A Prickling Feeling

And so, Karona's inner self, Saya, set out to make a felt mascot.

The method wasn't complicated. Cut felt in the appropriate colors to match the pattern, stitch the pieces together, turn it inside-out, then close it up while stuffing it with cotton. That was about it.

As for the hair bits and decorations, apparently you could attach them with glue or by sewing. Since the plan was to scan it with the VR headset, either worked just the same.

"Sakura-san even sent over step-by-step instructions… thanks a bunch, seriously…"

Then, once she'd finished picking up all the supplies, a thought occurred to her.

"… There are people who do handicrafts streams, right??"

A handicrafts stream. As in, a live hands-on-camera sort of thing.

Well, even in BCD it was doable. You'd just run it in MR mode.

"But, well, Kokuyou would totally see right through that."

… Incidentally, she had already been fully seen through. There was no way Kokuyou would let Ojou-sama's mutterings slip past her, so Kokuyou was pouring every ounce of effort into feigning ignorance.

And that, too, was all for love of Ojou-sama!

"All righty then, time to get started. This kind of thing… first time since middle-school home ec, isn't it…"

From a 100-yen-shop sewing set (the palm-sized compact type meant for sewing on buttons and the like), she pulled out a needle and threaded it. She licked the thread to wet it, tapered the tip, forced it through with no small amount of effort, and only then noticed there was a needle threader in the kit.

Then, with an ordinary pair of craft scissors, snip-snip, she cut the felt piece by piece.

"Whip stitch… yeah. Ehehe, did this way back when, still remember how."

Prick-prick, prick-prick, and little by little the handmade felt mascot took shape. By stitching the tail and ears on first, she could tuck the knots and loose ends inside, hidden once it was turned inside-out.

She sewed on button eyes, then dabbed on freckles with a pen, chon-chon.

The felt glasses she stitched on bit by bit, as a focal accent.

Once she'd sewn the two halves together with all of that tucked on the inside, she flipped it through, and in one motion it took on a doll's shape. The cotton wasn't in yet, but it properly looked like Kokuyou.

"Ohhh. Impressive, if I do say so myself… No, maybe the real marvel is Sakura-san's pattern."

She tacked down the hair and clothing just enough to fix them in place, stuffed in cotton to a gentle puffiness, and sewed it shut.

And with that, done.

"Finished～!! It really is a Kokuyou mascot. Thanks, Sakura-san. Well then, time to gift this to Kokuyou. Fu-fu-fu."

How many years had it been since she'd given anyone a present? Saya wondered.

That said, even after scanning it, the actual mascot would still be left over in the real world. That one, she figured, she'd just keep for herself.

"Ah, I'll make Sebas's too."

And so she started on a second felt mascot, this time Sebas's.

Having already made Kokuyou's once, she had the steps and the general feel of it down solid. With no ears or tail, it was easier to make, too.

Thanks to that, she was able to finish it in close to half the time it had taken her for Kokuyou's.

"Yep, this one's got a proper Sebas-ness to it too～."

As for the promised reward, the SuperChat she'd be throwing to Dungeon Braver, she figured she really ought to bump it up a notch. Even frugal, stingy Saya thought so.