Noa bought some bread and sat in the seat in front of me.
She bought two bear buns and some fruit juice.
"Always bear bread, isn't it?" (Yuna)
"It's not the same because what's inside is different." (Noa)
Bear bread ranged from ordinary bear bread to bread filled with cheese, cream, meat, vegetables, and German potatoes.
The one Noa was eating something like German potatoes. The other one looked like cheese.
By the way, each ingredient was embedded on the back so that you could see what's inside.
There are some considerations to make sure that buyers aren't inconvenienced, but sometimes things are forgotten when making a product.
This was a measure to address that issue.
"Was the picture on that poster painted by you, Yuna-san?" (Noa)
Noa asked while eating a piece of the bear bread.
"Yeah, but do you know?" (Yuna)
"It looks similar to the picture I had you draw for me at the Land of Harmoni." (Noa)
Come to think of it, I drew something for her when we were in the Land of Harmoni.
But, did she know that?
They said that a person's characteristics come out in their illustrations.
"But I didn't realize there was a Reversi tournament." (Noa)
"It looks like the posters have been up for a while now." (Yuna)
I didn't know how long it was put up there though.
"I think if there was a picture drawn by Yuna-san hanging up, I'd know." (Noa)
"That poster is from today." (Yuna)
I told her why I painted the picture.
"I definitely noticed it as soon as I walked into the store." (Noa)
It seemed to be effective.
Many people stopped when they looked at the poster.
It was nice when it worked.
"Will Fina be participating in the tournament?" (Noa)
"Looks like she'll be joining in along with Shuri." (Yuna)
Hearing my words, Noa became thoughtful.
"Anyone can participate, right?" (Noa)
"It's like there's a division between children and adults." (Yuna)
"I'm 11 years old, so I'm on the child division, am I not? It's a shame, because I would have been fine to join the adult division too." (Noa)
I know that it's not okay for adults to join the children's group, but is it okay for children to join the adults' group?
If the person felt that they were strong, I didn't think there was any problem with them joining the adult group.
There were lots of holes in really small places.
It was my first time, I didn't have time to think about it, I'm a novice, it can't be helped, I tried to make excuses to myself.
"So, is participation limited to Crimonia?" (Noa)
"It hasn't been decided yet." (Yuna)
To begin with, I didn't think anyone would come from other cities to participate, so I never even considered it.
"Then, it's okay for Misa to join us, right?" (Noa)
"Misa?" (Yuna)
Misa was a girl who lived in Sheelin, a town a little ways away.
By the way, Misa was the daughter of the lord of the Town of Sheelin.
"If anyone can join, I'll invite Misa." (Noa)
Saying that, Noa took a bite of the bread.
Noa and Misa (planned) would be joining, adding two more participants.
After finishing our bread, we left the store together.
"Well then, Yuna-san. I'll come to your house next time to meet Kumayuru-chan and Kumakyu-chan." (Noa)
She left alone. It was hard to believe she was the daughter of a noble family.
I always wonder, is there a hidden guard somewhere?
Lala-san finds out where Noa is and comes over.
Maybe there are secret guards that I'm not even aware of?
After parting ways with Noa, I headed to the orphanage to check on the children who would be playing Reversi at the shop.
When we arrived at the orphanage, lunch had just finished and the director, Liz-san, Neaf-san, and Tilmina-san were all relaxing having tea in the dining room.
Nearby, some kids were playing Reversi.
Among them were Fina and Shuri.
"Yuna-san, welcome." (Liz)
"Liz-san, what happened about yesterday?" (Yuna)
"I have just informed Tilmina-san of that." (Liz)
"I have the participation schedule from Liz-san." (Tilmina)
Tilmina-san showed me the paper.
The paper had Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 written on it, and next to each day were the names of four people.
The name Shuri was also included there.
But the name Fina wasn't there.
"We decided to take turns participating every three days." (Tilmina)
It looked like about 12 people would be participating.
Every day, four children from the orphanage and two children working at the store would join as the Reversi opponents, for a total of six people.
"So, I was asking Tilmina-san when we should start going." (Yuna)
"I didn't know either, so I was planning to go to the store later." (Liz)
I told them about the store. The posters were finished and up on the wall, the Reversi were ready, and people were welcome any time.
"So, can we go starting today?" (Yuna)
The children who were listening to the story joined in.
"Hmm, I wonder." (Liz)
It was just after lunchtime so it was the perfect time.
"If we're going to do it, I think it's better to do it sooner rather than later."
With the words of Tilmina-san, I decided to start today.
I called out to the children who would be participating on the first day.
Shuri was there too.
"Fina, you aren't participating, are you?" (Yuna)
I asked Fina, who was standing next to Shuri.
"I'm not good at talking to people I don't know very well." (Fina)
"Once she get to know each other, it'll be fine. But until then, she's nervous." (Tilmina)
Thinking back to Tilmina-san's words, maybe she was nervous when introducing someone she didn't know?
"Well, Fina, you worked for the Adventurer's Guild, so it should be fine if you get along, right?" (Yuna)
"Ugh." (Fina)
Fina looked a little embarrassed.
When you think about it, is Shuri innocent? She seems like a fearless child.
I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
She has to be careful not to follow suspicious people.
I headed to the store with the children written on the paper.
Since yesterday, I had been going back and forth to the same places a lot.
"Everyone, are you good at Reversi?" (Yuna)
"I'm the strongest."
"I win and I lose"
"I can beat onee-chan." (Shuri)
Shuri said proudly.
This made it unclear whether Shuri was strong.
Given Fina's personality, it was possible that she was going easy on her and letting her lose on purpose.
"Yuna-oneechan, I like Reversi, but I don't win very often. Is that okay?"
"It's okay. I just want you to teach Reversi to kids who have never played it before. I mean, I want you to teach them how much you like it and how fun it is." (Yuna)
"Yeah!"
I was not looking for someone strong.
I just wanted to teach people the fun of Reversi.
Also, if a strong player plays against a beginner and the entire surface of the game turned into the same color of stone, it could be traumatic for the opponent.
"Are there no strong people here? I thought that strong people would come, so I was looking forward to it."
The boy was disappointed.
"I don't know. Apparently Reversi sells well, so there's a good chance someone with Reversi will show up." (Yuna)
"Really!"
"Maybe they'll come." (Yuna)
I couldn't say they would come, but I couldn't say they wouldn't come.
This was the one thing we didn't know.
"First of all, if there is someone doing this for the first time, you should give them advice. You can't just do it unilaterally, okay?" (Yuna)
"If the other person has done it before, is it okay?"
"Well, in that case, it's fine." (Yuna)
I didn't think they'd be happy if they went easy on them.
We arrived at "Bear's Relaxing Shop."
It was past lunchtime, so the shop had become a relaxing spot, just as its name suggests.
There were many women with children eating cake, potato chips, and pudding while chatting leisurely.
"Yuna-san, welcome back. Since you brought the kids, does that mean you'll be coming here from today?" Karin-san called out as she noticed us entering the store.
"The kids are really motivated. Also, the names of the kids who will be participating are written here." (Yuna)
I handed the paper — that was written by Liz-san — to Karin-san.
Then, when I looked at the table where we were planning to play Reversi, I saw a parent and child playing it.
"Karin-san, what's that?" (Yuna)
"For now, we've left it there. It won't take much effort to just leave it there." (Karin)
In addition, there was a handwritten sign on each table that reads, "Please feel free to play Reversi."
"That's Karin-san too?" (Yuna)
"Yes, after talking with Elena-san, we thought it would be good to have one, so Elena-san and I made it together." (Karin)
It was certainly easier to understand if there was a pop-up or something.
"And then I made this one too." (Karin)
Out of nowhere, Karin-san produced a pop of the same size in front of me.
It said things like, "If you want to play against me, please let me know," and "Beginners are welcome, we'll teach you how to play."
My head hadn't even gone that far.
"Karin-san, thank you." (Yuna)
"I make easy-to-understand posters for bread and cakes." (Karin)
Indeed, I often saw posters in stores that list the ingredients in bread.
"But, why bears?" (Yuna)
The pop had a simple picture of a bear on it.
It sounded like the bear was talking.
She had a surprisingly good sense of art.
"Anyway, this is the Bear's Relaxing Shop." (Karin)
I couldn't find the words to argue.
"Yuna-oneechan, what should we do?"
"For now, let's play Reversi." (Yuna)
"Is that okay?"
"So, if anyone is interested and approaches you, show them how to do it, and of course you'll play against each other." (Yuna)
"Okay, I get it."
The kids moved to an empty table.
About two of the children who worked at the store also participated.
If you looked closely, you'd see a tournament poster on the wall near the table where Reversi was being played.
The posters and competition tables seemed to have been placed with great care.
Author's Note
Noa and Misa (planned) will be participating.
...
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Some of the kanji have been corrected to match the book, so please understand that there are some parts that have not been corrected.
Translation Note
Thanks to TV.Station for correcting some mistakes.