Unana watched as a sword-sized knife sliced the pine cone cake into two equal pieces, each one sent through the air into the bear's head's mouth.
"Why can't I eat that much…" Unana felt envious, but soon the envy gave way to surprise.
In place of the cake lay a small brown pillow shaped like a bear's head, somehow fitting inside it.
"Time for bed," was Unana's first thought.
The "bear girl" was right. After the last, second piece of cake disappeared into the Butcher Bearry's mouth, the head fell to the floor and transformed into a brown bear cub.
Unana smiled. The pillow flew toward the bear cub, and soon it was lying on it with its eyes closed.
"Unachan, can I take a photo?"
"You can, but it will only be saved here," the voice in her head answered. "When you open your eyes, you won't have this image."
"Uh... Why?"
"It's an alternate reality. They used it to test things that were later transferred to the real world."
"Cool. Yueret would have liked that. We need to wake him up."
Butcher Bearry had disappeared along with the pillow. Timnichan's headless body stood on the opposite shore of the island, trying to find something that was in a completely different place.
"I need to get her head back somehow," Unana thought. "It has eyes, and without eyes, she probably can't see anything."
"She's stupid. Isn't it cute?"
"No, it's only cute for bearries. For lizards, it looks kind of... ashamed."
Soon, Unana got tired of waiting for Timnichan's body to find its head. The clever "bear girl" decided to help the stupid lizard girl. Of course, she wasn't going to find the head and put it back. Unana decided to do it in a special way.
"Unachan, can you put this lizard's head back on? She's in such bad shape..."
"Why don't you help her yourself? I have small pawies, and you have big ones."
"My pawies are big? Like a real bearry... It's so cute. Of course I'll do it."
Unana opened her inventory and began to look for an alternative way to provide assistance, since picking up the head of the spirit of the wet bed was too disgusting.
"There was a Healer Bear around here somewhere," Unana said, looking at the skill slots in confusion. "I definitely saw him. Is he hidden?"
"No. Healer Bearry is good. But it can only heal. It's a skill creature."
"What do you mean?"
"This is a creature that is actually a skill."
"So the healer bear can only heal, but can't fight?"
"Yup... It has pawies, but if it hits you with them, it heals instead of inflicting damage."
"I see. It doesn't need to be fed?"
"No, it's already kind. It was fed the sweetest food as a baby, so it grew up happy and decided to share its happiness with other creatures."
"It should have been called Sweet Bearry.'"
"That's what it's called. It's just the color of healing energy."
"Exactly… That's why I can't find it."
Unana soon discovered a slot with a pink bear head, and then carefully pressed the frame with her claw so as not to accidentally activate the ability.
"Sweet Bear… It's it! Yeah, its face is the happiest."
The pink head in the cell looked the most bear-like of them all. Its mouth was stretched into a smile, as if it had eaten something delicious, and its large eyes were partially closed, as if trying to sleep.
"There's just one problem," Unachan's voice warned. "Sweet Bear needs to be woken up."
"What?"
Unana poked the cell with her claw, but nothing happened.
"Why won't it press? Doesn't it want to leave the house?"
"Yeah… Sweet Bear likes to sleep. It's hard to wake it, so I'll help you."
The brown bear's paw landed on the skill slot.
"Repeat after me: Sweet Bearry, open your eyes."
"Sweet Bearry, open your eyes," Unana repeated.
"Sweet Bearry, give me your paw."
"Sweet Bearry, give me your paw," Unana repeated.
"Sweet Bearry, yum-yum…"
"Sweet Bearry, yum-yum," Unana repeated.
The cell activated with a blue glow, then went out. Unachan removed his paw from it, and Unana noticed that the pink bear head's eyes were now open.
"It woke up! Unana slapped her cheeks. "Will it come out now?"
"Yup, you'll have to wait a little. Previously, Sweet Bearry slept too long, so it couldn't move quickly."
"Poor bearry... I'll wait. It's so cute with its eyes open."
Unana didn't notice how her mouth stretched into a smile and visually enlarged her cheeks, making the little sister's face truly resemble a bear's...
Meanwhile, something funny was happening on the screen. A bear's head was trying to poke out of the cell, but it couldn't fit through the frames.
"How did the bear fit in there?" Unana asked in surprise. "It doesn't eat anything."
"It probably has some food supplies for hibernation."
"Now it's clear why it's so kind and doesn't ask for food so it can be summoned."
Several dozen moments passed. The animation of the bear's head attempting to leave the cell didn't change.
"Maybe I should help it?" Unana asked.
"I already helped it, but you can't. You'll have to wait."
"Why can't I? Am I the wrong bear?"
"You're still little. You're a bear cub."
Unana closed her eyes and imagined her brother standing before her, saying those sweet words. The smile immediately vanished from her little sister's face, and her eyes opened of their own accord to check if Yueret was nearby.
But there was only that very screen with cells. One of them was empty with a black background and no icon.
"There was a Sweet Bearry here. Is it gone?"
"Yup, it's already out. It burst, and then it appeared there," Unachan pointed its paw at the center of the island.
Above Timnichan's headless body, which had reached the arch with the ice mirror, hung her head, surrounded by a pink energy aura.
"It looks like something healing, but I don't see the bearry," Unana looked around. "Where is it?"
"You don't see it? I see it too."
The head dropped back into place. The pink glow disappeared, after which two clouds of pink energy flew out of the ears.
"It possessed the head?" Unana guessed.
"Yup, the Sweet Bearry has that ability. It bursts and then enters the creature that needs healing."
"And it eats the brain."
"Eh, maybe just a little. But most likely, it's just licking."
"Somehow it sounds so cute... but if a person did that, it would look scary."
"Don't be afraid, little bear. Only Sweet Bearry could do that."
While the two "bears" conversed mentally, two clouds of pink energy merged into one, then began to take on the familiar bear shape.
"Bearry..." Unana frowned, not in displeasure, but in admiration. "It really is sweet..."
… A pink plush bear with a large head "hung" above the Timnichans' heads. Its red eyes were gradually closing, though they still looked large.
"It's falling asleep," Unana noted. "Is not it forever?"
"Yup… You can summon it tomorrow."
"Tomorrow will be too late. I'll wake up and be a normal little sister again. Why can't I summon it today?"
"It's the laziest. The other bears can be summoned more often."
"Okay. I'll eat it next time."
"Are you sure? It's very sweet, even for a bear."
"I'm not only a bear, but also a little sister. In the real world, I eat sawdust cake almost every day."
"It must be tasty."
"When we get back, I'll let you to eat it. Just don't eat too much, or there won't be any left for me."
Sweet Bearry's eyes finally closed. Its fat belly swelled along with its head. Unana watched as the kindest of the summoned creatures burst, leaving behind a multitude of energetic sparks.
"Sweet Bearry is gone. But that's okay. Someday I'll summon it again and I'll definitely eat it."
"You need to go there now," Unachan pointed his paw at the ice mirror in the arch.
Unana looked where the little bear was pointing, but instead of a mirror, she saw a lizard girl, who finally had a head and was even looking forward.
"Is she smiling?"
Timnichan didn't have time to smile. As soon as the lizard girl saw her reflection in the mirror, the ice activated with a bright white glow...
Unana turned away so the light wouldn't bother her. Unachan remained suspended in midair, watching as the figure of the spirit of cold lizard dissolved in the light from the icy mirror...
"Wake up, bear cub," Unana heard a voice in her head. "It's time to look in the mirror."
The fake bear girl turned around, but saw neither the Timnichans nor the light from the arch. Only the white ice, free of snow and therefore transparent, glittered in the sun.
"If that lizard is there, I won't go there," Unana puffed out one of her cheeks.
"Are you giving up the second bear cub? There are always two bear cubs. If one is missing, the other can't be a bear cub."
"Yeah… I forgot about Yueret. Those bearries really distracted me."
Unana carefully approached the mirror from the side, so as not to accidentally see her reflection.
"Don't be afraid, bear cub, it's not scary there."
"I'm not afraid," Unana answered mentally. "I just..."
In fact, Unana was afraid of seeing that ugly lizard girl in the mirror, but she didn't even dare think about it.
"Your big brother is there," Unachan said. "He's waiting for you. Maybe you'll even find dad. He loves bearries."
"So the lizard will end up with dad. I hope not just here."
Unana looked into the mirror, but instead of her reflection, she saw an icy lake amidst mountains with steep slopes covered in snow and coniferous forests.
"It's the same lake. But why is it frozen?"
Soon, Unana noticed something else. A man in black winter clothing lay on the ice in the center of the lake, and a small blue-white bear cub sat next to him.
"What is this?" Unana tilted her head to the side.
"Look," Unachan suggested.
"Okay."
Unana took a step forward, entered the mirror…
… And she moved onto the stage from the mirror.
The bear cub had also changed. It was now a large blue-white bear, but somehow strange.
Unana thought she'd seen those small ears and large head somewhere, but she couldn't remember where.
"Something's wrong with this bearry."
Unana imagined throwing something forward to attract the creature's attention. A moment later, an orange ball with a flame inside it appeared in her hand. It didn't burn her hand at all and even seemed weightless.
"Unachan, do you know who this is?"
The bear cub did not answer. Then Unana decided to act.
The ball with the flame inside flew forward, but did not reach the strange bear and exploded above it. A spherical barrier of translucent white-blue ice immediately appeared around the creature, and sparks fell upon it.
"This is an unusual bear," Unana noted. "Unachan, do you know it?"
The bear cub's voice did not answer again. Meanwhile, not a trace of the sparks remained. The ice barrier had successfully withstood the attack and was not even damaged.
"I can shoot fire?" Unana looked at her hand. "Am I a fire bearry? Now I understand why Unachan has red eyes. Yueret is ice bearry then. He's a blue-white bearry who lives in the far north and freezes everything, and I'm a brown bearry who burns forests. Cool! Only thing is... the blue-white bear and the brown bear live far apart, and they can't meet."
The ice barrier disappeared. Unana stepped aside and saw the face of the man lying on the ice. It looked very, very much like her older brother's.
"Is this Yueret?" Unana couldn't believe she'd finally found her brother. "Unachan, please say something."
But the red-eyed bear cub remained silent. Unana summoned her interface to check on Unachan, but she didn't have time.
The strange blue-white bear turned around...
...and then Unana realized it wasn't quite a bear. The creature's face was human, but the rest of it resembled a suit rather than an animal's skin.
A large hood with small, rounded ears covered its head, from under which strands of white-yellow hair hung.
"Who are you?" Unana asked.
Bare human legs emerged from beneath the creature's clothing. Unana watched as they spread apart, seemingly gliding across the ice.
"Isn't she cold?" Unana looked at her partially uncovered legs and felt nothing.
"Uh..." the girl exhaled a cloud of steam from her mouth and finally sat down on her knees with her legs spread wide.
"Who are you?" Unana repeated.
"I'm just a bear girl, like you, only white-blue," the girl in the bear costume looked at her opposite self.
"You don't have a name?"
"I have. But I forgot it. I slept too long. I need to remember."
"Why do you have this person?"
The bear girl looked at the man lying next to her, and then yawned loudly in a low voice.
"I protect the bear from non-living creatures."
"What non-living creatures?" Unana asked.
"These ones," the bear girl pointed her clawed hand at the mountain ahead.
Unana looked at the mountainside, but saw nothing but spiky white-green trees.
"I don't see anything."
"They're hiding," the bear girl whispered. "They do it on purpose, to attack unexpectedly."
"That's why you're here?"
"Yeah… This is the only place I can sit and not be afraid of them. If they come, I'll know about it."
"Who are they? Dolls…"
The bear girl shuddered, and then looked around.
"So, dolls," Unana guessed. "Why do they come?"
"To take the bearry," the bear girl pointed her clawed hand at the man lying on the ice.
Unana approached the man and looked at his face again. Now the girl was sure it was her big brother.
"Hey, what do you want to do to the bearry?" the bear girl asked.
"I'm just looking," Unana explained. "He looks like my big brother. I'm looking for him."
"So, this is your bearry? He got lost and was attacked by non-living creatures. I froze them, and then brought him here. He was always asleep and said nothing."
"When I came to Yueret, he was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed," Unana thought. "Maybe it's somehow connected."
"If this is your bearry, you can wake him," the bear girl continued. "But the non-living creatures can interfere with you. I will protect you until your bearry wakes up."
Unana looked at the bear girl's hands and noticed that they were wearing gloves with slits for the fingers and small bear heads on the outsides of the hands.
"Why are you doing this?" Unana asked. "Don't you need to sleep? It's winter."
"I'm a blue-white bear girl. I don't want to sleep. I don't even understand how anyone can sleep when there's so much snow around! It's so soft..."
"You should be sleeping, you are brown bear," the bear girl continued. "Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I don't want to sleep. I want to get my big brother and go home."
"Are you lost?"
The bear girl picked up some snow, pressed it to her cheeks, and closed her eyes.
Unana didn't know what to say, so she tried asking Unachan, but he seemed to have vanished. Finally, after several unsuccessful attempts, she remembered she wanted to open the interface and check on her bear...
...Unachan wasn't in the cell. The brown bear cub with red eyes had been replaced by a black bear silhouette on a white background.
"Uh..." Unana opened her mouth and even stuck out part of her tongue.
"What is it?" the bear girl approached fake bear girl.
Unana noticed a creature approaching her and tried to jump back, but due to the bear's slowness, she only managed to take a step.
"Have you lost your little bear?"
Only after this phrase did Unana finally begin to understand what was happening and began pressing all the buttons on the screen. It didn't help. Unachan still didn't appear.
"Do you need help?" the bear girl asked.
"Yeah," Unana bowed her head.
"Your little bear will be back soon".
The bear girl reached her long-clawed hand toward the empty cell, but before she could touch it, a cracking sound came from the forests surrounding the lake…