Chapter 217: The Bear Brings Stuffed Animals to Noa

Chapter 217:
The Bear Brings Stuffed Animals to Noa

 

IT WAS THE DAY AFTER I got my package. For breakfast, I had the rice and umeboshi with some of the miso soup I’d made last night. Having Japanese food first thing in the morning really hit the spot!

After breakfast, I started washing the used sheets and towels from my traveling bear house. Not that the ones used by Cliff and his guards were filthy or anything. No, I just wanted my next guests to have crisp, clean sheets when they slept.

Since doing the laundry on my own was lonely, I summoned Kumayuru and Kumakyu in their cub forms. They helped me out a little, but they mostly just fooled around.

 

After finishing the laundry, I headed to the tailor’s shop where Sherry was working, to pick up the stuffed animals. When I got into the shop, I found Nar working. She said that Sherry was in a back room, so that’s where I went next.

I knocked on the door and entered; Sherry was there, sewing stuffed animals. “Good morning, Sherry. Did you finish the stuffed animals?”

“Yuna?! Um, yes! The finished ones are up on that shelf.” She pointed up to it.

Three sets of Kumayuru and Kumakyu stuffed animals sat on the shelf, all in a row. I guess she’d set them up according to the order they were made in. They were alternating in black and white: Kumayuru, Kumakyu, Kumayuru, Kumakyu, Kumayuru, Kumakyu.

The six side-by-side bears made me feel like I’d come to a proper stuffed animal shop. I could imagine the shelf totally filled with them…that would’ve made it perfect.

“I think I should have made a few more,” Sherry said.

Six was more than enough right now. My priorities were getting a pair to Noa (since I’d promised her a present) and a pair to Princess Flora (since she’d been the whole reason I’d had them made). Just two pairs were good enough for now.

“This is plenty. You can make the remaining ones in your spare time.” I went over to the shelf and put the stuffed animals into my bear storage. Behind them, I found a smaller Kumayuru and Kumakyu sitting side by side. They were palm-sized. “Sherry, what’re these?”

“Oh, right. I didn’t want to let the leftover cloth go to waste, so I made two smaller stuffed animals.”

“They’re cute.” Kids would love these…

“Thank you very much. The little kids really like them.” So, she’d already been giving some of them away.

It made sense that there’d be scraps left over from making a ton of stuffed animals. It was good she’d found a use for them. “Is it okay if I take them?”

“Yes, you can.”

“Thank you!” I had to get Sherry something to thank her. Hmm… what would make her happy?

I thanked Sherry and left the shop.

 

With the stuffed animals acquired, I headed to Noa’s house. Lala guided me to Noa’s room.

“Yuna, what brings you here today?” Noa asked.

“I brought the stuffed animals I promised you.”

“Really?!” Noa stumbled forward. It was kind of cute.

I took out a Kumayuru stuffed animal and a Kumakyu stuffed animal from my bear storage and handed them to her.

“Th-thank you very much! I’ll treasure them!!!” Noa hugged the stuffed animals happily. It was nice seeing her so excited about them. “But wasn’t this a bit quick…?”

It’d only been a few days since Misa’s party. “I ordered the stuffed animals before we left, so I went to pick them up today.”

“Does that mean you’re making a lot of them?”

“I don’t know if I’d say a lot, but there’s definitely gonna be some for the orphans.” There were also the ones for Princess Flora, and some for Fina and Shuri if they wanted them. But I guess Fina could make those herself?

“You’re making that many?” Noa seemed a bit disappointed. “In that case, I guess Misa and I won’t be the only ones with bear stuffed animals...”

“Right now, if you don’t include the orphans, it is just you and Misa.” Well, I planned to give some to Lady Flora after this too though.

“But where did you order them?” she asked. “I thought that you and Fina had made them by hand.”

“From a tailor in town. Since Misa’s stuffed animals were presents, Fina and I made them together.”

“So, you didn’t make these by hand? That’s a bit unfortunate,” she said.

“Do you not want them, then?” I moved to take back the stuffed animals…and Noa hugged them close, so I couldn’t snatch them away.

“I do. I do want them,” she said. “Since they were made in a tailor shop, could I buy more if I put in an order?”

“Buy them? But I just gifted you a set.”

Noa was hugging the Kumayuru and Kumakyu stuffed animals. “Why, isn’t the reason obvious? I need spares, of course.”

She was looking at me like I had said something weird. Had I? Why would she need duplicates of the same stuffed animals? I’d get it they were somehow different versions, but a bunch of the same ones? Hmm, I guess even in my original world, sometimes people bought three of the same thing so they’d have one to use, one to save, and one to give away.

Anyway, I told Noa not to do that. She puffed up her cheeks in irritation, but it was too cute to work on me. “By the way, has Leonardo headed home?”

“Yes, he went home the morning after.”

He’d told me so himself, and I guess he’d really gone with that plan. If he was going to stay in Crimonia, I would’ve treated him to a meal at the shop. I’d just have to wait until he came with Misa.

“Yuna, do you have any plans today after this?” Noa asked, still hugging her stuffed animals.

“Not really.” I was planning to go home and put away the laundry, but that was it.

“Well then, please bring out Kumayuru and Kumakyu. I want to be buried in bears!”

So…she wanted to be surrounded by them and their stuffed animal counterparts, just like at Misa’s birthday party. “Sure. Do you want them big or small?”

“Please make them big!”

I summoned Kumayuru and Kumakyu in their regular sizes, per Noa’s request. While she was still hugging the stuffed animals, Noa dove into Kumayuru and Kumakyu.

I stayed with Noa until lunch. She had her studies in the afternoon, though, so I went home to make sure I wasn’t in the way. Noa seemed sad, but she couldn’t skip out on her studies.

I headed home and put away the laundry I’d hung up to dry. Mm-hmm—they were nice and clean, and oh-so-soft.