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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 3 Chapter 2.2

“TRANSLATOR:Foxsunes/EDITOR TheNix”

Shiki-san gave up after witnessing my attitude.

  ｢Sorry Jyuugo but can you let me vent?｣

She just wanted to vent and needed me to start the conversation. I knew that but ignored her anyways, she should forgive this since she is the one who broke the door. 

  ｢Is it about Ikusaba-san?｣

  ｢Yeah.｣

  ｢So, who is he?｣

I was curious about it and Shiki-san wanted to vent about it, so she chugged a beer and started talking. 

  ｢Ikusaba Hiiyo is a former resident of room number 202 who lived there before you.｣

***

  ｢I’m back.｣

  ｢Welcome back.｣

As I leaned the broken door aside and entered the room I heard Nanana-chan’s voice, but it seemed like her voice wasn’t as lively as usual. I entered the room and saw her hugging the pillow looking out of the window where Ikusaba-san was at. 

  ｢Here, I bought the pudding for you.｣

I put the carefully chosen pudding (that costs ten times more than the usual pudding) on the table but she didn’t reach out for it immediately as she usually would. I sat next to her without much meaning for it. I didn’t say anything after that. To be honest I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to talk to her but making silly jokes didn’t seem right and I didn’t know enough to be giving advice. So, I decided to just sit next to her for now.

  ｢He called it a piece of trash.｣

Nanana-chan murmured and started talking. 

  ｢It was really hard to get that bell but I was able to help out the locals with it who were suffering due to a long drought. Everyone thanked me with a smile and that made me really happy. But, because of that people found out that I had secretly taken it away.｣

Nanana-chan spoke of it somewhat nostalgically. 

  ｢I missed the opportunity to ask it before but where did you find it?｣

  ｢Oh, let’s see…..｣

Eeh, the details would lead to international issues so I’ll omit them but if I had to briefly explain it, it was a secret treasure of a secret religion that was from India and the area surrounding it. 

  ｢It made me happy when I found it but it made me much happier when I was able to make everyone smile using the bell. But well, my life got threatened after people found out that I had stolen the bell.｣

This  earthbound spirit said it casually as if it was nothing and laughed.  She spoke of it somewhat proudly and she seemed to enjoy talking about it, but suddenly she put on a forlorn expression. 

  ｢That’s a Nanana collection that can make people happier if used properly.｣

No matter what the original owner thought of it, the current owner called it a piece of trash and it was nothing more than that for him. And that’s unbearable for Nanana-chan. 

  ｢I see.｣ I couldn’t say anything more than that. 

This is where I need to say, ｢That scoundrel makes me fume with anger｣ or ｢That guy is a scumbag.｣ Feelings like those are inside me and I can’t agree with how he worded it, it irritated me. But above all these things, I couldn’t get mad at Ikusaba-san since I thought the same thing Ikusaba-san had said. I don’t think that it is a piece of trash. That’s a treasure of the century and can make a lot of people happy depending on how you used it but that’s all. I’m hunting Nanana’s collection to figure out who murdered Nanana-chan and nothing more. To be honest I was thinking about what to do if that collection turns out to be helpful in finding out the culprit. Borrow it, make him hand it over to me, steal it…..

I was thinking of different ways. But when I realized that I don’t have the ability to express what I desire, what came in my mind was….. I see, it’s useless then.  That was how I felt.  It wasn’t something I was looking for… No, I can’t hide it like that with my words. That Nanana collection was a piece of trash to me too. And now, after listening to Nanana-chan, I couldn’t understand myself. I am trying to help her by searching for who her murderer is but I am thinking in a way that would hurt Nanana-chan too. I want to make her happy but I’m making her sad instead. This contradiction is stopping me from getting mad at Ikusaba-san.

  ｢Jyuugo, what’s up with that face?｣

Her question caught me off guard and I hurriedly put on a smile. 

  ｢Huh? What kind of an expression did I have?｣

  ｢I very sad and painful expression. By the way, that fake smile was ugly.｣

I felt like something stabbed my heart. 

  ｢Here we go, being called ugly by a girl! That is a word that can make any boy sulk if a girl says it! I really want to cry now! No, I’m crying already!｣

It really makes me tear up a lot.

  ｢Just kidding, just kidding, it’s just a joke.｣

She laughed and reached towards the top quality pudding, she opened up the package, put the spoon in and put it in her mouth. 

  ｢Ooooh, it’s delicious❤︎｣

  ｢Of course, since it was expensive.｣

If it was three times more expensive, I could have made a red mobile suit joke out of it but it was ten times expensive so I couldn’t think of anything. 

  ｢Sorry for talking about weird things.｣

Nanana-chan laughed sheepishly. 

  ｢I feel lighter after talking about it, thank you Jyuugo.｣

  ｢No, no, it isn’t a problem at all.｣

  ｢So, you don’t have to worry about it anymore, Jyuugo.｣

Nanana-chan smiled while eating the pudding.  Seems like she noticed something about me while I was listening to her story. ｢Ah ok, got it.｣ I smiled back at her. But to be honest I will worry about it. If I’m unable to find an answer that I can agree with, I would never get over this contradiction.  Nanana-chan sitting next to me let out a sigh while all that was going inside my mind. 

  ｢Come to think of it, I wonder how things can go as planned?｣

  ｢What do you mean?｣

  ｢It isn’t guaranteed that the people searching for the Nanana collection would find an item that grants their wish, there is a possibility of them finding it but Hiiyo shouldn’t have said it like that. Hiiyo is like that since I’ve known him. When he took out the 《Rain bell》I knew that he would say something like he doesn’t want it at all. So I didn’t want to say anything but he asked so I had to explain even though I didn’t want to. It’s quite tiresome.｣

Nanana-chan complained and I said what came into my mind. 

  ｢Seems like you are quite close to Ikusaba-san.｣

  ｢Not at all, it’s just that I have known him for a while.｣

For a while you say. 

  ｢If you dislike it that much then maybe you shouldn’t give an explanation?｣

  ｢No, this is something I’ve decided and I have no intention of bending the rule.｣

Here we go again, complete abidance of Nanana rule. 

  ｢You’re stubborn.｣

  ｢Yeah since if I can’t follow my rules then it would be meaningless for me to be me.｣

  ｢For you to be you?｣

Nanana-chan nodded. 

  ｢Anyone can do what anyone can do, but the things that only I can do can be done only by me. It doesn’t need to be something big; giving plants water, helping out the people in need in front of you are the things only you can do at that moment on that day, you get me right? It’s you who’s going to decide whether to do it or not but no one other than you can do it. I feel like there’s a meaning behind my existence after doing things like that. So that’s why I will never bend my rules that I have decided to follow since that’s the proof that I’m me.｣

Nanana-chan spoke philosophically and let out a breath and muttered. 

  ｢But sometimes this can be painful.｣

  ｢Painful?｣

  ｢It’s weird isn’t it? I do it thinking that it’s the right thing to do but is it really the right thing to do? I sometimes feel like that.｣

Nanana-chan looked away from me and looked outside the window. Her face was lit up by the moonlight and the light from the city looked lonely. 

Looking at her, I wondered what she was thinking. 

***

The next day, Tensai didn’t come to the school. The calamity and D’arc live next door but we don’t walk to school together.