3 bar menu

Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 5 Chapter 5.2

After saying goodbye to Nishi-san and the others, I bought drinks and food at the crowded shops and went back to my seat.

「Here you go, Yukihime-neesan. 」

「Thank you very much. By the way Young Master, I want to ask you something. 」

「What is it? 」

「Who was the pretty girl from earlier? 」

「How do you know about that? And why are you so full of bloodlust, Yukihime-neesan? 」

I briefly explained the situation to Yukihime-neesan, who looked angry with her mouth in a frown for some reason, and was relieved to hear that she was agreeable. And with that aside let’s get back to business and drinking.

「Shall we talk about work again? 」

2

Going back in time a little bit, before I met Nishi-san and the others, the day after Tensai and friends were pulled into doing bad things, after school.

「Juugo-kun, this is the meeting place, right? 」

「It should be. 」

We took the tram to the next town over and waited for the person we were supposed to meet. The meeting place was the fountain square in front of the station. The time now was 5:15, 15 minutes past the meeting time. They were being very loose with the meeting time as usual.

「Ummm…」

At that moment someone called out to me. When I turned around, there was a girl in a uniform standing there. She notably had fluffy wavy hair and bright eyes. She wore a uniform I’ve never seen before. It’s probably from a high school around here.

「Yes, what is it? 」, I asked feeling a bit nervous. The girl looked up at me and smiled.

「You’ve been here for a while, are you meeting someone? 」

「Yes, well, but they didn’t show up. It kind of feels like I’ve been stood up. 」

「Is that so… well, would you like to have some tea with me right now? 」

「…huh? 」

「Oniisan, you are my type. 」

OK everybody, it’s time for a pop quiz. I was called out by this girl. Moreover, she invited me to go out for tea. Using the above conditions, find the solution derived from the equation.

Answer: Reverse Dating. (TN When women are taking the initiative by asking men out.)

Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute Juugo-kun. Is that really the correct answer? Is it possible that you used the wrong equation or made a careless rounding error?

…No, it’s fine. I’m not wrong. So that means…

「Hey, Oniisan. What’s wrong? 」

The girl is surprised. I’m sure she is. I suddenly had tears streaming down my face. Why am I crying? Because the dam in my heart has burst and it’s leaking out.

Then from the bottom of my stomach I screem, 「Dammit, I wish a real girl would reverse date me! 」

「Eh? How did you figure it out? 」 Shuu Todomatsu-san tilts his head while dressed as a girl.

How you ask? Because there’s no way I’d get hit on by a girl! I know this, ok! Besides, I know that this is Shuu-san’s special ability. But I was so happy! For I moment I was like ‘Are you serious?!’ I was so surprised. It was a trick, but I didn’t want to believe it was a trick! And then I couldn’t stop crying because I finally had to realize it was a trick.

「Shuu-san, you are the devil! 」

「Hahaha, that might have been too cruel of a prank to play on a high school student in the prime of his youth. I’m sorry Young Master. 」

「Don’t  try to sweet talk me now! Dammit, I’ll get you back some day! 」

After finishing our usually greeting exchange we moved to a coffee shop.

「So D’ark. This is, well…」

「I’m Shuu-chan, also known as the man of 100 faces. 」

Shuu-san is disguised as a cute little girl and is greeted in an appropriately cute manner. D’ark bows down and says 「Thank you very much. 」

「Shuu-san, will you tell me your real name? 」

「I’m fine with that name. But more importantly, Young Master. This is the girl who was with the detective, isn’t it? 」

「My name is D’ark Hoshino, it’s nice to meet you. 」

With a lovely smile, Shuu-san says 「Thank you. 」

「Hey Young Master, this time I came here because you invited me to do ‘something bad’, but why do you have an assistant of a great detective here also? 」

「Oh that’s because this time the detective is also helping. 」

「Oh, well that’s interesting. So what are you going to do? 」

「You probably already know that the Tanabata Festival coming up soon on the island. 」

「Of course. These days, no matter where you go on the island, people are talking about it. 」

Of course if you look at the entrance to this café you will see bamboo branches with strips of paper, making it obvious.

「So the plan this time is to have the GREAT 7 choose the wishes we wrote on the strips of paper and have them granted. 」

Shuu-san opens his mouth and gives a ‘heh’ in response to my declaration.

「I see. It’s a simple plan, yet very difficult to execute. 」

「There are two main parts to accomplishing this. The first step is to gather information and find out how the lottery will actually be conducted. Then, we need to think about how we can get ours selected. 」

「And so, what after that? 」

「Yeah. Currently there is no plan at all. 」

「There isn’t much time until the Tanabata Festival right? 」

「I’ll still get it done. 」

As I responded with that, Shuu-san burst out laughing.

「That’s nice. That you can ask such an unreasonable things of me with a straight face. You’re just like the boss. 」

「Please don’t compare me to that old man. Well, that’s the way it is though… what do you think, Shuu-san? 」

「Of course I’ll bite. I don’t mind this short notice type of missions. 」

Shuu-san is in high spirits.

「So, regarding the compensation… what do I get? 」

「Well, let’s gather information first, then decide. There’s no point in counting our chickens before they hatch. 」

That’s Shuu-san alright. Jumping at a chance to make a quick buck.

「Let’s start with the information gathering. 」

「So how are we collecting it, Young Master? 」

「I thought that if you were helping then you could collect information in your typical way. You’re the best at this. 」

「Ah, I see. 」

Shuu-san and I grinned at each other. D’ark couldn’t keep up with the conversation and sipped his tea alone.

So the next day we went to 《NNE》, the local TV station that Nanaejima is so proud of. The reason for our visit was that we had heard that this station handles all the arrangements for the Tanabata Festival every year. And so succeeded in making an appointment with one of the producers in charge of the Tanabata Festival.

D’ark ended up being the one who investigated the backstory of the Tanabata Festival. It seems that he used the same method that Tensai uses. After that it was Shuu-san who actually called and made and appointment. As usual, he used his excellent vocal mimicry to negotiate with the person on the other end of the line.

「Hi I’m Shuko from the student newspaper that called you earlier. 」

As a result, I was able to hang around an interview with a fake student journalist. Of course, the one conducting the interview was Shuu-san who was disguised as a high school girl. The person here disguised as a gal girl high school girl looks completely different than the person from yesterday.

And there’s one more person.

「I…I’m D’arko」

D’ark looks down in embarrassment. It’s no wonder. For today’s performance he was disguised by a professional artist, Shuu-san. These girls look seriously adorable, and their make-up and uniforms are spot-on.

「Oh, hi. I’m a cameraman. Don’t mind me. 」

Then I set up the digital camera I borrowed from Shuu-san. I’m wearing an afro and sunglasses as a disguise, but there isn’t really any meaning behind it.

「Nice to meet you, 」 says the producer as he sits on the sofa. He’s in his late twenties, younger than I expected. Or actually, isn’t that the norm on Nanaejima?

The producer said, 「Sit down」 to Shuu-san and he sat down saying 「Excuse me. 」

「Um… Shuko-chan was it? Why are you sitting next to me? 」

「It’s more convenient this way. 」

「I will to then, 」 Says D’ark as he shyly sits on the other side.

With two high school girls sitting on either side of him, the producer started getting cocky. Just like having flowers in both his hands.

「OK, I’m taking a picture. 」

Even as I randomly take pictures with my digital camera, I was frankly envious of the sight. Well, both of them are men though…

Shuu-san starts asking about various topics.

「I see. So you just press a button to choose the winners. 」

「That’s right. Even though there is a limit of one strip of paper per person, the total number is in the tens of thousands. We can’t just draw lots like in a lottery. That’s why we collect all the wishes in advance and enter them into the computer. 」

「Producer-san, is that real or are you just pulling my leg? 」

「I’m serious. It is impossible to predict whose wish will win. And that makes it hard for us behind the scenes to deal with all the unpredictable things that happen every year. I guess that’s why we get asked to run it every year. 」