ignored the sense of distance, observing closely while simultaneously writing down her observations and recording Amamiya's physical changes.

As she kept remembering, Saya suddenly realized that the medicine in her body had taken full effect.

"Here we go, next we'll test two different users, temporarily reading each other's thoughts, and see how they react..."

Saya slammed her pen onto the folder with a 'smack' and looked at Amamiya excitedly: "Sensei, hurry up and think of something!"

Amamiya was both annoyed and helpless by her 'vague and vague' prompt.

What does "think of something quickly" mean?

'Um……'

Amamiya leaned back slightly, avoiding any overly intimate contact with Saya, and, following Saya's instructions, began to think about something in her mind.

'How exactly do those round, enormous mouse ears on Saya's head come about? What do they feel like to the touch?'

"...I felt it!"

The mouse ears on her head twitched sharply, and Saya exclaimed excitedly, as if she had gotten the hang of it: "Sensei's idea...!"

After a brief moment of surprise, she turned her gaze to Amamiya.

"Hmm... So Sensei is curious about my ears? If you're curious... Sensei can touch them now~?"

Meanwhile, Amamiya overheard her inner thoughts: 'Let's test close contact again...'

Thinking this, Amamiya saw Saya lean her head towards him.

Seeing that Amamiya didn't react immediately, after waiting a few seconds, Saya even proactively nudged forward, clearly meaning, 'Sensei, come and touch me now~?'

Helpless, Amamiya could only reach for Saya's particularly conspicuous large rat ears.

"Hmm~"

Saya gave a long "hmm," then closed her eyes, frowned slightly, and began to carefully sense the "special reaction."

Amamiya began to awkwardly caress, and at the same time, she heard Saya's subsequent thoughts: 'It feels a little... strange?'

'The "signal" seems to have become much more sensitive... Is it because the two subjects were in contact with each other?'

'Also, it seems I can sense an emotion that I don't usually feel...'

'This is already an effect in the initial version... If it's the official version, the scope of its applications will be...'

'I really am a genius!'

Saya's inner thoughts were continuous, jumping around like a wild horse, and were also bizarre and varied.

Clearly... the thoughts of a 'genius' are different from those of an ordinary person.

'Strange, why isn't Sensei sending any new signals? Is Sensei not thinking about anything right now?'

Upon hearing Saya's thoughts, Amamiya slowed down slightly, trying to add a little excitement.

'Saya's personality has a 'genius-like mischievousness,' yet it's also quite admirable...'

'I think I've probably fallen for Saya.'

Little did he know that Amamiya's unintentional outpouring of his inner thoughts might have triggered some kind of strange 'electrocution effect,' or it might have just happened to hit a unique negative effect of the drug.

"...?!"

After a sudden pause, all of Saya's inner thoughts almost came to a halt.

She froze on the spot as if her brain had crashed, maintaining the position of 'leaning her head out to let Amamiya touch her ear,' and began to tremble slightly as if she had been electrocuted.

【~???~】

Amamiya immediately heard a sound that was completely different from her true feelings, a sound composed of double eighth notes indicating affection.

He was momentarily surprised and didn't immediately understand what was going on.

'Look closely... Saya's unique cheongsam attire and asymmetrical "long and short stockings" combination of one leg and pantyhose also have a very distinctive personal style...'

"sen, Sensei..."

Saya suddenly spoke, her voice no longer filled with the previous fervor and excitement, but soft and sweet, which even Amamiya found hard to believe.

Amamiya stopped what she was doing and looked in surprise at Saya, whose pupils trembled and who slowly raised her head with a slight tremor.

"Let's not talk about this now..."

Amamiya was still a little confused.

Logically speaking, even if she heard her own 'inner voice,' given Saya's personality, she shouldn't care that much, right?

According to Amamiya's assessment, Saya's personality is particularly similar to that of Ann Takamaki, characterized by 'cheerfulness and generosity', while lacking 'delicate and sensitive emotions'... or rather, not lacking them, but rather not showing them clearly.

'Geniuses' often have certain flaws—the most common of which is that they have difficulty understanding the emotions of ordinary people.

Although the gauze wasn't shown, it probably had this 'minor flaw' to some extent.

If there isn't enough mutual affection, even if you confess your feelings directly, she's very likely to treat it as a "joke" and laugh it off.

Under Amamiya's slightly surprised gaze, Saya's eyes welled up with tears, and she pitifully covered her two mouse-like ears with her hands as she slowly squatted down: "Sensei's... 'voice'... was so intense... let me catch my breath..."

Amamiya was even more confused: So what exactly did she sense?

However, Saya seemed to have no intention of explaining.

There is neither a superficial explanation nor an explanation based on inner feelings.

Amamiya waited in place for a moment, and realized that Saya's thoughts remained blank throughout.

She simply maintained the position of 'squatting down with her hands covering her ears' and remained in place for a long time.

After a long while, she finally stood up unsteadily, looking dazed.

"That's really powerful..."

After a vague and wistful sigh, Saya glanced nervously at the bewildered Amamiya, seemingly trying to gauge his reaction.

"Sensei...did you feel anything unusual just now?"

Amamiya shook her head and answered truthfully, "No."

"I see... It seems the new version of 'Tianyan' has indeed fixed a bug in the old version..."

Amamiya: "...?"

Saya didn't say much, but simply waved her hand hastily: "Let's end this 'drug trial' here..."

"I still have lab reports to write... Thanks a lot, Sensei, but I can't keep you company any longer..."

"Sensei, do whatever you need to do."

—It's obvious they're 'declining the invitation'.

Amamiya didn't know what had happened to Saya, but since she had 'declined' his hospitality, he couldn't stay any longer.

Amamiya turned and left.

As he walked to the door and was about to leave, he suddenly heard the sound of 'deepening bond'.

[I sensed an unusual emotion emanating from Saya.]

[My bond with Saya has deepened...]

【Yakuko Saaya (Magician) ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆】

[★2 Bond Ability "Mountain and Sea Alchemy Technique" is now unlocked!]

'...'

After a slight pause, Amamiya continued on in another direction as if nothing had happened.

'It's almost time, I should go find Hime-saki next...'

Chapter Nine, Kokoro: 100 points!

After helping Saya complete the "drug trial," Amamiya rushed to the coordinates that Hisaki had previously sent via momotalk, which was near the "Classic of Mountains and Seas: Plum Garden."

Compared to the modern-style antique buildings with upturned eaves and festive ancient buildings seen along the way, the buildings around Plum Garden seem to be much shorter on average.

While it was slightly low-slung, Amamiya could also feel a very subtle... perhaps best described as "childlike" feeling.

Standing under the rustling poplar trees in the afterglow of the setting sun, looking at the kindergarten-like buildings in the distance, Amamiya was momentarily dazed.

A group of little girls, who looked no older than kindergarten age, were playing and laughing happily at the entrance of the plum garden under the setting sun.

If you ignore the fact that each of them is issued a small handgun, a small-caliber rifle, a submachine gun, or even fragmentation grenades... then all of this seems rather good.

Amamiya scanned the area with her "third eye" and easily spotted the familiar Assistant Tarot card, now surrounded by a silver star, among the little girls playing near the entrance of the "Plum Garden".

The silver star symbolizing the Emperor shone brightly, and Amamiya looked over—and then witnessed a rather interesting scene.

Wearing a light pink dress typical of elementary school students, with cute pigtails and a yellow soft hat in a similar elementary school style, the 'Sect Leader' blended in with a group of little girls of similar height and seemed inconspicuous.

Her gray-blue eyes, shrouded in mist, shone brightly, her expression more 'sunny and cheerful' than ever before, and her smile radiated the same energy as the little girls around her...

If Amamiya hadn't possessed a "third eye" that allowed her to easily identify those assisting her, she might not have been able to find her immediately.

The group of 'little girls,' including Hizaki, were gathered around the two figures, one big and one small.

Among them, the large figure was initially estimated by Amamiya to be about the same height as himself.

She wore a high-slit black cheongsam with a style reminiscent of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, her black hair in a high ponytail, and her warm smile as she looked at the little girls had an almost maternal tenderness in the sunset.

As for the little one... he looks about the same height as Hisaki, or maybe even shorter.

She was probably less than 1.4 meters tall, but she was also wearing a black outfit that was different from the little girls.

Perhaps it was the combination of her silver gradient hair and black clothing, or perhaps it was her hands-on-hips, 'seriously lecturing' demeanor, but when Amamiya looked at her, he always felt a 'matureness that didn't match her size, a maturity beyond her years.'

[Assistant: Shun Sunohara / Mature Instructor of Plum Garden]

[Arcana: The Hiophant]

[Assistance Relationship: Not Unlocked]

……

[Assistant: Sunohara Kokona / Little Instructor of Plum Garden]

Arcana: The Moon (XVI.THe Moon)

[Assistance Relationship: Not Unlocked]

'oh……?'

The similar titles and the same surname that Amamiya saw made her slightly puzzled.

Sisters...?

Based on common sense, that 'mature instructor with a high ponytail' should be the older sister.

The seemingly tiny, yet commanding silver-haired little instructor is actually the younger sister.

However... is the older sister a mature guide like the "Pope," while the younger sister symbolizes the immature, restless "moon" of change?