Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Sherry’s Repair Shop

Sherry’s POV

I did embroidery and made Bear-san stuffed animals, and now I was receiving education on how to make clothes.

“Sherry-chan, you are going to the town square tomorrow, right?” (Nar)

Nar-san asked me as I was cutting a mould for a dress.

Nar-san was Temoka-san’s wife, who ran a sewing shop.

“Yes.” (Sherry)

“Well, you can take those scraps of fabric and threads with you.” (Nar)

“Thank you very much.” (Sherry)

I visit the town square several times a month to mend the children’s stuffed animals.

“Sherry-chan is very kind.” (Nar)

“I think stuffed animals hold a special place in children’ hearts. The children in our orphanage also cherish Bear-san stuffed animals a lot. Even children who cry at night fall asleep when they hold a stuffed animal.” (Sherry)

For children, stuffed animals provided comfort.

If such a stuffed animal were to be torn, children would be sad.

“Sherry-chan is just a child, isn’t she?” (Nar)

Nar-san said, exhaling a sigh.

“A child… I’m still just a child after all?” (Sherry)

“I think Sherry-chan is working well in our store. But from my point of view, you are still a child. I don’t think you need to grow up so fast.” (Nar)

“Nar-san…” (Sherry)

“But I also know that Sherry-chan has cared for children younger than herself. You’ve been everyone’s big sister, mending clothes with holes in them, right? Sherry-chan was trying to be more mature than everyone else.” (Nar)

“No, I wasn’t. I have an older sister, Mil Onee-chan, who is stronger.” (Sherry)

Mil Onee-chan was now working at Bear’s Lounge.

She was more mature than anyone else and took care of everyone.

“I liked embroidery, so I just mended torn clothes as much as I could.” (Sherry)

“That’s really sweet of Sherry-chan.” (Nar)

“Nar-san…” (Sherry)

The next day, I went to the square.

The square was filled with people from all walks of life.

There were food stalls.

There were also merchants from other towns who had their own stalls to sell their wares.

I went to the place I have been using for a while now.

It was a little far from the busy square.

I took out a cloth sheet from the Item Bag I borrowed from Nar-san and laid it on the ground.

Next, I took a sign shorter than my height out of the Item Bag and put it on the ground right in front of the cloth sheet. It was a small sign.

The sign read “Stuffed Animal Repair Shop”.

I repaired stuffed animals here for free.

I took off my shoes, stepped onto the cloth sheet, and laid out the tools needed for the job on the cloth sheet.

“Now, I guess I’m ready to go.”

I sat on the cloth sheet for a while and waited, and then I saw a little girl approaching.

The girl’s face looked like she was about to cry.

“What’s wrong?” (Sherry)

“My doggy’s tail came off.”

The girl sadly showed me the stuffed dog she was holding. It seemed like the tail had come off just as the girl said.

“Do you have the tail?” (Sherry)

“Yes.”

The girl pulled out the tail of the stuffed dog from her small bag.

I took the stuffed dog and the tail and looked at the part where the tail had come off.

“Alright, this will be fixed in no time.” (Sherry)

“Really?”

“Just give me a minute.” (Sherry)

I took out a piece of thread and attached the tail of the stuffed dog.

This time, I reinforced it so that it wouldn’t come off easily, even when pulled.

It should be okay now.

“Alright, I fixed it.” (Sherry)

“Thank you, big sister.”

The girl hugged the stuffed dog happily.

“Don’t pull it off next time, okay?” (Sherry)

“Yes!”

The girl hugged her stuffed dog carefully as she left.

Next came a stuffed animal whose eye had dislodged.

I sew the eye back on with a piece of string.

Next, it was a stuffed animal that had become flattened.

Even cotton fillings inside a futon would become flabby if the futon was used for a long time.

It was the same with the futon in the old orphanage.

Sometimes it could be restored by washing and loosening the cotton, but since there was no time, I decided to replace the cotton fillings inside.

I asked permission to cut the stuffed animal’s seam with scissors to put cotton inside it.

I once made a girl cry when I cut the seam without saying anything.

So now, whenever I use scissors, I always explain the reason before cutting.

After receiving permission from the girl, I cut the seam a little and made a hole just big enough for the cotton to come out.

The girl looked sad, so I gently told her, “It’s okay”.

I took out the old cotton and put the new cotton into the stuffed animal.

After I finished putting in the new cotton, I sewed the seam that I cut open.

Finally, I cut the thread, and it was done.

“It’s going to feel a little different in touch, but it’s proof that it’s feeling better.” (Sherry)

“Wow, thank you, sister.”

The girl hugged the stuffed animal with a big smile on her face.

I was glad that she was happy as well.

The girl thanked me and ran away, and soon the next customer arrived.

It was a big black bear with a white belly… but not a stuffed bear.

“Yuna Onee-chan!” (Sherry)

It wasn’t a stuffed animal, it was Yuna Onee-chan.

“I see you.” (Yuna)

Yuna Onee-chan said with a smile.

“Sherry, I didn’t know you were a stuffed animal restorer.” (Yuna)

She said as she looked at the signboard.

I was a little embarrassed.

“Yeah, I thought it would make children happy… It seems there are many kids whose beloved stuffed animals are damaged. Kids whose mothers won’t fix them or who keep quiet because their parents will get angry. For the stuffed animals that have been torn to pieces, usually, their parents would simply say that they would buy the children a new one. But these children cherish their stuffed animals that they first received. So I wanted to fix them up so that children can keep them for a long time. After all, even if it’s the same stuffed animal, from a child’s point of view, only the first one they received would be their precious stuffed animal. They are memories of the time they spent together.” (Sherry)

Yuna Onee-chan looked at me and put her hand on my head, and gently stroked me.

“Sherry is so sweet.” (Yuna)

“No, I’m not.” (Sherry)

“When Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear plushies were made, I wanted them to be cherished and used until they fell apart, instead of sitting on the shelf gathering dust. If they started to fall apart, initially I thought they could simply be replaced with new ones. But I guess that was not how children who received them thought.” (Yuna)

“Hmmm, that was also my idea. I think it’s okay to get a new one. I just felt sorry for the tattered stuffed animals.” (Sherry)

I saw a girl once who was forced by her parents to throw away her stuffed animal because it was too worn out.

They asked her to throw it away so that they could buy her a new one. The girl didn’t want to. But the parents said having such a tattered stuffed animal was embarrassing.

So I thought that if I fixed it up and cleaned it up, it wouldn’t end up like that.

When I told Yuna Onee-chan about it, she stroked my head until my hair was crumpled.

“Yuna Onee-chan! My hair…” (Sherry)

“Sorry, Sherry is too nice.” (Yuna)

Yuna Onee-chan lifted her hand away from my head.

“Yuna Onee-chan, why are you here?” (Sherry)

“I was just passing the time, going around town. Then I saw Sherry.” (Yuna)

I didn’t come here because someone told me to.

“But you’re doing this for free?” (Yuna)

“Little kids don’t have money, and it’s something I want to do. Besides, at first, I paid for the materials out of my own salary, but later Nar-san found out about it and gave me scraps of fabric that she no longer needed and told me that I could use the threads freely, so it no longer cost me any money.” (Sherry)

Yuna Onee-chan stared at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me? If you had told me, I could have helped Sherry.” (Yuna)

“Well… I was embarrassed, and Nar-san only found out by accident, so I didn’t mention it to Yuna Onee-chan.” (Sherry)

I hurriedly made an excuse.

“There’s no need to be so nervous. I’m not mad at you, I just felt a little lonely. Sherry thought about something and acted on it on her own, didn’t she?” (Yuna)

“Yes.” (Sherry)

“So, can I ask you one more question? Why are you wearing the bear outfit from the store?” (Yuna)

I looked at my outfit.

I was wearing a bear outfit from Yuna Onee-Chan’s store.

“I was fixing stuffed animals here before and got tangled up with a scary man. Aunt Tirumina, who was passing by, helped me out. She told me that if I wore this bear outfit, I would have the bear’s blessing, so scary people wouldn’t come near me, and even if I got tangled up again, other people would help me out…” (Sherry)

Yuna Onee-chan looked taken aback by my words.

“But really, since I’ve been dressed like this, scary people don’t come near me, and I only got tangled up once, but the people nearby said, ‘Do you want to die’, or ‘Don’t you know who’s backing that girl?’ and they helped me.” (Sherry)

Yuna Onee-chan’s face turned subtly funny at my words.

At that moment, a little girl appeared from behind Yuna Onee-chan.

“Um… My friend said you can fix Mimi-chan here…”

The girl was holding a stuffed rabbit.

“Yes, I can fix it.” (Sherry)

“Really!?”

“Let me see.” (Sherry)

The girl handed me the stuffed rabbit.

It was in bad shape.

The ears had been removed, there was a big hole in the belly, and cotton fillings were sticking out.

“Can you fix Mimi-chan?”

“Yes, it’ll be fine.” (Sherry)

I first added more cotton and sewed the ears back together. The stuffed rabbit’s ears stood up. Next, the belly…it was not enough to just sew it up.

I stared at Yuna Onee-chan’s belly.

…That looked good.

I took out a piece of white cloth that Nar-san gave me and cut it into a circle.

Next, I sewed the round piece of cloth onto Mimi-chan’s tummy.

“Alright, Mimi-chan is fixed.” (Sherry)

Just like Yuna Onee-chan’s tummy.

The girl accepted the stuffed rabbit and looked at Yuna Onee-chan before thanking her.

“Thank you. Onee-chan.”

The girl happily hugged the stuffed rabbit.

Then she thanked us again several times and left happily.

“Did you perhaps use my belly as a reference?” (Yuna)

Yuna Onee-chan touched her own belly.

“No, no. I was going to sew the big hole with the other fabric. It’s just…I decided on white colour after I saw Yuna Onee-chan.” (Sherry)

“I’m not mad at you.” (Yuna)

Yuna Onee-chan smiled.

She really didn’t seem to be mad at me.

I continued working at the stuffed animal repair shop, and Yuna Onee-chan bought me food for lunch and stayed with me until I was done.

It was nice to chat with Yuna Onee-chan for the first time in a while.

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