I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

as well as……

Is that a student from the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons?

After observing the younger members of the Rabbit Squad, Nicole focused her attention on Tsukuyomi, who was sitting 'well-behaved' on the sofa, nervously twisting her fingers and flapping her rabbit ears on her head, looking so nervous that she could hardly sit still.

Unlike their juniors who share the name "rabbit," they possess true rabbit characteristics...

'Captain Yukino had an "aha" moment after spending the night with Sharai not long ago...'

'Sensei seems to care a lot about the beast-eared students…'

In an instant, a host of strange thoughts and speculations popped into Nicole's mind.

But now is not the time to confirm.

After presenting the bento box with both hands, Nicole, who hadn't quite shaken off her identity as a 'delivery person,' maintained an overly gentle smile and wiggled her fox ears: "If you can, Sensei, please give me a good review?"

...Although these 'positive reviews' are largely meaningless to Nicole.

Amid the unusual silence of the Rabbit Squad members and Tsukuyomi's growing tension, Amamiya calmly accepted the bento box Nico handed her, and then casually gave it a five-star review on the food delivery app.

For Fox Squad, whose main job is to carry out various orders from the Federal Student Council's Defense Office, and who occasionally takes on 'counter-terrorism' and other types of 'special missions', there is no need to deliver takeout to make a living.

Nicole chose the identity of a 'delivery person' as her disguise because she is very maternal and can make delicious bento boxes.

"Thank you~ Sensei's positive review has been received~ Thank you for supporting 'Foxme' food delivery~"

With a slightly tilted head in a rather cute, girlish way, Nicole then lightly clasped her hands together, announcing the end of today's 'delivery work'.

“…So,” she said, her tone becoming serious again after exiting the ‘Business Model (Part 3)’ mode in a second, “Sensei, is there some special situation at present?”

Nicole was asking, "Why did the Rabbit team 'ambush' Xia Lai at this time?" and "Why are the students from the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons here?"

Of course, the main purpose was to show concern for the younger members of the Rabbit team.

Amamiya shrugged and gave him a 'I want to know' look.

In order to divert the Rabbit team members' attention from Tsukuyo, Amamiya deliberately changed the subject and talked about topics that made the girls 'bewildered and fluttery' for a while, without having a chance to ask the Rabbit team members the specific reason for 'ambushing Xia Lai in the middle of the night'.

After exchanging a glance with Nico, Amamiya looked at Miyako and 'guessed', "Is it still because of Usagi Park?"

Miyako, seemingly only now realizing what was happening, hurriedly nodded: "Um, um... because it happened so quickly, and also..."

Glancing at the uneasy Tsukuyomi, Nico, who was acting somewhat immaturely in front of her senior, she continued, "In addition to some special reasons... I didn't state my purpose immediately."

"Recently, the main task of the Rabbit team has been to assist and cooperate with the preparations for the Akawa Grand Festival in the Millennium... patrolling the area and confirming security."

"Since the task was simple and there was plenty of time, while everyone was working together to prepare, they also conducted further investigations of Rabbit Park and related areas of Rabbit Town..."

Miyako, who was keeping a close eye on her senior's movements, looked slightly embarrassed and occasionally stumbled over her words.

...The real reason why the Rabbit team launched the investigation was, of course, something that couldn't be said out loud.

—The reason given, "to investigate Sensei's (emotional) relationship with his Fox squad seniors, and also to determine Sensei's character," sounds and sounds absurd, doesn't it?!

Through Miyako's somewhat stammering narration due to nervousness, Amamiya quickly learned about the recent 'investigation progress' of the Rabbit Squad members.

Since they are currently living in the Millennium and being looked after by the members of the Millennium Symposium, the little rabbits, who do not have to worry about their survival, can naturally devote their energy to investigating other things that they cared about before but did not have the opportunity to investigate because of their 'struggle to survive'.

Considering the Rabbit team's past conflict with Valkyrie, the bunnies focused their investigation on Rabbit Park and the neighboring town of Rabbit Town.

The park remained the same park, and their rebuilt camp there was no longer noticed or forcibly demolished by the students from the Valkyrie Public Security Bureau.

But Little Rabbit Town, which is adjacent to the park, has changed a lot recently.

The once bustling town of Rabbit has recently begun to show signs of decline—many of the shops that used to be there have quietly closed down.

"Little Rabbit Town..."

After quietly listening to Miyako's fragmented intelligence summary, Nicole took off the delivery hat with an opening that she had specially made for her fox ears, which she wore at an angle on her head, and seemed to be deep in thought.

Having roughly figured out Shirako's intentions, Nicole decided not to continue pretending.

“Sensei, I’ve come to see you this time for a similar matter.”

"You've been busy preparing for the Akawa Grand Festival and the academy exchange meeting between Gehenna and the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), haven't you? You can't find the time to get away, can you?"

With the graceful demeanor of a hostess, Nicole opened the takeout box and distributed her carefully prepared tofu skin inari sushi to the members present. Finally, Nicole held a warm sushi ball, broke it in half, gave one half to Amamiya and kept the other half for herself.

"Sensei... I hope you don't mind if I take up a little of your food to replenish my energy?"

Sensing the fox-eared girl's teasing glance as she looked up at him, Amamiya naturally accepted the invitation and jokingly replied, "I don't mind. Rather... it's a 'special honor' to share food with such a skillful and beautiful girl like Nico?"

【~???~】(Nicole)

The girl with fox ears swayed happily as she secretly observed the reactions of the 'juniors' who had just said that, then smiled and remained silent.

Such praise from Sensei, if uttered in this setting, might provoke a particular kind of "hatred."

'Next time, please be a little more careful, okay?'

The members of the Rabbit Squad, including Tsukuyomi, who were about to enjoy their bento boxes, temporarily stopped what they were doing.

"That, that..."

Miyako suddenly stood up resolutely, intending to give away her half of the sushi.

“Sen, Sensi… As an adult, you should get more nutrition… such as, if you don’t mind…”

"We had already eaten dinner when we arrived... But Sensei, it looks like you've been working so late, you probably need a late-night snack, right?"

Immediately afterwards, Saki blushed and pressed her hand on her helmet, responding shyly and awkwardly, "I can have a share too..."

Moe, always eager for drama, followed suit: "Sensei, me too..."

"Although your tofu skin sushi is delicious, Sensei's homemade dishes are not bad either... How about we make a deal? I'll give this one to Sensei, and Sensei will treat me to a meal later?"

"And I……"

Miyu timidly handed over her half.

“sen, Sensi…please use…”

Amamiya, being fed by several small hands at the same time: "..."

sloppy.

Doing this can indeed increase Nicole's favorability, but it can also easily put oneself in danger.

Amamiya didn't accept the sushi offered by the girls, which seemed like a gesture of goodwill but actually had a lot of hidden intentions. Instead, she looked at Nicole and asked, "Indeed... I haven't been paying much attention to Usagi Park lately."

"Nicole, what exactly happened over there?"

Seeing the awkwardness Amamiya had created due to her hasty remarks, Nico readily continued the conversation: "Recently, Usagi Park has indeed become much 'desolate.' Because..."

"Rabbit Park, along with the entire area of ​​Rabbit Town, will be completely demolished, and a new subway line will be built to create a new commercial city."

Nicole's alluring fox ears reduced their swaying, and she slowly closed her eyes, as if deep in thought.

"As for the mastermind behind this, it's a company whose logo looks like an octopus."

She stopped there, opening her eyes and using a wink-like gaze to conceal the sharpness beneath her blue pupils.

'Sensei...you should be able to sense the 'shady dealings' behind this by now, right?'

"...Kaiser Construction Company?"

Chapter Twenty-Four: I Thought of a Wonderful Aftertaste

"...Kaiser Construction Company?"

The name Amamiya suggested immediately alerted the Rabbit team members to the unusual situation.

The name Caesar... throughout the entire city of Givotos, it can be described as "known to everyone".

Involving multiple fields and industries such as architecture, finance, and military, it can be said that the shadow of Caesar can be seen in most areas of Kiwatos.

"Well, at least our investigation points to it."

"I heard it's a massive redevelopment project that's 'risking the company's fate'..."

Nico's description reminded Amamiya of the first "major incident" he had dealt with after arriving in Kivotos—the entanglement between Abydos and the black market's Caesar loan shark group, or rather, Caesar Bank.

At that time, the Caesar Group was manipulated by the "Black Suit Men"... or simply "Black Suit" members of the Mystic Arts, who appeared as the masters of the temple.

After being reformed, the black market's Caesars Bank, while not going bankrupt on the spot, was already declining and on the verge of collapse.

Then... in the recent "Resort Hunt" incident, Amamiya and the girls of Abydos went to the resort islands and then inadvertently stepped into a trap set by Caesar... In the end, they successfully drove Caesar away.

Caesar... he's really quite tenacious.

It is indeed necessary to "risk the company's fate" to do something.

"Then……"

Noticing the subtle changes in the expressions of Amamiya and the younger members of Rabbit Team, Nico continued, "Regarding this massive redevelopment... it's currently stalled for some reasons."

"Because many groups of homeless people are active near Little Rabbit Town."

"In addition, Rabbit Park is occupied by 'armed students'."

The 'armed students' undoubtedly refer to the Rabbit Squad—Amamiya's initial contact with them stemmed from the conflict between Valkyrie and the Rabbit Squad.

Amamiya got involved in the conflict and thus had the 'good fortune' to meet the very interesting students, the Rabbit Squad.

As for the Wanderers Group... I've never heard of Amamiya before.

"The Wanderers Group?"

"Yes, the Wanderers Group."

"According to Fox's team's investigation, the largest group of wanderers gathered near Little Rabbit Town is called 'So Sure,' led by a wanderer named Descartes."

The information Ni could provide was simple, but it was enough.

This 'special group of wanderers' is somewhat similar to the wanderer group Adcardo in a game called '2077' that Amamiya played before coming to Kiwatos.

"Caesar Architecture is currently in a predicament due to numerous disruptions to its redevelopment activities."

That Caesar... he really had a lot of bad luck.

However, having witnessed the even more outrageous actions of the Kaiser Group than Okumura Kuni and the "Okumura Foods Company" under its control, Amemiya had no reason to sympathize with them.

Or rather, compared to sympathy... Amamiya's attitude towards the news of Caesar's misfortune leaned more towards 'schadenfreude'.

But this is simply because of differing stances...

The Caesars Corporation has a history of illegal and reckless behavior, and Amamiya is used to treating them as villains. But since Rabbit Town and Rabbit Park originally belonged to the Caesars Corporation... they can certainly redevelop and expand their own land.

If we reason based on the premise that "the territory belongs to Caesar but was occupied by the Rabbit Squad," then Amamiya himself is in the wrong.

However, these are all just speculations. There is not enough information about the Caesars Group at present, so we cannot make any rash judgments.

"Is the Rabbit team's visit to Xia Lai this night also to discuss this matter?"

After enjoying the inari sushi that Nicole brought, the bunnies relaxed a lot, which had been a little nervous in front of their senior.

"Ah."

"We...conducted a 'different level' of investigation into this matter."

"Our investigation is focused on Valkyrie, but so far it's all based on unsubstantiated information..."

Miyako, Saki, and Moe, three little bunnies, shared their investigation on 'another level', one after another.

Compared to the Fox team's 'well-informed' situation, the Rabbit team is currently in a state similar to 'a rootless duckweed'.

Although it had some access from Xia Lai and other sources of help, its information channels were still quite 'poor' overall.

Because of the initial conflict, the little rabbits, who were paying more attention to Valkyrie's movements, focused on Valkyrie's investigation... and discovered that recently, Valkyrie had been in charge of driving away those 'wanderers' who were still entrenched in the little rabbit town.

"in addition……"

Moe, the hacker and technician in the Rabbit team, who is usually responsible for information integration, will eventually integrate the Rabbit team's investigation results and give them to Amamiya.

"The students at the Valkyrie Public Security Bureau seem to have acquired a batch of somewhat 'strange' heavy equipment lately~"

"Although they all look new, upon closer inspection... obvious signs of 'refurbishment' can be found. The secondhand signs are obvious, and the newness is inconsistent. Although they have undergone simple refurbishment and uniformity in style, the problems are immediately apparent..."

"...It feels like, 'second-hand weapons circulating on the black market, through some channel, ended up in the Valkyrie Public Security Bureau.'"

When she uttered this 'guess,' even Moe herself seemed startled.

Amamiya, who knew more about the "other world news," wanted to give Moe a thumbs up—it was a "bold" but realistic guess.

Because Moe's bold speculation can be confirmed in another world.