“Delicious.”
I gobbled it down. I just couldn’t stop my spoon from moving. I headed back to the fridge for seconds. Right after I’d finished two whole, long-yearned-for puddings, Fina and Shuri came to visit.
“We’re here, Yuna.”
“Sit down and wait right here.”
“So what was the yummy food you told us about?”
I had them stop by so they could be my official taste testers.
“They’re treats I made using eggs.”
I set out a cold pudding for each of them. They took their spoons and ate a bite.
“It’s so good…”
While Fina was murmuring her impression, Shuri had already shoveled several more bites into her mouth.
“Shuri, don’t eat too fast.”
“But it’s so good.”
Smiles formed on their faces.
“I’m glad you two seem to like it.”
“It’s so yummy, Yuna. I had no idea you could make something this delicious out of eggs.”
“Well, this is just a prototype. Let me know if you had any impressions while you were eating it—like if it was too sweet or not sweet enough.”
“There isn’t a single thing wrong with it. It’s sweet and delicious.”
“Yeah, delicious.”
Shuri seemed regretful as she licked her spoon.
I ended up pulling two more puddings from the refrigerator and brought them out in front of the girls.
“These are your last ones.”
When I set the puddings on the table, their spoons got to work. I went back to the refrigerator and stuck the rest of the puddings into my bear storage. After they finished eating and we parted ways, I headed out to the orphanage for my next official taste test.
When I got to the henhouse near the orphanage, the kids were hard at work taking care of the birds. I called out to them and headed inside.
“Welcome, Yuna.”
The headmistress and some girls were prepping lunch.
“Did I come at a bad time?”
“Not at all, this is fine. While it’s not much, would you be kind enough to have lunch with us?”
Since she’d gone out of her way to invite me, I humbly accepted. The kids sat down in their seats in the expansive room and patiently waited for everyone’s meals to be set out. After all the meals were set up, they said, “We give you thanks, bear girl, for this meal.”
Once that was over, the kids started to eat.
“You’re still doing that?”
“We are able to eat like this because of you. We can’t forget to be grateful for that.”
Their grace before meals used to be, “We give you thanks, Yuna, for this meal.” Of course, it was way too embarrassing for them to say my name, so I’d asked them to stop, but the kids just wouldn’t.
“It’s because we’re thankful to you, Yuna.”
“It’s because we get to eat tons because of you, Yuna.”
“It’s because we get to eat all this yummy food because of you, Yuna.”
“We get to wear nice clothes because of you, Yuna.”
“We have a warm house to live in because of you, Yuna.”
“We get to sleep in warm beds because of you, Yuna.”
“…because of you, Yuna.”
Since it was so embarrassing that my name came up at every meal, we settled on a compromise, and they started thanking the bear girl instead. It was still plenty embarrassing, though.
The orphanage’s lunch was just bread and veggie soup, but the kids seemed to be pretty stoked to eat it. Just seeing them like that made me feel happy, which was kind of weird. I never would have thought of myself as the caring type like this—especially since I hadn’t done anything like this in Japan. Even though I had the money, I never tried donating.
While I was watching the kids, a few of them finished eating. I pulled the puddings out of my bear storage.
“What’s that?” a girl asked.
“These are snacks I made using the eggs from the birds you all worked hard to look after. They’re yummy.”
I started putting the puddings in front of the kids. I set aside a portion for the headmistress and Liz, of course.
“What the heck? This is delicious.”
“It’s so good.”
“I only have one for each of you, so make sure to savor it.”
It seemed popular with the kids.
“Yuna, this is so tasty,” Liz said.
“Thank you. These were all a result of you and the kids working hard to raise those birds. I made this pudding out of their eggs, after all.”
“Really?”
“Just selling them would be a waste, after all.”
“Eggs are amazing, aren’t they? They can become money or turn into these delicious sweets.”
“It’d be nice if we could get just a few more birds and eggs though.”
If we could do that, I could make tons of things without worrying about cutting into our supply.
“Yes, we’ll make sure to put our elbow grease into it.”
“If you end up with too many to handle, just let me know, okay. I’ll figure something out.”
“We will, but we’re still okay, since the children are working so hard.”
While I was talking with Liz, the kids emptied their pudding containers. I asked the kids what they thought of the pudding and then left the orphanage.
Chapter 48:
The Bear Delivers Pudding
MY NEXT STOP was the Fochrosé residence. I didn’t care about Cliff, but I did want to treat Noa to pudding. I told the guard standing in front of the gate the general reason why I wanted to meet Noa. The guard already knew me and told me to wait. A little bit later, Noa herself came running over from the front door.
“Yuna.”
Bomph. Noa dove right into my chest. The bear outfit absorbed the impact, though.
“Long time no see, Noir.”
“You can call me Noa instead. Well, did you have a reason you wanted to see me? Even if you don’t, I’m still happy to give you a warm welcome.”
“I made a treat, so I wanted to see if you would try it out for me.”
“A treat? That sounds delightful.”
Pulling my arm, Noa took me into a room.
“Well then, what kind of food is it?”
“It’s a dessert made from kokekko eggs.”
I pulled
