Chapter 35: The Bear Takes a Bear Bath

Chapter 35:
The Bear Takes a Bear Bath

 

“NO MATTER HOW MANY times you see it, it’s an impressive house.”

Tiermina and Gentz had been to the bear house more than once now. After I saved Tiermina’s life, she had wanted to thank me again and to see Fina at work, so Fina had brought her over.

“Well, I’m going to borrow your kitchen. Fina, could you help me?”

“I’ll help too,” Shuri declared.

“Go to town,” I said, “I’m flush.”

“Okay, thank you. We really should be the ones bringing the ingredients, though.”

“Really, don’t worry about it.”

“We’re always receiving wolf meat from you. The debt we owe you just keeps building up.”

Tiermina took her two daughters and headed to the kitchen. Left behind, Gentz and I decided to wait in a couple of chairs in the living room.

“Pretty amazing house,” he muttered, looking around. “Is that tigerwolf fur?”

I had the tigerwolf pelt that I’d gotten from the first time I went slaying with Fina over the mantel. I was using the other one in my room in place of a blanket.

“When I first saw you, bear girl, I didn’t think you’d be this amazing,” he said, like he was reminiscing.

More than a whole month had passed since I’d changed worlds. My bear costume had become famous around town. It was kind of scary how quickly I’d gotten used to it. I no longer felt embarrassed.

“Bear girl.”

“Ms. Bear.”

“Little cub.”

“The Bloody Bear.”

Though there were many names people used, they all referred to me. I still couldn’t butcher a kill, but I’d gotten used to defeating monsters. The gamer life had prepared me well. I’d met Fina, and there were tons of interesting things about this world, too. Though I hadn’t gotten a letter or message from the god/admin/whatever it was since that first day, I was grateful they’d brought me here.

“But, miss, are you sure about this?”

“Excuse me?”

“About the house.”

“Oh, about that.”

As a wedding present, I had bought them the plot for the new house. Gentz’s savings had only gone towards the physical building.

“It’s fine,” I said. “It’s just that, after I’m gone and you’re dead, I don’t want to see those three out on the streets. And as long as they have a house, that’s not going to happen, right?”

“Hey, don’t write me off me like that! I’ve got a bright future ahead of me.”

“Then make sure you look after them. If you don’t, you know what happens, don’t you?”

“Of course. I swear on Roy’s grave that I’ll protect them.”

Roy, Gentz explained, was Tiermina’s late husband. When they were young, the three of them had been in the same party. Apparently, they disbanded when Roy and Tiermina got married, and Gentz started working at the guild. Several years later, when Tiermina was pregnant with Shuri, Roy went out on some solo quest and bit it. Since then, Gentz had looked out for Tiermina’s family on the sly, and somewhere along the line, he fell for her.

As I listened to Gentz talk about the past, Fina and Shuri brought in dish after steaming dish. At the end, Tiermina brought out a single massive entree. My stomach spoke up for me.

“Thank you for waiting,” she said. “We’ve made plenty, so please eat tons.”

Tiermina and her daughters took their seats.

“Yuna, I’m sorry, but we ended up using a lot of the ingredients.”

“It’s fine. Again, I’m not hurting for goods.”

“That bear fridge is great. The veggies and meat don’t go bad.”

“I’ll add it to the wedding registry.” Since this world’s fridges definitely didn’t work like Japan’s did, I’d just made one myself after buying an ice mana gem.

“Much as I’d love that, we already owe you so much, and we can’t give you anything in return.”

“If you can’t give me anything in return, then I’ll take your daughter.” I gave Fina a look as she ate some meat.

“Oh, are you sure you want a daughter like that?” Tiermina also looked at Fina.

“She’s obedient and adorable, works hard, care about her family, and can cook. And, y’know, she can skin a tigerwolf like it’s no biggie, which is pretty amazing.”

Fina’s chopsticks stopped moving. “Ugh, could you stop, mom? And you too, Yuna.”

“How do you even raise a ten-year-old like that?” I mused.

“I think it’s my fault,” said Tiermina. “Because I got sick and burdened her, she had to work harder than normal kids. She looked after her sister and I while I was sick, did the housework, and worked at Gentz’s. It’s because I never allowed her to do anything a child should.”

“I didn’t think it was a burden or anything,” said Fina.

“A ten-year-old isn’t supposed to be able to think like that.”

“I wasn’t the only one who worked hard. Shuri helped too.” She gave her sister, who was hard at work eating next to her, a pat on the head.

“You’re right. Shuri did her best too, didn’t she?” Tiermina looked happily at her daughters.

 

After we finished our meal, Tiermina helped clean up. I was lounged around and drank an after-meal oran juice.

“I suppose we should be getting home soon.” Tiermina stood up from her chair.

“It’s already late, so why don’t you stay over? I have the rooms. And…” I looked at Shuri, who was nodding off. “Shuri worked so hard to help with the moving.”

“Umm…” Tiermina seemed conflicted. “Won’t we be a bother?”

“And you’re all dusty and sweaty from the work of moving, right? Wouldn’t it be too much to go home now and have to prep the bath?”

“You’re right. In that case, would you mind?”

It seemed that baths were common even in this world, to a certain extent. Most people had them, unless they were very poor. You could easily draw and heat water with a set of fire and water gems. Since I’d prepped the bath while Tiermina made dinner, it was ready for use.

“The three of you should go ahead. I’ll show you to your rooms later.”

“We can go in together?”

When I’d constructed the bath, I’d made it big, thinking I could use it as a place to wash Kumayuru and Kumakyu when they got dirty. As it turned out, they were always clean when I sent them back and summoned them again, so that didn’t end up happening.

“It’ll fit three. Fina, show everyone there.”

“Yuna, you should come too! You’re okay with that, right, Mom?”

“That’s fine, but are you sure we’ll all fit?”

“It’ll be fine. Yuna’s bear bath is huge.” Fina opened up her arms wide to show how big the bath was. She’d used my bath several times after she got dirty from butchering and such.

“It’s a bear bath?”

“You’ll understand it when you see it.”

Fina grabbed my hand and pulled me from my seat. She woke up Shuri, who yawned slightly and stood up, too. Lastly, she grabbed her mom’s hand.

Before we headed to the bath, I looked at Gentz. “Please don’t come in.”

“Like I would!”

The four of us headed to the bath.

“Undress here,” I instructed. In Japan, we would have called this the changing room. I got boxes ready for each of them to stow their clothes.

“Yuna…” Tiermina was looking at me.

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s the first time I’ve seen you without your hood on.”

“Can’t you still see my face regardless of whether I’m wearing a hood?” When I was walking around town, I’d pull it low to hide my face, but I pushed it back when I was talking to people I knew.

“I can, but you seem completely different without it than when you have it on. I didn’t think your hair would be so long. Hair changes a girl’s appearance so much.”

I touched my hair. She was right—you couldn’t see my hip-length hair when I was wearing the hood.

“Your hair is pretty, Yuna,” Fina said.

“Okay, okay. You don’t need to flatter me, so just get into the bath.”

“It wasn’t flattery!”

I ignored Fina, took off the bear clothes, and went into the bath, which was big enough to hold about ten people. I’d plunked down a white bear and a black to the right and left of the tub: hot water streamed out of their mouths. I’d based them on the designs of hot springs I’d seen on TV—a hermit like me had never gone to a hot spring in person, of course.

“It really is a bear bath,” Tiermina said.

“Make sure to wash yourself before you get in the tub.”

“You have soap, too… it’s almost like an aristocrat’s bath.”

“Shuri, I’ll wash you, so come over here.”

Fina sat Shuri in a chair and soaped her down, starting with her head. Tiermina, seemingly disappointed she hadn’t been able to help her daughters wash up, looked at me. “Yuna, shall I wash you?”

“I can do it myself.”

“But isn’t it hard to wash that beautiful black hair of yours? Since it’s so long?”

“It’s a pain, but I can do it myself.”

I’d gotten used to it over the years. I sat down next to Fina and soaped myself clean. Shuri, who was clean before anyone else, had already gone to sink into the hot water. The moment Fina tried to wash herself, Tiermina caught her and started washing her. Eventually, we were all in the tub.

“Yuna, you have a lovely figure.”

“Do I?” My waist was slim, but as for my chest…

“It is a pity about your chest.”

It was like she’d read my mind. My chest was barely bigger than Fina’s, though I wasn’t sure how I felt about comparing myself to a ten-year-old.

“I plan on growing curves. Like bam, shwoo, bam,” I declared. I still had a few more years to grow.

“I wonder if that’s possible.”

“Do you think mine will get bigger?” Fina said.

I compared Fina and Tiermina. “You’re free to dream.”

“That feels rather unkind…” Tiermina looked at her own rather demure chest. She’d put on some weight compared to when she’d been bedridden, but she was still emaciated. “You don’t need to worry, Fina. Yours will get bigger, unlike mine.”

“I’d like mine to be the same size as Yuna’s.”

I hugged Fina, feeling a deep kinship with her in that moment.

Eventually, we wrapped towels around our heads and got out of our extended bath. When we made it back to the main area of the house, we spied Gentz sitting there all by himself, looking lonely. When he saw us…

“You! You took a ton of time!” His shout rang through the room.