We looked down at the fainted moon bear, contemplating how to handle the situation.
“Why don’t we report it to the police or fire department? Ask what to do since we encountered a bear in the forest.”
“It’s a good idea, but we’re out of cellular range here. We’d have to leave the forest to make a call.”
“Then what about killing it?”
“The moon bear is a natural monument. If we kill it intentionally, we’ll get fined.”
“Yikes! What kind of law is that?! We almost died!”
Satoru exclaimed and grumbled like that, and the Class President shrugged her shoulders, saying there was nothing she could do about the law.
I quietly listened to their conversation and then gave my opinion.
“Anyway, we can’t just leave this bear here. Other students might encounter it, and it might run wild again if it wakes up.”
“So what should we do? There’s no way to deal with it right now.”I pondered for a moment.
And then, I reached a conclusion.
“If it wakes up and runs wild again, we’ll just have to knock it out.”
Then Satoru looked at me as if he couldn’t believe what I had said.
“You’re the only one who can say so calmly about knocking out a bear with your bare hands.”
“No, it’s not like that. I would have struggled a lot if the Class President hadn’t told me its weak point.”
As I said that and looked at the Class President, she muttered embarrassingly,
“Eek? Me? I just shared what I knew….”
That was when we roughly decided on a course of action.
“What are you all doing here?”
“Hmm? What’s with the bear?”
Rika and Sasha, holding flashlights, walked over from the other side of the path.
Rika, having heard the whole story from Satoru, our class’s official storyteller, laughed so hard she almost fell over.
“Ahahaha! Ahahahaha! Even so, mistaking a bear for Yu-seong!”
Satoru turned his head in embarrassment at her good-natured ridicule.
He must have thought it was too foolish of himself.
Anyway, the two of them had different reactions upon hearing the plan devised by the three of us.
“If Yu-seong can subdue the bear, it’s a good idea. Otherwise, other kids might be in danger.”
“Do we really need to do that? You can just tame the bear.”
What?
We looked at Sasha, who calmly claimed she could tame the bear, in surprise.
Then Sasha tilted her head and said,
“In Russia, bears are treated similarly to dogs or cats. We even have two brown bears at home.”
Hearing that, Satoru asked with a stunned expression,
“Is that Russian joke actually true?”
Then Sasha nodded and showed her phone gallery.
There was Sasha, really hugging a brown bear.
Next to her, Ivan, whom we had seen before, was riding on another brown bear with a majestic expression.
I don’t know why he was topless, though.
“Who is this person next to you?”
“He’s my father.”
“So it’s true that Russia is a country of tough men…”
“Anyway, this proves it, right? I can tame that bear.”
Sasha confidently said that, and the Class President, who was the most sensible among us, asked with a worried expression,
“Isn’t that too dangerous? The bear was just beaten up by Yu-seong. It might get extremely angry when it wakes up.”
Then Sasha said, flicking her index finger,
“I have a trump card, so it’s okay.”
“What is it?”
Then Sasha chuckled and rummaged in her trouser pocket before pulling something out.
“All bears can’t resist this.”
It was a sugar cube wrapped in paper.
And just as Sasha had boasted.
The moon bear, which had been unconscious for a while and then woke up, became docile like a lie when Sasha gave it a sugar cube.
Grrrrr!
“Right, right, what a cute little one.”
When the bear snuggled into her arms as if feeling wronged, Sasha skillfully stroked its neck and reciprocated the affection.
Seeing how naturally she handled the bear, we realized that Sasha’s earlier words were not just a bluff. Yet, even considering that, it was a strange sight.
The bear whined and tried to hide behind Sasha when I approached, which was far from the ferocious beast that had been howling fiercely earlier.
The Class President, watching from the side, muttered in disbelief.
“I knew bears liked sweet things, but I didn’t expect it to be this much…”
“But why do you carry sugar cubes around?”
Satoru murmured, purely out of curiosity, and Sasha, who was dealing with the moon bear, replied as if it were the most obvious thing.
“Sugar is one of the best emergency foods in the world. It’s easy to carry, provides a lot of calories in a small amount, and most importantly, can be used in tea.”
“Oh, I see.”
Hearing Sasha’s praise of sugar cubes, Satoru nodded with a somewhat skeptical expression.
Meanwhile, after giving the bear another sugar cube, Sasha suggested, with a gesture,
“Anyway, our next group is due soon, so shouldn’t we head back to the campsite before it gets too late? We can’t stay here forever.”
“Oh, right.”
Remembering our original plan belatedly, we decided to head back to the campsite before it got any later.
I wondered how we were going to convince the teachers.
Matsuda Yusuke, commonly known as ‘Gorilla’ at Ichijo Academy, was a veteran teacher in his 13th year.
With his muscular body built from weight training and always wearing a blue tracksuit, many mistook him for a PE teacher, but he was actually a history teacher who graduated from the history department.
And for the first time in his 13-year teaching career, Matsuda faced a critical crisis.
“Aaah! A bear!”
“Run!”
“Kids! Run! Get into the tents quickly!”
The moon bear suddenly appeared from the darkness of the forest.
The beast, nearly 2 meters tall with black fur and white fur only on its chest, lifted its upper body and looked around.
It seemed to have approached after smelling food from the campsite.
Otherwise, there was no reason for a wild bear to suddenly appear.
After evacuating the students, Matsuda, who stood in front of the half-moon bear, shouted with a resolute expression,
“Keuk! As long as I live, our school’s students won’t be harmed even by a hair!”
The students looked at Matsuda with touched expressions after hearing his words.
“Teacher….”
“For going to such lengths for us…”
“We won’t forget your sacrifice, Teacher!”
“Me too!”
They all naturally thought that Matsuda would be killed by the bear.
How could a human defeat a bear, after all?
Bears tear people apart.
Every year on TV, there were news reports about hikers injured by bears in the mountains.
“Mr. Matsuda! Just hold on! I’m calling the police now!”
“Mr. Matsuda! We believe in you!”
Encouraged by his colleagues, Matsuda, fueled by determination, threw off the new hiking clothes he had bought on a three-month installment plan.
This revealed Matsuda’s macho muscles, usually hidden under the bright moonlight.
“Wooooo! Come at me, bear!”
Just as he was about to charge at the bear,
“Kumamon! No matter how hungry you are, you can’t just charge in alone!”
A sharp voice came from behind the large moon bear.
And Matsuda knew the owner of this voice.
It was the voice of Sasha, who had come from Russia as an exchange student about a month ago.
As she peeked out from behind the bear, Matsuda exclaimed in shock.
“Sasha! I’ll handle this, so get away quickly!”
But Sasha tilted her head and said,
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Grrrrr!
As soon as she asked, the bear turned towards Sasha, not Matsuda.
Seeing this, a horrified Matsuda tried to rush in, but the bear had already wrapped its massive arms around Sasha’s waist.
A terrible accident occurred in an instant before their eyes.
Matsuda, in a rage over losing a student, was about to charge at the bear…
“Right, right, you want more? You’re such a greedy one.”
Seeing Sasha petting the wild beast like a puppy, he fainted.
“Kyaa! So cute!”
‘Kumamon,’ the moon bear we brought to the campsite, quickly won the students’ affection.
After all, it wasn’t a costume with someone inside acting, but a real, living bear.
It docilely accepted petting while munching on the meat the teachers had brought to grill the next day, making its earlier rampage seem unbelievable.
It seemed it was very hungry.
How on earth did Satoru manage to enrage such a docile creature…?
After hearing our explanation, Mr. Matsuda, who was prepared to fight to the death to protect the students, sighed in relief, saying it was extremely fortunate.
“That’s… it’s not really dangerous, right?”
When the teacher asked with a worried expression, Sasha nodded and assured him that it was okay.
When I said that I would step in and control the situation if needed, Mr. Matsuda, though skeptical, allowed Kumamon to stay at the campsite.
“Sasha, but why did you name it Kumamon?”
“It looks like it.”
I unwittingly nodded in agreement, seeing that the moon bear did indeed resemble Kumamon, the mascot of Kumamoto. 1
ED/N: Kumamon is a popular black bear mascot from Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, created in 2010 to attract tourists. It's known for its friendly appearance with red cheeks. Kumamon has become famous nationwide, appearing on various products and in promotional events. ️
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