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…
Author’s Note:
She managed to change back into her Bear Suit only to go back to the uniform again…
Next chapter will be the third day of the school festival.