I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Kahara put down the clothes she was gesturing with and simply tied her long, straight purple hair into a neat high ponytail.

"Is there a problem with the base vehicle and we need to borrow it again? Or is it..."

Hibiki, who seemed to be preparing a support outfit, quietly stuffed the few pieces of 'fabric' in her hand back without saying a word.

Noah, who was about to explain his purpose, noticed the behavior of the three girls from the engineering department and turned his gaze toward Amamiya with slight surprise.

Amamiya sighed inwardly as Noah cast a glance at him.

It must be said that the curiosity of 'literary girls' is, in most cases, superior to that of girls of other types.

After gathering her thoughts, Amamiya briefly recounted to Noah how she had brought Moe to borrow the engineering department's "base vehicle" at noon to rebuild the camp for the Rabbit Squad.

Noah smiled with her eyes half-closed the whole time, and only slowly composed herself after Amamiya finished telling the whole story.

"So that's how it is. 'Little Rabbit'..."

Is it better to build trust smoothly or through a bumpy road...?

Concealing the deep thoughts in his eyes, Noah then told the three girls from the engineering department about the request for robot repair.

The three girls from the engineering department were increasingly confident in their approach to Noah's question regarding the maintenance and repair of the support robots.

"Hmph... As long as it's something related to machine manufacturing and repair, feel free to teach us!"

Cortoline stood tall and confident, her words and actions exuding an air of arrogance that said, "This is nothing."

Hibiki then chimed in, expressing his opinion: "Repairing a robot... is quite simple."

"Um……"

"If we mobilize all the resources in the engineering department, this task can be completed in less than half a day."

Noah clasped his hands together and sincerely expressed his gratitude: "Thank you so much for accepting this commission so readily."

"No problem. The Engineering Department is also a part of the Millennium, and we will spare no effort for the success of the Grand Games."

Utahara's earnest assurance should have been convincing, but Amamiya clearly noticed that Noah, upon hearing Utahara's assurance, merely maintained a 'calm yet awkward' smile.

Noticing the change in Noah's attitude, Amamiya interrupted Utahara before he could say anything more.

"Utahara, besides assisting the engineering department with the Akawa Grand Festival, I also came here to gather information."

"Regarding the vandalism that occurred to various clubs during the preparation phase... does the engineering department have any relevant leads?"

The three of them, including Utahara, had already begun inspecting the damaged "cheering robot." Upon hearing this, Utahara temporarily stopped what she was doing.

"There are no special clues yet... but there are indeed things worth noting."

"These damaged robots... although I heard that their damage was all 'accidental,' it just so happens that only critical components that are difficult to repair were damaged..."

"If it was just a simple explosion, there are far too many suspicious points."

As the saying goes, a series of coincidences is no longer coincidences.

Utahara's statement made Amamiya narrow her eyes slightly.

If the damage involves the intrusion of electrical components, the traces should be quite obvious.

'Let those hacker girls from "Beritas" check it out...'

Also, send messages to the Rabbit Squad and the Arius Squad at the same time...

Chapter 76 The Game Club and Beritas have always been good partners

As night falls, the lights of electrical appliances illuminate the "Beritas" building.

As an 'unofficial club' that has been shrouded in mystery for thousands of years, the girls, who have made great achievements in network attack and defense, are operating the audio equipment in front of them in a flurry of activity.

Arriving at the Rain Palace outside the Beritas Corridor with Noah, they immediately caught the sound of 'themselves' coming from inside the Beritas Club activity room.

"...So, 'Player Name,' is there something else you wanted to ask me to come out?"

Upon hearing this, Amamiya recalled how, not long ago, when she went to the game club, she was subjected to a series of tactics by the girls in the game club, including "acting cute and tugging at her clothes to appear pitiful," which forced her to undergo "audio sampling and recording."

Facing the lossless audio sampling equipment, and following the script, recited various lines—some cheesy, some cringeworthy, some exaggerated—in a specific tone, and this had to continue for an entire afternoon…

For Amamiya, it was truly a torturous test.

The white-haired girl who was about to knock on the door stopped and stared at Amamiya with a surprised or teasing look.

"...It seems that everyone in Beritas is also thinking about Sensei."

While Noah was making jokes, sounds of surprise and excitement could still be heard intermittently from the Beritas club activity room.

"Oh...this feeling!"

“Sensei’s voice…”

"……marvelous!"

"Is this really a sound source we can handle...? Why does it make my body feel weak and limp when I listen to it..."

Sensing the intermittent sounds, Noah chuckled and nodded slightly in agreement.

"If I had to pay special attention... Sensei's voice is indeed very pleasant. If it could be used for ASMR, it might have a good 'sleep-inducing effect'?"

"Such a voice, and the emotions that Sensei conveyed when reciting these lines, may... also serve as motivation for some students who are still standing in the darkness, facing the light... to continue."

Suddenly I started feeling sad again...

Perhaps a touch of 'sadness' now and then is an unavoidable part of interacting with a literary-minded girl?

"A very romantic and poetic way of putting it."

Should we say, "As expected of Noah?"

【~???~】(Noah)

Amamiya knew why Noah stood at the door of Beritas, seemingly hesitant to proceed.

—Because knocking on the door of Beritas’s activity room is indeed a dangerous action.

This place is, after all, the domain of genius hacker girls. The sheer number of hidden listening and surveillance devices, and the bizarre methods of concealment, make it impossible for an ordinary person to detect them easily.

Taking a step forward, Amamiya Denoa knocked on the door of the Beritas club activity room.

Immediately, Amamiya felt that more than one "gaze" was falling on him.

His knock on the door simultaneously activated the eavesdropping and surveillance devices hidden in the shadows, which were in standby mode.

Although he had anticipated and prepared for this situation, Amamiya's keen intuition as a phantom thief, and the feeling of being simultaneously locked onto by dozens of surveillance cameras of various kinds, still made him subconsciously want to avoid it.

Temporarily suppressing the 'occupational hazard' accumulated from being a phantom thief, Amamiya carefully listened to the sounds inside the club room.

"Is...Chihiro-sama back?!"

After only a few seconds of silence, Maki's lively and distinctive voice rang out first.

Immediately following, Qing and Xiaoyu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after confirming the news.

"No, it's Sensei..."

"In that case, open the door."

With a 'click', the monitor that had been activated simultaneously returned to standby mode.

Immediately afterwards, Xiaoyu, wearing headphones, trotted over and opened the door.

“Sensei, and Noah from the seminar…”

Xiaoyu, who had been excited about 'processing the audio source' not long ago, seemed a little guilty.

"It seems like things are getting lively in Beritas."

Noah walked naturally into the club activity room and quickly surveyed the interior.

What are you all doing?

Noah's slightly dangerous 'curiosity' put pressure on Haru and Maki inside the room.

—It should be noted that Noah is not as famous as Yuka, who is widely known as the "cold-blooded calculator".

But in terms of being 'not to be trifled with,' Noah might be even more formidable than Yuka.

"In, in..."

Under Noah's gaze, Maki's expression was rather unnatural: "...Processing the 'audio files' sent by the game club."

"Oh~?"

Noah drew out an "oh"—though he didn't explicitly say so, his intention to "continue" was very clear.

"Well, how should I put it..."

Qing squinted, seemingly weighing the "confidentiality agreement" against the "personal safety of the Beritas members."

After a brief deliberation, Qing explained simply: "...In short, it involves cropping the sampled audio sources, numbering and naming them according to the corresponding scenes, and encrypting and repackaging them."

After thinking for a moment, she added, "This is a request from the game department."

Thus… (VI) Together, scarred…

Noah toned down his imposing manner.

Sensei's "records"... are fine as long as they're not used in strange ways.

"Gentlemen of Beritas, there is something I would like to ask of you."

"……help?"

Maki immediately expressed her doubts.

"It's about the Akawa Grand Festival."

Amamiya continued, "This grand sports event, which is of great importance for the millennium... Do the people of Beritas have any special opinions?"

Amamiya's problem caused the 'hacker beauties' who usually preferred to stay in the club room to look distressed.

"Eavesdropping is fine, but I don't want to participate in the sports meet..."

"Hmm...I don't want to exercise..."

"Our specialty isn't sports... so we don't need to participate, right?"

Only Maki didn't show any obvious resistance...

The girls' unintentional reactions to the keyword "sports" amused Amamiya, but also gave her a sense of "as expected".

"While I understand everyone's discomfort with this atmosphere, there are indeed things I'd like to ask of you that 'only Beritas can do.'"

Amamiya's "solemn entrustment" aroused the girls' doubts and curiosity.

"only……"

"us……"

"What can you do?"

Noah then chimed in, "Yes, it's about the electronic environment security maintenance for the Architrave Grand Festival..."

"Control of broadcasting and transmission equipment, server load, traffic issues that may arise due to increased student participation, and... other things related to computers and electrical equipment."

"Those who are highly skilled in this field and can be absolutely trusted... the only ones I can think of are the people of Beritas."

Noah's 'high EQ speech' was flawless, and with just a few words, he made the girls of Beritas 'overjoyed'.

"Hehe~ Of course!" Maki laughed heartily. "No club in the past thousand years knows this better than Beritas!"

“Hmm… Although the overall request is relatively simple, but…” Haru smiled because she was in a good mood, “… considering that it’s a joint request from Sensei and Noah, I feel that I absolutely cannot be careless.”

"Sensei, please leave these matters to us."

After settling the issue of electrical equipment maintenance in a few words, Amamiya immediately got down to business.

"Regarding the potential sabotage agent behind the Grand Festival... shouldn't everyone in Beritas have already noticed the relevant information?"

"Ah."

The one who answered Amamiya's question was not Maki, Haru, or Tama, who were already in the club room, but Chihiro, who had returned from her trip.

"Regarding the sabotage of the preparations for the Akawa Daisai tournament... there is indeed something fishy about this."

"Does Sensei want to hire us to investigate this incident?"

Amamiya turned around at the sound and looked at the black-haired girl standing at the door.