Who says meal replacements can’t be eaten as meals?

Miss Mu's daily routine has always been very regular. Her strict family education has set fixed times for her to get up and go to bed. Her biological clock has long remembered the time for rest. If she fails to fall asleep at the planned time, she may be sleepy all day the next day.

Miss Sakuya, on the other hand, was innocent and had some girlish thoughts. She finished washing up early, and lay on her back in bed, but couldn't fall asleep. She stared at the last good night words exchanged in the Line message, then flipped through the pages with a silly smile, rolled around in the quilt for a long time like a cat or bug, and buried her face in the slightly hard memory foam pillow, shyly regretting it.

How on earth could my little brain think of such a shameful idea as buying a life? Xiangzi still looked serious and didn't care. Wouldn't it be weird for me to care so much?

"Su Shi." Ruoye Mu's delicate little head tilted about 5 degrees to the left, and he looked at the flaxen-haired girl with slightly rosy cheeks with his signature expressionless look, probably wondering why Su Shi suddenly became less enthusiastic about eating.

Ms. Sakuya yawned slightly, then covered her mouth with her hands. She looked at Wakaba Mutsuki shyly before saying with a smile, "It's nothing. I was just thinking about tomorrow's class schedule. Let's eat quickly. Maybe I can take a nap in the afternoon."

"Hmm." Mu's little head tilted to the right a few degrees again. He felt a little strange, but he didn't worry about it anymore. He hummed lightly and opened the meal prepared at home.

The delicate fat aroma of the hamburger steak penetrated into the nose, and one could also smell the rich flavor of the sauce mixed with mirin, soy sauce, and ginger. Miss Sakuya, who hadn't figured out what to do next, skillfully chose to discuss it later. She lightly picked up the only but large portion of hamburger meat in today's lunch box with her chopsticks and showed a satisfied look.

Forget it, now that things have come to this, let’s eat first.

Anyway, I won't worry about how to get along with Xiangzi until tomorrow. Right now, I'm in a leisurely vacation mode in the Tsuki no Mori. If I keep worrying about it, wouldn't it be a waste of my trip to the Tsuki no Mori?

Speaking of which, there was a lot of meat today. Sure enough, my sister was praising my performance yesterday~

"I'm starting!", thanking her elder sister in her heart and praising herself at the same time, Sakuya-san began to eat elegantly.

The hamburger meat was soft and tender, thanks to the fried outer layer that held it together. Sakuya carefully controlled the strength, picked up one of the pieces and brought it to her mouth, then happily bit off more than half of the patty in one bite and enjoyed it comfortably.

The hamburger patties, after being carefully stirred and seasoned, have a delicate texture, with the juicy taste unique to animal fat. The seasoning is the standard Japanese salty-sweet style with a hint of bitterness. The taste is rich and refreshing, perhaps because of the addition of diced vegetables to the meat?

Maybe it's the green pepper? My sister really tries her best to make me eat more vegetables~

Miss Sakuya thought indifferently. She couldn't say that she hated vegetables. She just didn't want to eat only vegetables every day. She was not a vegetarian. The reason why humans evolved into their current form was to tell everyone that eating everything would lead to a balanced diet.

So she chewed it with peace of mind.

The teeth cut through the bitter melon cubes that retained their bitterness and did not leak out much, and the juice burst out on the taste buds, leaving an extremely abrupt and strong bitterness. The despicable conspiracy was brewing all night, and the deliberately set trap exploded instantly. In the courtyard on a sunny afternoon, someone stopped chewing, pursed his lips slightly, and had a dazed look in his eyes. His high-speed brain had already scattered his thoughts to Alpha Centauri.

No... that's not right? How can hamburger meat be bitter?

"Su Shi?" There was a rare fluctuation in Ruoye Mu's tone. The people around her had been showing drastic changes in facial expressions since the beginning, which made Miss Mu confused. Now she lowered her head and looked at the food on her lap, lost in thought.

"...Uncomfortable?" Mu asked cautiously, somewhat worried that he had done something that made Su Shi unable to even enjoy eating.

"Woo~" Miss Sakuya turned around and looked at Xiaomu's concerned eyes and shook her head, making a pitiful nasal sound. She was worried that her identity would be exposed, and she couldn't spit out the devil's food in her mouth in front of him, so she could only take a few bitter mouthfuls of white rice and swallow them quickly.

Why add bitter melon cubes to hamburger meat!

Today, Su Shi rarely lost her elegance. Her eating movements were very cute, and her watery eyes made people feel pitiful. Ruo Yemu's little hands that unconsciously clenched the chopsticks also relaxed, and she simply asked with concern. "What's wrong...?"

"I tasted something I didn't like. I really can't eat vegetables like bitter melon..." Miss Sakuya was dejected. She put the bitten hamburger meat back to its original place, picked up a vegetable salad that she usually didn't like to wash away the bitter taste that remained on her taste buds, and in her heart, she poked her sister's soft belly.

That’s so abominable. My sister obviously doesn’t like bitter melon either.

Ruoye Mu's golden eyes closed and then reopened. He did not ask Su Shi why he did not know what was in the lunch box he had prepared. His eyes quietly fell on the common but not often eaten hamburger meat, and then turned to the beef ribs that served as the source of protein in his lunch box.

"This... is for Su Shi." Miss Mu picked up three strips at once with great effort and put them into Su Shi's insulated lunch box. She paused for a moment with her chopsticks before quietly pulling them back.

"It's slow cooked at low temperature...very healthy." Ruo Yemu felt a little guilty for some reason and explained in a low voice.

"For me? You're so nice, Mu-chan!" Miss Sakuya accepted it with great emotion. Although she and Mu-chan had exchanged bento boxes many times, this was the first time Mu-chan took the initiative.

"...Yeah." Ruo Ye Mu's beautiful face did not change. She nodded slightly, but her ears felt a little hot.

With her chopsticks resting on the edge of the lunch box, she suddenly looked at Su Shi quietly without saying anything. She was waiting for the customary 'return gift'.

"Hey...Xiao Mu, do you want to try the vegetable salad? It tastes pretty good." Miss Sakuya felt a little embarrassed by being stared at, and tentatively placed her chopsticks on the salad.

Wakaba Mu shook his head.

“What about spinach?”

Ruoye Mu continued to shake her head. She wanted to eat meat today.

"Then there's only hamburger meat left, but it won't taste very good with bitter melon cubes..." Ms. Sakuya felt a little embarrassed, but saw Xiaomu nodded obviously.

"Well...if you don't want to eat it, it's okay to give it back to me, but don't force yourself." Miss Sakuya thought for a moment, picked up a piece of meat that she hadn't bitten yet, and gently placed it in Mu's quite healthy diet structure.

Ruo Ye Mu looked down, a little disappointed, then raised his head again, staring at Su Shi with his golden eyes without blinking.

“What...what happened?” Miss Sakuya felt that the situation had become inexplicably delicate.

"I want to eat more." Ruoye Mu said this while staring at the half piece of steak that had been stuffed into the corner by someone.

Chapter 143 I'm a bit sleepy

Katsume Ai had planned to go to the news department later today, but just after lunch break, she was grabbed by the sleeve by an unscrupulous reporter wearing a yellow safety helmet and holding an electric screwdriver in his other hand.

"Go and lead Nagasaki and Wakaba to the equipment warehouse next to the Horticulture Department." Fujimiya Hermia, with heavy dark circles under her eyes, said straight to the point.

"So sudden." Kazume Ai rubbed her eyes, making sure that the strange outfit in front of her was not a dazzle before asking. "Why is Hermia dressed like she just came from a construction site, and she looks sleep deprived?"

"Because the president carried the furniture into the school overnight last night, and without any professional ethics, dragged the junior high school students who needed adequate sleep along, and converted the equipment warehouse into a luxurious king-size bed room before being discovered by the teacher." Kongshan Banxia, ​​who was also wearing a safety helmet and work gloves, took off his glasses and yawned, always using a declarative tone.

"Hey, this is a bit too exaggerated, are you two okay?" Katsume Ai, who was originally feeling a little guilty about deceiving Su Shi-san, was only shocked. These days, reserve journalists are working so hard that they can even modify the scene of an event for big news! ?

"They are just some trivial matters that are not worth mentioning. Compared to that, isn't it time for Ai to set off?" Fujimiya Hermia suppressed the sleepiness in her heart and took out her commonly used WX-350.

"Do we really have to do this?" Kazume Ai dragged out the words. To be honest, she actually wanted to see Su Shi find her own happiness, but it was a bit too much to want to betray her dear friend...

"After the deal is done, whether it is published in the newspaper or not, I will send you a carefully edited copy of the photo." Fujimiya Hermia said directly, shaking the photo in her hand, playing the trump card she had already memorized. "Also... Ai-san doesn't want others to see the photo of herself sleeping with snot bubbles on her face, right?"

"Gu, when?" Katsume Ai was slightly shocked. She felt that in an instant the set had changed from having to pay extra to being a strange variety show that could only be broadcast in the evening.

"Then wait for good news. Good luck." Hermia said perfunctorily, covering her mouth and breathing heavily as she hurried towards the chosen location.

"彳庍口巴."

======

First time is new, second time is familiar. At the corner of the atrium, Ichinose Sakuya and Wakaba Mutsu stood on either side, cooperating to water and prune the three rows of potted plants. Holding a small pair of scissors in her left hand and wearing standard gardening gloves on both hands, she was very capable in pruning leaves and branches. Unfortunately, she couldn't find a sun hat commonly seen in the countryside, which made Ms. Sakuya's plan to experience being a gardening committee member fail halfway.

"Su Shi... is very skilled." Wakaba Mutsu, who was standing in front of Xiao Huanggua, raised the shower head, looked at the flaxen-haired girl who was in a good mood, and said softly.

After all, I took care of the plants at home myself when I was in Uji.

"It's actually very ordinary. The shapes were all designed by the teacher. I just helped to adjust the shape of the leaves and so on." Ms. Sakuya nodded. She couldn't say that she was actually playing with the scissors as a toy.

"......" Ruo Ye Mu also nodded. She felt that what Su Shi said was very reasonable.

Without any more conversations, the air gradually became quieter. When the breeze blew, one could clearly hear the rustling of crickets in the grass.

Ruoye Mu held up a plastic watering can that was a little too big for her with both hands and watered the flowers one by one. The flowers responded a little more enthusiastically, with their fragrance lingering on the tips of her hair, but she still preferred her own little cucumbers, which didn't talk much and just grew up quietly.

I was watering the cucumbers in silence, and you were watching me in silence. There was no need to say anything, nothing to say. How nice it would be if the days could continue like this forever.

Wakaba Mutsu walked all the way to the chestnut-haired girl who was standing still, then stopped and looked up at Nagasaki Motoyo who was squinting her eyes at the sun. She also raised her head and looked at the scorching summer sun that was just beginning to tilt towards the west.

Like accompanying the sun in the water.

Like a fleeting ephemeral flower, its reflection in the water is destined to be just a passer-by in life, yet it is so beautiful and dazzling.

"Su Shi, didn't you bring your bass today?" Ruoye Mu suddenly asked.

"Well, it's just a simple meeting today, no practice appointments, and it's in a cafe. As long as we get there on time, there won't be any big problems." Sakuya turned around, recalling what her sister told her last night, and said casually.

"That's great." Ruo Ye Mu was truly happy for Su Shi, but he also felt reluctant to let her go. After Su Shi had new friends, he might not accompany him like he did today.

"That...Su Shi." A familiar voice was heard, and the black-haired girl walked over shyly.

If Ye Mu had some impression of him, he was the kind classmate who handed him water yesterday.

"What's wrong?" Miss Sakuya also had some impression of her. It was her older sister and classmate who asked her a lot of strange questions on the first day of school.

"Although it's a little sudden, could you please help me pick up some flower bed samples from the warehouse next to the Gardening Department and send them to the Student Union Room?" Katsurame Ai's voice was a little stiff, but neither of them cared much. "We plan to purchase some decorative plants for the music festival, but the flower beds have been piled up for a long time and many of them have defects. We have to check them in advance."

"I have a brass band rehearsal that I have to attend. After much thought, I can only ask Su Shi for help. Next time, I will prepare afternoon tea snacks to thank Su Shi." Katsurame Ai clasped her hands together and asked solemnly.

"Oh...sure." Ms. Sakuya probably searched for the key words, thought for a moment, and nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Su Shi, and... there seems to be some problem with the warehouse door, so be careful when you enter." Ge Mei Ai breathed a sigh of relief, said the last sentence in a very quick tone, and hurriedly ran towards the hall.

I accepted the suddenly refreshed delivery commission and completed the daily task of watering the cucumbers. It seemed that there was nothing big to happen next.

After delivering the flower beds, I will go meet up with my sister, then go home early and go to bed.

Miss Sakuya, who was feeling a little sleepy, thought so and turned to look at Xiao Mu who was quietly waiting for her, only to find that the latter was also looking at her eagerly as if he was a little reluctant to leave.

"Xiaomu, do you want to come with us?" Sakuya was packing up her gardening tools, planning to go back to the gardening department first and then look for the mysterious equipment warehouse.

"Su Shi, I don't know the way." Ruo Yemu stepped forward and nodded slightly.

"That's true. How about giving half of the snacks we get to Xiaomu?"

The two of them walked side by side naturally on the stone road covered with sycamore branches. Ruo Yemu came very close this time. She nodded again and said nothing more.

Chapter 144 As You Wish

"Is this it?"

Ichinose Sakuya held the warehouse door bolt with one hand and turned it lightly half a turn without much force. The spring clip made a crisp sound and operated as usual. She pushed open the white wooden door easily, as if there was no problem.

"Should." Ruo Yemu followed the girl at a distance of two or three steps. She was not very sure about the specific situation of the warehouse. There were few people in the gardening department and there was almost no demand for storage. This was her first time here, so she used a slightly fluctuating and uncertain tone.

Although the windows were open for ventilation, there was little dust in the warehouse. Miss Sakuya glanced around and saw two clearly defined areas. One was where flowerbed sundries were piled up, while the other had a wooden bed large enough for two people to lie on. The beds were tidy and arranged symmetrically, and she could smell a faint floral scent that sounded like air freshener.

Ms. Sakuya tilted her head in confusion, but still couldn't suppress the desire to complain. She turned around and gestured with her hands to Wakaba Mutsu who followed her in. "I thought the school's warehouse would be more..."

"More?" Mu cooperated very well and played the role of the supporting actor.

While Sakuya was searching for the items her sister and classmates had asked her to deliver, she racked her brains to find the right words from her limited knowledge but quickly gave up.

“It’ll have a more warehouse feel.”

"......Yeah." Ruo Ye Mu didn't understand, but she still nodded slightly.

"Xiao Mu, you don't have to force yourself to understand. It will make me look stupid..." Ms. Sakuya said with a bit of resentment as she held the not-too-heavy small flowerpot in one hand.

"......Yeah." Ruoye Mu nodded again.

"Anyway, let's go quickly. How about we try drinking tea together in the courtyard in a few days? After watering the cucumbers." Sakuya curled her lips, took light steps, and walked towards the door. She was quite looking forward to the afternoon tea time with Xiaomu.

"Yeah." This time Miss Mu answered quickly.

"That's all right~" Sakuya chuckled. As expected, when it comes to gaining weight, it's better to drag your friends along to feel at ease.

Then the girl's smile froze on her face, and soon turned into a mixture of confusion and bewilderment. Looking at the warehouse door bolt that she had twisted off with the handle, Miss Sakuya thought for a moment, tried to put it back in place and twisted it again.

With a hopeful snap, someone successfully locked the door.

The air was quiet for a while. Miss Sakuya turned her head helplessly to look at Wakaba Mutsu who was also in a daze. When their eyes met, she looked away awkwardly. After a long while, she spoke in a low voice.

"Does Xiaomu have the key to the warehouse?"

Ruoye Mu nodded and opened his mouth slightly. "Gardening Department, it's in the cabinet."

"Eh..." Sakuya put down the bolt in her hand in embarrassment. There was no one around and she didn't have her cell phone with her. Isn't this the classic academy warehouse incident in the anime?

"Su Shi, what should I do?" Ruo Yemu approached with some concern. He could quietly wait for the patrolling teacher to find him, but Su Shi couldn't. The girl in front of him told him that she had to go early this afternoon to prepare for the band.

"It's okay. There are always more solutions than problems. It's okay." Miss Sakuya felt that Xiao Mu was a little flustered, so she subconsciously comforted him, then smiled at the girl who suddenly approached her, and quietly changed the subject. "It's a good thing that Xiao Mu came with me today. If there are two of us, it won't be so boring even if we are trapped, right?"

"Hmm." Although they were inside the warehouse where the sun could not reach directly, Ruo Yemu suddenly felt that the person in front of her was a little dazzling. She closed her eyes, nodded lightly, and lowered her head obediently.

"Su Shi, aren't you in a hurry?" Mu's golden eyes remained lowered.

"To be honest, a little bit." Ms. Sakuya looked up at the layout of the warehouse, passing by the large bed of unknown significance, and her sight followed the sundries all the way to the top window through which the sunlight slanted in.

"But there's no use getting anxious, right?" Little Leather Shoes tentatively stepped onto the edge of the flower bed, hooked his hands on the iron locker, and exerted force with his palms to climb up along the pile of debris.

"Besides, I feel quite safe when I'm with Xiaomu." The sunlight fell on him. Sakuya climbed to the edge of the window skillfully and looked back proudly. He then turned his head to look at the roses blooming perfectly on the green grass outside the window and said so.

There is no need to think too much, and the homework is not that difficult. Every day, Sakuya exchanges lunch boxes with friends, chats about daily trivial matters like the cat he met on the street corner that followed him all the way, and basks in the sun leisurely. Except for the need to maintain a disguise during classes and the lack of black tea, life in the Tsuki Forest makes Sakuya very satisfied.

But the most important reason is probably because Xiao Mu is there to accompany me, a fool who can’t even tie his scarf.

"..."

The light became brighter, and the body of the girl who was half-squatting on a high place was coated with gold dust. Her long flaxen hair floated like golden sand, and her heart beat violently, but the heart was beating all the time.

But in fact, from the moment "Su Shi" first met himself in the Moon Forest, and now at this moment, it jumped in the most inexplicable way, as if it had been still for so long, and suddenly jumped for a while, and then the whole person came alive, like the sunlight falling on the pale yellow cucumber flowers, giving birth to crisp fruits in the blink of an eye.

For the first time, Wakaba Mutsu felt that the gentle figure of Nagasaki Suyo in his heart became a little blurry.

Flaxen hair, grey-blue eyes, so similar, yet completely different.

"Xiao Mu." Miss Sakuya, who had half of her body stuck out, pulled back awkwardly, looked down at the cucumber-like light green-haired girl, scratched her cheek, and said embarrassedly. "Xiao Mu, do you have the confidence to climb up?"

"......" Ruo Yemu looked back, opened his mouth in a daze, and blinked his eyes. It was obvious that his thinking circuit jumped too big and the system could not react yet.