Chapter 131 – Bear-san Goes To The Restaurant With Anzu
After we finished our meal at the orphanage, we all headed to the restaurant they would be working at. Fina and Shuri also went with us, still smiling happily because Terumi-san had praised them.
「Headmistress and Liz-san are really kind people.」
「The children are obedient and cute, too.」
「Some of them looked a bit egoistic, but they were all obediently listening to Headmistress, right?」
「You were right, though. Taking care of all these children with only two people seems really difficult.」
They all gave their impressions of the orphanage.
With what they said, I guessed it should be fine for them to do both jobs.
Nifu-san looked at me, and just as I started to wonder what she wanted, she spoke up.
「Yuna-chan, I wanted to speak with you about this, but would it be possible for me to only work at the orphanage?」
Nifu-san stopped walking and looked at me seriously. We all stopped, too, and when she realized what she had just said, she turned to look at Anzu.
「It’s not like I don’t want to work at the restaurant with you, Anzu-chan. It’s just... you know... taking care of the children...」
Nifu-san was trying her best to explain, and I kind of understood what she wanted to say. She just really wanted to take care of the children. Anzu answered with a smile. Did she understand her feelings, too?
「If Yuna-san is okay with it, I don’t mind, either.」
Anzu left it to me.
If this was Nifu-san’s choice, I had no problem with her only taking care of the children.
The other six women didn’t complain, either, so there was no problem.
「I don’t mind, but are the others okay with this, too?」
I said that while looking around, and the answers followed soon after.
「I’m okay with it.」
「Nifu-san was the one whom the children liked the most, after all.」
「Yeah, fine by me.」
「I have no problem with it.」
All of them agreed.
「Thank you, everyone.」
Nifu-san thanked them happily.
「Yuna-chan, how many people do you need to help at the orphanage?」
Arn-san, the second oldest of the group, asked.
「If it is just to help Headmistress and Liz-san, two people should do, I think.」
「Then, can I also do the same as Nifu-san?」
Arn-san wanted to work at the orphanage, too.
「If all of you want to work at the orphanage, we could also make rotating shifts......」
I looked around while saying that with a reserved voice.
「I also want to help at the orphanage, but I will leave it to Arn-san.」
The other four nodded.
「If we all said that we wanted to work at the orphanage, Anzu would be troubled, so I will help at the restaurant.」
Eshuna, the youngest of the group, said to calm them up a bit.
「I won’t be troubled, just sad.」
「That’s exactly the same thing.」
We all laughed.
After everyone agreed to let Nifu-san and Arn-san take care of the children, both of them decided to return to the orphanage without visiting the restaurant.
「Thank you, everyone. I will come and help out at the restaurant when it’s too busy.」
They started to walk towards the orphanage while we continued to make our way to the restaurant.
From the six people who came, two had decided to work at the orphanage. As long as the other four all decided to work at the restaurant, there shouldn’t be any problems.
On our way to the restaurant, we once again passed by 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』.
「There are a lot of people, huh.」
Even though we were still far away, we were able to see the customers, who went in and out of the restaurant.
Checking the time, there should be a lot of people who were just leaving after eating their lunch.
「The girls we saw wearing the Bear Clothes yesterday are working right now, right?」
They seemed to remember the children we saw yesterday. They were now intently staring at『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』; it seemed to have piqued their interest.
「Please endure it for today. I will show it to you next time.」
「Okay.」
So they said, but their gazes were still on 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』.
It was no use just staying here and staring at it, so I started walking onwards, and they followed.
We soon arrived at the restaurant where they would be working, and now their gazes were fixated on the ex-mansion in front of them.
「That’s a mansion, right?」
「It was; I remodeled it into a restaurant.」
Even though we called it a mansion, it was still a small one. It wasn’t even half the size of Cliff’s mansion. It just looked like a mansion, honestly.
When we entered it, we were met by a big open room with nothing inside. Tables would be put up here, but the arrangement had not yet been done.
「There is nothing here, huh.」
「It’s big, though...」
Well, I did remove most of the inner walls on the first floor and only left the kitchen and the storehouse in the back.
「I will leave it up to you guys to decide the interior design.」
「We will be the ones to decide it?」
「It will be Anzu’s restaurant, after all. You can arrange it as you wish. After you have made your decision, you can speak to Terumi-san, and she will order what you need.」
I didn’t know any furniture or carpentry stores, so I left it to them.
「I knew that I would be the one to deal with it.」
Terumi-san sighed.
I glossed it over by laughing while Anzu looked apologetic about it, and the other three were all making conflicted expressions.
「If you have any cooking utensils you need, just tell me, okay?」
「I brought some things I already used at home just in case, but I don’t have enough for everyone, so getting some more would help a lot.」
「Unfortunately, I don’t really know much about cookware, so we should go and buy it together.」
Terumi-san said.
We proceeded to discuss all the basic details about the restaurant and decided what each of them would be doing.
As for today, Anzu and Terumi-san would go shopping while the other four would be guided around the town by Fina and Shuri. It would be inconvenient if they didn’t at least know the basic locations in the town.
The real work would begin tomorrow, with arranging the interior of the restaurant and deciding on the menu.
「This should be all for now, I think?」
「You’re right. We have discussed everything we need for now.」
I confirmed.
Terumi-san also seemed content, so there shouldn’t be anything we forgot.
「Well then, we should separate into two groups and go our separate ways.」
The moment when we were about to leave... the door burst open.
「Wait a minute!」
「Mylene-san!?」
「It’s been a while, Anzu-chan.」
When Mylene-san entered the restaurant, she greeted Anzu and approached us.
「Yuna-chan, Terumi-san, isn’t there something you forgot?」
No, no, no, before saying that, why were you here?
Did you listen in on our conversation?
Where were you hiding?
I didn’t even know where to start.
「Why are you here, Mylene-san? Did you listen in on our conversation?」
For now, I decided to ask what was bothering me the most.
I looked at Anzu and the other women, who were asking Anzu, “Who is this?”.
「You ask me why I’m here? It’s because I did my best to finish my job and rush over. Also, I overheard your conversation through the gap of the door.」
I had the impression that I should retort some more, but decided to ignore it.
「So, why did you rush here?」
「I overheard that Anzu-chan had arrived, you see. That, of course, meant that she would work at Yuna-chan’s place.」
「Haa, yeah, you’re right.」
「And, since she would be working here, you will all need something, right?」
「We just talked it over right now.」
「Yuna-chan, you forgot something really important.」
「Something important?」
「The uniform. U・N・I・F・O・R・M. Will it be Bear Clothes as expected?」
As I was wondering what she was talking about, she brought out this trivial stuff.
「I haven’t decided yet. Also, those uniforms were something you decided on your own.」
I said that, but the people in town all believe I was the one who had decided upon the Bear Uniform used at『Bear-san’s relaxing shop』.
Well, if you didn’t know about what had really happened, it was normal to think it had been my idea since I owned the shop.
「A normal uniform would be just fine, wouldn’t it?」
「A normal uniform is no good! Without the Bear Uniform, you can’t call it Yuna-chan’s restaurant anymore!」
I looked around for support.
Terumi-san was laughing while Anzu knew that Mylene-san was the guild master of the Commerce Guild, so she was panicking, and the others had no idea what to say.
「Does that mean that you want them to wear Bear Clothes?」
Hearing me mention Bear clothes, Anzu and the women all looked surprised.
「That’s a little... You know? Their ages are......」
Mylene-san murmured after looking at them.
It wasn’t really the polite thing to say, but I agreed with her.
「What about using bear embroidered aprons and hats? The hat would be in the place of the maid headband.」
The only thing that came to my mind was a toque; I already got a bad feeling just thinking about it.
「Hmm, I will leave it to Anzu.」
「Yuna-san!」
I decided to flee, while, being left with the decision, Anzu was looking left and right, not knowing what to do. The other women were also showing complicated expressions.
Before them was the woman who reestablished Mireera’s Commerce Guild; they knew she did many things to help them, like arranging food and preparing the tunnel.
How could they refuse such a person when she was right in front of them?
I wouldn’t be able to do it, and that was probably partly the reason why the uniform at 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』turned out to be Bear Clothes. I guess, I just had to let it happen, and what happened, happened.
Author’s note:
Without being able to stop it, the apron will inevitably have Bear embroidery, and they will wear Bear Hats.
New illustrations have been put on the PASH! blog, now visible to the public; I explained it in detail on my activity report. For those who are interested, I would be really happy if you checked it out.