I was digging into the ground. You can tell if someone is a beginner because they don't know how deep to go. For now, I'll dig until I'm stopped.

After helping the drama club, I ended up having more free time, so I went to search for something to do. Perhaps it was partly because I was yearning for club life, but I had also enjoyed the atmosphere when I was helping the drama club.

However, because Eru's club had enough people and Primella's club was the type to make individual projects, there wasn't much for me to do.

Ultimately, I thought of going to Keito's place to… help. What am I doing now? It feels like I'm just playing.

"Maria, that should be deep enough."

"Kay, what are you going to plant in here?"

"Hmm… I received some seeds. They've probably been altered so I don't know what they are."

"That's quite lackadaisical."

"There are a lot of plants at this school that I don't know about, you know. Hey, I'm going to plant it now so stand up."

"Okaaay."

I'm already used to Keito's appearance in overalls. As always, he didn't care that he was covered in dirt. However, I usually remained my school uniform. I'm not worried about tomorrow's clothes, so I don't make it a habit to carry around work clothes, even if mine get dirty.

If I roll up my sleeves, wear gloves, and use a spade to dig, I can easily avoid getting dirty. But, I feel like this might be unacceptable as a noble lady. So, usually I don't dress like this. However, I figured that since it was the season for the school festival preparations, people would overlook my appearance.

"There's dirt on your face."

"Eh, no way."

"That's why I said to wrap a towel around… No, it's over here."

"Yea but I don't like using it."

Keito gently rubbed my face and showed me a small brown fleck on his finger. I had used the towel to wrap up my hair earlier, but did I have it on when I was wiping my sweat off?

Towel wrapped like this, probably.

As Keito had said, it would have been fine if I had used the towel, but it makes it hard to breathe so I didn't. It gets stuffy when I wrap it around my mouth and it feels gross.

"How about washing your hands before wiping your face again. In the meantime, I'll plant the seeds."

"Okay, but-"

"We're done after planting them so it's fine."

I was thinking of helping more if there was any work left but it looked like most of the work was done. If I think about the number of holes I dug and how fast Keito can plant seeds… I would just be in the way if I tried to help.

Keito came with his things, so he'll definitely return to the dorms without changing. In that case, it won't do any good to stand around doing nothing. I guess I'll take this opportunity to go to the powder room that is a ways away. I want to check in the mirror if there's anymore dirt on my face.

"Then, I'll be back."

"Yea, see you soon."

Keito was already immersed in playing with the soil as he waved at me.

Keito has a deadpan face most of the time. I wonder if there are people who have seen his smile besides me.

I took a handkerchief out of my bag and then speed walked to the nearest powder room.

×　×　×　×

Powder rooms… although the strong implication is that of a girls bathroom, this one is way too big and just looks like a dressing room. The sinks are in a different location too, so you can't mistake it for a normal bathroom. There's too much girl power in the girl's bathroom so I can't calm down.

"Oh, no, you can still definitely tell…"

My face, reflected in the mirror, was not dirty. Maybe it was only where Keito had already wiped off.

However, as I expected when I undid my hair, which was already a natural mess of a perm, was even frizzier. The traces of my fieldwork remained.

My hair has been like this since birth. It can't be helped; I'll just tie it up again. We're just going back to the dorms after this anyway.

"…. Okay."

I fixed my bangs and moved away from the dresser so I could see my whole body. I thought I looked fine but I patted my skirt off just in case. There might be something on me that I can't see and I did come to fix my appearance in the mirror.

I spun araound to check if there was anything behind me. I don't usually worry this much about my appearance but no one is around. If there were people around, I would be a nuisance even though the bathroom was so big. I have no more business to do here so there's no reason to stay.

Although I say that, Keito is waiting for me, so I should get going now. The moment I looked away from the mirror, I saw.

"Ah…"

"Oh my…"

The door opened and an incredibly beautiful person walked in.

Straight hair like gold thread, jade green eyes, white skin with bright red lips. Beauty that would attract anyone's gaze. She looked too perfect to be real, like if you touched her, her existence would fade.

The sleeves of her shirt were rolled up and her skirt lay flat. She resembled Cattleya-sama's simplicity. The gap between her appearance and her clothes only emphasized her beauty.

And then, I realized. I have seen her before.

She was associated with Cattleya-sama, the red riding hood girl.

She was the heroine that captured everyone's hearts during the school excursion. What was her name… Christine-sama.

"Tsu…."   [just a noise]

I almost called out to her, but realized I'm just a stranger to her. It would be a bother if I made a fuss over a celebrity and she might hate that feeling.

We both know Cattleya-sama, but she's not here right now so I shouldn't just use her name like that.

I should just bow politely here and take my leave… is what I was thinking but…

"Good timing… I wanted to meet you."

"Ha…"

"Nice to meet you, Mariabell Tempest-san."