Chapter 132 – Bear-san Makes A Request For An Embroidery
Since Mylene-san’s intrusion, all of us showed exasperated expressions.
I felt especially sorry for Anzu and the others, but with the talk about the uniform now finished, the subject of the conversation had changed.
Still thinking about embroidery, I suddenly recalled the girl from the orphanage who embroidered a bear onto a cushion and then gave it to me; the very cushion which had proven useful during my guard request of the academy students by making the carriage trip a bit more comfortable.
「Mylene-san, do you have a place in mind for getting this embroidery made?」
「I was planning on asking the tailor who made the Bear Uniform for the Bear-san Relaxing Shop. Why do you ask?」
「A girl from the orphanage made this for me.」
I took out the cushion, which had a deformed bear embroidered onto it, from the Bear Box. She probably used the Bears at the shop as a reference.
「Wh-what is that!?」
Before I knew it, Mylene-san snatched the cushion from me.
「A girl from the orphanage gave it to me.」
「It’s cute and really skillfully made.」
Mylene-san gave her impression while touching the cushion.
The deformed bear seemed cute enough to me, too.
「Would it be alright if I asked this girl to do the embroidery for us?」
She was good at it and was able to depict bears really well.
If she was able to do this much with just simple embroidery, I was sure that she had a lot of talent.
「Did Sherry-chan give you this cushion?」
Terumi-san asked while looking at the cushion that Mylene-san was still holding.
「Yeah?」
She was right, a girl named Sherry had given it to me.
Well, it wouldn’t be strange for Terumi-san to know her as she worked at the orphanage.
「I knew it. She is really skilled with her hands and is always sewing things. The embroideries on the curtains and the cushions at the orphanages are all done by Sherry-chan.」
I already knew that; when Sherry gave me the cushion, she also showed me a lot of her other works. Her deceased mother had taught her how to do it, and Sherry was doing it whenever she had the time ever since.
I had even given her some of the threads I had obtained from my guard request.
I had given it to her as thanks for the cushion; it wouldn’t be fair if I had been seen giving a present to only one of the children, so I had used the cushion as an excuse.
「Fina and Shuri, if I’m not wrong, you should have one as well, right?」
Terumi-san looked at her daughters.
「Yes, she embroidered a towel for me.」
The two of them produced a towel out of nowhere.
There was a deformed bear on the towel, just like the one on my cushion.
Why a bear, though?
We all looked at the bears embroidered on the towel and the cushion.
「They’re cute.」
「Wearing an apron embroidered with that......」
「But isn’t that embarrassing?」
「Yeah, a little...」
Mylene-san smiled when she heard them.
「Would you prefer the costume, then?」
「N-no, the apron is fine.」
Forne-san immediately answered after she compared the apron to the costume.
「Looking at this work, it might indeed be good to ask Sherry-chan. No, we will ask Sherry-chan.」
Nobody went against Mylene-san’s decision.
With the talk about the apron finished, I thought that we were done, and I could leave, but Mylene-san brought up another subject.
「Next would be the signboard and the outer appearance.」
She was right, we did need a signboard. If we opened the restaurant without a signboard, people would have difficulties knowing what it was.
What about the outer appearance, though?
I could only think about one thing.
「Also, has the restaurant’s name been decided yet?」
When Mylene-san said that, they all looked at me.
「Since Anzu will be the manager, I will leave it to her.」
「To me?」
I had left naming the『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』to other people, too. I wasn’t really picky about names.
「Yep, you can decide, Anzu.」
「Hmm, if I remember correctly, the other shop you have is named 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』, right? Then, how about『Bear-san’s Diner』?」
I thought it was good, but Mylene-san didn’t seem to like it very much.
「Anzu-chan, that is not sophisticated enough.」
「Ugh, when you tell me to pick a name so suddenly, there is no way I can think of a good one. It’s Yuna-san’s restaurant, so Yuna-san should decide!」
It was up to me again...
I was really bad at coming up with names...
Bear-san’s Diner seemed good enough to me...
「What was the name of Deiga-san’s place? Since you are going to manage it, couldn’t we use ‘The Second’ or ‘Crimonia Branch’ for the name?」
「Hmm, the restaurant doesn’t really have a name...」
「Seriously?」
I looked at the other women, and they all nodded.
「I don’t know it, either.」
「Calling it Anzu-chan’s restaurant or Deiga-san’s inn was enough to know what we were talking about.」
They all nodded in agreement.
Now that I thought about it, I remembered Atora-san had been calling it Muscle Man Inn...
If that was its real name, I would have really pitied Deiga-san.
Well, we were in no rush to make a signboard, so we decided to all think about it and talk it out later.
The outer appearance was left to me, though.
I had no special ideas and could only imagine things like bears that caught fish, wolves, or cows; and bears eating fruits, vegetables and such.
Mylene-san accepted my idea when I told her.
It was the same for the 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』. Mylene-san decided on all sorts of things, but it was still my restaurant, right?
Even though it was my restaurant, I decided to agree to Mylene’s idea without refuting it.
I wasn’t like Anzu and the rest, but I was still grateful for all the help she had given me as a Commerce guild master, one way or the other, especially with things concerning Mireera, and because of that, I couldn’t really refuse her.
Also, refusing to make bears outside was a bit late at this point. All of my houses were Bear Houses, there were bears at Morin-san’s shop, I was wearing Bear Clothes...
It was a bit late to make something that wasn’t bear related...
With the outer appearance decided to be bear related, the talk was finally finished, and we went our separate ways.
Anzu and Terumi-san went shopping, as they had discussed earlier, while the others went with Fina and Shuri to tour Crimonia.
It was also decided that Mylene-san and I would go and see Sherry at the orphanage.
I wanted to dump everything on Terumi-san and Anzu and enjoy my free time at home at first, but Mylene-san caught me before I managed to get away and dragged me to see Sherry at the orphanage with her.
That was how, I returned to the orphanage for the second time today.
Sherry was in the group that was taking care of the birds, so we headed to the coop, thinking she would probably be there, but when we entered it, we saw the children playing. Did they already finish their work?
I asked the children where Sherry was, and they told us she had already gone back to the orphanage. When we got there, we saw Nifu-san and Arn-san talking to Liz-san and Headmistress. I told them that we had some business with Sherry, and Liz-san gave us directions to Sherry’s room.
「Sherry, are you here?」
I knocked on the door and entered together with Mylene-san.
「Big Sis Yuna?」
A girl, around 12 years old and a bit tall for her age, was sewing on a bed. It was Sherry; the girl who gave me the cushion.
Although this was a four person room, Sherry was the only one inside.
「Can we talk with you for a bit?」
「Yes, no problem.」
With Mylene-san and me coming so suddenly, an anxious expression showed on her face.
It was surely because Mylene-san was scary.
It wasn’t my fault.
「Were you just doing some embroidery?」
「Yes, I love doing it, after all.」
She was holding an unfinished embroidery in her hands.
「Would you mind showing it to me?」
Mylene-san and I both looked at it.
It was a bear again; a deformed bear that could be seen at the 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』.
「A bear?」
「One of the children wanted one.」
This deformed bear seemed to be really popular.
「You’re really good at this.」
「Thank you.」
She thanked me with her cheeks dyed red.
「So, Sherry-chan, I had something I wanted to ask you if that’s fine with you?」
Mylene-san held Sherry’s small hand and told her about the restaurant.
「And you are asking me to......」
Sherry said with a surprised expression.
「Yes, can we ask you to do it?」
「But, you know......」
Sherry lowered her head.
If she didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t force her.
「You don’t want to do it?」
「It’s not that I don’t, but......」
「But what?」
She wasn’t against it, so why did she waver?
「But if my embroideries are unpopular, and nobody comes to the restaurant because of that, the orphanage might disappear...」
「............」
How did she come to that conclusion?
「I know that the orphanage is here thanks to all the work Big Sis Yuna did. We can eat delicious meals and sleep in warm rooms all thanks to you. That’s why, if people don’t come to the restaurant because of me......」
She said in complete seriousness. So, this girl believed that... I knew it was not good, but I just couldn’t stop smiling. I was really happy that she was thinking about the orphanage.
「Sherry, you don’t have to worry.」
I patted Sherry’s head with my Bear Hand.
「Big Sis Yuna?」
「The restaurant wouldn’t go out of business with just that. You know that a lot of customers come to the bakery every day, right?」
「Yes.」
「The eggs sell well, right?」
「Yes.」
「It’s a restaurant that I’m making. And I’m the one who is asking you to make the embroideries. Do you still think you should be worried?」
「But, for me to......」
I took the cushion I had gotten from her out of the Bear Box.
「That’s......」
「I was really happy when you gave this to me. I think that it’s done really well. Couldn’t you make cute embroideries on the aprons like the one you did for me?」
「Big Sis Yuna......」
Sherry’s head rose a little.
I just had to give her one more push.
「And if it fails, it will be Mylene-san’s fault. She is the one who asked me to let you do it, after all. But if it works, it will be all thanks to Sherry.」
「Wai... Yuna-chan...」
Mylene-san tried to object, but I ignored her.
「There is no reason to worry. It’s really cute, after all.」
I touched the embroidery on the cushion.
「Is it really okay for me to do it? I am an amateur, you know?」
「It’s okay.」
I told her with a gentle voice.
She bit her upper lip. She thought, she worried, and then lifted her head to give me her answer.
「......Okay, I understand. I will do it. I will do my best for Big Sis Yuna’s sake.」
「Thank you.」
I patted her head once more, and her whole face bloomed into a smile.
Yet, there was one person who dared to break this great moment.
「I will take Sherry-chan from now on, okay?」
Mylene-san said, instantly destroying the moment we had.
「Awawa.」
Sherry suddenly became flustered by Mylene-san who was still holding her hand.
「Mylene-san, where do you plan on taking her!?」
「To the tailor, of course. It’s necessary to discuss the apron, right? That’s why I will be taking her there.」
She pulled Sherry by her hand.
「Awawa, please wait a little! Please stop pulling me!」
Unable to resist Mylene-san’s strength, Sherry was taken out of the room.
I could hear her voice all the way until she was taken out of the orphanage.
I was left behind, so I told Liz-san that Sherry had been taken away by Mylene-san and that she would be helping with the restaurant for a while.
Since I was left at the orphanage, I decided to play with the children before going home.