I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"Alona, ​​request a video conference from the Akatsuki Federal Affairs Bureau."

Chapter Twenty-One: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The online video conference with the Akatsuki Federal Affairs Bureau lasted from afternoon until evening.

As for the content of the meeting... judging from the final result, at least the basic objectives were achieved.

Under Amamiya's careful, desperate, sweet-talking, glib, and charming offensive... he finally achieved the goal of turning the tide.

As for why we had to try so hard to turn the tide? Well, don't ask.

Regarding the negotiation plan with the Red Winter Federation Academy, Amamiya's initial idea was to bypass Cerino and go directly to the Grey Cardinal who would handle everything behind the scenes.

It's simply a matter of mobilizing manpower and resources. If we entrust this task to Sajo Tomoe, he'll definitely be able to handle it well.

Even something as trivial as this might be a waste of Ba's talents to do it.

In Amamiya's view, the situation at Akatsuyu Federal Academy is now almost identical to that of the neighboring "people-oriented" city.

All the student clubs were eager to pull off something big.

And Cerino doesn't do much... or rather, we should be grateful if she doesn't cause any trouble.

In this situation, Sajo Tomoe is like the 'heads' of World Wings A Company, responsible for the operation of the entire city.

What kind of crises do leaders typically face?

They've even gotten so busy that they're saying, "As long as it doesn't get to the point of destroying the city, we'll hold off for now."

Ba usually deals with matters that, if not handled properly, could cause the entire Red Winter Federation Academy to collapse.

But she handles such important matters with ease.

...It can be said that, apart from his excessive and blind pampering of Cerino, Ba was almost without any flaws.

However, spoiling Cerino is Barca's biggest flaw.

Amamiya had initially made a simple, basic contact with Tomoe, but unexpectedly, on the other end of the video call, the Akatsuki Affairs Bureau was saying, "This is truly a critical moment of life and death."

Similarly, don't ask why it's a "critical moment of life and death"; the answer is simply the characteristics of the region.

Halfway through the video conference, Cerino suddenly shouted something and pushed open the door to the conference room where Bar was.

Then... after learning that Ba was having a video call with Xia Lai, she threw a tantrum, forcefully pushing aside Ba and starting to argue with Amamiya who was talking about serious business.

And then... for most of the meeting, Amamiya was trying his best to appease the stubborn, childish Cerino in front of the camera.

After temporarily dismantling and reorganizing the bond skills and promising to "train at least one Masked Persona at the Red Winter Federation Academy," Amamiya finally managed to appease the sulking Cerino.

Then... Cerino, who was pleased with Amamiya's offer to provide manpower to increase influence through the Red Winter Federation Academy, readily agreed without hesitation.

And only now... having confirmed Cerino's attitude, Ba, who had been standing behind the camera, sighed softly and gave Amamiya an apologetic look through the lens.

"Um... Anyway, it's about human resources, right..."

Stroking the fake beard on his cheek, with his legs crossed and his head resting on the armrest of the chair, Cerino, looking utterly 'arrogant,' slowly gave a soft 'hmm'.

"Perfect timing, those from the Public Works Department, and the members of the Affairs Bureau who were 'purged' recently for failing to complete their training..."

"...Let those students go and 'make amends'."

After casually arranging the main action plans for Red Winter, Cerino yawned and left the meeting room, feeling very sleepy.

Children find it difficult to adapt to the monotony of adults sitting for hours at a time.

If it weren't for his pride in being 'brilliant and mighty,' Cerino would have been restless long ago.

After Cerino left with a yawn, Amamiya chatted with Tomoe for a few more minutes and learned some information from Tomoe about the 'purged Bureau of Affairs students'.

Ever since the Arius Squad displayed their prowess in the Red Winter Federation, Cerino has been paying close attention to the Arius Squad's training methods.

Saori was quite surprised when she was told about the 'training method', and then hesitated for a long time.

Out of empathy for the lower-level students of the Red Winter Affairs Bureau, Saori ultimately did not give Beatrice the training quota, but instead gave her the general training quota set by Yuriko after she joined Shalai.

Compared to Beatrice's hellish cruelty, Yuriko's training standards are much "gentler".

But those are the training targets for SRT students, and it's difficult for ordinary students to keep up with them.

While there are indeed proverbs like "jade must be carved to become a useful object" and "three minutes on stage," the second half of the saying "genius is 1% talent and 99% perspiration" is already widely known.

The reason why Arius's squad is considered elite is not only because they survived Beatrice's hellish training and even became one of the few outstanding individuals.

More importantly, it's because they are genuinely talented.

Students of the Akatsuki Federal Affairs Bureau... well, if you were to demand the same level of excellence from 'ordinary people' as you would from geniuses, the resulting setbacks and consequences would be unimaginable.

Initially, many students from the Red Winter Affairs Bureau who failed to meet their training targets were 'purged'.

Gradually... the students in the secretariat began to complain.

It wasn't until the office was stormed again that Cerino realized something was wrong and hastily called a halt to training as a last resort.

Although the Bureau students who were lucky enough to 'survive' during this period of training have indeed made great progress in their abilities.

But the students who were 'purged' received similar treatment to Marina.

"So... I've indirectly caused trouble for the students in the Secretariat."

Amamiya really didn't know what to say.

【~???~】(巴)

"Although everyone is feeling quite resentful lately, no one really 'hates' Sensei, right?"

"During this time, I've been instilling Sensei's reputation in the public eye and giving speeches related to Sensei to the students in the secretariat..."

'Political Commissar', is that right...?

Because of Cerino, Amamiya was a little tired, but she still maintained the excellent friendliness that the 'Succubus Mode' should have. The charm that the image quality and camera sampling distortion could not hide was still undeniable.

He smiled gently, his tone sincere: "Thank you for your efforts."

【~???~】(巴)

"……hehe."

"So, Sensei... do you have any other requests?"

Amamiya thought for a moment and shook her head.

I don't know much about Akatsuki... so I'd better not say anything that shouldn't be said.

"So……"

After showing the camera her notebook filled with meeting notes, Ba Qian pursed her lips and said, "I will immediately hand over the contents of Sensei's 'meeting' to the students in the secret service for execution."

"Although it's only because of 'punishment'... if it's to see Sensei, I think they'd be happy to do so, right?"

After a brief delay, the video feed was cut off.

After another brief blackout, and a final farewell, the connection was completely severed on the other end.

Having finished his conversation with Tomoe, Amamiya's gaze returned to the Shitei no Kagaku (Box of Shitei).

He leaned back and, amidst Alona's slightly sympathetic yet somewhat helpless expression, rested his head directly on Alona's lap.

After a brief moment of 'confusion', Alona surprisingly began to exude maternal instincts.

With a gentle smile and slow, delicate movements, Alona stroked Amamiya's cheek with her soft, tender hand and spoke with remarkable maturity: "Sensei... if you're tired, you can seek comfort from Alona."

Amamiya truly never imagined that she would be comforted like this by Alona.

After resting comfortably under Alona's 'lap pillow service' for a while, Amamiya got up and pinched the AI ​​girl's chubby cheeks, which exuded a 'maternal' quality that was completely opposite to her childishness.

“Ugh…”

Soon, Alona's strange 'maternal instinct' was crushed into discontent.

Hmm... looks much better.

Amamiya spoke softly, "Thank you for Alona's 'comfort,' I feel more energetic now... Hmm."

"Sensei, don't use rubbing Alona's cheeks as a way to vent your frustrations... that kind of comfort is not allowed!"

"If you refuse something like this, but might do it in a bad way, would Alona allow it?"

Amamiya's teasing naturally provoked Alona's embarrassed and indignant pounce.

"sen, Sensei...!"

In a fit of anger, Alona... got angry for a moment.

After angrily waving her little fists as if to hit him, Alona didn't actually do it.

“…Sensei, Alona had a dream yesterday.”

"Arona believed it was necessary to tell Sensei the contents of the dream."

Chapter Twenty-Seven: What does it mean that "there is more than one student with different academic backgrounds"?!

"Arona believed it was necessary to tell Sensei the contents of the dream."

……Dream?

Alona's reaction reminded Amamiya of a classic novel: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

What kind of dreams can Arona have?

At this point, Alona dreaming is no longer particularly strange or surprising.

After all... Alona, ​​who has the identity of 'AI', doesn't behave like an AI. She seems more like a student trapped in or voluntarily staying in the Shiting Box.

She used to think about drinking strawberry milk when she was asleep, and she would giggle and call her own name...

Visiting the Shitten Box and watching Alona's bizarre sleeping postures when she's feeling down has become a unique pastime for Amamiya.

"Oh……"

Amamiya feigned surprise and said "Oh," without teasing her too much: "For Alona to take this so seriously, it can't be something as simple as her dreaming about losing the strawberry milk again... right?"

"Let me guess... Is Alona's dream about me suddenly... dying, or abandoning everyone and leaving, or something like that?"

"Eh?!"

Alona immediately showed a surprised expression, wondering how Sensei knew.

Amamiya didn't explain, but instead asked, "...What did Alona dream about?"

Sure enough, it was another precognitive dream.

Precognitive dreams should be an ability possessed by only a few students at Kivotos, so why are they occurring so frequently lately?

He, Shengya, and even Baizi all received similar nightmare warnings.

"It seems that... Sensei had to 'never return' for some reason..."

Recalling the scenes she dreamed, Alona piecemeal summarized these 'scenes' into some keywords.

A crimson, twisted, and grotesquely shattered tower;

A white-haired girl in a black dress, carrying an umbrella gun, who bore a resemblance to herself;

More than one student had their aura tinged with darkness, exuding a fierce and aggressive aura;

as well as……

"Oh right, right..."

"...Alice!"

The keyword that Alona suddenly mentioned startled Amamiya.

Why did we suddenly start talking about Alice?

Furthermore... the fragments that Alona saw through her 'precognitive dreams' were somewhat different from what she and Shirako saw?

“…Alice?”

Amamiya confirmed incredulously, "Arona, you mean...?"

"Alice, the Thousand-Year-Old Celestial Child?"

"Mmm...it's Alice from a thousand years ago!"