Summer, cicadas chirping, and a handsome young man—no matter how you look at it, it sounds like a beautiful picture, if only his expression could be a little calmer.
Staring at the entire field of cabbage in front of him, Miyazawa Yuu pushed his slack jaw back up and fell into contemplation.
Now he had reason to suspect that Fukui-san had definitely played Stardew Valley. Otherwise, there was no way to explain how one person could manage such a huge vegetable patch and still have the energy to go fishing!
"Toshio-san, does Fukui-san really need our help?"
Looking at Toshio Kotegawa, who had just parked the car, Miyazawa Yuu whispered his suspicion: "Could it be that he sees how pathetic we are raising so many gluttonous fiends, and he's secretly supporting us?"
"Of course not! There is no reward without effort, that is the life lesson the vegetable patch taught me!"
"Eek! Fukui-san, you look healthy!"
"Mhm, it's been a while, Kotegawa's boy. You disappeared after the holidays just like my youngest son!"
Completely lacking the awareness that he had startled someone by suddenly appearing behind them, Kenji Fukui laughed and patted Miyazawa Yuu's shoulder.
The outline of the entire muscle block on his dark arm was clearly visible. Like Toshio Kotegawa, he was the type whose muscles were undiminished despite his age.
"Are you ready? We won't finish work until this whole field is done! Be prepared to stay the night today!"
"Yes!"
"Don't worry, Kenji-san, we'll all help!"
"Oh! Azusa is here too. Then I'm sorry to trouble you."
Hammering his old back twice, Kenji Fukui bared his teeth at Azusa Hamaoka with a pained expression and explained: "A chicken ran out of the coop yesterday, and I twisted my back catching it. I had no choice but to ask you to lend me a hand."
"Oh! You twisted your back?"
Quickly taking out the medicated plaster that her dad often used from the car, Nanaka Kotegawa frowned with concern: "If you don't mind, I have some medicated plaster here..."
"It's okay! It's okay!"
Giving a thumbs-up, Fukui-san automatically retrieved a high-grade fishing rod from somewhere, waved his hand in refusal, and explained: "For a minor ailment like this, we'll just go fishing, no need for such trouble!"
"We?"
Noticing the blind spot, Miyazawa Yuu immediately turned his head and saw that Toshio-san had already put on a full set of equipment, with several professional-looking fishing hooks hanging from his hat.
"Hold on a second..."
His eyes filled with condemnation, he instantly moved in front of the two unscrupulous old men, held up a pause gesture, and aggressively guessed: "Don't tell me that you two old men just wanted to go fishing, so you called us over here?"
"How could that be? Yuu, you really hurt our feelings!"
Piteously clutching his lower back, Kenji Fukui's face was full of the helplessness and sorrow of an elderly person—"My twisted back seems to be hurting again!"
"Then hurry back to bed and lie down!"
"Sigh... but if I lie down, I can't go fishing, can I?"
"So you still wanted to go fishing after all!!!"
Miyazawa Yuu was so angry that his entire body was blurred, but the young man's condemnation completely failed to awaken the older men's self-deception.
Smiling, they directly ignored the little detective who had figured out the truth. Kenji Fukui and Toshio Kotegawa left a single Ganbatte (Do your best), turned around, linked arms, and went river fishing without looking back.
Only Yuu was left kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down his face, reluctantly reaching out his hand like Er-kang in a desperate attempt to stop them.
"The old men, they're truly energetic..."
"I know, right."
"Energetic my butt, they're completely unscrupulous old men!"
What's done is done. Miyazawa Yuu could no longer see Toshio and Kenji's backs. He could only reluctantly get up and accept the fact that he had been deceived by fishing enthusiasts.
Pulling out a headband with [GUTS] written on it from his pocket and tying it onto his head, he tore off his shirt and said mournfully: "Since that's the case, we have no choice but to work hard. This huge field will probably keep us busy until night..."
"Well, well, for the sake of cheap vegetables, Yuu should forgive Dad and the others."
Putting on a straw hat to shield herself from the sun, Nanaka Kotegawa's smile was still gentle, but she also had a little resentment!
After all, she was genuinely worried about Kenji-san's health! It turned out to be just an excuse for the old men to go fishing together! That's too much!
But it's also not good for the old man to do so much work. In the end, it really doesn't make much difference~
"That's true! But..."
Azusa Hamaoka had no problem with the interesting old man. She was shading her eyes with her hand, but as she turned her head, she was flashed by the light reflecting off Yuu's muscles.
At the same time, as the former took off his jacket and his body was fully exposed, she also discovered something very interesting!
"Ara, it seems Nanaka wasn't very considerate yesterday when I wasn't around~"
Grinning, Azusa Hamaoka stroked Yuu's broad back, sliding her fingers along the crisscrossing scratches, then rounded to the front and teased: "Was it probably... this position?"
"Absolutely correct, Azusa-senpai has a good eye!"
"Azusa! Yuu!!!"
Nanaka Kotegawa's small face, which was red either from anger or the heat, was almost like an oil-braised prawn. Seeing that no one was around, she finally took off the scarf around her neck.
Large patches of messy red marks were clearly visible on her fair skin, as if they had been ravaged by a storm.
"Hiss... so it was mutual domestic violence?!"
"That's going a bit too far!"
Lifting Azusa Hamaoka's head, Miyazawa Yuu demonstrated precisely on her already sweaty neck how it happened, and only after a while did he look up to prove: "How is it? It doesn't hurt at all, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes, it's just ticklish~"
Letting go of the somewhat dazed Azusa Hamaoka, Miyazawa Yuu walked into the toolshed in satisfaction, quickly pulling out the appropriate sickles for Nanaka-san and Azusa-senpai.
Although he hadn't done farm work before, he had crammed for over half an hour on the way here. Doing it by trial and error now should be fine.
"Listen up, harvesting cabbage is actually very simple. Usually, you only need to use your hands!"
"Mhm, mhm!"
Putting on rubber boots and walking into the field, facing the expectant eyes of Azusa-senpai and Nanaka-san, Miyazawa Yuu carefully selected a cabbage that looked pleasing as his target.
Crouching down and organizing his words for two seconds, he first meticulously peeled off the outermost layers, then placed one hand at the base and left the other hand stationary on the cabbage body.
"Usually, you just need to push and twist like this..."
Using force with both hands, he was surprised that his body seemed quite adaptable to this movement!
With a kacha sound, the cabbage was completely separated from the stalk.
"Like this! It's very simple, right?"
"Really, Yuu is so great! I'll go next!"
Little stars instantly appeared in Azusa Hamaoka's eyes. It's true that a man working seriously has a unique charm. This feeling of power, similar to hunting, is truly captivating!
To be honest, she was a little worried that the three of them wouldn't be able to handle the farm work, but now it seems it's not as difficult as she imagined...
"Pacha!"
"..."
Looking at the cabbage in her hand, which had half its leaves torn off but its body was completely unmoved, Azusa Hamaoka's expression instantly changed from relaxed back to worried.
The cruel reality was that her mind kept repeating that it was only harvesting cabbage, and she had completely learned how to do it!
However, her hands were cursing non-stop, the gist being that her brain was a pure liar, and they truly couldn't do this at all!
"Um, Yuu! Is there a more specific description than 'push and twist,' like a personal feeling or something?"
"Hiss... if I have to say."
While Azusa Hamaoka was dazed, Miyazawa Yuu, who had transformed into a combine harvester, had already picked seven or eight cabbages and was becoming increasingly proficient.
Hearing Azusa-senpai question, he took a breath of cold air and finally came to a conclusion!
"Actually, it's no different from twisting someone's neck, I've never done it, but it feels exactly the same!"
"Ah~ twisting someone's neck, I see..."
Grinning awkwardly, Azusa Hamaoka moved to another patch of vegetables, clutching her head with wide-eyed shock. She absolutely could not imagine what twisting a person's neck would feel like!
...
Meanwhile, by the small river in the mountains, the two old men had cast their fishing lines and were enjoying the summer shade.
"Toshio, Yuu is truly a good boy. When are they planning to get married?"
"It depends on what the children want. The dive shop in Palau is about to open, maybe Nanaka can go there too..."