I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Once they got closer, Amamiya and his group could see the 'spectacular special effects' blooming in the night.

Suddenly, a flurry of cherry blossoms illuminated the darkness, a radiant display of snow, moon, wind, and flowers. But this radiance was then cleaved in two by a cherry-colored slash.

At the same time, Izuna's incredibly penetrating shouts during battle also echoed through the night.

"This is Izuna's power—"

"In order to protect my lord, Izuna will continue to train and improve until... he becomes a true ninja who serves my lord as a 'personal ninja'!"

"Psona...Mochizuki Chiyome!"

"Spirit Communication - Journey to the West Demon!"

The cherry blossom-colored light spread and returned, regrouping into countless fluttering, returning soul butterflies.

'As expected... they're fighting.'

After exchanging targets with Xiaoman and Yueyong, Amamiya led the team to quicken their pace and climbed directly to a nearby pavilion with an excellent view.

Standing on the eaves, Amamiya saw the cherry blossoms blooming under the moonlight, and a fox-eared girl with her hand on her lower back, a small dachi hanging horizontally, and her other hand forming a hand seal, protecting Ibuki and Iroha behind her while displaying her charm.

The flames that spread from her body gathered into a ring, protecting Iroha and Ibuki, who were not protected by Personas, and helping them resist the successive attacks of 'youkai'.

—As expected, they were all kinds of strange-looking tengu with the common characteristics of "wearing long-nosed masks" and "having wings".

The reason why most of the enemies are Tengu... is mainly because these Tengu correspond to the classic delinquent girl gang that roams the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in the real world - "Chimei Ichijo"?

After all, the defining characteristic of the Chimei is that they all wear various masks (especially Tengu masks).

As Amamiya led the two girls to the top, Izuna's solo battle seemed to be nearing its end.

As he drew his shojita, Izuna's figure transformed into an orange-yellow flash that blended into the cherry blossom hues.

"For the sake of our lord, please leave the stage—"

After flashing out, Izuna then held the scabbard, held the kodachi vertically in front of his eyes, slowly sheathed the sword, and stood up.

Under the effect of 'a single hair can move the whole body', the space behind Izuna, which was shrouded in cherry blossom colors, shattered like an unstable, broken mirror with a crisp sound.

'Um……'

Seeing this, Amamiya thought to himself, 'If I added a "You Shall Die!" when activating the sword or sheathing it, it would really fit perfectly.'

At the same time, after sheathing his sword and striking a pose, Izuna immediately checked on Iroha and Ibuki's condition as he stood up.

"Lord Ibuki, Lord Iroha! Are you alright?!"

Despite having Izuna's protection, Iroha, who was still constantly on guard to protect Ibuki, finally relaxed completely upon arriving here and let out a long sigh of relief.

"……fine."

Noticing Ibuki's bright, sparkling eyes and her captivated expression by Izuna's 'mature and dashing demeanor', Iroha felt even more helpless, with an urge to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Oh no... It seems like Ibuki is showing signs of 'going astray'.

The battles between the "Masked Warriors" and the "Shadows" are often accompanied by a combination of sound and light effects, as well as exaggerated destructive power in the environment—and the destroyed objects in the environment will quickly return to normal.

This unique fighting style makes it easy to capture Ibuki.

As Izuna swayed his fox tail, preparing to receive Ibuki's admiration, he suddenly noticed the gaze directed at him.

Following the gaze, Izuna immediately formed hand seals and teleported to Amamiya's side.

"My lord, my lord!"

"During the separate operations, Izuna carried out the tasks assigned to him by his lord very well!"

The girl revealed her little tiger teeth, leaned close to Amamiya, drooped her fox ears and laughed with her head tilted back—the meaning was all too clear.

Amamiya sighed, realizing Izuna's intention, and rubbed Izuna's furry ears.

"Thank you for your hard work, Izuna. You did a great job."

【~???~】(Izumi)

Overjoyed by the praise, Izuna swung his tail much faster, even leaving afterimages.

While offering praise, Amamiya naturally couldn't forget his original intention of splitting up to investigate the information.

"How much information did you find out?"

Since Izuna was still 'taking praise for granted' and immersing himself in 'the pleasure of being touched', Amamiya's question was mainly directed at Iroha.

Iroha, who had already brought Ibuki closer and arrived at the foot of the building, blurted out a single keyword.

"The Smiling Strategist."

The key words that Iroha blurted out made both Xiaoman and Yueyong slightly realize something.

It really is... completely identical.

Noticing the subtle changes in the expressions of Komatsu and Tsukuyomi beside Amamiya, Iroha immediately understood what was going on.

It seems that even with separate investigations, they only obtained roughly the same information...

"Sensei, was this the same way for previous 'Otherworld Investigations'?"

Amamiya shook his head.

Logically speaking, as a concrete manifestation of the 'collective unconscious,' the impression space cannot hide secrets.

This situation, where "only suspected deliberately spread false information can be found," is truly an exception among exceptions.

However, this is merely an exception, not something that has never been seen before.

Suppose a person is so cautious as to completely cut themselves off from the outside world, isolating themselves for a period of time, almost erasing themselves from the realm of perception...

Then, before carrying out the plan, forge various identities to prevent anyone from seeing your true face.

This can help conceal oneself to some extent.

The reason it is described as "to a certain extent" is because this behavior, when compared to diving, is actually "diving down".

Under normal circumstances, it is indeed impossible to find them. However, if you continue to descend into the space of impression, you can gradually discover clues and eventually find the person.

When Amamiya was working as a phantom thief in Shibuya, Tokyo, most of the "mid-to-late Impression Space targets" he encountered were like this.

After Iroha shared his guesses with him, Iroha frowned deeply.

"If what Sensei said is true... then this 'special incident' really is..."

Indescribable.

Iroha now felt an urge to sigh and rub her forehead.

She really didn't expect this...

What should have been an unremarkable academy exchange meeting has, thanks to the extensive publicity by the Temple of Demons, developed into a complex and intricate affair.

Ultimately, all of this is the result of Makoto's excessive propaganda after learning about Amemiya's visit to Pandemonium.

"Having learned this information... what does Iroha intend to do?"

How to do it?

Iroha's eyes darkened for a moment, then a latent resolve emerged.

Iroha slammed the notebook shut and glanced at Ibuki beside her.

I sensed Iroha's determination.

[Coopation Improvement!]

【Iroha (Demon) ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆】

'In order to further protect Ibuki...'

'Sensei, let's get ready together.'

Amamiya, sensing this intention from the look Ibuki gave him, said nothing more.

"The investigation has reached its limit. Without the support of core information, any more of these fragmented reports are just misinformation to disrupt the plan."

Gathering her thoughts, Amamiya clapped her hands and, under the girls' watchful eyes, concluded: "Given the current situation, continuing the investigation will not yield any breakthroughs."

"So... it's time to evacuate."

Chapter Twenty: Moonlit Night, Stay Tonight

A wonderful day begins with adorable, fluffy little animals...

And naturally, it will end with them by my side.

After seeing off Iroha and Ibuki, Amamiya sat in a chair in Natsumi's office, waiting for the members of the Ninjutsu Research Department, who were preparing for the event, to begin recording.

"Welcome to 'The Girl Ninja Scroll: Xiaoman's Love'!"

The ninja girl, waving her tanuki tail with glee, began her 'performance' once again.

"Phantom Ninja Recap! Just this morning, Xiaoman specially created a new channel, updated every Monday..."

"At that time, our opening recording had to be interrupted because of an 'intruder,' so it was an inauspicious start!"

Facing the recording equipment held by Tsukuyomi, Xiaoman began to narrate "the theme of this episode" with great emotion.

"This issue's theme is... 'Xia Lai & the fluffy 'little animals'~!"

"I believe those of you who are still following Xiaoman are quite interested in the students that Xia Lai visits regularly, right?"

Amamiya: "..."

'Ninja' truly lives up to its name.

All I can say is... that stamina is truly impressive.

After several hours of intense exploration in another world, and even experiencing the physical exhaustion of awakening her Persona... Xiaoman can still perform with great seriousness, a melodious voice, and intense 'virtual interaction' in front of the camera, while also making various cute little gestures to liven up the atmosphere... showing no signs of fatigue whatsoever.

"Especially those students with 'animalistic features'..."

As Xiaoman began reciting her lines, the recording equipment was temporarily placed on a shelf by Yueyong, and then she and Izuna appeared on camera one after the other.

"Swish swish swish~ Izuna is the lord's ninja, and also the lord's fox, ninja~!"

With his hands swung behind his back, the low-profile ninja ran past the camera, then suddenly stopped and retreated back in front of the camera. After assuming a hand seal posture, Izuna gave a very serious 'self-introduction' to the camera.

"Swish swish swish... This is Tsukuyomi..."

Because of her height, Tsukuyomi, who was almost out of the camera's view, entered the frame at an unusual angle, then bent down and quickly greeted the camera.

"It's Sen, Seni's... rabbit, rabbit..."

Twisting her fingers and with her long rabbit ears drooping, Tsukuyomi, in a way that was so weak it was pitiful, struggled to 'squeeze' out the line she had prepared for so long from her chest.

"This is Xiaoman~ It's Princess Sensei's tanuki!"

Xiaoman, still maintaining her hand seals, finally enters the frame. After a clean and efficient hand seal, she takes out a tanuki leaf and pats it on her head.

"us……"

"Those are the 'fluffy little animals' that live and roam around Xia Lai!"

Sitting in his office chair, Amamiya, who had been a 'backdrop' accompanying the girls of the Ninja Research Club throughout the filming process, was beginning to feel a faint sense of danger.

Under the influence of the dual future-premonition bond skills "Eyes of Destiny" (Xiaoxue's Bond) + "Foresight of the Future" (Saint Ya's Bond)... the 'premonition' in one's heart, especially the premonition that is clearly biased towards good or bad, is always very trustworthy.

'Will posting this video... put me in some strange danger?'

Amamiya was concerned, but Xiaoman's recording continued.

"The main purpose of this video is to help everyone remove the 'mysterious veil' from their perception of Xia Lai..."

"Through this 'fluffy' video... we want everyone to see that Sensei is actually very approachable—"

“He’s not ‘aloof’ at all… On the contrary, he’s very gentle and tolerant towards us, even like this…”

After exchanging glances with Izuna and Tsukuyomi in an instant, Xiaoman chuckled and snuggled directly into Amamiya's arms.

Since Xiaoman awakened her Persona in another world not long ago, and was subsequently hugged because she was exhausted, she has come to like that feeling.

'Curled up in an adult's arms, and then...'

'The reason I have such thoughts must be because Prince Sensei unknowingly used the legendary ninjutsu, Seduction Technique, on me.'

'Yes, that must be it.'

'The reason I'm moved must be this...'