Early next morning, before the alarm had even sounded and while the sky was still gray and dim, Mizuno opened his eyes, completely unable to sleep any longer.

Because the tent's bed was too small, he and Rudolf had inevitably collided and brushed against each other multiple times during the night.

Even though Mizuno had tried his best to minimize space by sleeping on his side, he still kept getting touched by Rudolf from time to time, making him begin to suspect she was doing it on purpose.

This anxiety had kept Mizuno on edge the entire night, terrified he'd wake up in some unknown basement, so he'd barely gotten any sleep at all.

He turned his head to glance at Rudolf, who was still sleeping peacefully beside him, then slowly sat up, carefully untangling her long tail, which had inadvertently wrapped around his leg.

He stood quietly, cautiously stepping over Rudolf's sleeping form, picked up his notebook from the desk, and tiptoed out of the tent.

Outside, Mizuno went straight to the experimental field to check, as usual, on the growth condition of the sunflowers they'd planted yesterday.

Unfortunately, the results this time were the same as always: not a single plant in the field had survived.

Mizuno squatted down, carefully inspecting the remains of each sunflower, meticulously recording observations in his notebook.

After about an hour of this meticulous work, Mizuno finally finished gathering all the data. He took his notebook back to the tent, sat down at the desk, and began analyzing the results and writing his experiment diary.

Fourth Day, Cloudy.

Got ganked by Tokai Teio.

Though it almost became a disaster, thankfully my identity wasn't exposed, and I even ended up gaining Teio as an assistant. I have to say, Uma stamina really is amazing. With her joining, she significantly reduced the amount of physical labor I needed to perform myself.

Back to the experiment:

In this round, I introduced a controlled nutrient-drip device that increased the nutrient solution gradually over time. Although still no sunflower survived in the end, there was some encouraging progress. Google seaʀᴄh n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net

All the seeds sprouted this time and grew two to three centimeters, but ultimately, they died from overly concentrated nutrients and dehydration.

So, the next step will be to further adjust the nutrient solution's concentration, then run another round of testing…

Just as Mizuno was writing in his diary, the phone alarm beside the bed began ringing.

Ring, Ring, Ring—

Rudolf's peacefully sleeping horse ears suddenly twitched as she heard the alarm.

"Mmm…" she murmured softly, eyes still closed, reaching out and shutting off the alarm. Sitting up slowly, she spread her arms wide and comfortably stretched her body.

Still half-asleep, Rudolf reached out toward the spot next to her, intending to gently wake the person she shared her bed with.

However, things didn't go as expected, since the spot was completely empty. No matter how she reached around, she couldn't find the person she sought.

"Hmm?!" Rudolf checked again, confirming the person really had vanished!

Instantly awake and alarmed, she tossed aside the blanket, anxiously scanning the tent, wondering where he'd disappeared to.

Only upon seeing Mizuno quietly seated at the desk, scribbling something down, did Rudolf's anxiety fade, replaced by relief.

"Oh… so you were right here…"

"Huh?" Hearing the sudden voice, Mizuno turned around in confusion.

What he saw was Rudolf sitting on the bed, smiling sweetly at him like a wife quietly watching her husband work from behind, a soft expression full of gentle happiness.

A cold shiver ran down Mizuno's spine.

Afraid to think too deeply about it, he stiffly turned back and continued writing.

"Otouto, have you had breakfast yet?" Rudolf asked casually, tidying her sleep-mussed hair.

Mizuno answered honestly, "Not yet."

"Then, do you want to go eat together in the cafeteria later?"

"No, that's fine…" Mizuno shook his head, quickly rejecting her offer.

He definitely couldn't go to the cafeteria. After all, his entire reason for moving here was to focus on the experiment and stay hidden. Until the experiment succeeded, he absolutely couldn't leave the garden area even half a step.

"Oh, alright…" Rudolf sounded slightly disappointed.

"Then, do you need me to bring anything back?"

"Hmm…" Mizuno considered for a moment, then said, "In that case, could you bring me back some bread?"

"Bread? No problem!"

"Thank you."

"No need for thanks~" Rudolf smiled sweetly. "With the kind of relationship we have, thanks are unnecessary now."

Mizuno: "?"

Hey, hey, hey! Watch what you're saying, missy!

What do you mean, 'the kind of relationship we have'? Since when are we that close?

All we've done is live together, eat together, sleep in the same bed, call each other by nicknames…

"..." Mizuno grew more guilty the more he thought about it.

Wait! No! We're obviously just normal friends! So why are we behaving more and more like a married couple?!

"I'm heading out~" Having gathered her things, Rudolf waved at Mizuno playfully before leaving the tent.

Mizuno: "..."

Dammit, now we really look even more like a couple!