Chapter 272

Chapter 272 – Bear-san Returns To Being a Bear

We returned to the mansion and were greeted by Suririna-san, who was quite surprised to see me wearing a uniform .

「Yuna-sama, you look just like a regular student in the uniform . 」

It had been a while since somebody last called me normal .

「Still, is it rude of me to think that maybe your bear costume suits you better?」

Yes, it was rude .

I was still just a fifteen-year-old maiden, after all . I didn’t think there were any girls who would be happy to hear they looked good in a Bear Suit .

Yet, even with me complaining as such in my head, I still decided to change back into the Bear Suit the moment I returned to the guest room .

「Yuna-san, you’re going to change?」

「Yeah . I mean, we are not at the festival anymore, are we?」

Since I was back at the mansion, I wanted to change into something I could relax in . Moreover, I couldn’t simply wear the uniform forever, right?

I took off the uniform, retrieved my Bear Suit form the Bear Box, and put it back on .

The softness and warmth that came with it made me loosen up immediately . This was the best outfit to relax in, even though that wasn’t something I should be admitting to myself . No matter how I looked at it, I did indeed feel most comfortable in my Bear Suit .

This outfit made me feel safe, softly wrapping and protecting me from foreign entities .

This was God’s curse for sure…

「The Bear Outfit is nice and all, but I wish you had stayed in the uniform a little while longer . 」

I didn’t really mind wearing it that much, but I just couldn’t stay calm in it . Also, I would probably have to wear it tomorrow as well, so Noa shouldn’t be too disappointed . I had promised Shia not to stand out, after all, so I most likely didn’t have any other choice but to wear it again .

I had spent the whole day today wearing a uniform and nobody had called me 「Bear」, pointed at me, mobbed me like those children yesterday, and most importantly, didn’t make fun of me .

Still, for some reason, it had felt as if the boys were gazing at me every now and then . Perhaps I really was getting overly self-conscious after suffering so much due to the Bear Suit .

Those gazes had most likely been directed at Tilia, who had walked next to me most of the time . That must be why it had felt like I had been getting stared at . I had been just an unknown student, while Tilia was the princess of the country . Of course people would look at her .

Yeah, I had just been overly self-conscious, mistaking the glances meant for Tilia to be meant for myself .

After I was finished changing, I noticed the girls were already playing cards with Misa . Gran-san would come get Misa here once he was done, apparently .

「Okay, I have a pair of threes . 」

Fina said and placed two cards into the middle .

It looked like they were playing Old Maid .

「I have the Bear-san card . I should be happy that the Bear-san card came to me, but I will lose if I keep it . 」

Everybody called the joker ‘Bear-san’ . They also called the kings ‘Bear King’, the queens ‘Bear Queen’, and the jacks ‘Bear Knight’ .

They weren’t necessarily wrong as the drawings did have Bears on them . Normal cards, however, weren’t called in such a way . Still, I couldn’t find a good way to explain that, so I simply let it continue without correcting them .

After they played for a while, the adventurer Marina came to get Misa .

「Marina, you’re here, too . 」

「Yes, I’m here as Gran-sama’s and Misana-sama’s escort . Misana-sama, did you have fun today?」

After Marina greeted us, she turned to Misa to ask about her day .

「Mhm, I had a lot of fun . 」

「That’s good to hear . Thank you for taking care of her today, Yuna . We would love to let Misana-sama stay here a little longer, but we have to head back tomorrow . 」

Well, that couldn’t be helped, since Gran-san only came to the capital because of his work . Misa already knew this and wasn’t acting selfishly . She obediently went to say goodbye to the other girls .

「Noa-oneesama, when I visit Crimonia next time, please take me around town . 」

「Yes, I’ll be waiting . I will bring you to all sorts of places . 」

「Fina-chan, Shuri-chan, let’s meet again . 」

「Yes . If you happen to come to Crimonia, I’ll bring you around as well . 」

「See you soon, Misa-neechan . 」

They made a promise to meet her in Crimonia .

「Okay, I will invite you to my shop when you visit . 」

「Yes, please . I will definitely come . 」

Misa happily agreed before leaving with Marina . Shortly after she left, Shia and Eleanora-san came home .

「Listen to this . His Majesty skipped out on work and went with Flora-sama to the school festival . Can you believe it? Thanks to that, all of his work came to me, and it was awful . I wanted to go to the school festival, too…」

Eleanora-san complained to us over dinner .

The queen had mentioned that the king skipped out on his work, but it seemed like the receiving end hadn’t been the hard-working prince, after all . It had actually been Eleanora-san who took the brunt of it .

When Noa mentioned that we had met him on his outing, Eleanora-san pouted even harder .

I understood how she felt but instead of saying it like Flora was being taken, shouldn’t she put it in a better way, like ‘escort’?

「Anyway… Did you girls have fun at the festival today?」

「Yes, we had a lot of fun . We listened to a concert, and the play after was really moving . 」

「The singing princess’ song was really amazing and beautiful . 」

「Thanks to Tilia-sama bringing us with her, we got to watch all of it from a special area reserved for royalty . 」

The three of them told Eleanora-san about their favorite parts . Fina had finally gotten used to Eleanora-san in these past couple of days . At first, she was still very nervous, but now, she could speak normally .

Well, Eleanora-san was a kind person, so it was easy to get comfortable around her . Occasionally, she did say and do some unbelievable things, but looking past that, she was a really nice person as a whole .

「I see… I’m glad the two of you had fun . Noa, you must have had more fun than you would by yourself, right?」

「Yes, Mother . I’m very grateful that you invited the two of them to the festival . 」

True, if Fina and Shuri weren’t here, it would have been just Noa and me . The programs were way more fun when enjoyed as a group . It was great that Fina had managed to make new friends . If it had been my old self, I would have rather gone alone, but now I preferred to go with these girls, whom I loved dearly .

Thinking about it like this, I really had to thank Eleanora-san for inviting the two of them along .

「By the way, how did it go on your end, Shia?」

「Thanks to the bear statue Yuna-san made for us and the help Tilia-sama gave us, customers kept coming, and we sold quite a bit . 」

Shia proceeded to explain to Eleanora-san about how the Bear statue and Tilia had brought in so many customers that it had become a huge problem to deal with the crowd .

「Fufu, of course that would happen . When Tilia-sama calls for people, they are sure to gather . 」

「I didn’t think it would be that many, though . 」

Yeah, even when we had just been walking around with Tilia, the people’s gazes had more often than not been attracted to us .

「Mother, do you have to work tomorrow as well?」

「I will be going to the academy with His Majesty tomorrow, so we may be able to meet up . 」

So, the king would be visiting the academy tomorrow, huh . I should prepare myself for him to approach us . If he told me that I looked weird in my outfit again, I would be sad for sure . Also, the royal family would surely stand out a lot, especially if the king acted lovingly towards Flora-sama in front of everybody .

「Well, everyone seems to be having fun, so I’m not that distraught over not meeting with you today . 」

We had checked out many attractions, ate plenty of delicious foods, and even visited a theatre . We had most certainly had a lot of fun .

「Yes, but even with all the attractions, I think that the most shocking thing today was seeing Yuna-san in a uniform . She looked so cute in it . 」

Noa suddenly blurted out .

Just what was she saying?

「Uniform?」

「Yes, Yuna-san wore Onee-sama’s uniform today during the festival . Her usual Bear-san costume is nice and all, but the uniform suited her quite well, too . 」

「Shia said my Bear Outfit stood out too much and made me change clothes…」

Well, thanks to the uniform, nobody had pointed at me or called me a Bear, so I couldn’t really complain .

「The people passing by were all still looking at Yuna-san, though . 」

「They were looking at Tilia because she’s a princess, no?」

I had felt some glances on us, but I was pretty sure they were meant for Tilia, not me . There was no reason to look at me when I wasn’t wearing my Bear Suit, after all .

「I think some of them were looking at Tilia-sama as well, but I’m almost certain most were focused on you . 」

Noa said and looked at Fina and Shuri to see if they agreed with her .

「There’s no way that’s true . 」

I objected and also looked at them . There was just no reason for people to look at me .

「Um, I think they were looking at both of you . 」

「But why would they look at me? Tilia is a princess, so of course they would look at her . If I’m not wearing my Bear Suit, what reason do people have to even pay attention to me? 」

「It’s probably because you are pretty, Yuna-onechan . 」

「Fina, you sure know how to flatter people already . You don’t have to do it with me, though . They were probably looking at me like because they were curious about the student walking together with a princess . 」

I had been wearing a uniform, after all . If they had been looking at me, they had probably thought something like「Who’s that student walking together with Tilia-sama?」

Still, why did both Fina and Noa look surprised when I said that, clearly not knowing how to respond?

「Yuna-chan in a uniform, huh? I wish I could see that . 」

「I will be wearing it tomorrow as well, so you can see it then . 」

「Really? In that case, I will be looking forward to it . 」

I was only going to wear the uniform during the time I was at the academy, so I didn’t really have to tell her that, but it was likely she would see me in it anyway .

The next day came around, and I put on the uniform I had borrowed from Shia again so that we could go to the academy . Since Shia had taught me how to put it on yesterday, I could change without any problem now . Once I was done, I didn’t forget to put on the Bear Hands and Feet, of course .

Still, not having my Bear Suit on made me nervous .

Without it, I couldn’t take attacks easily . The defense power of the suit was so high that I could even withstand attacks from the Black Viper . Hence, I didn’t feel completely safe with only my feet and gloves on, but at least I could use magic, swing a sword, and summon my Bears . Still, there should be no danger at the school festival, so I just had to stay out of trouble for the duration of it .

「I had also thought this when I saw you wear a dress, but clothes really do change people, don’t they?」

Eleanora-san gave her opinion of me wearing a uniform .

Basically, she was saying that ‘clothes made a person’, right?

「You can’t beat my daughters, though . 」

Noa and Shia were both cute, so I wished she didn’t compare me to them .

Eleanora-san, satisfied for having seen me wearing the uniform, headed off towards the castle after reminding us that she would be attending the festival with the king later in the day . I very much hoped we wouldn’t run into them…