Chapter 80: Russian-Style Bear Training
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 80: Russian-Style Bear Training
We looked down at the unconscious Asiatic black bear and started discussing what to do with it.
"First, how about we report it to the police or the fire department? Tell them we ran into a bear in the forest and ask what to do."
"That's a good idea, but we're in a dead zone. We'd have to leave the forest to make a call."
"Then what about killing it?"
"Asiatic black bears are a protected species. If you kill one on purpose, you'll probably get fined."
"What?! What kind of law is that? We almost died!"
As Satoru shouted and grumbled, the class president just shrugged and said that's the law, so there was nothing we could do.
I listened quietly to their conversation before offering my own opinion.
"In any case, we can't just leave the bear here. Other students might run into it, and it could go on another rampage when it wakes up."
"So what are you going to do? There's no solution right now."
I thought for a moment.
Then I came to a conclusion.
"If it wakes up and goes wild, we'll just have to knock it out again."
Satoru stared at me, dumbfounded.
"You must be the only person in the world who can so casually talk about knocking out a bear with their bare hands."
"No, not really. I would've had a much harder time if the class president hadn't told me its weak spot."
As I said that and glanced at the class president, she blushed and mumbled, "Huh? Me? I just told you what I knew..."
Just as we had more or less settled on a course of action.
"What's everyone doing here?"
"Hm? What's with the bear?"
Holding flashlights, Rika and Sasha walked over from the other side of the path.
*
After hearing the whole story from Satoru, our class's official storyteller, Rika laughed so hard she looked like she was about to burst.
"Ahahahaha! Ahahahahaha! But still, to mistake Yoo-Sung for a bear!"
At her innocent ridicule, Satoru turned his head away in embarrassment.
It seemed even he thought he'd been a complete idiot.
Anyway, when the two of them heard the plan the three of us had put our heads together to come up with, they had different reactions.
"If Yoo-Sung can subdue the bear, I think that's for the best. If we just leave it, the other kids could be in danger."
"Is that really necessary? We can just tame the bear."
What?
We all stared in shock at Sasha, who had just declared her intention to tame the bear so matter-of-factly.
Sasha tilted her head and said.
"In Russia, bears are treated pretty much like cats or dogs. We're raising two brown bears at my house right now."
Hearing that, Satoru asked with a dazed expression.
"Wait, you're not just making a Russian joke? You're serious?"
Sasha nodded and showed us her phone's gallery.
There was a picture of Sasha, truly held in the arms of a brown bear.
Next to her, Ivan, whom I'd seen before, was riding on the back of another brown bear with a gallant expression.
Though I had no idea why he was shirtless.
"Who's this person next to you?"
"That's my father."
"So it's true what they say about Russia being a nation of real men..."
"Anyway, that should be proof enough, right? I can tame that bear."
As Sasha puffed out her chest confidently, the class president, the most sensible one among us, asked with a worried look.
"But still, isn't it dangerous? That bear just got beaten up badly by Yoo-Sung. I think it's going to be furious when it wakes up."
Sasha wagged her index finger and said.
"It's fine. I have a trump card."
"What is it?"
Sasha chuckled, "Fufu," then rummaged through her pants pocket and pulled something out.
"All bears are helpless against this."
It was a sugar cube, still in its wrapper.
*
And, just as Sasha had boasted—
When the Asiatic black bear, which had been unconscious for a good while, finally woke up, Sasha offered it a sugar cube, and it became unbelievably docile.
Groooowl!
"There, there. You're a cute one, aren't you?"
As the bear nuzzled into her embrace as if to complain about its unfair treatment, Sasha skillfully stroked the nape of its neck, accepting its display of affection.
Seeing her handle the bear so naturally made us realize that her earlier words were no empty boast, but even so, it was a strange sight.
The way it whimpered and tried to hide behind Sasha whenever I got close was nothing like the ferocious beast that had been roaring its head off earlier.
Watching from the side, the class president muttered in disbelief.
"I knew bears liked sweet things, but I had no idea it was to this extent..."
"More importantly, why is she carrying around sugar cubes?"
As Satoru mumbled this, genuinely curious, Sasha, who was still tending to the bear, replied as if he'd asked the most obvious question in the world.
"Sugar is one of the world's finest emergency foods. Not only is it easy to carry, but you can get a lot of calories from a small amount, and most importantly, you can put it in your tea."
"R-Right."
Satoru nodded with a dubious expression after hearing Sasha's ode to sugar cubes.
Meanwhile, Sasha handed the bear another sugar cube and spoke with a jerk of her chin.
"Anyway, the next group in our rotation will be here soon. Shouldn't we head back to the campsite before it gets too late? We can't stay here forever."
"Ah, right."
Finally remembering our original plan, we decided to return to the campsite before any more time passed.
All the while, we wondered how we were going to convince the teachers.
*
Yusuke Matsuda, commonly known as 'the Gorilla' at Ichijo Academy, was a veteran teacher in his 13th year.
With a bulging, muscular body forged by pumping iron and always wearing a blue tracksuit, many people mistook him for a PE teacher, but he was actually a history teacher with a degree from the Department of History.
And now, Matsuda was facing the greatest crisis of his 13-year teaching career.
"Kyaaaaah! A bear!"
"Run!"
"Kids! Run! Get inside the tents, now!"
An Asiatic black bear had suddenly appeared from the darkness of the forest.
Nearly two meters tall, the black-furred beast with a patch of white on its chest had reared up on its hind legs and was looking around.
It had probably been drawn by the smell of food wafting from the campsite.
There was no other reason for a wild bear to suddenly show up.
After evacuating the students first, Matsuda stood in front of the Asiatic black bear and shouted with a determined expression.
"Hmph! As long as I'm alive, you won't lay a single claw on my students!"
The students looked at Matsuda, their faces filled with emotion.
"Sensei..."
"You'd go that far for us..."
"We'll never forget your sacrifice, sensei!"
"Me neither!"
They all seemed to take it for granted that Matsuda was about to be killed by the bear.
And why wouldn't they? How could a person beat a bear?
Bears tear people apart.
Every year, the news on TV was full of stories about hikers who had been mauled by bears in the mountains.
"Matsuda-sensei! Just hold on! I'm calling the police now!"
"Mr. Matsuda! We believe in you!"
Fueled by the encouraging cheers of his fellow teachers, which were at least somewhat helpful, Matsuda's fighting spirit blazed. He threw off the new hiking jacket he'd just bought on a three-month payment plan.
With that, his macho muscles, which were usually sealed away, were revealed under the bright moonlight.
"Uooooooh! Come at me, you damn bear!"
He shouted and was about to charge toward the bear.
"Kumamon! You can't just run off on your own, no matter how hungry you are!"
A distinct voice came from behind the large Asiatic black bear.
Matsuda knew who that voice belonged to.
It was Sasha, the exchange student who had come from Russia about a month ago.
As she peeked her head out from behind the bear, Matsuda yelled in horror.
"Sasha! I'll handle this! Get to safety!"
Sasha tilted her head and said.
"Huh? What are you talking about, sensei?"
Groooowl!
No sooner had she asked than the bear turned its body, not toward Matsuda, but toward Sasha.
Terrified by the sight, Matsuda tried to rush in, but the bear had already wrapped its huge, powerful arms around Sasha's waist.
A horrific accident had occurred in the blink of an eye.
Matsuda, roaring in fury at the loss of a student, was about to charge the bear... but then,
"There, there. You want more? You're a greedy one."
he saw Sasha petting the ferocious beast as if it were a puppy, and promptly fainted.
*
"Aww, so cute!"
'Kumamon,' the Asiatic black bear we brought to the campsite, quickly won over the students.
And it made sense. It wasn't some mascot costume with a person inside; it was a real, live bear.
As if its earlier rampage had never happened, the creature calmly accepted everyone's touch while eating the meat the teachers had brought to grill tomorrow.
It must have been very hungry.
To think that Satoru had managed to enrage such a docile creature... what on earth did he do?
Mr. Matsuda, who had been prepared to fight to the death to protect his students, heard the full story from us and breathed a sigh of relief, saying it was a huge stroke of luck.
"It's... it's not actually dangerous, is it?"
When the teacher asked with a nervous expression, Sasha nodded and said it was fine.
When I added that I would step in and subdue it if anything happened, Mr. Matsuda, though still half-in-doubt, allowed Kumamon to stay at the campsite.
"Sasha, why did you name it Kumamon?"
"It looks just like him, doesn't it?"
Seeing how much the Asiatic black bear resembled Kumamon, the mascot of Kumamoto, I couldn't help but find it fitting.