Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

It didn’t take long for the other children to wake up, too.

We were in an orphanage: a place for children without parents.

Like everyone else here, I didn’t have parents. I didn’t remember the faces of my mother and father, but I still had a faint memory of being embraced.

I had no idea how long I had been here; the first memories I had were already at the orphanage.

At first, we had been able to eat both breakfast and dinner, but recently, we only ate dinner. When we asked the Headmistress why, she just apologized to us.

We knew that the Headmistress and Big Sis Liz were getting us food, so we all agreed we wouldn’t complain. Headmistress and Big Sis Liz were the only ones who cared about us, and we didn’t want them to hate us; we trembled at the thought of the two of them abandoning us.

We were still hungry, though.

We drank water when we woke up, but water didn’t fill our bellies. We needed food, so we went to the place where a lot of food stands were lined up. The Headmistress told us not to, but we still went there since we were really hungry.

The owners of the stands gave us unpleasant looks when we arrived. We had no other choice but to eat the leftover food; we couldn’t really be picky being this hungry.

A delicious smell was drifting from the stands, and it made our bellies growl.

We were all gazing at the stands and the people buying food, waiting for them to throw away the half-eaten food.

I really hoped that at least the youngest children would be able to get some food today.

We had promised not to steal; one of the children tried to steal food once but got caught, so Headmistress and Big Sis Liz had to go and apologize. If we did bad things, we caused trouble for our dear Headmistress and Big Sis Liz, so we promised we would behave.

While we were gazing at the stands, a Big Sis wearing strange clothes came.

What were those strange clothes?

One of the children said it was a bear. Was it a Bear-san?

It looked really fluffy and warm.

The Big Sis, who was wearing the Bear-san, looked at us and then spoke with one of the stand owners.

The Big Sis Bear bought a bunch of delicious looking skewers from the stand.

As I was wondering if she would eat all of them herself, Big Sis Bear approached us and offered us the skewers.

「Here, one for each of you.」

For a moment, I couldn’t comprehend what the Big Sis Bear had said.

「We can eat them?」

「They’re hot, so eat them slowly.」

We all looked at each other and quickly reached for the skewers.

The meat was delicious; we were all eating them like we were in a trance. Big Sis Bear told us to eat them slowly, but we paid no mind to that warning.

When we finished eating, the Big Sis Bear told us to take her to the orphanage if we wanted to eat more.

We hesitated, but hoping we might be able to eat our fill, we decided to take her to the orphanage.

As we were walking, we were all staring at the Big Sis Bear, but no one dared to speak to her, so I decided to do it.

「Ehm, thank you.」

I didn’t really know what to say, so I just thanked her.

Big Sis Bear said,「Don’t worry about it,」and patted my head.

Her hand was really warm and soft.

The Big Sis Bear was shocked when we reached the orphanage.

「Living in a run-down place like this...」

She muttered.

It didn’t take long for Headmistress to notice and approach us.

When she heard that we went to the stands, she got angry and showed a sad expression.

We all apologized for going there even though she told us not to.

Big Sis Bear and Headmistress started to talk. It seemed that Big Sis Bear would give us some food.

They headed to the kitchen, and we followed. When we got there, Big Sis Bear brought out a big chunk of meat. She cut it and then grilled it together with some vegetables, making a really delicious smell drift through the kitchen.

Our bellies growled again, and our mouths started to drool, so Headmistress told us to sit down and wait, and we obediently did so.

Soon, an incredible amount of food, like I had never seen before, was lined up on the tables; I even saw some bread.

We didn’t reach for the food yet, though.

Headmistress told us to first thank Yuna-san before we start eating.

So Big Sis Bear was actually Big Sis Yuna.

We thanked her and started eating the food.

It was really, really delicious. The bread wasn’t hard like it usually was; it was really soft and delicious. We all ate with smiles on our faces.

Seeing that we would be busy for a while, Big Sis Yuna asked the Headmistress for permission to check the orphanage.

I quickly finished my food and ran after her. She left the building and sealed up the cracks on the walls with her magic.

She was incredible; the cracks all disappeared one after the other.

After making it all the way around the orphanage, she went back inside, and sealed up the cracks there, too.

「It won’t be cold like this, right?」

Big Sis Yuna said with a smile. She looked sad when she saw our small blankets. She brought out enough wolf furs for everyone and gave them to Headmistress. The furs seemed really warm. Headmistress received them while thanking Big Sis Yuna over and over again.

When we returned to the dining room, all of the children had already finished eating. There was still a lot of meat left. They said they wanted to leave it for tomorrow.

I agreed with them. We ate today, but we didn’t know if we would be able to eat tomorrow.

When they said that, Big Sis Yuna brought out even more meat and bread.

After bringing out a few days worth of food, she left the orphanage.

As we were about to go to sleep that night, we all thanked Big Sis Yuna while embracing our wolf furs.

When I woke up a few days later, I felt really warm.

Wind didn’t blow through the cracks, and the wolf fur was really warm.

After all of us woke up, we prepared for breakfast. Thanks to Big Sis Yuna, we were able to eat breakfast today.

With our bellies full, we went out and found a big wall next to the orphanage.

We were all asking each other:「What is that!?」,「What is that!?」. Yet no one knew what it was.

We called Headmistress, but she didn’t know what it was either. It wasn’t here yesterday, so we were really anxious.

When we were about to go back into the orphanage, Big Sis Yuna came.

She was the one who made this wall, it seemed.

The wall was amazing, but why did she make it?

She told us it was to raise some birds and said that we would have to collect their eggs, clean their living place, and take care of them.

Doing that, we would be able to earn money and buy food.

「What do you want to do? Yuna-san wants to give you work. If you work, you will be able to eat. If you don’t, we will return to how we were before; the food Yuna-san had brought is already gone.」

The headmistress asked us. She didn’t just say,「Do it.」

We all looked at each other before one of us raised his hand and said,「I will do it,」in a big voice. More hands soon followed.

I also raised my hand and said,

「I will do it too!」

Seeing us like this, Headmistress seemed really happy.

Just like that, we started to take care of the birds.

We first had to give them food and water, and then clean and collect their eggs. We also had to clean their coop properly, because it would be terrible if the birds were to fall ill. The eggs were important, too; we would be able to make money by selling them.

The following day, we went to do our work and entered the coop. The bird-sans were all in a corner, not moving. When I picked up a bird-san, I found a white egg under it and took it. We collected all the eggs, rinsed them well, and put them inside the boxes Big Sis Yuna had prepared specifically for the eggs; the boxes had 10 spaces shaped to fit the eggs, so we could safely put 10 eggs in each box.

After all the eggs were placed in the boxes, we took the bird-sans out and cleaned their coop.

There weren’t a lot of bird-sans, so we quickly finished.

We had to leave the bird-sans outside for some time, so we took that time to play and study before taking them back into the shed. These bird-sans couldn’t fly, but they ran quite fast, so it was difficult to catch them.

It was fun chasing them around, though.

With that, our first day of work was finished.

The next day, we went to the shed to take care of the bird-sans again.

Huh? There were more bird-sans... We all tilted our heads.

「There are more bird-sans!」

We counted them, and there were 10 more than the day before.

We did our work even though we found it strange. While we were working, Big Sis Yuna came again. We told her that the bird-sans had increased in number, and she said she brought them during the night.

I was surprised, but I believed her. It seemed that the number would continue to increase from now on, so we had to do our best.

Author’s note:

Thank you for reading.

I don’t know when I will write the next short story; it might be in the 5th volume release or some other event.