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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 6 Chapter 1.4

Anyways, I have no idea why Tensai is participating in the 《game》.

「Well I’m not really interested in winning the prize. 」

The great detective flashes a fearless smile. This makes me even more curious.

「What are you up to, great detective? 」

Even though she calls herself a great detective, Tensai is always driven by selfish motives more than anyone. And she laughs fearlessly about it.

「Hey Juugo. How long have we known each other? 」

This sudden question made me frown.

「? What is this you’re asking all of a sudden? 」

「Don’t worry, just answer. How long have you and I been hanging out together? 」

I have no idea why she is asking but I’ll try to remember.

「Well… it’s been about three months right? 」

「That’s right. And we’ve gotten closer with our interactions. 」

「More or less. 」

「So I think it’s about time for us to take the next step. 」

Hearing this shocks me out of my wits. For some reason, a bunch of images of the past start running through my head.

Specifically I’m remembering being stranded in the 《ruin》 and hugging Tensai while on top of a treasure chest, my heart beating faster as I see her in black hair and pigtails, giving her a cup of coffee with milk while she was dressed in cat pajamas and sulking, and sliding down that hill while carrying her like a princess.

Glancing at Tensai next to me I could see her cheeks turning red and she looked down. Wait, what is this feeling of being overly aware of each other? Does this mean that we are going to be closer than ever before…?

「…Ummm, what do you mean by next step? 」

「Of course, the next step is a fight to the death! 」

The detective’s eyes were shining brightly as she looked up. She’s so excited that her cheeks are flushed. I can’t help but roll my eyes.

「…Fight to the death? 」

「An extreme battle with your life on the line! A high level battle of wits! This will be the first climatic battle between! This will be the first climatic battle against my rival Juugo! …Hmm? What’s wrong Juugo? Why are you looking down and shaking? 」

I knew you were going to say something like that, dammit! You idiot! My heart knew it all along! I just didn’t want to become the kind of adult that only saw reality and forgot about his dreams, you know!

I screamed this youthful cry in my heart.

「Oh is that all you mean? You just want to compete with me, that’s why you joined the 《game》?」

「Why else? A great detective vs a villainous monster with evil eyes. It’s a truly heart-wrenching situation! 」

「Stop your eyes from shining so brightly. Stop snorting so loudly. Stop clapping your hands excitedly. The way you are so openly excited about this is annoying! 」

「Prepare yourself Juugo! I will put an end to your evil deeds. 」

「Shut up! 」

Is that really why you are here? But I’m sure that’s what you’ve been saying for awhile now. 」

「Well if I had a complaint, it’d be that Juugo hasn’t caused any heinous crimes, leave any phantom thief warnings, didn’t plot any major terrorist attack, or disrupt the global situations through assassination of world leaders. 」

「What kind of things are you expecting from me? I don’t do that. 」

「Well since you so willingly let me grab a fake Nanana collection while keeping the real one for yourself, I’d say you have enough evil inside you. 」

As Tensai grinned I couldn’t keep a groan inside.

To be honest, the 《One Eye of Yugutoth》 that I have is one that I stole from Yukihime-neesan and the others that they took from the Great 7’s top member Shunjyuu Ikkaku. This famous detective chased me to my room. I was the one who gave her a fake and sent her away.

When I took out the 《One Eye of Yugutoth》 from my pocket in the club room after school, Tensai (Who hadn’t noticed until today) seemed to immediately understand the whole situation and started laughing histarically. ‘Nyaa ha ha ha’

「As expected of Juugo. After all you are worthy of being my rival. 」

Tensai wasn’t angry at all for being deceived by me. Instead she praised me for outwitting her when I did what I did. In a strange way I can’t help but feel like I like you even more now.

「There is probably no stage more suitable to decide who is the best between us two. This game will definitely be the beginning of the historical battles between me and Juugo! 」

The detective stands and points at me with a clearly deliberate and well positioned pose. It seems like she’s practiced this in front of a mirror every night.

「You’re really trying to pull off something grand aren’t you? This will be the beginning of a relationship that lasts a lifetime. 」

「Oh, well… you mean…「

As I made that casual remarek, Tensai suddenly froze up. Her face suddenly turned bright red. She opened her mouth in a hurry.

「…don’t misunderstand me Juugo! Even though I said a lifetime, I don’t mean it like that! Our lifetime of friendship will be as rivals! I don’t mean anything deeper than that! 」

Hearing that I was also shocked.

「D..duh! I know that already! How do you think I misunderstood?! I didn’t mean it that way! 」

「You are stuttering, you must be imagining it! I mean… fidget fidget … you know…」

「N..no I’m not! I don’t have that kind of weird imagination! 」

We sat next to each other facing away and remained silent for awhile.

「So… anyways. You need to quickly become a full-fledged villain, a worth rival of the Great Detective Ikkyu Tensai, and you shouldn’t be ashamed about it.「」

「That’s not a line you should say to someone while sitting next to them and fidgeting. 」

「Otherwise… I’d never be able to have a lifelong relationship with you. 」

My face suddenly becomes very hot.

「Uh well… I’ll try my best. 」

Wait, no, I shouldn’t try hard. I’m a normal person. I try to quickly think of a better way to say that.

「I see. I’ll look forward to it, Juugo. 」

Maybe it was because of Tensai’s shy and happy smile, but I couldn’t get the words to come out of my mouth.

「Well… don’t get your hopes up too much. 」

No! I should just firmly deny becoming a villain.

「Hmph, I’m looking forward to it. 」

The great detective was smiling with such delight from her twisted expectations of him.

That topic of conversation is now closed.

In any case, the participation of Tensai is not a good development. This will make it even more difficult to obtain the Nanana collection and to find the person who killed Nanana-chan.

Just as I start to sigh from dissatisfaction, Tensai lets out a ‘Hmph’.

「Don’t worry Juugo. If I win I’ll give you the 《Nanana’s sword》.」

「Oh really?! I mean, stop reading my mind! 」

「Of course, you’ll be floored and say, ‘Wow, that’s amazing great detective. But don’t let your guard down. Now there will be even more people gunning for you…」

「Yeah, that means they’ll declare defeat and give it to you. 」

「Well, that’s the way it is. Oh, but after you find out who killed Nanana-dono, you will rise from hell to be my rival again. It would be cool if you had a scar and said something like ‘I’ve come back from the depths of hell’. Alright, then let’s go ahead and carve a scar from your ear to your cheek Juugo. 」

「Don’t just make such scary decisions on your own. I mean it pisses me off that you assume that you are going to win the whole thing. 」

「What you are trying to say is ‘You thank you can defeat me!?’. That’s a standard line for a character like you. 」

「Well then answer me this, idiot detective. If you win, why don’t you find the person who killed Nanana-chan? 」

When I asked this, Tensai laughed out laid and said ‘Hmph’.

「Even if I was going to find Nanana-dono’s killer, I wouldn’t use the Nanana collection to do it. 」

This girl never wants to use the Nanana collection.

「How are you going to do it then? You said Nanana-chan’s case couldn’t be solved, even by you right? 」

It turns out that this great detective had read through the records of Nanana-chan’s case before we met. As a result, she had given up after a week.

「It is true that it is impossible for me to solve that incident now. It’s frustrating, but I can accept that fact. But someday I will definitely solve that case on my own, with my own ability as I rise to even greater heights as a great detective. 」

Even though she’s always very cocky, this is the one subject where is humble.

「But well, if I can’t solve the case by the time Tensai does, then I guess you will have made it as a great detective.」