Bear-san Meets Suzuran-san
When we walked through the gate of Sakuraâs mansion, Noa and Misa were amazed at the sight.
âItâs different from the houses in our country.â (Noa)
âItâs like nature is inside the house.â (Misa)
âIâm glad you like it.â (Sakura)
We headed for the entrance, removing our shoes and entering the building.
âYou can see wood everywhere.â (Noa)
âItâs like a work of art.â (Misa)
âOh, youâre exaggerating.â (Sakura)
âNo, I am not.â (Noa)
âIâd like to take it home with me.â (Misa)
âYou canât take a house home with you.â (Sakura)
Maybe with my bear box, I could manage; I internally retorted.
However, I think the house would crumble the very moment I take it out.
After all, unlike my bear house, it wasnât made to be portable. To begin with, I would need a foundation for me to place it.
We walked along the corridor.
Noa, Misa, Fina and Shuri let out sighs as they gazed at the scenery that spread out over the garden.
âItâs entirely different from the garden at my house. The garden at my house is gorgeous, but this one is more serene.â (Noa)
âLook at those big and small stones of various shapes placed in the gardenâ¦â (Misa)
âEven though theyâre just placed there, they give off an indescribable feeling.â (Noa)
âIn our country, we donât use stones like this.â (Misa)
âIs that so?â (Sakura)
âYes, we do have beautifully crafted stones, butâ¦â (Noa)
Indeed, in Noaâs mansion and the Castle in the Royal Capital, you wouldnât find stones left in their natural state like in the Land of Wa. You would more often see stones that have been processed.
Sakura looked happy as Noa and Misa praised the garden.
âThis is the guest room, so please make yourself at home.â
We were shown to a Japanese-style room. When we were about to sit down, Shinobu took the cushions that had been piled up in the corner and placed them in front of the table in the middle of the room.
âThese are the cushions, please sit on them.â (Shinobu)
âThank you.â (Noa)
Once everyone was sitting on the cushions, they looked out at the garden again.
âI wonder why? The view of the garden makes me feel very calm.â (Noa)
âThere are no flowers in bloom, though.â (Misa)
In the gardens of Noa and Misaâs houses, many flowers were in bloom in the flowerbeds. I think that was beautiful in its own way.
But this garden had a different kind of beauty.
âIâve made some tea.â (Shinobu)
While we were looking at the garden, Shinobu made us some tea.
âThank you.â (Noa)
âI noticed it when we were eating the dango; you were drinking it normally, but does Noa have green tea at your place too?â (Sakura)
âYes, thereâs a restaurant in the town where I live that serves food using ingredients from this country. You can drink it there.â (Noa)
At Anzuâs shop, green tea was served when you ordered onigiri.
Incidentally, I also kept some green tea with me because I sometimes want to drink it.
âItâs rare in my town, but Iâve tasted this before. Itâs different from black tea, but itâs really delicious.â (Misa)
Misa said this and took a sip of the tea.
âThatâs good to hear.â (Sakura)
âIf your stomach is okay, I have rice crackers. Do you want some?â (Shinobu)
Even though we came to Sakuraâs house to rest because we were full, Shinobu still wanted to feed us.
âWell, a little bitâ¦â (Noa)
âMe too.â (Misa)
âIâll have some as well!â (Shuri)
The three of them, apart from Fina, picked up their rice crackers.
No one stopped them.
However, I have to warn them.
âIf you eat rice crackers, you wonât be able to eat dinner.â (Yuna)
Besides, overeating would not be good for you.
âYes, I understand.â (Noa)
The three of them looked disappointed, but they understood.
âThatâs a shame. There were all sorts of rice crackers.â (Noa)
âWe can eat them tomorrow.â (Yuna)
As we were relaxing, Kagali-san came over.
There was a woman that looked about 20 years old with her.
âI heard you were all back, so I came to see you, but it looks like youâre all just lazing about.â (Kagali)
Well, since we came to rest, it was fine.
âKagali-sama, who are these people?â (Suzuran)
The woman behind Kagali-san asked.
âThe girl in the bear costume is a friend of mine.â (Kagali)
Kagali-san introduced me while looking at me, then turned to Fina and the others.
âThe others are friends of the bear.â (Kagali)
The womanâs facial expression changed to one of surprise.
âKagali-sama⦠you have friends!?â (Suzuran)
âYouâre being rude. Of course, I have friends.â (Kagali)
âBut they are very, very young to be friends of Kagali-sanâ¦â (Suzuran)
If Noa and others knew Kagali-sanâs true appearance, they wouldnât have found the womanâs statement strange.
But now, since Kagali-san looked younger, the conversation may sound strange to Noa and the others.
The woman looked at us again.
âMy name is Suzuran. I look after Kagali-sama.â (Suzuran)
Was she the Suzuran-san that everyone was talking about?
Iâve heard her name many times.
âMy name is Yuna. Iâm not sure if I can call myself a friend of Kagali-san, but sheâs helped me out a lot.â (Yuna)
âDonât give me such flattery. Iâm the one whoâs been helped.â (Kagali)
âThatâs not true. There have been times when things would have been difficult without Kagali-san.â (Yuna)
It happened not only just during the giant snake incident. Kagali-san also helped me during the slime incident.
Also, having Kagali-san living in that mansion was a big help to me.
âShe knows things about Kagali-san that I donâtâ¦â (Suzuran)
âThatâs right. Kagali-san also knows things about Yuna-san that I donât knowâ¦â (Noa)
Suzuran-san and Noa nodded in agreement with each another.
âI donât know a lot at all.â (Misa)
âI donât know much either.â (Shuri)
Misa and Shuri commented.
Everyoneâs eyes immediately turned to Fina.
âI donât know everything about Yuna Onee-chan either.â (Fina)
âThatâs true, but Fina knows the most about Yuna-san.â (Noa)
âItâs always just you and Yuna-san going out together.â (Shuri)
Shuri delivered the final blow.
Seeing the situation, I decided to intervene.
âI donât always hang out with Fina. Look, the two of us went to cheer on Noa at the school exchange event, and the other day when I went out, it was with Noa and not with Fina, right?â (Yuna)
âYuna Onee-sama went out with Noa Onee-sama⦠Is that true, Noa Onee-sama?â (Misa)
Misaâs eyes now turned to Noa.
âWell, yes, I did go out with Yuna-san.â (Noa)
âIâm also jealous of you, Noa Onee-sama and Fina-chan. I heard that you were also taken to that island, Shuri-chan.â (Misa)
Misa sulked a little, as she had never been taken anywhere by anyone.
âI didnât mean to exclude you. When we were at school, it was because of my sisterâs support, and the other time it was an emergency. But this time I did invite you, Misa.â (Noa)
âThatâs true.â (Misa)
Noa, unusually, hurriedly soothed Misa.
âFufufu, Yuna-sama is popular, isnât she?â (Sakura)
Sakura said with a smile.
âYuna will probably be stabbed to death one day.â (Shinobu)
Shinobu said with a serious expression.
What kind of stupid thing are you saying? There was no way Fina and the others would do something like that.
âHuh, so youâre the girl whoâs rumoured to dress up as a bear, arenât you?â (Suzuran)
Suzuran-san asked with a smile.
âYou know about me?â (Yuna)
âYes, Iâve heard a lot about you. I heard that Sakura-sama brought you home before, and also a little from Kagali-sama.â (Suzuran)
I looked at Kagali-san.
ââ¦it was only a little information.â (Kagali)
âPlease continue to be Kagali-sanâs friend.â (Suzuran)
Suzuran-san said with a slightly serious expression.
Perhaps she might be one of the few people who knew about Kagali-sanâs truth.
âYeah, as long as Kagali-san doesnât mind.â (Yuna)
âYou can come and visit anytime. So, werenât you all going to look around the castle town?â (Kagali)
âWell, weâve been looking around town, but everyone ate too much food that was new to them, so weâre taking a breakâ¦â (Sakura)
âOh, and weâre all supposed to be wearing clothes from Sakura-samaâs collection.â (Shinobu)
Shinobu added to Sakuraâs words.
âClothes?â (Kagali)
âYes, because Noa and Misa said they wanted to try out our countryâs clothes.â (Sakura)
Kagali-san, who had heard the story, let out a light sigh.
âWell, if thatâs the case, Suzuran should help out too. Itâll be too much for Sakura and Shinobu to handle alone.â (Kagali)
âIâm taking care of you, Kagali-sama.â (Suzuran)
âYou donât need to look after me here.â (Kagali)
Suzuran-san agreed to help Noa and the others get changed.
âWell, it looks like your tummy is feeling better now. Letâs go to my room and change our clothes.â (Sakura)
We moved to Sakuraâs room.
Sakura took out some clothes from the wardrobe when she entered the room, and Shinobu and Suzuran-san brought a wicker basket from elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Noa and Misa were looking around the room.
Then, Noa noticed something on the chest of the dresser.
âWhat is that?â (Noa)
Noa approached the dresser and stared at the object on top of it.
âAh, thatâs the picture Yuna-sama drew for me when Fina-chan and Shuri-chan came last time.â (Sakura)
What Noa was looking at was a picture of Sakura that I had drawn, framed in a luxurious frame.
âSakura andâ¦â (Noa)
The picture showed Sakura and another girl next to her.
Itâs Ruimin, the elf.
âThe girl next to Sakura is a friend who lives far away.â (Yuna)
âA distant placeâ¦â (Noa)
âBut Iâm not lonely anymore because Yuna-san drew me a picture with her. This picture is my treasure.â (Sakura)
I was glad she valued it so much, but I was also embarrassed.
Noa said, âI seeâ with an unreadable expression.
Meanwhile, the clothes have been prepared.
The kimono clothes were laid out on the tatami mat.
âDo you have any colors or patterns you like?â (Sakura)
Everyone looked at the clothes.
âTheyâre all beautiful.â (Noa)
âThis is a kimono Iâve worn before!â (Shuri)
âThis is the kimono I wore.â (Fina)
Shuri and Fina pointed at the red kimonos.
I remembered the two of them wearing red kimonos, but I didnât remember it so well.
âDo you want to wear a red kimono again, Fina and Shuri?â (Sakura)
âIs that okay?â (Fina)
Fina looked happy.
Fina watched silently all this time, but it looked like she also wanted to try it on.
âIf thatâs the case, Yuna has to wear one too.â (Shinobu)
Shinobu said so.
âNo, I donât want toâ¦â (Yuna)
I tried to escape, but someone grabbed me.
âLetâs wear it together, Yuna-san too.â (Noa)
âI want to wear it with Yuna Onee-sama.â (Misa)
âYuna Onee-chanâ¦â (Shuri)
Noa, Misa and Shuri were holding my bear costume.
âFinaâ¦â (Yuna)
I looked at Fina as if asking for help.
âYuna Onee-chan, letâs wear it together.â (Fina)
Fina said with a smile.
I looked at Sakura and Kagali-san, but Sakura was smiling, and Kagali-san was yawning as if she werenât interested.
There was no one here on my side.
Someone, help meâ¦
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