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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 3 Chapter 3.2

“TRANSLATOR:Foxsunes/EDITOR TheNix”

Tensai started walking grumpily towards the tram station. D’arc and I hastily followed her. 

｢Hey, wait. Tensai!｣

I finally caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder but my hand was shrugged off. 

｢I don’t feel well so I’m going back. Is there a problem with that?｣

She spat out her words bluntly and that made me snap. 

｢Stop messing around! We are doing this for you…..｣

｢Did I ask you to do it?｣

It was a complete rejection. Her words meant the end of everything. 

｢Oh so that’s how it is. Go away then, get lost. I don’t even care anymore.｣

Tensai started walking and D’arc tried to follow her but I grabbed his hand. 

｢D’arc, don’t go.｣

｢Bu.. but.｣

｢If it was just the two of us then it would have been ok but we’ve invited Yumeji-san and Tetsu-kun today. We can’t blow up all our plans just because of her stubbornness.｣

D’arc looked down but he put her hand on my hand that was grabbing her arm immediately. 

｢Jyuugo-kun, I’m sorry. Even if that’s the case, I have to run after Tensai.｣

D’arc gave a feeble smile but his resolve was strong. 

｢…..Welp, hurry up and go. I’ll just make up a story to cover things up.｣

I let go of his hand and gestured at him to go. D’arc smiled, ｢Thank you.｣ And then followed Tensai. I saw her off and walked towards the rest of the gang thinking of an excuse. So, what kind of stuff should I tell Yumeji-san? ……Ah well, I’ll just say that Tensai had a stomach ache. 

I’m still angry at Tensai but I don’t care about her. I’ll thoroughly have fun with Yumeji-san and the others. 

***

｢So, he’s going to the South red mall.｣ 

Kagetora had been following Ikusaba Hiiyo since the morning. Ikusaba was walking with the crowd and Kagetora was following him keeping a distance. Ikusaba is studying at Nanae Island Southern College but it seems like he barely attends the lectures. What he’s doing instead of attending the lectures is going around the island meeting people who seem to be his acquaintances. But he also found some evidence that backed Isshin’s speculation. Ikusaba went to the downtown area near the third senior high every evening and talked mainly to first year students. It seems like he was gathering information. After talking to many students, he eventually found a student with whom he became friendly with and talked with them everyday at a fixed place and time. And today, he used up his free time in the cafe in front of the station and then he rode on the tram and came here to the south red mall. But something was different this time, since it was evident that Ikusaba was following someone. Kagetora couldn’t specify who Ikusaba was following yet but it was clear that he was following someone. Ikusaba sat on the bench in front of the station for a while and then he walked towards the mall with the horde of people. Ikusaba took a turn and went to the back of the mall . Kagetora observed him from above the building, keeping a distance. 

｢Where is he going?｣

Kagetora was observing him carefully but he lost Ikusaba when he faded into the building’s shadow. Kagetora waited but there were no signs of him coming out. He  hurriedly went from roof to roof heading to a place where he could see the back of the mall and squinted his eyes. 

｢He isn’t there?｣

Ikusaba was nowhere to be seen at the back of the mall and there were no doors. 

｢Are you looking for someone?｣

Kagetora reflexively jumped away and looked back. His eyes opened up widely in surprise. Ikusaba was right behind him on the rooftop. This can’t be, how could I not sense his presence. Kagetora was surprised but above that there was one thing he couldn’t understand. How can a man who was walking far away,  below his sight be right behind him? Had he followed the wrong target? Or did I fall into a decoy trap? Many of these possibilities came to Kagetora’s mind. 

｢So, you are the one who has been tailing be. You’ve been working pretty hard…..but, who told you to follow me? I’m kinda confused since I can think of so many possibilities that could lead me to this situation.｣

Ikusaba grinned and Kagetora gave a short reply, ｢I’m not answering that.｣

｢I see, then die.｣

Ikusaba took a step towards him and Kagetora ran away as fast as he could. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop and found a place that couldn’t be seen by anyone. He used the corners and various protrusions on the buildings and landed on the ground. 

｢What happened? Is that all you’ve got?｣

A voice came from behind him once again and it sent shivers up his spine. He started running again and looked back. He saw Ikusaba and was baffled. 

｢This is absurd how can he catch up to my speed!?｣

Kagetora ran and passed through the busy main street, he went into the mall from the nearest entrance. He ran pushing through the people in the aisle and reached an intersection. He looked back searching for Ikusaba Hiiyo among the crowd but there were no signs of him. 

So, I was able to get him off my back. Kagetora sighed in relief. 

｢Hey, put more effort into your running.｣

That voice made him shiver. He looked back slowly just to see Ikusaba standing there, Kagetora gasped. 

｢Seems like you are out of luck. This shopping mall is like my yard. I know it from end to end.｣

Kagetora started running before Ikusaba had finished his sentence. Was Ikusaba there before he was there? No, he didn’t use the terrain for his advantage. He used some kind of method to  forestall me or else it wouldn’t be physically possible. Kagetora was confused at the situation he was put in but he kept running and went out of the mall from the nearest exit. He climbed up the emergency exit and jumped to an empty rooftop. He was baffled once again because he saw Ikusaba Hiiyo leaning on the water storage tank at once corner of the rooftop. 

｢Took your time.｣

Did Ikusaba reach the rooftop before him? Did he know where he was going to escape to? Ikusaba came out of the cool shade of the tank into the warm sunlight, Kagetora took a step back. 

｢You are like a ninja. Honestly, your skill surprises me and it’s really a pain. It’s tiring to follow you so I’ll just seal your movement.｣

Ikusaba lifted up his right hand and pointed his index finger with a shining skull ring at Kagetora. 

｢Be careful, your right leg is going to go numb, you will lose your balance and fall to your right.｣

What is he even saying? How could something like that… his body started tilting just when he was thinking about it.

Kagetora fell on his right side on the rooftop and he couldn’t understand any of it. 

｢This.. this can’t be.｣

Kagetora fell as Ikusaba had predicted and he felt something was wrong. 

｢My right leg…..isn’t moving.｣

No matter how much he put in effort to move his right leg, it didn’t move even a bit. What is this? What the hell happened? 

｢It isn’t good to look away.｣

And then, Kagetora’s face got kicked by Ikusaba. 

***

｢It was fun.｣

We sat on the bench after watching the detective movie. It was of the mystery genre but it wasn’t all about solving the mystery. It also had many action scenes, it was worth the watch. 

｢It really was interesting!｣

Yun-chan seemed satisfied and Tetsu-kun was smiling too saying it was fun. I was worried what would happen since Tensai and D’arc left abruptly but I’m glad to see that everyone is having fun. 

｢I’ll go buy something cold to drink.｣

I could see a stationary stall in a small section of the mall nearby so I head there. It seems like it is an ice-cream shop but they also sell drinks. I don’t want to go too far so I’ll just buy the drinks here. ｢｢Excuse me.｣｣

My voice overlapped with another customer. I looked at the person without paying much attention. To be honest, I was caught off guard…..

｢Hm? Oh hey Jyuugo-kun. What are you doing here?｣

｢That’s my question. What are you doing here, Sanada?｣

Sanada Hajiki was in front of my eyes, he’s a second year student of the third senior high. He’s a member of the Guild that mediates the secret part-time jobs. He works as a broker in the third senior high division of the guild, he also works as an informant.