I used to do embroidery and make stuffed bears, and now I was learning how to make clothes.
"Sherry-chan. You're going to the plaza tomorrow, right?" (Naar)
Naar-san asked me as I cut the clothes.
Naar-san was the wife of Temoka-san, who ran a sewing shop.
"Yes" (Sherry)
"Then you can take the scraps of cloth and thread from there." (Naar)
"I am always grateful for your help." (Sherry)
I went to the square several times a month to repair stuffed animals.
"Sherry-chan is so kind." (Naar)
"I think stuffed animals are important for children. The children at my orphanage also value stuffed bears. Even children who used to cry at night fall asleep when they hold a teddy bear." (Sherry)
For children, stuffed animals brought comfort.
Children would be sad if such stuffed animals were torn.
"Shelly-chan is still a child, right?" (Naar)
Naar-san said with a sigh.
"A child... I guess I'm still a child after all." (Sherry)
"I think Sherry-chan is working hard at our store. But from my point of view, she's still a child. I don't think she needs to grow up in such a hurry." (Naar)
"Naar-san…" (Sherry)
"But I also know that Sherry-chan has taken care of children younger than herself. She has become everyone's big sister and mended clothes with holes, right? She was trying to become an adult." (Naar)
"No, it's not. There's Mil-onee-chan who is more solid than me." (Sherry)
Mil-onee-chan was currently working at Bear's Relaxing Shop.
She was more reliable than anyone else and took care of everyone.
"I loved embroidery, so I just repaired torn clothes to the best of my ability." (Sherry)
"Sherry-chan is really kind." (Naar)
"Naar-san…" (Sherry)
The next day, I headed to the square.
All kinds of people gathered in the plaza.
There were food stalls and merchants from other towns are setting up stalls and selling their goods.
I was heading to the place I always use these days.
A little away from the busy plaza.
I took out a sheet from the item bag I borrowed from Naar-san and spread it on the ground.
Next, I took out a sign that was shorter than my height from the item bag, and with all my strength, put it on the ground in front of the right side of the seat. It was a small sign.
The signboard said, "Stuffed animal repair shop."
I repaired stuffed animals for free here.
I took off my shoes, climbed onto the seat, and lined up the tools I needed for work on the seat.
"Now I'm ready." (Sherry)
After I sat on the seat for a while and waited, I saw a little girl coming towards me.
The girl's face looked like she was about to cry.
"What happened?" (Sherry)
"My dog's tail fell off."
The girl sadly showed us the stuffed dog she was holding. It looked like its tail was taken off just as the girl said.
"Do you have its tail?" (Sherry)
"Yeah"
The girl took out the tail of a stuffed dog from her small bag.
When I received the stuffed dog and the tail, I looked at the part that had come off.
"Yeah, I'll fix this right away." (Sherry)
"Really?"
"Wait a minute." (Sherry)
I took out some string and attached the tail to the stuffed dog.
Next time, I'll reinforce it so that it won't come off easily even if I pull on it.
This should be fine.
"Yes, it's fixed." (Sherry)
"Thank you, sister."
A girl happily hugged a stuffed dog.
"Don't pull it this time." (Sherry)
"Yeah!"
The girl went home while hugging her stuffed dog.
Next came a stuffed animal with its eyes removed.
I attached its eyes with thread.
This time it was a flattened stuffed animal.
If you used a futon for a long time, the cotton inside would become flattened.
The same went for the futons that were in the old orphanage.
If I washed it and loosened the cotton, it might return to its original state, but I didn't have time, so I decided to replace the cotton.
I asked the girl for permission to put scissors into the stuffed animal to stuff it with cotton.
Once, I put scissors in the seam and cut it without saying anything, and I ended up making her cry.
That was why when I use scissors, I always explain the reason before cutting.
With the girl's permission, I cut the seam a little and made a hole just wide enough for the cotton to come out.
The girl looked sad. I gently told her, "It's okay."
I took out the old cotton and put the new cotton into the stuffed animal.
Once I had finished adding the cotton, I sewed the seams I cut with scissors together.
Finally, I cut the thread, and done.
"The texture will change a little, but that's proof that it's feeling better." (Sherry)
"Wow, it's feeling better. Thank you, onee-chan."
The girl hugged the stuffed animal with a big smile.
I was happy that she was happy too.
The girl said thank you and ran off, and soon another customer arrived.
It was pitch black with a white belly and a big stuffed bear... or not.
"Yuna-onee-chan!?" (Sherry)
It wasn't a stuffed animal, it was Yuna-onee-chan.
"I saw you." (Yuna)
Yuna-onee-chan grinned.
"Sherry, you work as a stuffed animal repair shop, right?" (Yuna)
She said while looking at the signboard.
It was a little embarrassing.
"Yeah, I thought I would be happy if they were happy… It seems like there are a lot of kids whose beloved stuffed animals are getting injured. Some kids whose mom won’t fix them, and some who stay silent because they’ll get scolded. A child whose stuffed animal falls apart and is told by his parents to buy him a new one. However, everyone cherishes their stuffed animal. So I thought it would be great if I could fix it and keep it with them for a long time. Even if it's a stuffed animal, it's the only stuffed animal that's important to that child. It's a memory of them being together." (Sherry)
When Yuna-onee-chan looked at me, she put her hand on my head and stroke it gently.
"Sherry is kind." (Yuna)
"That’s not true." (Sherry)
"When I made Kumayuru and Kumakyu stuffed animals, I wanted them to be cherished, not just displayed, and used until they fell apart. If they were to fall apart, I wanted them to be replaced with new stuffed animals. I thought it was good. But even if it was replaced with a new one, it wouldn't be the same." (Yuna)
"No, this is just my idea. I think it's a good idea to get a new one. I just feel sorry for the stuffed animal that's worn out." (Sherry)
I once saw a child who was forcibly abandoned by her parents because it was in tatters.
She told her to throw it away and get a new stuffed animal. The girl hated it. However, she said that her parents were embarrassed to have such a worn-out stuffed animal.
So I thought if I fixed it and cleaned it up, things like that wouldn't happen.
When I told Yuna-onee-chan about this, she smiled widely and patted my head until my hair was frizzy.
"Yuna-onee-chan! My hair..." (Sherry)
"Sorry, Sherry is too nice." (Yuna)
Yuna-onee-chan took her hand off my head.
"Why is Yuna-onee-chan here?" (Sherry)
"I was just going around town to kill time. Then I saw Sherry." (Yuna)
Apparently, she didn't come because someone asked her.
"But are you doing this for free?" (Yuna)
"Small children don't have money, and this is what I want to do. Also, at first I paid for the materials from my own salary, but when Naar-san found out about this, he gave me scraps of cloth he no longer needed. They told me I could use the thread however I wanted, so it didn't cost me anything." (Sherry)
Yuna-onee-chan looked at me intently.
"Why didn't you tell me? If you had told me, I could have helped Sherry too." (Yuna)
"Well... I was embarrassed. Naar-san also found out by chance, so I wasn't just keeping quiet from Yuna-onee-san." (Sherry)
I hurriedly made excuses.
"It's okay if you don't panic so much. I'm not really angry, I just felt a little lonely. Sherry also thought for herself and acted on her own, right?" (Yuna)
"Yeah" (Sherry)
"So, can I ask you one more thing? Why are you wearing the bear clothes from the store?" (Yuna)
I looked at my appearance.
I was wearing a bear outfit from Yuna-onee-chan's shop.
"Last time, when I was fixing a stuffed animal here, I got tangled up by a scary person. At that time, Tilmina-oba-san, who was passing by, helped me. Because I have divine protection, scary people won't come near me, and if I get tangled, others will help me..." (Sherry)
Yuna-nee-chan looked taken aback by my words.
"But since I started wearing this outfit, no one has scared me, and I've only been involved once before, but people nearby were like, 'Do you want to die? Don't you know who is behind that child?' and they helped me." (Sherry)
At my words, Yuna-onee-chan's face turned slightly strange.
At that moment, a small girl popped out from behind Yuna-onee-chan.
"Um. She said you'll fix Mimi-chan here..."
The girl was holding a stuffed rabbit.
"Yeah, I can fix it." (Sherry)
"Really!?"
"Show me" (Sherry)
The girl gave me her stuffed rabbit.
It was in terrible condition.
Its ears were removed and there was a large hole in his stomach with cotton sticking out.
"Mimi-chan, will you heal?"
"Yeah, it's okay." (Sherry)
I first added cotton and sewed the ears together. Its ears stood up. Next, as for the stomach area...just sewing it together wouldn't work.
I stared at Yuna-onee-chan's stomach.
...This looks good.
I took out the piece of white cloth that Naar-san gave me and cut it into a circle.
I sewed the round cut cloth onto the belly of Mimi the rabbit.
"Yes, Mimi-chan, it's fixed." (Sherry)
It was the same as Yuna-onee-chan's stomach.
When the girl received the stuffed rabbit, she looked at Yuna-onee-chan and thanked her.
"Thank you, sister."
The girl happily hugged her stuffed rabbit.
Then, she thanked me many times and went home happily.
"Maybe you used my stomach as a reference?" (Yuna)
Yuna-onee-chan touched her stomach.
"No, that's not true. I was planning to sew the big hole with other fabric. However... I decided on white after seeing Yuna-onee-chan." (Sherry)
"I'm not angry at all." (Yuna)
Yuna-onee-chan smiled.
It didn't seem like she was really angry.
After that, I continued working as a stuffed animal repair shop, and Yuna-onee-chan bought me food for lunch and stayed with me until the work was finished.
I was happy to be able to chat with Yuna-onee-chan after a long time.
Author's Note
It's been a while, Sherry.
I've wanted to write this for a while, so I wrote it.
...
* Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.
Edit History
1 Feb 2024: It should be "Yuna-onee-chan" not "Yuna-chan" or "Yuna-san" because it's Sherry's perpective.