Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

With Fina’s dismantling lessons finished, we returned to our school festival tour. As we walked around, looking for the next interesting attraction, someone pulled on my Bear Outfit.

「Yuna-neechan, I’m hungry.」

The culprit was Shuri, who looked at me expectantly while rubbing her small belly.

「I have been getting kind of hungry, too.」

Tilia agreed with Shuri, with Noa and Fina nodding by her side.

「Okay, let’s go get something to eat, then.」

「Okay!」

Everybody replied enthusiastically.

「Should we head back to the area Shia-sama is at?」

「Hmm, it’s a bit far from here. If I remember correctly, there should be some food stands that way. Let’s check them out.」

Tilia thought a bit about Fina’s suggestion before deciding it was better to head to the food stands that were closer to us. It was nice to have a guide, but I wasn’t sure if having a princess do something like that was actually okay...

We arrived at some stands selling food, but the whole area was crowded.

「Everyone must have had the same idea, huh.」

Well, it was the perfect time to have lunch, after all. Tilia looked at us, her eyes asking what we wanted to do in this situation. If we let the busy hour pass, the crowd should die down, but we had walked around a lot, and Shuri seemed to be tired after doing all that dismantling. It would be best if we could sit down and enjoy some food as quickly as possible. While we didn’t see any free stands we could get food at without waiting in a line until we grew old, there were some empty tables, but I was sure that if we didn’t take the chance to grab them quickly, they would be stolen from us by others.

「Everyone, do you care about what we eat? We don’t have to eat at the food stands, because I’ve brought food in my item bag.」

I had prepared large amounts of food (about enough to feed several hundred people) and stored it in my Bear Box, so we didn’t necessarily have to wait in line to buy something.

「I want to eat pizza!」

「Ah, me too!」

Shuri and Noa raised their hands for pizza.

「Are you really okay with not getting food from the stands?」

「Yep. I like your pizza, after all.」

「Thank you.」

I patted Shuri’s head.

「Fina, Tilia, would you be okay with pizza as well?」

「Yes, of course.」

「I would love to try some of your pizza.」

We quickly moved to an empty table to secure our spot before it was too late. I then proceeded to bring out some pizza, some bread baked by Morin, some warm soup made by Anzu, and some cold fruit juice.

「This is rather luxurious.」

「Is it?」

The table did really look rather luxurious with all this food piled onto it.

「Okay everyone, feel free to eat whatever you like. There’s plenty more, so let me know if you want some and we run out.」

「 「 「Let’s eat! 」」」

Everyone grabbed whatever they fancied first.

「Tilia, is this your first time having pizza?」

「No, Zelef has made it for me once before.」

I recalled giving Zelef a couple of cheese wheels, so maybe he used them to make the pizza?

「Your pizza is much more delicious, though.」

She said as she ate it happily.

「I appreciate the compliment, but please don’t tell Zelef-san you said that.」

The pizza I served disappeared quickly, along with Morin-san’s bread and Anzu’s soup.

「I don’t feel so good.」

「Me neither.」

Noa and Tilia had both eaten too much. Nobody had forced them to eat so much in such a short amount of time, though. Fina and Shuri, on the other hand, had shown restraint. Shuri ate her food more slowly while Fina had stopped when she had become full.

「You will feel better after resting a bit.」

「Yuna, can I have some more juice?」

「Okay, but you will feel worse if you drink too much, so drink it slowly.」

I warned Noa, but I was actually happy they had eaten everything. As we waited for the two of them to feel better, we continued to each sip on a juice of our own. Personally, I wanted to get moving as quickly as possible, but I patiently waited along with the others, even though, ever since we started eating, I heard whispers around us.

「Bear?」 「Oh, it’s the bear from before.」 「Tilia-sama is with the bear.」

Some of them even mentioned the food we were eating.

「Tilia-sama is eating something I’ve never seen before.」 「Where are they selling that?」 「It looks good.」 「Let’s go look for it.」

A few of the students ran off to search for the non-existent pizza stand. Of course, I didn’t want to bother telling them I had brought this food with me, so I just ignored them. It wasn’t my fault they had run off in search for a stand which they only assumed existed.

After resting for a while, the two bloated girls finally recovered. Since they could move again, I rushed them out of the area to continue our school festival tour.

Shuri held hands with Tilia and me while Fina and Noa chatted a few steps behind us.

「Ah, Fina, your clothes are dirty.」

Noa said and pointed to a part of Fina’s clothing which was dirty, but I couldn’t tell what the stain was.

「I might have gotten it dirty while I was dismantling.」

「Do you want to change?」

「No, it’s okay. It’s only a small stain.」

Hmm, I didn’t think it was good to wear clothing that had been stained while dismantling. She must not want to cause trouble for everybody; she really was a person who didn’t want to bother other people with her problems. Still, something should be done about this.

「Ah, I know. I just got a great idea. Let’s go over there!」

Tilia suddenly thought of something while looking at Fina’s clothes. Tilia didn’t even explain anything and ran off while dragging Fina with her by her hand.

「Tilia-sama!?」

「Over here. Don’t fall behind everyone!」

「Tilia-sama, I will come with you, so please don’t pull me along.」

Fina tired to persuade Tilia to let her go but to no avail. Fina seemed very nervous being dragged around by a princess, almost as if she could faint at any moment.

「Tilia, where are we going?」

「It’s a secret. Well, you will figure it out once we get there.」

It looked like she didn’t want to tell us where she was taking us even though we would learn of it when we got there...

Tilia proceeded to take us into one of the academy buildings. There were programs being held inside the classrooms, which I would have loved to check out, but Tilia ignored everything and beelined straight past them. We didn’t even stop to take a quick look.

We followed Tilia in silence as it seemed pointless to say anything.

「Just a little further; it’s that classroom over there.」

We finally stopped in front of the mentioned classroom and peeked inside. There were various western-styled clothes lined up all around, so maybe this was a clothing shop?

「Waah, there are so many cute clothes.」

There were all types of clothing, and a lot of customers, too.

「These are clothes made by the students. They are very cute, so they became quite popular among the students. The students used good materials to make them, and the price is also affordable.」

I was curious as to what Tilia considered an affordable price. Usually, if a good material was used, the price would rise accordingly. Well, since the clothes are cute, maybe I should buy something for Fina and Shuri.

「Since you showed me your brilliant dismantling skills earlier, I will buy you new clothes as a thank you present.」

It turned out Tilia beat me to the idea.

Fina froze up at Tilia’s offer. Well, as a person who didn’t want to trouble anybody, of course she would be startled when a princess offered to buy clothes for her.

「I-It’s fine, I can wash my clothes. You don’t have to buy me new ones.」

Fina tried to refuse, but Tilia didn’t back down.

「Fufu, you don’t have to hold back. Your dismantling was really beautiful. I want to thank you for showing it to me, so pick something you like, okay? Actually, no. I will choose something that matches you myself.」

Tilia grabbed Fina’s hand again and started to drag her into the classroom.

Fina turned to me for help, but while I understood how she felt, I also thought she shouldn’t go around the festival with dirty clothes. It would indeed be best for her to get a fresh set of clothes.

「Hmm... How about I buy it for her instead?」

「Yuna-oneechan?!」

Since she seemed to be against the idea of Tilia buying it for her so much, I offered to do it instead.

「No! I will buy it so I can give it to Fina-chan as a present.」

Tilia opposed and hugged Fina so that I couldn’t get her. Fina looked even more troubled now, looking back and forth between us.

「So unfair. You’re only buying it for Onee-chan. I want new clothes, too.」

「Fufu, don’t worry, Shuri-chan. I’ll buy them for you as well.」

Shuri looked overjoyed when she heard that she would be getting a set of her own.

「Thank you, Princess.」

「Maybe I should buy something as well.」

Noa said, gazing at the beautiful clothing.

「Okay, let’s go inside first. We might get in other people’s way if we keep standing here.」

Tilia said, took Fina and Shuri by their hands, and led them into the classroom with Noa and I following close behind. Inside, the female students quickly noticed Tilia, and came up to us.

「Tilia-sama, what brings you to our humble shop?」

「Sorry, I was thinking of intruding for a bit.」

「Oh no, you’re not intruding at all.」

「That’s great to hear. Anyway, can you pick out something cute for these girls here?」

Tilia said and pushed Fina and Shuri in front of her.

「Of course, Tilia-sama. We will make sure to pick something that suits them.」

「Please do.」

After two students got the gist of what Tilia was doing here, they glanced at me.

「Tilia-sama, how about the girl in the bear costume over there?」

Huh? Me?

Tilia turned to look at me as well.

「Yuna, are you going to buy anything?」

「I’m fine. Just buy something for these three.」

Even if I were to buy something, I would have no opportunities to wear it, so it would just be a waste. It was pointless to buy something just to look at it, after all.

Also, we might be playing around here, but I was technically still their bodyguard.

「Don’t say that, why don’t you at least try something? I’m sure it will look good on you.」

「Yuna-oneechan.」

「Yuna-san.」

「Yuna-neechan.」

The three girls looked at me expectantly.

「You don’t have to worry about me. Come on, go pick out something for yourselves.」

I said and quickly pushed the three of them towards the students.

At this rate, they might make me buy something. I really wanted to avoid that if possible.

「I really wanted to see Yuna in regular clothes, though.」

Tilia looked disappointed, but I hoped she would give up for today.

The students took the girls around the store in search for clothing that matched their sizes.

「This looks good.」 「This one is good, too.」 「This is cute as well.」「This one would fit her perfectly.」The students happily discussed between themselves and the girls. A shut-in like me couldn’t possibly join in on such conversation. Fina looked confused as to what she should do, too. Meanwhile, her sister Shuri seemed to be enjoying herself. Noa was in the middle picking something out herself as well.

Soon, Tilia joined in on the conversation and the girl power of the room shot through the roof.

This was territory I should never enter. At least, I couldn’t enter it while wearing my Bear-themed equipment. Even the overpowered attributes it provided were of no effect in this girl dominated room. The only thing I could do was watch over them from the corner while doing my best not to be dragged into it.

Fina looked at me for help again, but since she was on her own out there, all I could do was cheer her on, whispering: 「Good luck.」

I wouldn’t be able to change Tilia’s mind at this point anyway, so I didn’t even try. If they were surrounded by monsters, I would jump in immediately, but there was no reason for me to sacrifice myself when she was just surrounded by a bunch of smiling girls.

I only hoped Fina would be able to forgive the powerless me in this situation.

A whole hour had passed before they managed to pick out a couple of choices. All they had to do now was to try them on and chose their favorite. The three girls moved on to the changing room and the fashion show began.

The girls came out from the changing room one by one, wearing the clothes picked out for them. Tilia and the other students would then critique their looks. Well, it was mostly things like, 「That’s cute,」「Eh, the one earlier was better,」「This one looks the best so far,」「That hair piece matches the outfit very well,」and「It doesn’t match the accessories at all.」

I couldn’t follow their logic, though.

I thought all of the outfits looked good on them. I couldn’t tell what was bad with any of them. I had already known this before, but my girl power was really low, wasn’t it? I could cook and do the household chores, but I knew nothing about fashion. With this, I was once again able to confirm that I had absolutely zero fashion sense...

At some point, they asked for my opinion, but when I looked at their outfits, they all looked cute to me. The only thing I could say was 「All three of them look cute to me.」

If I was the one buying clothes for them, I would simply buy the whole selection and be done with it.

The amazing thing about Tilia and the students was that they thought about the entire outfit, all the way down to the accessories the girls were wearing. They coordinated the outfits based on everything the girls wore. It would be impossible for me to do so.

If I tried to join in, I would probably go like「Um, what’s the difference?」, 「Why is that no good?」, and 「I thought it looked good.」

I would surely tilt my head multiple times in confusion.

After a lot of changing into different clothes over and over again, Tilia finally decided on the outfits for Fina and Shuri. Noa also chose something for herself after getting an opinion from Tilia.

「The three of you look very cute.」

I had said it in my mind so many times, that I wasn’t sure if I actually said it out loud just now. Praises and apologies lost their value when used too often, at least that was what I believed. I kind of understood how guys felt when they were asked about their opinion on the girl’s outfit.

I could easily imagine the guy getting told 「Look properly!」or 「Is that the only thing you can say?!」

Still, these girls wouldn’t complain even if what I said was simple. They were good girls, after all.

「Umm, are you sure you will buy such cute clothes for me?」

「Of course. It’s to thank you for your dismantling demonstration, after all.」

「Tilia-sama, is it really okay to pay for mine as well?」

「I would feel bad for leaving you out if I only bought them for these two. Not to mention, Shia has helped me out quite often here at the academy.」

The three of them all thanked Tilia, and we finally left the shop.

I was really glad that the fashion show ended without me getting involved.

Author’s Note:

They ate lunch and bought clothes made by students.

I guess they went to a sewing club? When the club did their activities during the year, they made a bunch of clothes and then decided to sell them at the festival? So, maybe we could say that all of the clothes are one-of-a-kind?

Hmm, maybe this would be a good spot to end day one and move on to day two?