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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 3 Chapter 2.4

“TRANSLATOR:Foxsunes/EDITOR TheNix”

  ｢What is it?｣

  ｢Sorry, I can’t give you the artifact I was planning to…..｣

It was something I had promised Tetsu-kun the other day. 

I was going to give him one of the Nanana collections (or from Tetsu-kun’s perspective, artifacts that Batako-san is collecting) for doing the delivery service at night. A few things came up and now I can’t hand it over to him. 

…..To be brutally honest, I gave the collection that I was supposed to give Tetsu-kun to someone else.

I do have another piece at my place but that’s special so I don’t want to hand it over. But I didn’t want to scam him with a fake piece so I decided to tell him and apologize when he was in a good mood in the arcade playing the game. 

I was afraid that he would get mad but Tetsu-kun’s reaction was really simple.

  ｢I see, don’t worry about it.｣

  ｢Huh? You’re going to forgive me?｣

  ｢Yeah.｣

Honestly this reaction is a surprise. I was worried about him picking a fight (which I would understand) , so this made me a bit happy. 

  ｢I have to apologize to you about something too.｣

I was slightly clenching my fist in triumph when Tetsu-kun said that. 

  ｢Hm?What?｣

  ｢Onee-san found out about our deal.｣

  ｢Damn,you serious?!｣

The last time I came to the Tsukuyomi town to do my secret part-time job, I felt that Batako-san was a dangerous person and I swore never to get involved with her in anything ever again.  But due to circumstances, I had no other option than to strike a deal with Tetsu-kun who’s a member of Batako-san’s organization. I put the condition behind this deal that Tetsu-kun needs to hide it from Batako-san though. 

  ｢Mhn, was she saying something about this?｣

  ｢Seems like it got on her in a bad mood and she isn’t going to pay you for the part-time job.｣

Guess that much can’t be helped. That was the money I had given up on anyway. 

  ｢Well then, we’re even now.｣

Haaa, it’s a relief that nothing worse happened. I would have no choice but to give a fake Nanana collection to him if he hadn’t forgiven me and asked for something else.

  ｢But, I’m going to get the money that you owe.｣

  ｢….I did see this coming.｣

When we made a deal, I was extremely broke so I had to put the payment on the tab. Obviously that money is something I still needed to pay. Well’ it’s something that Tetsu-kun has paid in advance so I need to return it. Now that one of my worries has been solved, I’ll be asking a bold question. 

  ｢So, why did you transfer to our school again.｣

  ｢There isn’t a reason behind it.｣

  ｢Is it because Yun-chan is there?｣

  ｢Who knows.｣

  ｢Is it because Batako-san ordered you to?｣

  ｢Maybe.｣

  ｢Are you guys planning to do something bad?｣

  ｢I don’t know.｣

  ｢Do you know about the Nanana collection?｣

  ｢…..Hm? What did you just say? Say that again.｣

  ｢No, it’s nothing.｣

I smiled back at skeptical Tetsu-kun as I somewhat grasped the situation from Tetsu-kun’s expressions and tone. As I had expected, Tetsu-kun transferred to the school because Batako-san had ordered him to do so. From the looks of it, Tetsu-kun isn’t really on board with the idea considering how he was acting the previous day. He has probably been sent to our school because Yun-chan is here. They are planning something but it isn’t something bad, but that’s just how Tetsu-kun sees it so maybe it is something bad. The only silver lining is that it has nothing to do with the Nanana collection. Looking at Tetsu-kun’s reaction he hasn’t been told about the Nanana collection at all. From our conversation at Tsukuyomi street the previous day, it’s clear that he knows the name but doesn’t believe that it exists. He thinks of it as an urban legend at best. That’s why he asked me what It was when I spoke of the Nanana collection. He probably had seen the rest of the questions coming so he could answer those questions without any hesitation and could hear them properly in this noisy arcade. But he couldn’t hear the unexpected word ‘Nanana’ collection so he inquired back. No matter what the reasons are, I’m glad that Batako-san hasn’t sent Tetsu-kun with anything concerning the Nanana collection. Seems like I don’t need to be cautious about Batako-san, from Tetsu-kun’s side at least. 

  ｢Argh! I can’t get anything!｣

Yun-chan was trying hard to get the teddy bear that was about to fall off. This one was her fifth try. She stared at us frustratedly. 

  ｢Let’s go, Tetsu-kun.｣

  ｢Sure.｣

Now then…..let’s hunt that bear. Oh wait, I don’t have spare money. 

  ｢Wait, I’ll go and break the bill down.｣

The cute (more like impudent) bear and Tetsu-kun glared at each other as Tetsu-kun put the coin inside the machine. ｢You can do it, Tetsu!｣ Yun-chan was cheering as I was leaving. I went away in search of the money exchange machine. But it seems like it wasn’t nearby so I started searching for it in the arcade but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Eventually I found a machine that seemed like it in the token game corner. 

  ｢Hm? That’s…..｣

There were chairs lined up in one part of the token game corner and a huge screen was in front of them. It’s the horse race corner and I stared at the person sitting at the end. I’m sure that it is Ikusaba Hiiyo, who visited us last night. Now that we had finally met, I glared at him. Seems like he noticed my gaze and looked back at me, ｢Ah, it’s you.｣

  ｢…..Hello.｣

I bowed down slightly and Ikusaba-san gestured at me to come closer with a smile. I went towards him unwillingly. 

｢You are the one staying in Nanana’s room…..your name is.｣

｢It’s Yama Jyuugo.｣

He smiled looking at my uniform. 

｢So you are from the Third senior high, which year are you in?｣

｢Second year.｣

｢I was a student there till the last year, seems weird that we didn’t meet.｣

｢Ah no, I transferred last month from outside the island.｣

｢Oh, so that’s why. Why are you living in that abnormal, haunted room though?｣

I got irritated at him talking badly about my room. 

｢Because I was broke.｣

｢That makes sense, it couldn’t be helped then. So, are you finding that room cozy?｣

｢Yeah, it’s extremely cozy.｣

I replied sarcastically and Ikusaba-san laughed as if I was being funny. 

｢I see, that great. Seems like you found a nice room, Yama-kun.｣

Things didn’t go as I had planned after he had dodged my sarcasm. But, how to put it, he doesn’t seem like a bad person now that we are having a normal conversation……No, no, did you forget about  last night? On top of that he’s a former resident of 202, he is definitely a bad guy. He’s evil for sure! But I wonder what kind of a person is he? I’m a bit curious. 

｢So, you like games like this?｣

I pointed at the big screen showing the race out of curiosity.

｢Somewhat.｣ Ikusaba-san replied.

｢What about you?｣

｢Me? I….. I don’t have much interest regarding games like this. I’m just played it a few times with a friend long time ago.｣

I answered and Ikusaba-san nodded, ｢I see.｣

  ｢Speaking of games, what do you think of the token games?｣

  ｢?What do you mean?｣

  ｢You buy medals by using money and then you keep wasting the tokens, don’t you think that it is a useless thing to do?｣

It feels weird being asked something like that from a person who is exactly doing that. 

  ｢Well, it sounds useless if you word it like that but I think finding enjoyment in games like these is meaningful.｣

  ｢I see, so games like these are an entertainment for you.｣

Obviously. 

  ｢Is it different for you, Ikusaba-san?｣

  ｢Well, it’s entertainment as well as something like a lesson.｣

  ｢The token game.. is a lesson? ｣

I laughed thinking it can’t be any sort of lesson and Ikusaba-san deepened his smile. 

  ｢Why do you think having fun and studying are two separate things?｣

  ｢Because they are the polar opposite.｣

Playing around is fun and studying is boring.That’s something obvious. 

  ｢That’s because people are not looking at the meaning behind the games and just wasting the time.｣

Ikusaba-san said that and pointed at another corner of the medal game corner. 

  ｢That slot game over there is a good example. If you were to ask me, I’ll say that it is useless. You are just putting in tokens and waiting for a jackpot that can happen anytime, there is nothing to learn from it. It’s just a form of time wasting.｣

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