Extra Story: The Bear Rebuilds the Orphanage

Extra Story:
The Bear Rebuilds the Orphanage

 

THE ORPHANAGE KIDS were working their hardest, taking good care of the kokekko and doing a great job at Bear’s Lounge. I wanted to do something for them. Let’s see…I repaired the old orphanage building, but it was still old and worn down. None of the kids uttered even a word of complaint about it, but…

“Hey, you mind if I rebuild the orphanage?” I asked Cliff one day.

“What? You show up out of the blue and that’s what you ask for?”

“I mean, it’s your town, right? I was thinking I’d consult you before I did anything.”

Cliff sighed. “Do you really think I’m that petty of a person?”

“Ehh.”

“I’ll have you know, young lady—”

“I’m joking. I really did just come to get your permission. The building is owned by the city, isn’t it?”

“Hm. All right, you have my permission. Do anything you’d like with it.”

“Thank you.”

“No need for that.” I tried to leave, but he stopped me and called his butler. “Rondo, please prepare some funds.”

“Yes, my lord,” Rondo replied, and immediately left the room.

“I don’t really need money.”

“We can’t have that. I don’t think money can make up for my negligence, but I’m still going to help if you’re going to rebuild the place.”

“But…”

“The orphanage can sustain itself even without the town’s aid because of you. I know that. Please accept the money. Consider it an apology from me.”

Even if I did accept it, I didn’t need it in order to build the house. I was going to make it with magic after all, but… “Can I use it for anything?”

“Use it however you please.”

In that case, maybe I’d use it to buy furniture and stuff they needed for their daily lives. They needed new bedding, and I wanted to get them matching plates and cutlery, too. I’d need to consult the headmistress and Tiermina first, though.

The door opened just as our conversation wound down; the butler Rondo came back.

“Lord Cliff, here you are.”

“Please give it to Yuna.”

Rondo offered me a bag that was almost bursting with money. “Your funds, miss.”

I thanked him and accepted it. Jeez, it was heavy. He gave me a lot more than I expected. “If there’s leftover, can I come back to return it?”

“No need. As I said, this includes my apology. If there’s any leftover, use it when you need it.”

 

After receiving permission from Cliff to rebuild the orphanage, I headed back there and asked the headmistress, Liz, and Tiermina to gather in a room.

“Rebuilding the orphanage, you say?” Tiermina raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve already made so many repairs,” said the headmistress. “I think we’re doing very well as we are. The draft is gone and we have a warm place to sleep.”

Liz nodded. “The children are so happy.”

“Also,” added Tiermina, “Rebuilding it will be a lot of work.”

“I’ll just use my magic.”

The three of them looked even more exasperated, but…

“Come to think of it, you made your own house yourself, didn’t you, Yuna?”

“And you made that henhouse, too.”

At least they were coming around?

“Are you sure you can just rebuild it? We’re running the orphanage with your money, Yuna, but isn’t the building owned by the lord?”

“Oh, that. I already got permission from Cliff.”

“From Lord Cliff himself?”

“Really, Yuna?”

“Oh, goodness…”

What was with that look? I gave them a quick summary of my conversation with Cliff and, at the end, put his funds on the table.

“Money from the lord…”

“You’ve done something unbelievable.”

“Something terrifying.”

Were they afraid of Cliff? Well, I remembered that Fina had also been like that for a while. She was even nervous around Noa, though they got along these days. Cliff was a little sassy for my tastes, but he listened, and heard me out. The guy was different from what I imagined an aristocrat to be. Maybe if the three met him, they’d see that.

 

In the end, exasperated or not, the three agreed to allow the orphanage to be rebuilt and we started planning.

First, we’d figure out how to separate the boys and girls’ rooms, where the bath would be, where to put the dining hall, and all that stuff. Planning was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, just like with the bear house. The headmistress explained things to the kids and told them to steer clear of the build site while the new orphanage was being constructed. They looked pretty excited!

“You absolutely cannot bother Yuna, though,” she insisted.

“Yes, miss!” they shouted energetically.

I was going to make the orphanage while the kids were working, Liz was going to be on the lookout to make sure none of them played hooky, and the headmistress was going to watch the group of small kids who couldn’t work.

 

I used magic to create the orphanage more or less in the same way I made the bear house. I envisioned…let’s see, maybe an old rural schoolhouse? The entrance was in the center, and when you went in, corridors would extend to the right and left with a door at the front. When you went through that door, there was a room where everyone would eat. Beyond that we’d have the kitchen.

The right corridor would have the girls’ rooms, and the left the boys’ rooms. The ends of the right and left halls would be the bathing rooms. Of course, I couldn’t forget to set up bear stone statues from which the hot water would come out.

The second floor was similarly split into boys and girl’s rooms. The central room right above the dining hall was a play area. Each room could fit four kids with four desks and two bunk beds set up toward the windows.

Tiermina ordered household supplies with Cliff’s money. We even bought new bedding.

Though the kids were making a happy commotion, they listened to the headmistress and stayed away from the construction site. Occasionally, one of the little ones would try to approach, but one of the older kids would stop them.

“Yuna, can we pleaaaaase go in?”

“It’s not done yet, so nope. It’d be dangerous.” That was a lie; it’d more just be a nuisance.

The kids looked dissatisfied, but an older boy stepped in. “Don’t give Yuna any trouble, guys. We promised that we’d listen to her, didn’t we? Who was it that saved us? Who was it that gave us food? Gave us a warm place to sleep? Yuna is making this new orphanage for us. Don’t be all selfish and cause her trouble!”

The little kids looked pretty saddened by that, but at least they were convinced.

“Aww. Okay.”

“We’re sorry.”

Just straightforward apologies all around, but…

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” said the boy. “You should say that to Yuna.”

I appreciated the help, but really, the kids were working pretty hard themselves. They took care of the kokekko and were busy toiling at Morin’s shop.

 

The orphanage building progressed pretty well after that. Tiermina ordered the bedding, dressers, tables, and chairs. We also picked up new tableware to replace what the orphanage lacked. I suggested that before, since there was income from the eggs, but the headmistress turned me down. This time she finally agreed.

Finally, we moved the things we needed from the old orphanage to the new one. We had the kids help out with that, and they were overjoyed at the possibility of going into the new orphanage.

“Everyone, please ask the headmistress and Liz about how your rooms are split up. Once you know where yours is, ask them what you need to bring over.”

The kids were vibrating with excitement. “Headmistress, where’s my room?!”

“Ooo, where’s mine!”

The kids swarmed the headmistress.

“All right, let’s all calm down! I’ll take you to your rooms. Boys, come with me. Girls, go with Liz.”

I trailed them to make sure that nothing was amiss.

“This is the room for the four of you.”

“Whoa, there’s a bed and sheets and everything.” The boys tried to leap onto the new bed, but I stopped them.

“If you get into it while you’re still dirty, the bed will get dirty too. Make sure you go take a bath and change into pajamas first.” They were taking care of the kokekko, after all, and that business could get messy.

“There’s a bath?”

“It’s the room at the very end of the first floor. There’s one for boys and one for girls, so make sure you each clean up after yourselves.” And the boys broke into a run.

After we were done assigning rooms, the headmistress instructed them to move their things—clothes and all. Eventually—not just yet—we were going to demolish the old orphanage.

Finally, the kids also asked me to make a bear like the one in front of the shop.

I blinked. “For what?” I made one for the shop to draw customers, since it was named Bear’s Lounge and all. The orphanage shouldn’t need one.

But the kids begged me, and they were too cute to refuse. So there it was—a brand new orphanage with a gigantic, inexplicable stone bear out front.