Chapter 166

Chapter 166 – Bear-san Makes A Birthday Cake

「Big Sis Yuna! You’re so mean! How could you leave without me!?」

Fina yelled at me and angrily clung onto me .

I had thought that she was going to tackle me, but I still managed to catch her properly .

「Sorry, but I thought choosing a dress would take a long time . 」

I couldn’t just tell her that I ran away because I hadn’t wanted to get caught up in it .

「I look forward to seeing you in a dress, though . 」

「Big Sis Yuna, you aren’t going to wear one?」

「No, I won’t . I don’t look good in dresses anyway . 」

「There’s no way that’s true . I’m sure that you would look beautiful in a dress . 」

「Thanks . 」

I knew she was just trying to flatter me, but her telling me that still made me happy .

「Oh right, Big Sis Yuna . I have something to ask you . 」

「What is it?」

「What are we going to do for her birthday present? What should we get her? Well, Noa-sama said a present wasn’t necessary, but don’t you agree that we should bring something at the very least?」

Was Noa trying to be considerate of Fina because she was a commoner?

Well, some people were happy with people just coming to their party and didn’t care about the presents, and I was sure that Misa wouldn’t mind not receiving a present if that meant Fina would be able to come to her party . After all, who would want to hear that someone couldn’t come just because they couldn’t afford to bring a present?

Fina didn’t want to come empty-handed, but she most likely didn’t know what sort of present would be acceptable for a noble like Misa .

Well, if I hadn’t asked Cliff, I wouldn’t know either .

「There is no way I will be able to buy a present that will make Misa-sama happy . 」

Fina said with a troubled expression .

「Also, if I give her something weird…」

「How about we give her a present together?」

If Fina couldn’t find a good present on her own, then sharing one with me wouldn’t be a bad idea .

Also, if people made fun out of it when they saw it, I would share her embarrassment .

「Give her a present together?」

「Yup, if we give her one together, you will feel less anxious, right?」

「True, but are you really okay with that?」

「Of course . I’m thinking of baking a cake for her . What do you think?」

「A cake?!」

「Yep, and we can make it together . 」

「Are you really sure about making a cake for her?」

「Yeah . So, will you make one with me?」

「I will . Thank you, Big Sis Yuna . 」

Unlike her previous tackle, she now embraced me warmly .

「I was thinking of also giving her Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear plushies . 」

「Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear plushies?」

Of course, she didn’t understand because I had never mentioned them before .

Rather than try to explain, I decided to show her the prototype plushies, which Sherry had brought me yesterday . Since they were now serving as my room decoration, I took Fina inside the Bear House .

「Big Sis Yuna! What are these cute plushies?!」

Fina said and hugged the plushies tightly .

「They look just like Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear!」

I thought so too, but I couldn’t have managed to convince Sherry, who had the soul of a true craftsman . Her embroidery was very good as well, so maybe it was just in her nature to be a perfectionist .

「I had Sherry make them for me . I was hoping to make Princess Flora happy with these, but I’m sure Misa will like them as well . 」

「Yes, she will definitely like them . 」

Fina said and hugged the plushies tightly again .

Did she maybe want them as well?

Well, she was only ten years old . Also, she had lost her father at a young age, and her mother had been ill, so she had probably never gotten any children toys… The same must have been true for Shuri .

In that case, I should give them both some plushies as presents too . Although they were children who did dismantling work, they were still children nonetheless .

Hmm, how many should I ask Sherry to make, then?

If I asked for too many, it would end up being hard for Sherry to make them all on her own . I should probably discuss this with Temoka-san .

「I’m going to Sherry’s place to ask her to make the plushies for Misa now . Did you eat lunch yet?」

I had already eaten some food from the food stands, but if she was hungry…

「I ate it with Noa-sama . 」

「Were you fine with that?」

She must have been nervous eating with the nobles again .

「Yes . It was only with Noa-sama, so I wasn’t too nervous . 」

She was okay with girls of her age, huh . Even though Noa was a noble, Fina must have felt much more at ease with her, compared to a feudal lord like Cliff . Besides, Noa wasn’t like a daughter of some sort of malicious noble family that often appeared in manga or novels . She was nice to a commoner like Fina .

She did get a bit weird when it came to my Bears, but all in all, she was a good child .

Since we had both eaten already, we decided to go straight to the tailor shop .

Yet, just as we were about to exit the Bear House, the very person who we were going to see was standing right at the doorstep .

Sherry looked a bit strange, though . She was swaying left and right .

「Big Sis Yuna, and even Fina-chan . Are you two going out?」

「We were just about to head to your place, actually . 」

「My place?」

Sherry said and let out a small yawn .

「I wanted to ask you for a favor, Sherry . Why did you come here, though? Did you finish the plushies already?」

It had only been one day . Wasn’t that a bit too quick?

「Yes . I made them without even taking time to sleep . 」

She said and smiled .

They weren’t something I needed right away, you know . I quietly started pat her head . Why had you worked so hard? Sherry just kept smiling as I petted her head . She had eye bags like a panda…

Could it be that she had gotten those panda eyes because she was making bears?

I shivered at that thought .

「You didn’t really have to rush so much, you know . 」

「I know, but I just had too much fun making them . 」

She was obviously tired, even though she was trying her best to smile .

Hmm . I could heal her with my magic, but it was probably best to just let her sleep in this case .

「I brought them with me, so would you mind taking a look at them?」

「Before that, I will lend you my bed, so go and catch some sleep . 」

I had to get Sherry to get some sleep before I could even consider looking at the plushies .

「Big Sis Yuna, I’m fine . 」

She definitely didn’t look fine . Not only was she swaying side to side, she also kept yawning .

「Go to sleep!」

I told her strongly this time .

「I’m happy that you worked so hard to make these for me, but I didn’t want you to sacrifice sleep over them . 」

「Big Sis Yuna…」

「So, go get some sleep right now . 」

「Okay . 」

Sherry obediently said and nodded .

I let Sherry into the Bear House and led her to my room . She fell asleep the moment she got into my bed .

「Good night, Sherry-chan . 」

「Why were you trying so hard?」

I said as I petted her head .

I could see that Sherry was having a lot of fun making the plushies and that she was in no way forcing herself to do it, but that didn’t mean she should be sacrificing her sleep over them .

「It’s because everyone wants to be of use to you . 」

「Of use to me?」

「You’re a benefactor of everyone at the orphanage . They all respect you and are all happy to be of help to you in any way they can . 」

Fina explained to me .

I understood that Sherry wanted to help me, but it still troubled me that she had stayed up all night to make the plushies for me .

Besides, I was no benefactor, nor was I someone to be respected . I just did what I wanted to do .

I had given the children of the orphanage a job just because I had found out about clucker eggs by some chance . I had asked them to help at the shop because we had known it would have been busy and that we had needed more people .

Also, everybody was working for me, and that meant I had to repay them, not the other way around . There was no reason for them to thank me . To put it more bluntly, the whole thing was just give and take .

They did their jobs, I paid them money, and got what I wanted . I had to explain this to Sherry, so that she wouldn’t keep working without even taking time to sleep .

「Big Sis Yuna, what should we do? Sherry-chan won’t be able to make the plushies like this . 」

「We should bake the cake first, then . 」

「Okay . 」

So, we began making the birthday cake .

Well, we were just going to make a basic strawberry shortcake with the only difference being that it would have two layers .

I made the sponge cake for the bottom layer while Fina took care of the top one . We then split some whipped cream between ourselves and finished creating the cake together .

「Big Sis Yuna, I’m going to write it, okay?」

「Okay . 」

I left the role of writing down「Happy Birthday」 to Fina .

「Uuu, I’m nervous . 」

「It’s okay even if you mess up, so don’t worry and just write it . 」

「O-okay . 」

Fina took a deep breath and began to write with strawberry whipped cream . She did it slowly and carefully wrote down each letter .

「I… I did it . 」

Fina said, finally releasing her breath .

「We’re done, then . 」

「Happy birthday」 was now written in nice pink letters on the top of the cake .

「I hope Misa-sama will like it . 」

「I’m sure she will . We worked hard to make it, after all . 」

「Yes, we did . 」

「We should put it away before something bad happens to it . 」

I said, put the cake into a container, and sealed it tightly with a lid before placing it into the Bear Box .

「Big Sis Yuna, your item bag is so strange . The food you put inside doesn’t spoil at all . 」

「Yeah . It’s made out of a special material, after all . 」

I really did appreciate it being able to do so . I just couldn’t accept the fact that all my abilities came from the Bear, though . I would be happy if at least this effect was unrelated to the Bear…

Well, it was better than getting thrown into another world without anything at all .

After the cake was safely stored away, we cleaned the kitchen, and by the time we finished, Sherry came down from upstairs .