I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

“Enemies usually don’t appear here… but if they do, they are definitely extremely powerful enemies.”

Through the entrance to the cemetery, Amamiya 'saw' the tombstone closest to her inside the cemetery.

The name 'Shiranui Hanaya' is clearly engraved on it.

At that moment, Amamiya recalled his 'Declaration of Becoming a God'—

'The weakness of the past is dead!'

'I will become the god of the new world!'

There were also some extremely chuunibyou (delusional) remarks—

Everyone has a dead child inside them.

A tombstone symbolizes burial, which is undeniable.

Is the weak version of herself buried here by Huaye?

"Let's go in and have a look."

Chapter Fifty: Here I leave my regrets.

Although the atmosphere in the cemetery was gloomy, it was not 'desolate'.

As the sun sets, the twilight scene unfolds with withered vines, old trees, and crows... Although the various tombstones, of varying heights and scattered in a way, might inspire a sense of dread, overall...

At least, the atmosphere in the cemetery is chilling, but it doesn't feel like the underworld.

—If you don't pay special attention to the gleaming white bones protruding from under that tree.

"This cemetery..."

Following a certain intuition, and with a sense of dazedness and nostalgia, 'Athena' swayed and walked at the front, entering the cemetery first.

"I feel like I've been here before."

The scene before me looks strangely familiar, but I can't quite place it...

What exactly is this feeling?

Compared to Athena's dazed state, Fubuki activated Navi's reconnaissance ability as soon as Amamiya and her group entered.

"..."

When Fubuki noticed the bones buried under the tree, she frowned slightly.

Her gaze swept quickly around the area under the trees, and she reported: "No hostile response was detected."

Upon hearing this, the girls, who were ready for battle, breathed a sigh of relief.

In such an eerie environment as a cemetery, if a fight were to break out... it would probably turn into a classic 'resurrection of the dead' scenario, with shadows appearing in front of every tombstone.

Moreover, in order to conform to the conventional understanding of cemeteries, the shadows cast by these tombstones will certainly depict a person on the verge of death, decaying, and withered.

"It's so great that we don't have to fight against powerful enemies."

Arle, holding her witch's hat, breathed a sigh of relief and turned her gaze to the nearest tombstone.

The tombstone is a round one, with a cross that is part of the tombstone standing on the arched top.

Logically speaking... the tombstone should contain a detailed record of the deceased's life.

Aru leaned closer, and what she saw—the blurry text on the tombstone—became clear after being translated by Fubuki's Navi-type personality mask and further understood by her own personality mask.

—Although I still don’t understand how the writing system was formed, I can already understand those constantly wriggling scribbles.

"Buried here is 'Shiranui Ya'..."

"Regret is the epitaph of my life at this moment. But empty regret cannot undo what has already happened..."

On the other side, Kirino also tried to get closer to a rectangular tombstone that looked square, clinging to withered vines.

After glancing at it twice, Kirino's already somewhat confused expression became even more complicated.

"Eh...it seems like 'Shiranui' is buried here too..."

"However, the epitaph seems a little different... 'Here I leave my regrets.'"

"And then there's... 'abandoned again and again, sprouting again and again.'"

Kayoko observed her surroundings, and then, led by the Cheshire Cat, she walked through the group of tombstones deeper into the area, eventually arriving at a small pavilion.

The Cheshire Cat jumped off Kayoko's shoulder, came to its senses in front of the tombstone, and meowed twice at Kayoko.

Kayoko lowered her head to pet the cat, while carefully observing the tombstone, which was slightly different in style from the previous two and had a more 'exquisite' carving technique.

The style of this tombstone seems to be inspired by some kind of Gothic Lolita style. With its reliefs and various artistic techniques, it looks like a person of high status is buried here.

But the name of the 'buried one' that Kayoko saw remained unchanged.

"This place buries my conscience. By the time I realized what had happened, it was too late for regrets..."

"As a 'traitor,' I will ultimately pay the price for what I have done."

"..."

As Kayoko pondered the meaning of these epitaphs, her hand suddenly went empty, and the Cheshire Cat she had been stroking turned into black particles and disappeared from her hand.

Before Kayoko could react, the Cheshire Cat returned with a dry twig in its mouth, came to Kayoko's feet, and rubbed against her ankle.

Holding the item brought by the Cheshire Cat in her hand, Kayoko couldn't help but glance at Athena, who looked dazed and deep in thought.

—To be more precise, she paid extra attention to the 'garland' on Athena's head.

"...an olive branch?"

Withered olive branches...

'...'

A dark red sky, a desolate, crimson earth...

With a heavy heart, Yuriko followed her intuition and chose to walk in a certain direction.

Near the central courtyard of the cemetery, on an old tree, stands a grave with fresh soil, as if someone had just dug it for themselves.

The gravedigger's shovel was stuck diagonally into the mound of earth, and fresh grip marks were still visible on the handle.

'...'

Is this apocalyptic scene really a 'coincidence'?

She half-squatted down and picked up a smear of soil soaked in dark red. Then she looked at the tombstone that hadn't fallen over yet, which was held in place by a few boulders.

"Is Shiranui buried here?"

"Fallen leaves return to their roots, and the soul returns to its homeland. What a distant and extravagant hope this may be."

"If it weren't for me..."

"How could this wasteland become a cemetery for foreign graves?"

Picking up the gravedigger's shovel, Yuriko hesitated for a moment, but still didn't 'politely dig up the grave' to check for more information.

During this period of 'free exploration', Amamiya did not linger in the tombstone cluster, but instead went with Fubuki to the 'gravekeeper's residence'.

The keeper's residence is a small brick and tile house located in the cemetery, but separate from the cluster of tombstones.

The windows glowed warmly in the setting sun. As Amamiya and Fubuki pushed open the door, they heard the soft crackling of the fireplace and the bubbling of boiling water.

The room was empty, and although it looked like it had been occupied, the traces were very fresh.

Of course, we cannot use common sense to understand all situations in the world.

Amamiya tried to observe her surroundings with her 'third eye', but she couldn't find anyone who had deliberately left a 'diary' or any other medium for recording and transmitting information there.

However, although they didn't notice anything useful, Amamiya and Fubuki spotted a familiar symbol.

—To be more precise, he saw a symbol that everyone had seen, but only Amamiya himself could recognize.

The dark, broken halo... exactly the same as the halo above 'Huaya*Terror's' head.

Fubuki could certainly see the halo, but it wasn't easy for students to distinguish the differences in shape between the halos.

Unable to discern the exact shape, Fubuki recognized the traces left by the color of the halo, which she believed to be from the intruder she had encountered earlier.

“Jok…”

She called out, as if to say something.

However, before she could even voice her thoughts, her 'persona' reacted first.

Fubuki had a sudden inspiration. She felt that all the clues in her story of exploration along the way were connected and integrated, becoming clearer than ever before.

It's like... a lawyer in a lawsuit, using his reverse thinking, went through a series of "brainstorming" and connected all the fragmented and messy keywords together.

The extent to which Fubuki's Persona can be utilized depends on her grasp of subtle clues, the proportion of events she has personally experienced... or in other words, the completeness of her intelligence.

Why are the traces left by 'Huaya*Terror' here? Is this 'cemetery' maintained by her herself?

Why are there bones under the tree? Why does 'Athena' feel like she's been here before after arriving?

According to known information, 'Athena' is the embodiment of the goodness in Huaye's heart, and her 'initial strength' is very low, to the point of being truly 'fragile'.

If Athena visited this place, then we can use this as a basis for inference and deduction...

Perhaps 'Athena' didn't come here, but was born here?

How did she end up at the Parthenon, which is "a thousand miles away"?

How she got here is not the focus of this discussion.

Let's start from the perspective of Athena's origin here.

Is it reasonable for her to be born here?

—That makes perfect sense.

A cemetery symbolizes burial, but what effort would it take to completely extinguish the flame of kindness in a person's heart, no matter how weak or insignificant it may be?

'Regret' is the theme of this cemetery and the most frequently appearing 'keyword'.

Regret over something that was 'mistaken' or 'could have been done but wasn't' is the main theme that runs through countless lives.

Goodwill is repeatedly extinguished and buried, but it is truly difficult to completely eradicate.

Therefore, Athena repeatedly departed from this "land of regret," only to be imprisoned in the temple and annihilated time and again.

After all... the difference between good and evil in Huaye's heart is just too exaggerated.

That tiny bit of 'goodwill' has absolutely no chance of influencing anything.

Then... why did 'Athena' set off?

Or perhaps it's because of the 'keyword' of this cemetery—regret.

Because of his own remorse, this insignificant act of kindness has been tormenting him throughout his inner world.

Why did 'Athena' set off? Was it because of that 'interloper'?

...There is a certain possibility.

Perhaps out of regret for having "personally experienced" it, the "guardian of the graveyard"... who was also the "intruder" who appeared at the temple earlier, joined this "tragic cycle," guiding the "Athena" who was resurrected from the graveyard to explore the truth time and time again.

And then... why did Athena appear in the temple?

How did she manage to travel thousands of miles to reach the city-state, only to be locked up in the temple?

Was it because of the 'grave keeper's' help?

Not at all.

Perhaps some 'gravekeepers' realized their group's arrival and personally logged in to play for them during this 'resurrection'...

But the rest should be inextricably linked to the "apostles" who appeared in the temple.

It was those apostles who interfered with the judgment of the shadows of evil thoughts growing in Faye's heart, making them 'devout'.

The shadows, preoccupied with their religious beliefs, greatly reduced the probability of discovering and executing 'Athena,' thus allowing 'Athena' to slip through the cracks.

After carefully unraveling the events and connecting them... Fubuki felt a sense of clarity, like 'seeing through the fog'.

"How is it, my 'assistant'?"

Amamiya smiled gently and kindly smoothed Fubuki's messy hair, asking softly, "Have you found any 'crucial clues'?"