Chapter 199: The Bear Plays Othello

Chapter 199:
The Bear Plays Othello

 

EVEN IF WE WANTED to help with Gran’s party at the estate, Fina and I couldn’t do much considering we didn’t know the first thing about parties. The maids and servants were super busy receiving the guests. If they caught me anywhere near the party in my onesie, it’d be a huge deal, so we stayed cooped up in the room to make sure we weren’t in the way.

“Not much to do.”

“Yes,” said Fina. “In Crimonia, I could have done work, helped out at the orphanage, or helped Morin and Anz at the shop.”

Work, work, work. Fina worked too much. She needed to have fun every once in a while. “In that case, how about we play a game?”

“A game?”

I nodded, moved to the top of the bed, and called Fina over. The table was a little too big and inconvenient for a face-to-face game, after all. I told Fina to sit in front of me and pulled out a board with lines drawn on it, and two small boxes.

“It’s a game called Othello.”

I handed one of the small boxes to Fina. I opened the one I still held. Fina mimicked me and opened hers. There were round game pieces inside. There was one thing that was different about these Othello pieces compared to the ones in my original world. Those were normal black-and-white pieces. Instead, these were illustrated with black and white bears.

“Ooo, they have bears drawn on the front and the back. They’re cute.” Fina turned them over, beaming. “How do we play with these?”

“Well, it’s a game about competing for spaces. Fina, do you want the white bear or the black bear?”

She looked at each of the bear colors several times, comparing them. “I can’t choose. The black bear is pretty much Kumayuru, and the white bear is Kumakyu. I can’t choose between those two.”

I couldn’t either. The bears on the game pieces weren’t actually supposed to be my bears. They were cartoonified bear faces. But even if they weren’t supposed to be my bears, if I chose one, the other might end up sulking. That was why I wanted Fina to choose, but it looked like she was facing the same predicament.

“In that case, how about we take turns using them?”

“Okay.”

My usual bear-rotation system worked again. It’s important to treat everyone as equals, after all.

“Okay, I’ll explain the rules. First, you put the pieces down in the middle of these boxes like this.”

I placed two of the black bear pieces in the center of the board so they formed a diagonal.

“You put the white bears down in the same pattern, Fina.”

Fina did so. As an example of what to do, I placed a black bear so that one of the white bears was sandwiched by my pieces, then I flipped the white piece.

“You put a white piece down so that your pieces surround a black bear too, Fina.”

“Can I put it down anywhere?”

“As long as it’s right next to a black bear. But you have to put it down so that you’re sandwiching your opponent’s pieces.”

Fina put a white piece down so it sandwiched my black piece. With that, the black bear was flipped.

“We take turns putting down pieces like this. In the end, the person with more of their color on the board wins.”

“I’ve got it.”

We started an Othello competition to kill the time.

I actually wanted to make playing cards, but I was still struggling with how to draw the kings, queens, and jacks. I was considering making the actual king and queen into the playing card king and queen, with Lady Flora featured as the jack. But, if I was going to play with them in Crimonia, I figured it might be better to use local people like Cliff, Ellelaura, and Noa. Maybe my bears would become the jokers?

 

Fina and I passed the time playing Othello, eating the pudding we made yesterday, and having some pizza—we hadn’t had pizza in a while, after all.

Right around the time I thought the party was ending, Noa and Misa came into the room wearing beautiful dresses. Noa was in red; it looked great with her shiny golden hair. Misa was wearing a dress that was kind of an aqua color, which went great with her own silver hair. I remembered that Fina was also going to wear a dress for Misa’s birthday party, and I was looking forward to that one too.

“You both look cute,” I said.

“Thank you, Yuna!”

“Did the party go all right?”

Based on their smiles, it looked like nothing bad had happened. I thought that noble would give them trouble, but I guess things hadn’t gone as I predicted.

“Zelef was so cool.”

Noa and Misa told me about what happened at the party.

I knew it—that noble, he complained about the food. Guess we could be grateful that he hadn’t snuck junk into the party food, too. Just hearing what had happened, it seemed like the guy was a stereotypical jerk of a noble. I couldn’t believe he had the guts to eat Zelef’s food and call it bad. Sure, he hadn’t known Zelef was the cook, but it still made wonder if he had any sense of taste.

“Thanks to Zelef, Randle left with his dad. I was so, so happy,” Misa told me excitedly.

Randle...right, that idiot who tried to start a fight with me. Well, I guess no one would be able to enjoy the party with someone like him around. That’s the difference a good parent makes, I suppose. I looked at the three girls. Hopefully they’d stay on the right track.

“But he was glaring at us when he left, which was a little frightening,” said Misa.

“He was glaring because he was upset,” said Noa.

I guess it’d be best if we kept our guards up for a while. It was normal for people like them to hold grudges. He’d probably pick another fight if he ran into any of us again.

After that, Misa and Noa excitedly told me what happened after the Salbards left.

“Also, there was the pudding we made. Everyone looked like they enjoyed it!”

“But everyone believed Zelef made it. Even though we worked so hard…”

They both seemed a little upset.

“Well, there’s not much we can do about that. Everyone enjoyed the pudding, right?”

“Yeah! They were all saying how much they loved it while they ate it.”

Even if they couldn’t get credit, they seemed happy that people liked their pudding. And Zelef’s food had gotten a nice reception, too. I hadn’t wanted to go to the party proper, but I wanted to try some of Zelef’s party food sometime. Would he make some for me if I asked?

“You and Fina should have come too,” Noa said. Fina and I shared forced smiles.

I didn’t want to go to a party full of aristocrats and bigwigs. I’d probably be so worried about the stares coming from around me that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my meal. Also, I didn’t know the etiquette. Fina probably felt the same. Most important of all, I couldn’t just wear a bear outfit to that.

 

I realized something while Noa and the others were talking: I hadn’t asked what Zelef’s plans were. Did he need to get back to the capital right away? Misa’s party would be in two days, and I’d kind of have a problem if he said he needed to head back tomorrow. I decided to check in with Zelef about that.

I headed to the kitchen in search of him and found a maid cleaning up, but no sign of the chef in question. When I asked the busy maid where he was, she told me that Gran might have called Zelef.

Gran called him?

Hmm, I didn’t know what to do. I wondered whether he was in the room Cliff and Gran had met up in before.

“Mademoiselle Yuna, what are you doing in a place like this?”

“Meishun?”

When I turned around, I found Meishun bussing the plates and stuff they’d used at the party.

“I needed to talk to Zelef a little. Apparently, Gran already called him in for something.”

“After the party ended, Lord Gran did indeed call Master Zelef in. I believe he was called into the room that I led you to the other day.”

Now that I knew where Zelef was, I headed over at once.

 

“Miss, what is the matter?”

I found Zelef and Gran in the room. I didn’t see Cliff anywhere.

“I was hoping to ask Zelef what his plans were,” I said.

“My plans?”

“Yeah. You don’t need to head back to the capital right away, do you? If we could, I’d like to stay until Misa’s birthday party is over.”

“Is Lady Misana having a party?”

“In two days. I’d like to head back to the capital after that’s over.”

“In that case, by all means. I have permission from His Majesty to do so. In addition, it’s been some time since I’ve had a conversation with Botts.”

“Thank you.”

“In that case, I would like to take on the task of cooking for Lady Misana’s party.”

“Are you sure?” Gran was the one to speak up there, not me.

“Yes. It seems that Botts likely won’t be able to cook for some time. Please think of the food as a present from me,” Zelef said.

“Thank you.” Gran bobbed his head.

Oh, looks like I actually would be trying some of Zelef’s party food. Now that kind of made me happy.

“I heard from Noa and Misa that you were vital tonight, Zelef. Is that true?”

“Not at all. When someone claimed my food tasted terrible, I simply asked them to elaborate. And that was all thanks to what you told us, Master Yuna.”

“What I told you?”

“That it would be a discourtesy to the people who enjoy my food to acknowledge someone’s insults.”

I suppose I had said that.

“When I thought that over,” Zelef continued, smiling, “I felt like he was denouncing His Majesty, everyone who has cooked alongside me, and anyone who has said they enjoyed my cooking. That made me a little upset.”

I hadn’t wanted to attend the party, but I kind of wished I’d seen Zelef do that. “Still, I’m glad that the party ended without anything bad happening.”

“That’s all because you brought Master Zelef here, Miss,” said Gran. “I am truly grateful.”

“Well, that silly noble’s son did kind of get on my nerves.”

“I believe that the two of them will quiet down considering the events that have transpired.”

Gran would have his work cut out for him while they were lying low.

 

Once I went back to my room after my conversation with Zelef, I found the three girls still playing with the Othello board I’d left out. And on top of that, Noa and Misa were still in their party dresses.

I really wished they’d change before playing games.