Chapter 253

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The day to head off to the capital had finally arrived . The plan was to meet at my house right after breakfast .

Yet, when I woke up, I realized the girls were already waiting for me downstairs .

「Um, aren’t you three here a bit too early?」

It was surprising to see the three girls already at my house when I was just trudging down the stairs, not even changed out of my White Bear form yet .

I even woke up earlier than usual just so that I could eat breakfast before they got here, but for some reason, the three of them came over way ahead of my schedule .

「Shuri, I told you we were too early . 」

「But…」

Fina scolded Shuri .

Based on her reaction, Shuri must have wanted to come here as early as possible while Fina tried her best to stop her, unsuccessfully of course .

I looked at the third girl, who didn’t say anything and just waited patiently .

「And, what about you, Noa?」

「I just wanted to leave with the Bear-sans as soon as possible . 」

Noa answered immediately .

Well, of course she would . The last time we travelled to the capital, Noa had already been waiting for me outside her mansion, well before our meet-up time .

Since we had decided to meet at my house this time, she couldn’t stand waiting and rushed over instead . It was a bit late to consider this now, but maybe it would have been better if we had met at Noa’s home .

I had only chosen my house so that it would have been easier for Fina and Shuri…

Well, now that they were here, I couldn’t simply turn them away .

「Okay, you can sit down in the living room and wait for me to get changed . 」

I returned back to my room and changed into the Black Bear Outfit .

I knew the three of them were excited, but I didn’t expect them to be this eager .

After I changed, I went back downstairs to prepare breakfast . Well, all I was doing was taking out some drinks and bread baked by Morin-san…

Like always, Morin-san’s bread tasted great . I really wanted to have rice this morning, but with the three of them waiting on me, I had settled for something quick and simple .

As I took a bite of my bread, I noticed the three of them staring at me .

「Um, do the three of you want something to eat?」

I asked them .

「Yes, please!」

「Would that be okay?」

「I want some, too!」

I had thought they ate before coming over, but it seemed like they hadn’t . Or maybe, they were entering their growth period?

I took out some more bread, and they all ate it happily . Now I could eat my breakfast without rushing .

Once our bellies were full, we left the Bear House together .

「I’m really excited . 」

Noa said while happily skipping down the road .

「I hope we get to the Capital soon . 」

Shuri grasped Fina’s hand firmly, with a big smile on her face, to which Fina couldn’t help but smile back .

I already knew this trip was going to be a blast just seeing how happy the three of them were . I had to make sure to thank Shia and Eleanora-san for inviting us to the school festival .

After we exited through the gates, I immediately summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, prompting Noa and Shuri to run over as soon as they appeared . Fina smiled as she watched the two of them from the side .

「Fina, don’t you want to join them?」

「I do, but I’ll let the two of them have fun first . 」

Fina was acting mature . She still looked like a child, but she already thought like an adult .

「Yuna-san, hurry . 」

「Onee-chan, come on . 」

The two of them called for Fina and me .

「Shall we get going, then?」

「Yes . 」

I held Fina’s hand, and we walked toward the other two together .

We separated into two groups: Fina and Shuri were to ride on Hugging Bear while Noa and I would ride on Swaying Bear .

Shuri happily grabbed onto Hugging Bear as she climbed onto its shoulder, and Fina followed suit .

I mounted Swaying Bear, and Noa got on behind me .

「Noa, don’t you want to ride at the front?」

「No, it’s okay . I want to hug you . 」

Noa said and wrapped her arms around my waist .

「Noa-neechan, that’s unfair . I want to hug Yuna-neechan, too . 」

「Huhu, this is the special perk you get when riding with Yuna-san . 」

Noa said and snuggled her face into my shoulder .

「Noa, you don’t have to grab on that tightly . 」

「I’m making sure I won’t fall off . 」

Shuri looked at us enviously .

Why, though? Well, Shuri always came up and hugged me any time she could, did they really like to cuddle up to me that much?

「We’ll switch tomorrow, okay?」

If I were a guy, was this the part where I would say,「Please don’t fight over me, ladies」?

Actually, nobody would say that in real life . If there was anyone, they were most likely a huge pain to deal with .

When we were all securely set upon the Bears, we finally departed towards the capital .

With the opportunity to travel far away from town for the first time, Shuri could hardly contain herself .

「We’re going so fast . 」

「Shuri, don’t move around so much . 」

Shuri kept wiggling around, so Fina tried to calm her down, while Noa and I rode alongside them peacefully .

The Bears ran at their regular speed; we took a break in the middle of the day for lunch before continuing on .

Eventually, the three girls fell quiet .

At some point, Shuri had dozed off while Fina held onto her so she wouldn’t fall off .

Noa also fell asleep while holding onto me from behind .

「Shuri was so excited yesterday that she could barely sleep . She also woke up really early just so she could go to your house quicker . 」

「Noa most likely did the same . 」

The Bears ran smoothly so that they wouldn’t disturb the two girls . Looking at them, they were still fine to travel since the last break . After a few more hours of steady progress, the sun eventually began to set .

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear dropped their speed and got off the main road . After looking around for a bit, I spotted a rocky hill where we could stay for the night .

「Yuna-san, will we camp out here tonight?」

Noa asked, having woken up partway through the trip .

「I’m going to put a house down somewhere that’s hard to see . 」

I wanted to be sure that the Bear House couldn’t be seen from the main road .

We moved around to the other side of the hill, and then Noa and I got off Swaying Bear .

「Onee-chan, what are you doing?」

Shuri asked, rubbing her eyes .

「We’re going to camp here tonight . You can get off Hugging Bear now . 」

「Okay . 」

Fina and Shuri climbed off of Hugging Bear soon after .

Looking around for one final time, I brought out the travel-use Bear House from the Bear Box .

「It’s a Bear-san!」

Shuri yelled out in surprise .

Oh right, Shuri had ever seen me take out a Bear House from my Bear Box before, had she?

「We’ll stay in there tonight . 」

「Yuna-neechan, you’re amazing . 」

Thanks to the Bear House, Shuri’s sleepiness was swept away .

「Okay, let’s not dilly-dally and go inside . 」

I transformed Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear into their cub forms, then took the three girls inside .

Shuri looked around excitedly the moment she entered .

「I’ll prepare some food . The three of you can sit down and relax . 」

「I will help you . 」

「Me, too!」

「I’ll help as well!」

While I was grateful for their offer, I didn’t really need their help . I was planning to whip up just a simple meal .

「I can make it myself . The three of you can take a break with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear . 」

I let Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear take care of the girls while I headed to the kitchen .

「Yuna-oneechan, tell us if you need help with anything, okay?」

「Okay, I will . 」

The girls headed over to the sofa with the Bears while I started to prepare some hot food for us .

Today’s dinner would be rice with hamburg steak, paired up with miso soup and salad as a side . Since we had bread for breakfast, I decided to go with rice for dinner . I had gone through the trouble to obtain it, so there was no reason to keep the rice stashed away .

Since I already prepared the rice and hamburg steak in advance, all I had to do was take them out of the Bear Box . I didn’t have any salad ready though, so I had to make some . Terumi-san had asked me to have Fina and Shuri eat more vegetables, and I agreed with her . Having a balanced diet was important, after all .

I hadn’t made the miso soup yet, either, so I whipped some up while adding daikon, carrots, and potatoes . They shouldn’t find miso soup strange, since they all had already tried it at Anzu’s shop before .

Once I had everything prepared, I began bringing the dishes out to the girls, who were still playing with the Bears . Fina noticed me enter and came up to me .

「I will help you carry them . 」

「Thank you . 」

「Me, too!」

「I’ll also help . 」

The other two didn’t want to lose to Fina and offered to help as well .

「Thank you, everyone . 」

We set down all the food and began to eat .

「This is delicious . 」

「Mhm, it’s so good . 」

「Yuna-san, you can make anything . 」

「That’s not true . 」

I was being overestimated .

「You are a chef who can make such delicious dishes, an amazing adventurer, and even a shop owner . You are amazing!」

「That’s not true . If one keeps practicing, anybody can get good at cooking . Also, the shop is doing well because Morin-san, Anzu, and Terumi-san are helping . I’m not doing anything . 」

Not to mention I could only fight well because of the Bear Suit . Although I was able to somewhat rely on my experience from playing the game, that wasn’t enough by itself .

Without my Bear Suit I wouldn’t even be able to lift a weapon, let alone deal damage . As for magic, if I didn’t have the aiming skill that was built into the outfit, I would never have been able to hit anything .

Without my Bear Suit, I couldn’t even defeat a horned rabbit .

「When you say it like that, it really feels like I can’t do anything . 」

「Noa, you’re only ten years old, you still have a lot ahead of you and many things to learn . 」

After we finished eating, we lounged about for a while to let the food settle before heading off to take a bath .

For some reason, Noa and Shuri brought the bears along with us .

「Why are you bringing Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear with you?」

「So we can go into the bath together, of course . 」

「I want to go in with Swaying Bear…」

It was fine for them to enter, but I should unsummon and resummon them beforehand . It was my little trick to getting them clean; that way, I never had to bathe them .

Well, I did sometimes take baths with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear as well, carefully washing them with feelings of gratitude, and the Bears seemed to be happy when I did that for them .

If Noa and Shuri wanted to wash them, I should probably let them, instead of ruining their fun by cleaning them magically .

「Make sure you clean them properly, okay . 」

「Okay!」

「We will!」

Fina and I looked at the two with big smiles on our faces .

Once we entered the changing room, I took off my Bear Outfit .

I was kind of sad that I was so used to wearing the Bear Outfit, but when I thought about how I was living in a fantasy world, I would tell myself that it couldn’t be helped .

After wrapping a towel around my body, I looked at the other girls to see how they were doing . Fina was telling Shuri to fold up her clothing properly, to which Shuri obediently began folding her clothing tidily before putting them into a basket .

Next to her, Noa was also hurriedly trying to get her clothes folded . Our eyes met .

「I always fold up my clothes properly, you know . 」

For some reason, she made an excuse .

「I haven’t said anything, though . 」

「Well, anytime I do something good, you look at me just like how Father does when he praises me . 」

I didn’t even have children but it seemed like I was already making faces as if I were watching over my own offspring…

「All three of you are really good kids…」

I said as I took the Bears over to the bathing area . Everyone first washed their body and hair, then we all helped wash the Bears together .

Noa had a hard time cleaning Swaying Bear by herself, so I helped her . As for Hugging Bear, Fina and Shuri made a good washing team .

Their fur foamed up with bubbles easily; in no time, Swaying Bear was all covered in white bubbles . Once we were done soaping them up, we washed them off with hot water, revealing their beautiful, shiny fur underneath .

「Hugging Bear-chan got all flat . 」

Well, its fur was wet now, so of course it wouldn’t be as fluffy .

After we finished washing the bears, we all stepped into the bathtub together .

Gosh, it felt good .

For a Japanese person, bathtubs were the best . A bathroom that only had a shower just didn’t feel the same .

I submerged myself into the bathtub, with Fina next to me . A bit further away, Shuri and Noa gazed at the water-pouring Bear Statues .

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear were sharing the small cub-sized bathtub . They looked like they were enjoying the bath as well .

This was so relaxing . It was definitely a lot more fun than going through the Bear Gate . Yeah, it was a good choice to go on a trip with everybody like this .

Slowly, the tiredness from the day seeped out of us, and once we were satisfied, we left the bath .

「That felt really good . 」

Noa commented while wiping her body dry .

「Hugging Bear-chan, you have to dry yourself properly, too . 」

Shuri said and tried to wrap a towel around it .

「Shuri, dry yourself before trying to dry Hugging Bear . 」

Fina scolded and wrapped a towel around Shuri instead .

Such a peaceful, wholesome sight…

I put on the White Bear Outfit and took out milk for all of us .

It was refreshingly cold and tasted great .

We took turns drying each other’s hair with a dryer, then finally tried to dry the Bears with it .

I was tempted to unsummon them so their fur would dry automatically, but the girls wanted to dry the Bears, so I let them do it .

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Author’s Notes:

They started out on their leisurely journey . lol

Yeah, things are always laid back when the other girls are around .