Can I brag about my very devoted wife to you? - Chapter 11 Part 3 - [Past Episode 1] Bear Cub Riko
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- Chapter 11 Part 3 - [Past Episode 1] Bear Cub Riko
[Past Episode 1] Bear Cub Riko
–Three years ago.
It was a Saturday. I went to the movie theater in Tsujido as usual for my once-a-week entertainment. The nights have been getting colder and colder these days, giving me a hint that autumn was arriving, but that day was a sunny morning without any cloud in the sky, and even walking beneath any roof, I was sweating. So I remember feeling relieved the moment I walked into the cool movie theater.
“… Well, what’s interesting to see today? … Hmm?”
As I looked at the posters on display, I saw a group of people around my age being lectured by a woman who seemed to be a instructor. They were all wearing movie theater staff uniforms, but they didn’t look like high school students working part-time.
As I eavesdropped for a while, I found out that they were junior high school students from a neighboring town who had come for an extracurricular learning experience.
At the time, I left the scenc and thought that it was hard work, even if it was for the purpose of earning points for future applications. But after watching the movie, I happened to get involved with one of them.
I had just left the movie theater when I ran into a bear cub who was standing at a loss for words with a bunch of flyers. Or to be more precise, a rather small person in a bear suit.
The cub was completely oblivious to my presence diagonally behind them, as if their vision had been narrowed by their costumes, and they sighed heavily.
“… I’m in trouble… The flyers I was told to hand out are not getting any smaller… I don’t know if I can mimic stuffed animal-like movements… and, I frightened a little girl earlier… ugh…”
The bear muttered this in a depressed girl’s voice, and the cub slumped down. The surreal picture and the unique expression of “stuffed animal-like movements” caught my attention, and I found myself chuckling.
The cub looked back at me in surprise and made a suspicious, but cute, noise.
“Wa-wa-wa… h-how…?”
“…?”
What’s so surprising? Maybe it’s because she wasn’t allowed to talk when wearing that costume.
“I’m sorry for laughing. Are you a middle schooler who’s here for work experience by any chance?”
“…! How did you know that…?”
When I told her what I had witnessed before watching the movie, the cub began to fidget even more than before.
“…Did you see me then, by any chance…!?”
I wonder what she means to have seen it. I guess it means that I shouldn’t know who’s inside the costume…
“I was just watching from the back, so I don’t know what kind of students were even there.”
“Ah! O-oh, I see…”
The bear cub made a sound that sounded both relieved and disappointed. Maybe it was due to being unable to see her facial expression, but I couldn’t read her thoughts at all. But I didn’t feel uncomfortable with that at all, in fact, I became even more intrigued.
Besides, I couldn’t help but feel that this little bear wasn’t a bad girl. I could sense her calm personality from her voice, and more importantly, she was so earnestly depressed about not being able to hand out the flyers.
I wish there was something I could do to help.
“So you’ve been having trouble handing out flyers? If it’s not too much trouble, I’ll help you out.”
“Eh?”
“I come to the mall here every week, so I kind of know where people with free time gather. If you want, we can go to those places together. – Oh, but I’m afraid you’ll get upset if I do something like that.”
“No, no…! They want me to walk around the mall and hand out as many flyers as I can… … But, um, I don’t want to bother you…”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m bored.”
“…Uu. It’s a miracle that I was able to talk to you, but this is…”
The cub was writhing with their hands on their cheeks… Why is that? It’s a stuffed bear, but why is she starting to look cute…?
“Um, what do you mean with miracle?”
“Oh…! I-it’s nothing…!”
“Really? Then let’s get started.”
“Yes.”
Translator & Editor: Riciel