Chapter 180: The Bear Makes a Birthday Cake

Chapter 180:
The Bear Makes a Birthday Cake

 

I NEEDED TO KILL a little more time after the Merchant Guild, so I headed to the food stalls lining the plaza. I’d been there enough that nobody gave me any surprised looks. Sure, you’d get them occasionally, but only when someone started a new food stall.

Delicious aromas wafted to me from the stalls.

“Making the rounds today, are we, bear girl?” a man at a skewer stand called out to me.

“Walkin’ round, killin’ time. Three skewers please, mister.”

“Coming right up.” The man grilled some skewers for me, and they smelled great. “All right, here they are.”

“Thank you.” I took the grilled skewers and sat at a nearby bench to eat.

It was nice and peaceful. As for Fina, she was probably trying on a pretty dress right around now. Good for her, right?

 

After I made the rounds at the food stalls, I headed to my bear house.

I wondered if I could call Fina on the bear phone soon? I wanted to talk to her about that present. Then again, Noa was there right then, so…she might just make some trouble for everybody.

While I was thinking about what to do, I reached my bear house. Fina was standing out front, pouting.

“Yuna! I can’t believe you left and went home without me!” She hugged me, still furious. It might have been an attempt at a tackle, but I caught her right in my arms.

“My bad. I thought it’d take more time for you to choose a dress.” I couldn’t tell her that I ran off to avoid getting dragged into the vortex of dress shopping. “But I’m looking forward to seeing what you picked out, Fina.”

I meant that too. I was looking forward to seeing Fina and Noa in dresses.

“Uhm…Yuna, are you not going to wear a dress?”

“Nope. I wouldn’t look good in one even if I tried.” Putting me in a dress would be a total waste. Pearls before swine, as they say.

“That’s not true. I think you would look nice in a dress.”

I was happy to hear it, even if she was just flattering me. Or…maybe Fina really was trying to get me to wear a dress? Since I couldn’t let all this dress talk continue without possible trouble, I used my signature move: changing the subject.

“Come to think of it,” I said, “what are you going to do about Misa’s present?”

“R-right. Uh. What will you do about her present, Yuna?” she asked, clearly taken aback. “I asked Lady Noa about what to get and she said Lady Misa would enjoy anything I gave her. But I can’t think of anything for a present that Lady Misa would like. I don’t think a wolf pelt would work.”

She’d forgotten entirely about the dress, too busy being worried about something else. Exactly as planned. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw her troubled face.

“Why are you smiling?” Fina asked me.

“Oh, it’s nothing. So…why don’t we get a present for her together?”

“Together?”

“I was thinking of doing a cake and stuffed animals of Kumayuru and Kumakyu. What do you think? We can make the cake together and then we can each give her one of the stuffed animals.”

“I understand the cake, but what are the stuffed animals of Kumayuru and Kumakyu?”

Oh, right—I hadn’t told her. I explained about how I ordered stuffed animals of Kumayuru and Kumakyu from Sherry.

“I think the cake is a good idea, but the stuffed animals of your bears will make Lady Misa very happy,” Fina told me. Her eyes sparkled. She looked so happy that she didn’t even seem to remember the dress disaster earlier. It was like she’d completely forgotten that I’d abandoned her.

“So, to be clear, we’re getting Misa cakes and stuffed animals as a joint present,” I said.

Fina thought it over for a minute. “Yuna, could we learn how to make those stuffed animals from Sherry? And then we could make them ourselves?”

“Make them ourselves?”

“Yeah! Since they’re presents, I want to make them myself.”

I got where she was coming from, but…could we actually make them? Or no, could I actually make one? I didn’t have any skills when it came to sewing, but I also didn’t want to put a damper on Fina’s inspiration.

“Let’s go to Sherry and try asking her. If it looks like we can, let’s give it a shot.”

“Okay!”

 

After we settled on some birthday presents, we started heading to Sherry only to see her coming toward us carrying a giant bag. “Sherry?”

“Yuna. Oh, and Fina. Are you going out?” Sherry yawned slightly, swaying a little from side to side.

“We were planning to head over to you, but why are you here, Sherry?” I asked. “You didn’t already finish them, did you?” I looked at the large bag she was carrying.

“Uh-huh, I worked hard to make them—hwaaah.” Sherry yawned again slightly. She sounded pretty satisfied, but still completely exhausted…and all after one day? That seemed too fast.

“Wait, have you slept?” I asked.

Sherry tried to laugh it off, but…she hadn’t needed to sacrifice her sleep just to work. I silently put my hand on top of Sherry’s head. Why had she worked that hard? Sherry smiled when I patted her head, but the bags under her eyes made her look like a panda.

Wait, she hadn’t made herself into a bear to make a bear, had she?

The thought made me shiver. “You didn’t have to rush.”

“Making them was just so fun.” Sherry was smiling, but I could see the fatigue plain on her face. Jeez, I needed to get her to sleep. “So, Yuna…can I have you look at them?” She held out the giant bag she was cradling.

“Thank you, but why don’t you borrow my bed first? Get yourself some sleep.” I needed Sherry to get some rest before I checked on the stuffed animals.

“Yuna, I’m fiiine.”

She sure didn’t look fine, considering that massive yawn she was letting out. She was still swaying from side-to-side too.

“Get some rest!” I said more firmly. “I’m happy you worked so hard, but I never wanted you to push yourself so hard.”

“Yuna...I’m sorry,” said Sherry meekly.

“You can show them to me later. For right now, please get some rest. And if you don’t rest, I won’t even look at them. Got it?”

I accepted the large bag, took Sherry to a room, and got her into a bed. She was asleep when she hit the mattress; yep, she really had pushed herself too hard.

“She went out just like that,” Fina mused.

I couldn’t stop myself from wondering aloud. “Why did she push herself so hard?”

It had been fun for Sherry, though—it was clear enough from the look on her face. It probably hadn’t even felt like work making the stuffed animals, even, but she still shouldn’t have lost sleep over it.

“They all want to be useful to you, Yuna.”

“To me?”

“To everyone at the orphanage, you’re their savior. They look up to you. I think they’re just happy to do something about it.”

But if they pushed themselves past their limits, they were just going to cause me more trouble. Treating me like a savior? Looking up to me? I was just doing things for myself. I just happened to give the orphanage work because I’d discovered kokekko eggs. I only hired them at the shop because I hadn’t had enough staff. They didn’t need to thank me for stuff like that. It was a mutually beneficial relationship…

“Yuna, what should we do?”

Well, Sherry was sleeping, so looking at the stuffed animals was out. “How about we make the cake we talked about earlier?”

“Right now?”

“If I put the cake in my item bag, it won’t spoil. We can make it in advance, no problem.” I didn’t know how long it’d take to make the stuffed animals, so I figured it’d be best to get started on the cake while we had time.

 

The plan was to work on the birthday cake with Fina until Sherry woke up. It’d be the prototypical strawberry shortcake, though the two tiers would set it apart. I didn’t know how many people would be attending, so we made tons of cake. Worst case, if there wasn’t enough, I’d bring more cake out from my bear storage.

Before long, we lined the table with tons of cake, but one was extra fancy—Misa’s present, of course.

“Yuna, am I writing on it?” Fina asked.

“Yeah, you write it.” I left writing duty to Fina. Now she had to finish the cake off by writing Happy Birthday.

“Uhh, I’m so nervous.”

“It’s okay if you make a mistake. Just knock it out real quick.”

“O-okay.”

Fina took a deep breath and started writing letters with the strawberry-colored whipped cream. Carefully, verrrry slowly, she wrote out each letter.

“I-I did it.” All at once, Fina let out the breath she was holding.

“Looks like it’s done.”

We looked down at the cake. Happy Birthday looked up at us in pink.

“I hope Lady Misa will like it,” said Fina.

“Don’t worry about that. We worked hard to make it,” I reassured her.

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, I’m going to put it away while it’s still fresh.”

I put the cake in a carrying case, closed the lid tight, and put it away in my bear storage.

“Your bear item bag is so strange. I’ve never heard of a bear item bag that keeps food from spoiling.”

“What can I say? It’s specially made.” I was grateful for what my bear equipment could do, even if I didn’t like how all my powers were tied to my bear gear. It would’ve been nice if the abilities were all just…mine.

At least I hadn’t wound up in another world with nothing at all. I was thankful for that, at least.