I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

Amamiya snapped his fingers, merging the ice of "Bufodane" with the wind of "Gardane," summoning a wandering vortex that gently dissipated most of the heat emanating from Kaguya's body, which was steaming with heat.

Feeling much more comfortable and with her strength restored, Kaguya supported her back and took off her lower body armor. Then, she straightened up and looked at Mina and Sakura.

"Well... now, I'll be the 'coach,' right? There shouldn't be any objections, right?"

Mina immediately and decisively shook her head: "No objection."

Sakurako chimed in, "No objections. Also, Kaguya's outfit..."

Seemingly remembering something, Sakurako changed her mind mid-sentence: "I feel like Kaguya-san could also enter the competition as an 'idol' from the Classic of Mountains and Seas."

Kaguya waved her hand without hesitation: "I'll pass. The stage for 'idols' isn't suitable for 'actors'."

Kaguya casually took the tracksuit Amamiya handed her and put it on. She chuckled with her nose upturned and then looked at Amamiya playfully.

"How was my performance, Sensei?"

Amamiya praised without reservation: "A revelation, truly breathtaking."

【~???~】(Kaguya)

【~??~】(Sakurako, Mina, Serina, Mary)

"It wasn't in vain that I contacted logistics companies and had them deliver this costume from the Classic of Mountains and Seas overnight."

As she spoke, Kaguya's originally lively expression gradually softened.

"Actors burn themselves out on stage, simply to please the audience."

"Idol... although the word has a different meaning from actor, the underlying purpose is the same."

From a coach's perspective, after saying a few words of "life wisdom" to the Trinity idols who were waiting for "special training," Kaguya turned to Amamiya and said slowly, "Sensei, I have done my best, and if I can make you smile, it is a great honor."

After meeting the gentle gaze of the girl for a few seconds, Amamiya replied earnestly, "There's no need to identify yourself as a 'performer' when you're watching from the audience."

After a pause, Amamiya's eyes darted around, and she made a 'joke' that only Kaguya could understand in the audience.

"Of course, if you insist on identifying yourself as a 'performer'... then Kaguya might as well consider me as the 'Dragon's Lamp' from 'Iron-Blooded Lotus'?"

【~???~】(Kaguya)

Kaguya paused for a moment, then lowered her head slightly.

"If only it could be like that."

[I sensed a change in Kaguya's attitude...]

[COOP Improvement!]

Kaguya Urushibara (The Fool) ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

After roughly combing her sweat-dampened hair to conceal her momentarily turbulent emotions, Kaguya neatly packed the scattered armor into the storage box prepared for her, then coughed lightly and called to the 'idol quartet' who were on high alert.

"Alright... let's begin today's special training."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Tutoring Department Has No Technology, It's All Hard Work

As it turns out, Kaguya's choice was correct.

Whether it was establishing authority or winning over the masses, Kaguya did it very early and very well.

With such a good start, the trainees obediently followed her instructions, wearing sportswear to do all sorts of flexibility exercises that made them feel like their bodies were about to fall apart, without any complaints.

Amamiya remained in the 'secret practice room' until nearly noon.

In the afternoon, during the break after the 'Idol Producers' finished their performance, Amamiya chatted with Kaguya about regional cultures related to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and then took Kaguya on a tour of the now 'quite large' school festival.

It must be said that Trinity's 'school festival' was quite lavish.

Even though it's just the 'warm-up' phase, many clubs have already started to exert their efforts... and these exerting Trinity clubs are already giving 'a little shock from Trinity' to outside students, including but not limited to Kaguya.

"...that is to say..."

After listening to Amamiya's explanation of the story about the "Tutoring Club," Kaguya tapped her chin with her index finger, tilted her head thoughtfully, and said, "Sensei, so you have such a story with the students of Trinity..."

"Hey... to fight against 'shadows of gods made of arrogance' under the blood-red sunset... just thinking about it gets my blood pumping."

"Wouldn't witnessing it firsthand be very helpful for 'performance'?"

Muttering to herself, her thoughts wandering, she suddenly leaned slightly closer to Amamiya and asked in a low voice, "Sensei... do you think such a 'temple' also existed in the Classic of Mountains and Seas?"

Amamiya, without glancing to the side, calmly replied, "If we don't define the scope, to talk about the entire Classic of Mountains and Seas Academy... there certainly is one, and there might even be quite a few. But as to what extent these halls have developed, that's impossible to say."

"The reason why the Holy Trinity exists as a 'temple' with such a large-scale influence that it can even erode the real world is mainly because the desires of the temple's master are twisted enough."

Kaguya's gaze sharpened, and she was about to say something when her attention was suddenly drawn to a dazzling display of light.

"Hmm...? What is that...?"

Following that beam of light, Kaguya shaded her eyes with her hand and stood on tiptoe to look in that direction—and then she saw a large stage with a sky-blue theme, on which stood five girls dressed in the same style.

They were dressed in matching azure blue outfits, and although they wore masks, one could still sense a chilling gaze and aura emanating from beneath them.

Kaguya is quite sensitive to "masks," so she immediately noticed the different masks on their faces, which seemed to be custom-made according to their individual styles.

Underneath the stage that had been set up, a group of students from various academies, including Chidong, Gehenna, Hyakki Yagyō, and Millennium, had already gathered.

"Oh, it's the phantom thief! It's the phantom thief!"

"Is this performance going to be a story of 'the Phantom Thieves battling the Caesar Group and escaping unscathed from the mirage palace in the desert?!'"

"I'm so looking forward to it... Is there a story about a phantom thief gang confronting a false god? I want to see that!"

……

"…Phantom Thief?"

Kaguya raised an eyebrow, catching the key words from the audience's shouts, and then looked at Amamiya: "Sensei... are they the members of the tutoring club you mentioned before?"

Amamiya glanced at it briefly, then nodded helplessly to Kaguya.

--It really is.

He really hadn't expected that the students in the tutoring department would no longer need to hide their identities as 'masked envoys' and would even be able to perform on public stages.

It seems that... in order to deal with the 'idol project' of the Rescue Riders and the Sisters, Nagisa has also made some temporary considerations.

Nowadays, tutoring departments hold a very special position.

After the "Eden Treaty," this separate organization was shut down by Nagisa for a long time under various pretexts—almost blatantly to make the Justice Committee, the Knights of Rescue, the Sisters give up their plans to 'intervene'.

Because of Nagisa's protective closure, the tutoring department was shelved for a period of time.

At that time, Amamiya thought that Nagisa would at least keep this 'shelved' for a semester or even longer.

I didn't expect... that they'd already been released.

The tutoring department is now a unique force, directly under the Tea Party, yet not entirely under its command.

Unless there are special circumstances, Nagisa probably won't ask them to do anything easily.

But this time... the mobilization of the tutoring department must be somewhat related to the "idol project".

"Shall we go take a look over there?"

"Mmmmm~"

Kaguya nodded hastily, while simultaneously wrapping her cat tail around one of Amamiya's arms.

"I'm having a lot of fun wandering around with Sensei, and I happen to be quite interested in 'Persona'... let's go check it out!"

"By the way, a trivial question—Sensei, since there are so many different kinds of Personas, are there any Personas that are like the facial masks used in Peking Opera?"

Yes, of course there are.

Yusuke Kitagawa's Persona is based on the Inari mask, which is a type of facial mask.

In addition... some of the 'ninjas' in the Ninjutsu Research Department also use Noh masks as Personas.

Amamiya nodded, answering decisively, "Of course there are... I've seen those 'personas' with my own eyes."

After observing the large black cat beside him, which was subtly showing affection with its tail, Amamiya joked, "Perhaps when Kaguya awakens as a Masked Persona, the shape of her 'Persona' will be a Peking Opera mask... or maybe she can even summon a performance-oriented Persona?"

【~???~】(Kaguya)

Kaguya smiled so much that her eyes narrowed into slits, naturally revealing her adorable cat-like mouth.

"Is this what they mean by 'your appearance reflects your heart'? Does it mean that a person's appearance reflects their inner state?

"Awakening is like this, but the Persona also changes according to the spiritual growth of the person wearing the Persona."

While chatting, Amamiya and Kaguya made their way to the vicinity of the stage.

While Amamiya was sharing tidbits about the awakening of the Masked Warriors, the cram school on stage had already begun their performance.

Hifumi's voice, tinged with slight shyness and embarrassment, but more so with 'immersion in the role,' began to amplify through the microphone.

"—Ra, the Shadow Sun God, is an extremely powerful enemy."

"But...we, the Phantom Thieves—"

"We must reclaim our own future, and we will never let you succeed!"

As she spoke, Hifumi on stage pinched the Perolo mask on her cheek with one hand.

"I am you, and you are me..."

"—Satanyal!"

With a whoosh, without any special effects, blue flames rose from her body and coalesced into a shadow of a rebellious demon king, at least ten meters tall, surrounded by the blue flames and wielding a great sin hunting rifle.

The 'Shadow Sun God' that the girls faced... was a target created by robots, special suits, and holographic projection.

"Heh...then, show us your strength!"

"Prove to me... that you have the means to reclaim your future!"

In the tense standoff, the girls began to unleash a variety of exaggerated and spectacular 'persona skills'.

Thus, on stage, the stars sometimes disappear, and the morning star of dawn falls to earth from the darkness.

Sometimes shrouded in the shadow of the deep universe, it then bursts into azure cosmic flames like a supernova;

Occasionally, a bird of paradise bestowing blessings would pass by, interspersed with bursts of black and red cursed fire...

Dressed as phantom thieves and armed with a single handgun, the girls dodge and weave through the ever-changing battlefield, narrowly escaping attacks with incredible agility while simultaneously retaliating.

Looking at the stage filled with dazzling special effects, Amamiya immediately understood why so many students had gathered there.

The special effects are real, the skills are real, and the movement techniques are real...

The tutoring department's 'performance'—at least the actors involved—had absolutely no special effects; it was all real work.

These devastating skills were controlled by their Personas, greatly reducing their damage and only exaggerating their impact.

Furthermore, Personas have the unique feature that 'attacks launched by the Persona will not hit targets that the Persona does not want to hit' – in layman's terms, it's called 'friendship injury detection'.

The wide-range 'AOE' with impressive sound and light effects won't cause any harm to the audience. If there are any unlucky audience members who happen to avoid the 'friendship injury assessment' range due to their low presence or other reasons, they will at most take a few hits that are roughly equivalent to full-power rifle bullets.

This is perfectly acceptable to most Kivotos students.

Even if this situation were to actually occur, there would be no need for members of the Rescue Knights to be present. Almost everyone in the tutoring club has a healing spell, and Hanako's "Bluebird" even has many area-of-effect healing spells, so there's absolutely no need to worry.

Kaguya watched for a while, becoming more and more engrossed, her eyes shining.

The tail wrapped around Amamiya's shoulder tightened slightly, and she looked at the stage and asked softly, "Sensei... is this what battles for masked warriors are like?"

"...Students who become Mask Users cannot summon Personas in the real world at the beginning. Once they become proficient in using Personas, they can use them briefly in the real world."

“Experienced Persona users can summon and use them in the real world for a long time, but the effect of Persona will still be suppressed—what Kaguya saw was not their full strength.”

"But even with their full strength, they can't unleash it under the premise of a stable real world."

Kaguya nodded thoughtfully.

"If only I had such a 'persona'... at least, it would be quite useful for assisting in theatrical performances?"

Amamiya smiled but didn't reply.

'It's been a while since I've interacted with the members of the tutoring department...'

Amamiya's gaze swept over the girls on the stage, finally settling on the "mysterious fifth member of the cram school club".

Especially crystals.

After the wait is over, should I talk to Jing?