Chapter 140: The Bear Leads Anz and the Others to the Orphanage — Part Two

Chapter 140:
The Bear Leads Anz and the Others to the Orphanage
Part Two

 

ONCE WE GOT into the next shed over, where we managed the eggs, we found Fina sitting on a chair, her hands busy with something. Shuri was cleaning the egg cases next to her.

“Looks like you two really are getting things done,” said Tiermina.

“Mom?” Fina whirled around. “And Anz?”

“Fina, Shuri, it’s been a while!”

Fina and Shuri ran over to Anz. “Yeah, a long while!”

“We’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now, though. I’m going to work at Yuna’s shop from now on, and I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to that!”

“Uh-huh, me too.”

The two of them were delighted to see Anz again. Then, I introduced Neaf and the others, who would be working with Anz.

“So, what are you doing, Fina?”

“We’re calculating how many eggs are left. Yuna, are you taking them?”

The number of eggs that we sold to the trade guild and the shop, at least, were set. Although, if Morin ever wanted additional eggs at the shop, we’d prioritize that order. “Does the shop have enough?”

“Yes, they already took what they needed and they got some stocked up, so they’re fine.”

Cool, the remaining eggs would end up going to me. If I put them in the bear storage, I could keep them fresh. I gratefully took the extra eggs.

Apparently, Liz was going to start prepping for lunch after this. “Would all of you like to eat as well?”

I looked to the group—everybody seemed pretty into it. “In that case,” Anz proposed, “please let me help.”

Liz gave me a troubled look. It looked like she was conflicted about whether to let a guest help or turn her down. Still, this was a good opportunity to let them get to know each other.

“Well, there’s a lot of people,” I said, “so can I count on you, Anz?”

“Of course!” said Anz brightly.

“Well then,” said Liz, “I’m counting on you, Ms. Anz,” Liz took Anz and headed into the orphanage.

I helped out the kids so we could finish up the work faster, and once we were done, we headed back to the orphanage.

“I’m going to take a quick look at how Anz is doing,” said Seno. “If they look busy, I’ll lend a hand.” Seno headed to the kitchen. Forne and Bettle followed after her. Neaf tried to go, too, but a small boy was holding onto her hand.

“I think we’re gonna be stuck playing with the kids, Neaf.”

Neaf wasn’t so sure. “We should help them cook.”

“But…” one of the kids whimpered.

“I don’t think he’s gonna let go so easily.”

Forne and Bettle were gone with Seno, so it was on us to play with the kids until the food was ready. The kids tugged at my clothes and hugged me. I was amazed that the headmistress and Liz could handle such rambunctious kids day in and day out. I’d explode after an hour or two for sure. As for Neaf—I was a little worried at first, but she was surrounded by kids and seemed to be enjoying herself.

Her face had seemed a little stiff at first, but I watched the smile go from glass to something far more certain.

 

All of the dishes that Anz and the others had made were delicious, and the kids loved them. After that, in order to make sure Neaf and the kids got to know each other better, I had her play with them and work at the orphanage for the rest of the day.

That’d be the best way for everyone to get along—working together. This was the most difficult part of any work I did for me personally, but thanks to the bear clothes, the kids liked me all right.

Seno and Forne headed over with the kids to take care of the birds, and Bettle and Neaf played with the little kid gang. Since Tiermina had things to do at the shop and trade guild, she left the orphanage. Fina and Shuri went with her. Meanwhile, Anz headed back to the shop to take inventory on what tools they’d need.

 

We stayed at the orphanage until twilight. The kids saw us off outside. It hadn’t taken long for the kids to accept Seno and the others. In particular, the little kid gang had taken a liking to Neaf.

I guess people with kids were used to dealing with them? Made sense.

“Come again?” one of the kids squeaked.

“Of course we will,” Neaf promised, dispensing tons of head pats. Everyone waved goodbye, and we headed out.

The newbies talked among themselves:

“The headmistress and Liz seemed like kind people, didn’t they?”

“The kids were so well-behaved and adorable.”

“There were some kids who seemed like they’d be stubborn. But they listened to the headmistress.”

“Still, it really must be difficult with just the two of them.”

Yeah, they’d be fine working at both the orphanage and the shop. Just as I was thinking that, Neaf looked over at me.

“What’s up, Neaf?”

Neaf stopped and looked at me earnestly. “Yuna, I’d like to talk to you about something. Instead of working at the shop, could I focus most of my work on helping at the orphanage?”

At that, the rest of them stopped and looked at her. Neaf noticed. “It’s not that I don’t want to work with everyone else,” she added. “It’s just, I’d like to be with the kids…”

Neaf was trying her best to explain herself, and I got it. She just really wanted to take care of the kids. It seemed like everyone else had realized that, too, since they broke into smiles.

“Fine by me,” said Seno, beaming. “The kids seemed like they liked Neaf too.”

The others spoke up:

“Yeah. I have no problem with that.”

“Yeah, I’m good with that.”

“Are you really sure?” Neaf looked back at everyone.

“Neaf,” said Bettle—she’d been playing with the little kid gang too, so she’d watched her friend carefully—“You smiled again. I mean, really smiled. I can’t remember the last time I saw you like that.”

“Yeah, I…” Seno nodded. “You’ve looked so strained till now.”

“Did I?”

“We’ve all noticed,” Bettle admitted.

Seno agreed. “There’s been so much…awfulness. If being with the kids is what helps you after you’ve gone through so much, I’m happy to give you up to them.”

“My friends…” Neaf couldn’t finish her sentence.

“C’mon, Neaf. Go for it,” I said.

Neaf looked at everyone.

“I’ll tell Anz for you,” I said.

“Yuna, everyone, thank you so much.” Neaf’s smile was as bright and true as the sun. From here on out, Neaf would work at the orphanage instead of the shop. “But I’ll come to help out if the shop gets busy,” she added, “so make sure you put that elbow grease in to make the place popular.”

“Oh, if we do our jobs, this shop is gonna be such a hit that we’ll need some helping paws.”

Neaf laughed. “That sounds reassuring.”

And with that, she ran back to the orphanage and those kids.

When we reported it all to Anz, she cheerfully agreed. Anz had been worried about Neaf too.

 

The next day, I led the group to the Bear’s Lounge. There weren’t customers in the morning, so I could introduce them without too much chaos, but I thought the shop’s workers might be in the middle of prepping, so I wanted make sure we wouldn’t be a bother.

“This is your shop then, Yuna?”

“And you sell bread here?”

There was a bear holding bread in front of the shop, hence the Sherlockian assessment.

“We will not be outdone by this bear,” Seno proclaimed. “We need a fish bear.”

I pretended not to hear and headed into the shop from the back entrance. Once I got inside, we found the kids in their bear jackets baking bread along with Morin and Karin.

“Yuna?!” When I got into the kitchen, one of the kids spotted me.

“That is the me.”

“And it’s the ladies from before?”

It looked like they remembered seeing us outside the store the other day. Jeez, they had better memories than I did.

“Yuna, are you having your breakfast like usual?” Morin asked.

“Yep. But can you throw in four other servings?” I’d told the others not to eat breakfast to make room for all that good, good Bear’s Lounge bread.

“Please eat as much as you’d like.”

“Thank you.” I dug right in.

“Are these four your guests?”

“I think you already know, but they’ve come from Mileela to work at my other shop.”

“Yes, that one. Goodness, you four sure came out a long way.”

Closer than coming from the capital like Morin, though. “So, I’m introducing everyone and having them look around the shop too.”

I introduced Anz’s group to Morin, Karin, and the kids. Once we got greetings out of the way, I showed them around the store.

“The inside of the shop is chock-full of bears too.” They marveled at the bear decorations all over the place, from the tables to the walls. “But they’re cute!”

Forne gave a table bear with a fish in its mouth a little poke. “I’d like them in our shop too.”

Which meant they’d ask me to make them, right?

After we’d gone around looking through the shop’s interior, I took advantage of Morin’s offer and we feasted on fresh bread.

“Oh, this bread is delicious!”

“Yep, and all of our other bread too.”

Anz nodded. “So the bread we had the other day was this, then. We couldn’t stop talking about how tasty it was.”

That made this bear feel all fuzzy inside.