Chapter 251 – Bear-san Plans Her Trip to the Capital (1/2)

The following day, Fina and Shuri dropped by early, so Fina helped me prepare dinner while we waited for Noa to arrive.

「Yuna-oneechan, I’ve set the plates.」

「Thank you. Can you prepare the tea as well?」

「No problem. Shuri, Noa-sama will be arriving soon, so don’t tire yourself out too much from playing with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, okay?」

「Okay… Let’s play again later, Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear.」

I listened in on their exchange while I focused on the cooking.

While Fina was helping me set up for dinner, Shuri rather chose to play with my cub-sized Bears.

Just as we finished all the preparations, Noa knocked on the door.

「Welcome.」

「Could it be that I’m late?」

Noa asked after seeing that Fina and Shuri were already by the table.

「No, you’re on time. Those two came early, so I got them to help me make dinner.」

「Oh, is that so? I should have come earlier as well, then…」

「Don’t worry about that. Well, let’s continue talking while we eat.」

After everyone got seated at the table, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear curled up next to me. Today’s dinner was fried rice with a side of salad and soup.

「We’re going to decide on our date of departure, right?」

Noa asked after she ate her first spoonful of rice.

「Yes, but first, there’s something I want to tell Noa and Shuri.」

「Tell us something?」

「What is it?」

Noa and Shuri looked at me with their spoons hanging in midair.

「The two of you want to ride on Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear on our way there, right?」

「Yes!」

「Mhm!」

The two replied without hesitation, as I had expected.

「Just thinking of being with Bear-san for an entire day makes me happy.」

「Yes, me too.」

Shuri nodded at Noa’s words.

Could it be that those two were actually more similar than I had thought?

Of course, Fina liked my Bears, too. I often saw her petting them when I summoned them.

「Riding Bear-sans to the Capital… It will be the best trip ever!」

「I want to ride Bear-sans soon.」

They have already entered Bear-san mode… The trip would take longer, but maybe it would be a better idea to keep quiet about the Bear Gate and just go to the capital with the Bears?

It still felt like a waste of time, though.

「Yuna-san, what’s wrong?」

Noa asked me when she noticed me playing with my spoon.

「Hm,? Oh, nothing, I was just thinking.」

「About what?」

「I was just thinking that it would be nice to be able to get to the capital in an instant.」

「In an instant? If I could do that, I’d be able to go see Mother anytime I want!」

Well, if she used the Bear Gate, she would indeed be able to meet Eleanora-san whenever she wanted… I decided to swallow those words and keep quiet for now.

Grasping the timing to reveal a secret was unexpectedly difficult. When I had told Fina, I thought she already knew about it, so it was easy. Telling someone who I was sure didn’t know was much harder, especially since it wasn’t absolutely necessary to do so.

「Well, if that was possible, then what would the two of you do? Would you still want to ride all the way to the capital on Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear?」

「I want to go with Bear-sans!」

Shuri replied immediately.

「If I could get there in an instant, I would love to try it out sometime, but I also want to go on a trip with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear…」

It seems that Shuri wanted to go with Bear-san no matter what while Noa was a bit more undecided.

「Why did you ask us something like that anyway?」

「Just as a reference.」

I understood their feelings. Even if I told them about the door, they probably wouldn’t want to use it in the end, and even if they did, they would regret not going on a trip with my Bears.

「Yuna-oneechan, how about we travel to the capital with Bear-sans, and then, on our way back, we use that.」

Fina tried her best to be vague when she talked about the Bear Gate.

Her idea wasn’t bad; they would get to travel with the Bears, but we also wouldn’t waste time coming back. Yeah, it was a good plan.

「Fina, what is that?」

「Um, it’s nothing.」

「Really?」

Fina kept her promise and kept the Bear Gate secret, while Noa didn’t press any further and returned to eating her rice.

「Okay then, let’s all go to the capital with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.」

After talking for a while longer, we decided to depart a few days before the festival began.

That way the three of them would get to enjoy the trip itself, and I could pick a different time to tell them about the door. Just like Fina had proposed, I could easily tell them about the door for our way back. Timing would also be much better, then.

After the meal, I pulled out some pudding for us as a dessert, and after that, the three of them played with the cub-sized Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear until sunset. Noticing they were getting tired, I let them sleep over with Bears.

Next morning, I began to prepare for our trip to the Capital.

Since there would be three children coming along, I should bring something to keep them entertained. We had reversi, but that would get boring after a while, so I decided to also bring a deck of cards. It would be the main feature of our trip.

I had worked on the cards little by little at any chance I got. For the Kings, Queens, and Jacks, I drew little Bears on the front of the cards.

The Bears on the King cards wore crowns, the ones on the Queen cards looked like queens, and the Jacks bore swords. Of course, the Jokers were also Bears in the end.

I planned on having chibi bears on the backside of the cards, but right now they were still blank. I wasn’t confident I could draw fifty-four of the exact same thing, after all.

I wanted to have them printed, instead.

If I accidentally messed up the card while drawing, the whole card would be ruined, after all the effort I put into drawing the front.