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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 5 Chapter 7.4

「Damn, he’s on a roll. 」

「I don’t really need to win against Taisei right? 」

「What do you mean? 」

「Because the purpose of this match isn’t to defeat Taisei, but to obtain the password first. In other words, all I have to do is distract Taisei here. 」

「Isn’t that kind of weak of you? 」

「No, because I trust you. 」

「Trust? 」

「Yes, because we are friends right? 」

I can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed as I say this. After all, it’s not my style to say such cheesy things like this. This kind of thing should be said by a hero of justice who triumphs through hard work and friendship, not by someone like me who is always trying to deviously outsmart others.

But still…

Things get heated when you say things like that.

Taisei takes out a strange ring that fits on two of his fingers and prepares for battle.

I take a fighting stance as well, 「OK let’s go. 」

The fingers with the ring on it point at me and I am suddenly pulled into a nearby alley by some kind of force.

***************************************************

After passing through a large parking lot Asumi enters her destination, a large supermarket and looks around the store.

There are almost no customers in the store and the staff is preparing to restock the shelves. There is one clerk standing at the register but he seems to be doing some kind of calculations. He says 「Welcome 」, but he doesn’t look up to see us.

Asumi’s mind was rushing as she trotted around the store. The way the hint was given, the time limit… thinking of these various factors she narrowed down the answer.

The first puzzle had 58 answers. If there are puzzles at all of these spots it’s hard to imagine that they would all be similar. There’s also a time limit, so it’s not likely to be things that can’t be moved. Probably something that would already be there. In that case…

「Bulletin board. 」

She quickly left the sales floor and returned to the cash register, looking around for a break room. She quickly found one. There was a bulletin board there, with several posters pasted up, and one of them caught her attention.

「Is this it? 」

The writing style is the same as the puzzle written on the paper that the mysterious creature game me earlier. No doubt, this is it. It is a piece of paper neatly secured on all sides with scotch tape.

「Sing Maria’s prayer as a duo together. 1135555/11121352/22121143 」

After a quick look Asumi started to peel off the scotch tape. However it was held in place more tightly than expected.

「Oh, I caught up. 」

When Asumi hears this breathless voice coming from right behind her, she impatiently tries to tear the paper away, causing it to tear. Because of this, the bottom part of the paper reading ‘2/22121143’ still remained on the bulletin board.

Asumi folded the torn piece of paper, jammed it into her pocket, and turned around. Standing there was a girl breathing heavily with a fearless smile on her face.

Ikkyu Tensai, the Great Detective. That’s what the girl called herself when we escaped the 《ruins》 at the warehouse together the other day.

「What’s wrong Nishi-dono? Did you write something that would be embarrassing if someone saw it? 」

「Not at all Tensai-kun. 」

Laughing, Asumi looked again at what remained of the flier. It’s alright. There’s not enough left to make sense of it. The bigger problem is the super market. I would stand out too much if I used my Nanana Collection in here.

Now, what will my opponent do?

「Well, let’s sit down for now. I’m a little tired. 」

She sat down on one of the chairs in the break room.

Asumi didn’t let her guard down as she silently sat down in the seat across from her.

Tensai doesn’t do anything peculiar. Just folds her arms.

「What are you thinking Tensai-kun? 」

「Oh, I’m just thinking about how to steal the clue from Asumi-dono. 」

Asumi breaks into a cold sweat.

「But I’m sure that Asumi-dono has a Nanana Collection. 」

「Of course I do. 」

「And I’m sure it’s powerful. 」

「Why do you think that? 」

「Asumi-dono is the leader. Judging from her interactions with Amagi Taisei, he is very protective of you. I would guess that Amagi probably allocated the strongest Nanana Collection that the community owns to you, but it’s just a guess. 」

She was correct.

「If possible I’d rather not use it. 」

「As you can see, I don’t like pain. Then I guess I’ll just have to deduce the rest of the password from the remaining clue. 」

Asumi was thinking while looking at the grinning Tensai. Okay, that’s just not possible. Those numbers left over don’t tell you anything. The words that are the key to deciphering the code are somewhere else. Asumi can’t figure it out with just this much.

I got one of the clues and then figured out how to decipher it, but to figure out the password I also need another piece of paper on which the key to the code is written.

I’m not worried though. Masaaki-kun and MIsao-kun will definitely get the other hint for us.

They both remain ridged as they sit in their chairs.

Asumi remains silent as she observes Tensai in front of her.

Tensai is looking at the papers left on the bulletin board with a serious face. She would also occasionally glance at the clock on the wall and drum her fingers on the table in frustration.

She seems to be concerned with the time for awhile now. Is she waiting for something?

Finally the situation changed.

At almost the same time, both their phones started ringing.

Asumi is getting a phone call, and Tensai received an email.

Misao Imawano was calling Asumi, and Hoshino D’arc was the sender of the email to Tensai.

Asumi quickly answers her phone.

「Sorry Chairwoman! The paper with the hint on it was taken away by some girl I don’t know! 」

Right after this Yuu Ibara’s voice can be heard saying, 「Hey you wait! 」followed by Misao crying out 「I’m sorry! 」 For some reason, behind them an explosion and roar from the depths of someone’s stomach can be heard.

「Hmph, it looks like this game is still up in the air. 」

The corners of Tensai’s mouth turned up as she looked at her cel phone display.

「Asumi-dono, it seems like the battle begins here. 」

Her fearless smile already said as much.

Another clue was obtained by Tensai.

4

I was pulled into an alley by a mysterious force earlier and I was pulled by that same force several times after that. Before I knew it I was being dragged to the back of the alley where there was no sign of anyone.

I can’t really figure out the principle behind it, but it seems that if he points his fingers with the ring on it I will be pulled in that direction.

「You’re moving around so much. 」

I was moving in a zigzag pattern to avoid being targeted by Taisei’s fingertips. I grabbed him and the scuffle started.

「Hey, let me go! 」

The mysterious force is pulling me backwards, but if I know what to expect I can catch myself.

「This disgusting pervert is hugging me suddenly! 」

「I’m not hugging you because I like you… you know! 」

Because of my lack of being comfortable with my sexuality, I make up an excuse. Then confirm the results of the current hug.

「Hey Taisei. How do you use this thing? 」

「Huh? What… are you doing? 」

Taisei’s eyes go wide. Well, he’s surprised isn’t he? It’s because I have his Nanana Collection in my hand. The one I got looks something like a toothpick.

「Thank you for letting me have this. 」

「I did not let you have that! 」

「Oh and this one too. 」

I had also taken a strange paper one.

「Give that back! 」

「I can’t do that Taisei-kun. 」

「Normally I’m the one stealing my opponents Nanana Collection!! 」

「Well you guys did put these on display before the game. To me that’s like asking for it to be stolen. There are some bad people in this world that would just take it. 」

「Shit 」 Taisei says with regret.

Well now I also have some Nanana Collections… but is this really a toothpick? The tip isn’t very sharp for a toothpick.

I try shaking it but nothing happens.

「What is this little stick? I can’t get it to work. 」

Twitch

Hmmm, now the toothpick seems to be moving.

Suddenly the toothpick became a pole nearly 2 meters long. As this happened the end of the stick hit me in the lower abdomen. 「Ooof 」 I cried out.

「Wow it got bigger. 」

I managed to get back up and shake it.

「It’s a stretching Nyoi-bo. Just kidding…. 」 (TN: Nyoi-bo is the name of Goku’s extending pole in Dragon Ball)

It really did grow.

「Magic Nyoi-bo here! 」

「Yama you asshole! Give it back! 」

「Try and take it from me! 」