Chapter 573:
The Bear Makes a Mistake
AFTER LEAVING SELEIYU, I headed over to the lake where Shia and Noa would be.
I figured things would be okay, but I was also a little worried. I was only supposed to be out at Seleiyu’s house for a short time, but I’d ended up leaving the town to go battle monsters. I never could have guessed all that would happen.
I headed into the academy and arrived at the lake, but I had no reason to worry. Things looked completely identical to the way they had before I’d headed to Seleiyu’s house. I heard the students shouting in excitement as they were prepping what looked like a barbeque. It smelled great.
If I’d made even a slight mistake, this would have all been destroyed. I was glad I’d stopped that man’s plan. A lot of suffering would have been created by one man’s unrequited love. The guy really had been a nuisance. He had a talent for magic, so if he could have just used it for good, there was no reason he couldn’t have lived happily ever after with some other lady.
Anyway, where was Noa?
“Oh, Yuna!”
Noa spotted me first, as I was searching for her. She came up to me, now wearing her swimsuit.
“You took such a long time, Yuna. Did you get to see Lady Seleiyu?”
“I did. We got to talking and it took longer than I thought. Sorry.”
“I’m just glad that nothing happened to you, Yuna. It was taking a while, so I thought something might have come up.”
She was sharp.
“You’re not in your bear outfit today, so I figured it would be okay. I did still worry, though.”
Yeah, my bear onesie did get me into a lot of trouble, but not this time. So if I got into trouble even without the bear onesie, did that mean I was just prone to getting pulled into these types of things naturally?
“Did you finish everything you needed to with Lady Seleiyu?”
“Yeah,” I said.
Seleiyu and her family said they would look into the man and take care of all the other stuff, so I was sure my job was done.
“Then would you like to play with me? You should hurry and change into your swimsuit.”
Noa grabbed my bear puppet.
“Uh. I’m okay.”
“But you promised to once you got back.”
Right, I might have done something like that. So many things had happened that I’d forgotten all about it.
“So let’s go!”
Noa seemed to be having the time of her life pulling me by the hand as she dashed off. In the end, I couldn’t escape, and I had to change into a swimsuit to hang out with Noa and Shia.
I didn’t mind, but I couldn’t keep up with these kids, and I quickly ended up out of commission, of course. Playing with the energetic young child was just too hard for me as an ex-shut-in.
I had put away my bear gear in my bear storage, so I was only wearing my white bear puppet at this point.
“So you’re all leaving tomorrow, Shia?”
“Yes. Would you like to come with us? You’ll stop by the capital, won’t you?”
“I will, but I’m supposed to go to Seleiyu’s tomorrow, so I don’t think we can go back with you.”
Since we were heading home on Kumayuru and Kumakyu, the other students would end up seeing my bears. That seemed like it’d be a pain to deal with, so I didn’t want to go back with them.
“What do you want to do, Noa? Want to go home with Shia to the capital? Or would you like to go home with me?”
I was here as Noa’s guard, but if she as with Shia and the other students, she’d be safe.
“I’ll go home with you of course, Yuna.”
Noa didn’t even hesitate.
“Are you sure? It might be a while until I head back.”
“Yes, I doubt Father would be upset if I stay for a few more days. In addition, if I go back with Shia and the others, they might think you didn’t follow through with your job. I would explain to Mother and Father and they would likely understand, of course, but I don’t want to create unnecessary trouble.”
Right. Ellelaura would find out if Noa left for the capital first. And then Cliff might find out. It wouldn’t be a big deal if we explained, but it would be a pain.
“In addition, I can’t let the opportunity to ride home on Kumayuru and Kumakyu slip me by.”
Noa was firm with her response.
“Choosing bears over your own sister?” Shia pretended to look sad.
“Please don’t look at me like that, Shia. I already promised to spend the night with you today. I’ll visit the capital too, so we’ll see each other again.”
It seemed Noa was going to be staying in Shia’s room tonight again, after tuckering herself out and doing the same thing yesterday.
“Yuna, I know I didn’t ask you earlier, but may I stay in Shia’s room tonight?”
“Yeah. You’ve finally gotten the chance to see Shia, so you might as well take advantage of it.”
It was great that they were so close.
After that, Shia accompanied us to go souvenir shopping until it got dark.
“Let’s meet in front of the academy tomorrow, like we did this morning.”
“All right.”
Since Kumayuru was Noa’s guard yesterday, Kumakyu was her guard today. I was having them take turns.
“Kumakyu, take good care of Noa, okay?”
“Cwoon.”
Noa carried the cub-form Kumakyu off to Shia’s room.
Once I got back to the inn, I collapsed into my bed.
“I’m beat!”
I finished dinner, so all I needed to do before bed was to take a bath. Since I wasn’t wearing my bear gear, I was also physically exhausted, and interacting with all those energetic, cheerful youths had sapped me of my mental stamina.
Being young sure was amazing. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a little voice was reminding me I was still only fifteen…but details, details.
It was ten times more tiring playing with Noa and the others at the lake than it was slaying all those monsters. Walking around without my bear shoes really was exhausting. Especially since the water slowed you down. That was way harder on the muscles. It was good exercise, but I really was exhausted. I remembered pool class during elementary school and how it always tired me out and made me groggy.
I really wanted to head to the Land of Wa so I could recharge from today by sitting in a hot spring.
“I want to go to a hot spring,” I said out loud.
Once I thought about it, I couldn’t stop. I felt bad for Kumakyu, who was guarding Noa, but I ended up deciding to take a little excursion to the Land of Wa with Kumayuru.
I pulled out my bear gate and transported off. The room was pitch-black, so I created a light bear. This is obvious, but if you were never in a room, then the lights would never be on. The only room that probably had a light on was Ms. Kagari’s.
I decided I’d head to the hot spring after I said hello to Ms. Kagari.
As I approached her room, I saw her inside by the open window, enjoying some kind of alcoholic beverage. Based on the way her tail waved back and forth, she seemed like she was in a good mood.
Also, she was still in her little girl form.
“Good evening, Ms. Kagari.”
“I thought it was you. The hot spring, is it?”
Ms. Kagari could apparently feel my presence. Maybe because she was a fox?
“Yep. I came here to recharge, since I’m a little tired.”
“Is that the reason for your strange garb? I almost didn’t recognize you.”
I was still in my school uniform. I had to change after the hot spring anyway, so I just came in my uniform. But “strange garb”? I guess from the perspective of the Land of Wa, it would be.
“No comment on the clothes,” I said. “Well, I’ll be off if that’s okay with you.”
“’Tis your abode. You needn’t ask my permission.”
“Well, you are managing it, so.”
It was just etiquette, and I didn’t want Ms. Kagari to feel weirded out by me going to use the hot spring without checking in. That was why I made sure to talk to her whenever I came in. After that, I headed to the spring.
While I was in the changing room, I summoned Kumayuru in cub form. Then I pulled off my uniform and headed into the hot spring with my bear. Even though I wanted to get into the hot spring as soon as possible, I washed Kumayuru first as a thank-you for protecting Seleiyu. Kumayuru seemed pretty happy. I’d need to go with Kumakyu next time I stopped by.
At the time, I thought I could just reward Kumakyu later. I never could have expected what came after...
Once I finished washing Kumayuru, I washed myself and got in the hot spring.
“Ahh.”
It was a little too hot, but the water really soaked into my muscles. It felt so nice. I started to massage my thighs and upper arms to make sure I wouldn’t be sore later.
I really needed to do some exercise without my bear gear on. How many times had I had that thought? I could never stick to it though. I mean, working out is just so tiring. Such a pain.
After I let the day’s fatigue melt away, I got out, dried Kumayuru off, and brushed them. Then once I got back to Yufaria, I collapsed right into bed with Kumayuru, and we fell asleep.
The next day, Kumayuru woke me up and I headed to the academy. Once I got in front of the school gates, I saw Noa and Shia waiting like yesterday.
“Morning, you two.”
Noa dashed over to me. “Yuna, something terrible has happened.”
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure, but when I woke up this morning, Kumakyu was acting like this.”
Noa showed me Kumakyu, who she was holding in her arms. Kumakyu looked devastated.
“What’s wrong, Kumakyu?”
Kumakyu let out a forlorn croon from in her arms. Wait, were they sulking? Was this because I went to the Land of Wa hot spring with Kumayuru?
Yeah, they had definitely found out. I wasn’t going to hide it. They were definitely sulking over not being taken to the hot spring.
“What do we do, Yuna? What did I do wrong?”
Noa looked worried.
“It’s not your fault, Noa. It’s mine.”
“It is?”
“I went out last night with Kumayuru. Kumakyu’s sulking because they felt left behind.”
I took Kumakyu from Noa and held my bear.
“Sorry, Kumakyu. I wasn’t trying to leave you out. We’ll go together next time. I’ll even wash you and we can sleep together too.”
“Cwoon.”
Kumakyu turned to look away from me. It looked like I needed to spend some time with my bear. Apparently, even if I was tired, I couldn’t go with just one bear to the hot spring.