I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Hinata: "???!!"

What... what's going on?!

Why did she start holding Sensei's hand like that...?

Hinata stood there, stunned, as if struck by lightning.

The three people from the dessert department either awkwardly turned their heads away or simply stood a little further away.

"Mmm... let me try it... mmm."

"The latest Sensei... is... cherry blossom flavored?"

"How romantic, the scent of cherry blossoms evokes a sense of nostalgia and a bygone era, and, and..."

"Oh...! This, this feeling... it's a very sweet blueberry flavor!"

"Also, there seems to be another one, which used to be very faint, but now has a very obvious orange flavor..."

Sucking on her fingers, with glistening threads of silk at the corners of her lips, Xia, whose expression looked utterly terrible, even began to offer her tasting and evaluation under Hinata's increasingly confused gaze.

Amamiya: ...

Xia's sense of taste is still so accurate.

Cherry blossom scent... Is this the kudzu leaf I came across not long ago?

As for the very sweet blueberry flavor... well, that must be Rin. After all, Rin's flower bud only bloomed not long ago.

As for the orange flavor... it's still Mary's.

"Won't you... come and try some?"

She turned to the other three people in the dessert department and sincerely recommended: "Sensei... truly gives you a feeling of 'the myriad flavors of life' that are noticeably different every time you 'taste' her..."

Hao Mei twisted the hem of her clothes, hesitated for a moment, and squinted to avoid eye contact.

"I don't need it..."

Ellie maintained her forced smile, as if to say, "It's not so bad, is it?": "It would cause trouble for Sensei, so..."

Kazusa tidied her side hair, her cat ears swaying back and forth, pretending not to hear.

Not getting a response from her companions, Xia naturally turned her gaze to Hinata, who was already at a loss.

“A nun from the convent…”

"You must need Sensei's help for something, which is why you've been following Sensei around."

Hinata was terrified: "How did you know?"

Amamiya, whose hand was being licked by Xia, was speechless.

Isn't that something that's obvious at a glance?

Generally speaking, most students' first reaction upon seeing this would be, 'Sensei is helping other students.'

"I wonder if our goals are the same..."

Xia's speech always seems to be 'illogical', or carries a kind of 'philosopher's logic'.

"Sensei, the dessert department needs your help..."

Chapter Nine wasn't a match I liked, so I killed him instantly.

"In this world, the only thing that should not be missed is good food."

Standing on the street in the slums, bathed in light from behind, the pink-haired girl carrying a riot shield had a languid expression, but her voice carried an unyielding resolve.

After finishing her 'opening remarks', Xia Xia's aura immediately deflated at a visible speed.

"...Sensei, you said, 'By kidnapping skilled pastry chefs to sell more desserts,' you're using scarcity marketing to make a quick buck."

"Should this kind of thing... be punished by the 'phantom thief'?"

With all the girls' eyes on him, Amamiya had no intention of joking.

Without hesitation, he nodded earnestly.

Besides... Kywatos's absurdities are never lacking.

However, relatively speaking, Kiwatos is already quite 'harmonious'.

As far as Amamiya knows, in Shibuya, Tokyo, key targets are kidnapped and then forced to make some kind of exorbitant profit for themselves...

It's either related to pharmaceuticals or counterfeit money.

No matter what, it is an unforgivable crime.

This is just a case of kidnapping the pastry chef at a cake shop and forcing him to make cakes... which is already considered relatively mild.

Now that we know about this, we absolutely cannot sit idly by.

Amamiya stretched her wrists and shook her neck, doing a simple 'warm-up'.

“Let’s punish these profiteers with the methods of a ‘phantom thief,’ Sensei… no, Jok!”

Amamiya, who took out her phone to open the isekai (another world) app: "..."

After pausing for a moment, Amamiya couldn't help but take a closer look at the various girls in the dessert club who were all poised to start.

Honestly... their qualifications to become 'phantom thieves' are quite high.

It's even higher than tutoring centers.

If it weren't for the Eden Treaty... or rather, if it weren't for the fact that the 'Tutoring Club was established by the Osaka Cult,' the members of the Confectionery Club might have become the 'Masked Guardians of the Holy Trinity Impression Space.'

"Sophia, hack into these people's communication devices and send out warning messages to all the social media accounts of these profiteers."

Following Amamiya's command, the pixelated phone case under the incredulous gaze of the girls underwent a rhythmic light effect resembling flowing camouflage, before transforming into a tiny, adorable red-haired 'figure girl' the size of a figurine.

"Leave it to me, Jok! Punish the evildoers—Sophia, humanity's best friend, strike!"

A colorful lightsaber, seemingly inspired by a pixelated game, materialized beside her. After a brief moment of preparation, the girl hovered above Amamiya's head and pointed it forward with a fierce aura.

"...Target locked, advance notice issued!"

After completing this series of interactions that resembled some kind of 'personal sprite,' she transformed back into the phone in Amamiya's hand under the even more wondrous gazes of the girls.

Hinata's voice was slightly hoarse, but he couldn't hide his curiosity: "Sensei, what is that...?"

Is she the 'AI girl' that Sensei encountered when he was a phantom thief in Giwatos...?

"Sophia's background and origins are not the focus of this operation..."

Amamiya activated the "Otherworld App," and a thick, red-black wave spread and swept across the area.

With a whoosh, a dazzling blue flame flickered in the girls' eyes.

"The key point is... to punish the target in another world."

After the slight buzzing and dizziness subsided, Hinata and the members of the dessert club found that the surrounding scenery had become somewhat 'bizarre'.

What was originally a slum that looked unremarkable and even old has been transformed into a fairytale-like town;

The low-rise buildings were transformed in an instant into towering castles that blotted out the sky;

Their pre-selected destination, the one where the truck was parked, turned out to be a 'candy house' made up of colorful and appetizing desserts such as candy canes, cream, and marshmallows.

Both Hinata and the members of the confectionery club had previously only had a basic understanding of the other world.

"Oh... so this is another world..."

"It really is... a feeling that is beyond expectations."

Seeing the scene before them, the girls quickly began to whisper among themselves.

Soon, their conversation returned to desserts—the reason being that they discovered that these seemingly simple 'desserts,' upon closer inspection, almost all exuded an unusual quality that made them particularly uncomfortable.

The candy canes are made in a golden color, which symbolizes wealth;

The soft, white cream was stained with unpleasant imperfections;

The chocolates were pieced together to form a symbol for credit points...

These discoveries made the girls in the dessert department unhappy and somewhat angry.

"That's how they see 'desserts'... I knew it."

Hao Mei gritted her teeth, indignantly saying, "Dessert..."

"They're insulting the very concept of dessert!"

"Um……"

In contrast, the other three members of the dessert department seemed quite calm.

With a macaron in her mouth, Kazusa softly echoed, "...Indeed, unforgivable."

The scenery of another world is certainly interesting, but this is based on the premise that 'no ideological conflict has arisen'.

Xia, needless to say, unusually remained silent as she picked up her riot shield and submachine gun.

Even... the 'dessert department angel' who never seems to get angry, the minty girl, is now showing an attitude of exploding at the slightest provocation.

No need for pre-battle mobilization... that saves a lot of trouble.

As for the operational meeting?

There's no need for that anymore.

Generally speaking, Amamiya used to drive his cat car into Shibuya, Tokyo, to create this impression space, and he would beat the creature half to death before 'persuading it to do good'.

If the Phantom Thieves are willing to get out of their car and say a few words to you before the battle, that's their kindness.

Not the opponent I like? It's like a cat cart ride.

Since there was no need to 'train new members', Amamiya handled this trip to Impression Space with exceptional haste.

—Or rather, this is the true style of the 'Phantom Thieves'.

Seeing that he didn't even need to prepare for battle, Amamiya decisively called a car.

"Psona—Apollo!"

【Psona - Apollo (Arcane: The Sun)】

[Introduction: The Greek god of light and prophecy. Due to its antiquity, he is often mistaken for the sun god. He is usually depicted as a handsome figure holding a lyre and is considered the epitome of masculine beauty.]

His handsome figure and exceptional talent made him the most popular male god. However, even such a god is not without flaws.

The most noteworthy aspect of its 'stain' is the story of Daphne and the laurel tree.

The sudden appearance of the semi-transparent, luxurious black sports car made the girls in the dessert department feel a little strange.

"What a beautiful sports car, you rarely see one like it even in Kivotos... but why does it have a... somewhat strange-looking face on the front?"

"Hmm, a Persona... can it also be a vehicle?"

"Even the Holy Trinity can only afford to host a tea party if it's a high-ranking member or even the leader of the tea party... But it would be nice if there wasn't that unsightly big face on the hood."

Ignoring the girls' comments, Amamiya shrugged, thinking to herself that this was a characteristic of modern vehicle-type Personas.

Unlike 'animal vehicle' Personas, which are based on animals that can carry people, such as warhorses, war elephants, unicorns, pegasi, and giant birds, modern Personas are often more...sci-fi, but they also tend to look somewhat abstract.

The Phantom Thieves' 'strategist,' Makoto Niijima's initial Persona, Joan, is a special 'modern vehicle-themed Persona.'

If we only divide it into two main categories, technology and mystery, then Joan should be considered on the technology side.

Because its initial form was a motorcycle, it could transform into an even stranger-looking humanoid form, like an Autobot, the super-awakened Agnes...

It has become an exaggerated sports car with a wild, apocalyptic aesthetic.

Recalling the dazzling gold and black body design of real sports cars, Amamiya thought that the Apollo was relatively understated—at least it conformed to the aesthetic standards of most normal supercars. If you removed the facial sculptures on the hood, it wouldn't be much different from a regular sports car.

"Get in the car... let's just ram them."

Amamiya beckoned the girls to get in the car, and deliberately let the excited Hinata sit in the passenger seat.

"Oh~"

"The phantom thief... isn't he planning to infiltrate?"

"Those profiteers are nothing but small fry. Should we really take them seriously? As Sensei尹氣氣1散2玖迩曰=易 said... just crush them, right?"