How about... skipping the sports ground altogether?

Nagumo Ugetsu and Wakaba Mutsumi continued their descent down the stairs.

After passing a few more steps down from the staircase landing, Nagumo Ugetsu seemed to have a sudden thought and turned to Wakaba Mutsumi:

"Physical education class should have started about ten minutes ago."

"Since we're already late, we might as well... skip heading to the athletic field entirely."

Beside him, Wakaba Mutsumi stopped in her tracks and looked up at him.

Her expression held a hint of confusion, as if silently asking: then where are we going?

Nagumo Ugetsu smiled and said:

"If we rush to the field now, the teacher might end up a little angry."

"How about we head straight to the plantation instead?"

Wakaba Mutsumi was momentarily taken aback.

Though her expression remained unchanged, her mind seemed to be wrestling with whether this counted as skipping class. After all, ever since she was little, her family and Luna Nova Academy had constantly taught her to follow the rules. Skipping class felt like a rebellious and unorthodox act, something she had never done before.

Yet ultimately, her fondness for the cucumbers she had planted won out over hesitation.

She gave a faint nod:

"Mm."

The sound was exceptionally soft.

Yet Nagumo Ugetsu keenly caught her agreement. The very moment her lips parted slightly, he reached out, caught her by the arm, and began to run.

The two of them dashed out through the side door of the teaching building, where the sunlight caught them unawares, casting a dazzling and brilliant glow.

The late spring breeze stirred the tips of Wakaba Mutsumi’s hair, completely blowing away the lingering hesitation in her heart.

Her footsteps instinctively fell into rhythm with Nagumo Ugetsu’s, the hem of her skirt fluttering slightly in the rush of their movement.

They could not take the usual path to the plantation; it was too close to the athletic field, where far too many students were gathered and a teacher might appear at any moment.

Steering her toward a narrow footpath, Nagumo Ugetsu pulled her along, weaving through a dense row of shrubbery.

Wakaba Mutsumi could feel her heart pounding wildly, as though it were about to burst from her chest.

This was... skipping class?

Rounding a narrow path behind the building, they ducked slightly, passing through a green corridor draped in Virginia creeper.

After circling nearly half the campus, the two finally arrived at the cucumber patch.

Wakaba Mutsumi came to a halt, her wind-swept hair falling back into place against her head.

Before them lay a vast expanse of vibrant green cucumber plants, unfurling like a carpet from their very feet until touched by the gentle golden fringes of spring sunlight.

The cucumber vines had already wound their way up the bamboo frames, their leaves a dazzling, vivid green, while delicate yellow blossoms dotted a few of the stems.

Wakaba Mutsumi stood frozen.

Her mind went blank for a fraction of a second, unable to truly believe she had just run all the way here from the academic building, entirely forgetting that Nagumo Ugetsu was standing right beside her.

She simply stood there, gazing at the sea of green, staring at those tiny, fragile blossoms without moving an inch.

The sunlight fell across her face, casting shadows through her lowered eyelashes like a fine veil.

Nagumo Ugetsu said nothing.

He stood right beside Wakaba Mutsumi, quietly watching her profile.

The air around the cucumber patch smelled damp and humid—a scent of fresh grass mixed with damp earth.

Sunlight filtered down through the gaps in the leaves, scattering mottled patterns of light across her clothes.

Wakaba Mutsumi was wearing her Luna Nova uniform, and because of their recent sprint, the white undershirt clung gently to her chest, dampened by a light sheen of sweat.

Nagumo Ugetsu glanced down briefly before quickly looking away.

"I'll... go get some water."

Wakaba Mutsumi spoke abruptly.

Emerging as if from a trance, she picked up the small watering can hidden at the base of the frame and hurried over to a nearby water spigot.

*Splash, splash, splash*—

After filling the can, Wakaba Mutsumi crouched down by the edge of the cucumber patch, carefully pouring water over the roots of the plants.

Her movements were meticulous, leaving not a single vine unattended. At the same time, an expression of intense concentration settled on her face, as though she were performing a task of the utmost importance.

"Come to think of it, why do you like cucumbers so much?" Nagumo Ugetsu asked.

"Mm..." Wakaba Mutsumi nodded without looking up.

"I like them..."

With her fingers, she gently parted a leaf to reveal a yellow blossom hidden beneath.

She lightly touched the petals, and a rare, fleeting smile appeared on her face.

In the distance, the whistle for free time on the athletic field drifted over, mingling with faint, scattered shouts, sounding as though it belonged to another world.

Nagumo Ugetsu suddenly stepped half a step closer, casting his shadow over Wakaba Mutsumi's head.

"They look really delicious."

"Huh?"

Wakaba Mutsumi seemed entirely unprepared for such a description of the cucumbers she had grown, and she raised her head in confusion.

Their faces met, one high and one low, locked in a gaze. It was only then that Wakaba Mutsumi seemed to realize something, and she quickly lowered her head back down to focus on her watering can.

Time stretched out in that instant.

Wakaba Mutsumi’s figure was half-enveloped in Nagumo Ugetsu’s shadow, while water droplets trickled softly beside the cucumber patch below.

The sudden forward movement from Nagumo Ugetsu a moment ago had caused her to lose her grip slightly, spilling a bit of water from the can.

This physical education class felt much like the last one—the two of them standing in a similar spot, with only the cucumber patch and each other’s company for company.

Until—

Through Nagumo Ugetsu's heightened senses, a figure came running toward them.

"Why is Toyokawa Shoroku here?"

He felt a mild wave of surprise, but feigning ignorance, he kept his back turned to Shoroku who was fast approaching not far away, and stood quietly beside Wakaba Mutsumi.

Toyokawa Shoroku had been running over, but upon spotting the two figures standing by the cucumber patch, her pace gradually slowed.

She seemed intent on sneaking up beside them unnoticed, completely unaware that Nagumo Ugetsu had already sensed her presence.

Toyokawa Shoroku thought to herself:

"I knew they'd be here."

During the physical education class just moments ago, Shoroku had been waiting for Wakaba Mutsumi to come downstairs for class.

Instead, she discovered that not only had Wakaba Mutsumi failed to show up, but the transfer student, Nagumo Ugetsu, was also missing.

"What on earth are these two up to..."

Once the warm-up exercises concluded, she had sprinted up to the teaching building to check if they were still lingering in the classroom, only to find it completely empty.

Filled with doubt, she immediately bolted toward another location Wakaba Mutsumi frequently haunted, and sure enough, she tracked the pair down in the plantation area.

"So this is where you were hiding..."

Though she said nothing aloud, Shoroku was already muttering complaints in her head.

With those thoughts, she crept softly closer to the pair.

Just as she was a few steps away from Nagumo Ugetsu, he suddenly turned his head:

"Toyokawa-san, what brings you here?"

Toyokawa Shoroku looked startled, clearly not expecting to be noticed, but she quickly recovered her composure.

She asked:

"What are you two doing here?"

"We just have an extraordinary passion for manual labor," Nagumo Ugetsu shrugged. "Accidentally got lost and ended up here."

Labor... lost...?

Those two concepts made no sense together no matter how one looked at them.

Yet, with tacit understanding, Toyokawa Shoroku chose not to press further. Instead, she stepped up beside Wakaba Mutsumi and joined her in watering the cucumbers.