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 n.o.ble 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 embarra.s.sment.
「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 n.o.bles 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 n.o.ble, 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 n.o.ble 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 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.