I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Why is it that when it comes to the tea party, it seems like they don't care at all, and the limited support is being used for strange things?

Amamiya wasn't the only one speechless after hearing this; Ako was too.

"In the final analysis..."

The blue-haired girl gathered her hair, her dead fish eyes even carrying a hint of empathy and "sympathy": "Is it because you find it too troublesome that you simply don't come?"

Yako was expressing empathy and compassion, but Hasumi didn't appreciate it.

Hasumi's eyelashes twitched slightly, and her red eyes, which revealed no obvious emotion, now held a sharp edge, as if she had been offended.

She calmly retorted, "Such wording is very impolite."

"Although the tea party, like the Pandemonium, did not directly and effectively support the Akawa Grand Festival, it at least expressed its stance. Besides... the tea party is not like the Pandemonium. Lord Nagisa usually handles many affairs both inside and outside the academy."

After a brief pause, Hasumi looked back at Ako with a different, more obvious look of sympathy.

"The reason why Lady Nagisa didn't come... is probably just because she didn't have time. So even though she could have met with Sensei frequently through the tournament, she didn't come and instead regretfully entrusted this responsibility to me."

Yako: "...Tsk."

so envious……

At least the tea party has someone to hold the fort, so they don't dump all the troublesome things on the Justice Committee.

What about the Temple of Demons?

All I can say is that they do absolutely nothing, but are quite adept at creating trouble.

This time, Makoto has handed over the responsibilities of the executive committee to the disciplinary committee, and the disciplinary committee members, led by Hina, are already 'extremely grateful'.

Fortunately, Makoto didn't insist on taking the responsibility, which would have caused a lot of trouble... and then the disciplinary committee would have to clean up the mess.

It seems I'm not qualified to sympathize with others... On the contrary, I'm the one who needs sympathy the most.

Yako, who had been shown concern instead of being shown it, immediately lost all interest and had no desire to continue talking.

Hasumi seemed to remember something, returned to her desk, and took out a gift box tied with a beautiful silk ribbon from her drawer.

“Sensei, this is a gift that Lord Nagisa asked me to give you, a symbol of the members of the tea party…”

Taking the box from Hasumi's hands, feeling its weight and sensing the faint aroma of black tea emanating from it, Amamiya knew exactly what was inside.

All I can say is... even Trinity's 'gift-giving' is...

Amamiya sighed for a moment, and then Hasumi handed him another box.

"This is?"

"I met this student, Akatsuki, while on patrol. He asked me to pass it on to you."

Amamiya responded with an "oh," and took the gift box from Hasumi's hand with genuine surprise.

My interactions with Akatsuki students probably haven't reached the point of exchanging gifts...

The weight he felt upon holding it, along with the light, slightly fruity aroma of the wine, immediately made Amamiya realize what was inside the box.

A bottle of homemade, high-proof liquor.

There is indeed something worth talking about regarding 'alcohol'.

After quickly recalling his experiences living in Kivotos for so long, Amamiya suddenly realized that he seemed to have rarely heard or even felt the appearance of this keyword.

For most of the students at Kivotos, including those seemingly 'tough' delinquent girls, alcohol was a very distant concept.

Yes, at least that's the case for the students at the other academies besides Chifuyu.

It seems that the Classic of Mountains and Seas also mentions brewing wine, but only a small portion of it exists in the Xuanlong Sect and the Xuanwu Merchant Guild.

Even in the context of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, things like "drinking wine" and "floating wine cups" seem to be things that ordinary residents of the region do—as for ordinary students, especially those from the Xuanlong Sect led by Fei Xiao, they don't drink a drop of alcohol.

Occasionally, under the special atmosphere of a celebration, they might consider drinking a little bit of low-alcohol fruit wine.

For most top students in schools... alcohol is something they can only access in the kitchen (cooking wine).

Even... in Gehenna's supply department, the 'angel chef'—also known as Fengxiang—who is responsible for providing food to thousands of students every day, can get drunk just from smelling the aroma of alcohol, let alone cooking wine.

Even the way Akatsuki's students give gifts is...strange, isn't it?

After casually flipping through the gift box, Amamiya quickly noticed a clue in this seemingly ordinary gift box.

Red Winter's students are even more... than Trinity...

Ok?

This is……

A...small note?

Chapter Seventy-Six: The key to the race using borrowed items lies in...

The afternoon hours are leisurely and fleeting.

After a scorching morning of competition, the executive committee members, who had been busy all morning, temporarily reunited in the executive committee office in the short time before the final matches of the afternoon.

"Let's check the progress of the competition so far..."

Before speaking, Yuka quickly reviewed the personal projects she had completed that morning and the various data she had received, relying on her 'cold-blooded calculation ability'.

A hint of worry crept into her heart, but Yuka spoke in as calm a tone as possible: "The individual competitions this morning have ended, and the rankings for each participating academy are being updated..."

"Currently, compared to other schools, Gehenna Academy has a significant lead in rankings."

"It's not just about surpassing a millennium, it's about leading Trinity by an overwhelming margin..."

Yuka summarized the situation on the spot in a businesslike tone, but to the members of the executive committee, it carried a slightly different meaning.

Sitting in his seat, Amamiya opened the gift box he had just received from Hasumi, which was given to him by Akatsuki student, Masaya Shigure, and took out a glass bottle filled with a green liquid resembling green apples.

Just as I expected... the gift that Shigure sent was indeed homemade liquor.

The transparent glass bottle takes on a subtle emerald green hue due to the liquid inside and the midday sunlight streaming through the window. It is clear and bright, with a few tiny bubbles on its surface. Combined with the faint "green apple" aroma that can be smelled even without opening the cork, it should be a high-proof fruit wine.

Hmm... high alcohol content, fruit wine.

Amamiya had no idea how Akatsuyuki had connected these two keywords.

While pondering, Amamiya slightly raised her eyes to observe the reactions of Hasumi, Mary, and Ayako.

While Yuka was 'analyzing the data,' Mary and Renmi, who belonged to Trinity respectively, felt somewhat embarrassed or helpless.

Mary managed a forced 'it's not so bad' smile, but her cute cat ears drooped slightly due to her disappointment.

As for Hasumi... although she didn't say anything, Amamiya could 'see' from the way her big black wings drooped and the slight disappointment revealed in her calm expression that Hasumi's mood was probably not so good.

As for the person in charge of this data compilation and analysis, Yuka's feelings... well, they fluctuated somewhat.

Before the Akawa Festival began, Yuka thought... the Millennium Academy's ranking would be very bad.

After all, most of the students in the millennium are science students who don't exercise much and whose physical strength is barely maintained at a normal level—even Yuka herself isn't considered to have good physical strength.

Yuka had thought Trinity would be a formidable rival for millennia… but after this morning's individual competitions, the performance of Trinity's students actually made her feel somewhat fortunate…

The average physical strength and motor skills of Trinity students were actually slightly worse than those of students from Millennium.

While feeling fortunate, Yuka was also somewhat worried about the current 'neither good nor bad' overall performance of the past millennium.

Currently, it seems that there is still a considerable gap between millennia and Gehenna.

However, the gap was not so large as to be despairing or to the point where victory seemed impossible.

'Focusing solely on operations isn't enough...'

'I've been going for night runs with Sensei these past few days to recover and improve my stamina...'

'The borrowing race this afternoon...'

'To boost the morale of the students and, more importantly, to secure a resounding victory, I have no choice but to step in…!'

Sitting in the corner of the office, Amamiya immediately felt Yuka's gaze, which was both subtle and clearly eager.

After a pause, Amamiya put the bottle of sake that Shigure had given him back into the gift box, and then quietly put the gift box back into the drawer.

Amamiya carefully examined the small note that Shigure had included with the gift.

The note didn't contain a threat like, "Sensei, you don't want this to be known either, do you...?"

Instead, it provided the contact information for a student named "Ami Kaori," the location of Special Class 227, and a request for him to take good care of Kaori.

'Let's contact this [Ami Waka] again later...'

Having shifted her attention from the gift, Amamiya continued listening to the situation.

"Regarding the 'Sea Cucumber Soda' competition this morning, and some other competitions, there have been cases of injuries..."

Once Yuuka realized Amamiya had regained her composure, she unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, her tone becoming noticeably brighter: "This unusual competition that triggered a large-scale food poisoning incident... also needs the cooperation of the students from the Joint Medical Department, and the 'special support' subsequently provided by Sensei. The aftermath has now been largely resolved."

"Does anyone have any objections regarding the key matters discussed this morning?"

After speaking, Yuka naturally looked around, waiting for the other executive committee members to respond.

These 'established facts' are essentially beyond doubt, and the members of the executive committee are perfectly aware of them.

No, and there is no place where it could be used to make a fuss.

"Then the crucial matches this afternoon will follow..."

Yuka paused, cleared her throat slightly, and then spoke in a calm yet confident tone: "...'A race using borrowed objects.'"

Amamiya turned the chair back, sat backwards, and rested her hands on the back of the chair, waiting with great interest for Yuka to continue.

Race with borrowed items...

To be honest, before seeing this event in the sports meet program, Amamiya really didn't expect that such a seemingly 'strange' sport could be included in a large-scale, formal sports meet like the Akawa Grand Festival, which involves several academies.

The key to the "borrowing" race is not the "race" itself, but the borrowing of the object.

Participants must draw slips of paper prepared in advance by the event organizers during the race, then 'borrow' the item that perfectly matches the requirements from the site, and run to the finish line with the borrowed item.

If it's just about borrowing 'objects', then this sporting activity is really nothing special.

The key to the borrowing race is borrowing the object, but it's not just about borrowing the object... This race can also involve "borrowing people".

Rather, the real part of the borrowing race is when the contestants draw keywords like "someone they like" or "someone they care about" from a series of strange borrowing options, and then cross the finish line with that person.

Such a 'relay race'... based on the 'Shujin Academy' where I was before coming to Kivotos, it was simply an activity that would never have the opportunity to be held.

Of course it was held. Given the 'controversial' situation at the time, probably no one would have chosen them...

Amamiya was daydreaming for a moment, and Yuka had already finished explaining the specific rules of the obstacle course race—

The specific rules of the 'borrowing race' that Amamiya learned through various comics, light novels, and other channels were largely the same.

The only noteworthy new rule for Kiwatos is that "if players select similar keywords and thus find the same item, they can compete for ownership of the item through light-fire confrontations."

—Indeed, it fits the rules of Kiwatos's art style very well.

If conventional reasoning doesn't work, then pull out your various firearms and try to "explain physics" to the other party.

"Does anyone have any objections to the specific race schedule for the race with borrowed objects?"

Yuka asked a similar second question, but this time there was no silence.

Yako raised her hand: "We can still make final substitutions for participants before the competition, right?"

Yuka's gaze sharpened.

“Indeed… we can still make the final substitutions. Ayako-san, are you going to replace the participants from Gehenna Academy?”

"Ah."

Yako closed her eyes, tilted her nose up, and twirled a strand of hair that fell naturally down her chest in her tracksuit. She answered confidently, "We need to change our participants... This time, I'm going to compete."

"Therefore, I will not be able to participate in the afternoon's inspection."

'They have similar thoughts to mine...'

Yuka responded immediately and then uploaded the data using her tablet.

She then turned to Hasumi and Mary.

Does Trinity have similar requirements?

Hasumi actually wanted to make a request.

But considering the average physical condition of Trinity students, and the situation of the competition...