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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 6 Chapter 2.1

Episode 2: 《Game》 Start ~Masked Girl M’s determination~

1

「Now, let the 《game》 begin! 」, the Masked girl M dramatically gets off the tram and declares this confidently.

There’s something nostalgic about that voice.

Although her face is hidden, there is no doubt that she is Saki Yoshino, also known as Yun-chan.

After stabbing President Yuiga she disappeared, and at the Tanabata Festival she called herself Masked Girl M and implicitly explained how to participate in the 《game》. And so now she appears in front of the participants as the organizer.

But I have no idea why she’s doing this.

What is Yun-chan’s purpose?

The atmosphere became heavy with the appearance of organizer M. Everyone’s eyes naturally focused on her. However, organizer M started to tremble while having the gaze of so many on her. She seemed to have lost her confidence.

「Oh… um… I’m Masked Girl M! The organizer of this game! I’m the one running this game so listening to what I say is very important! 」

She is desperately trying to put on an air of importance and authority but if you look closely you can clearly see that her knees are shaking. Apparently everyone’s attention is making her nervous.

The reaction from the participants were mixed. Most of them were muttering things like ‘Hey is she OK? Can she really run this?’ There are some people who are clearly unimpressed.

There was no dignity at all. It feels like I’m watching a small girl who was wrongly casted as a game show host.

「A..anyway, I’ll show you to the venue. Please follow the instructions of the staff and get on the train quickly! 」

M has been saying weird things or saying things in a weird way. I mean, there is no staff here besides Yun-chan…

After that my eyes went wide. And like me, the other participants were also surprised at what they were seeing. This is because a slimy black snowman like thing suddenly appeared from behind M.

I recognized that black snowman creature. The mysterious creature appeared when I was scrambling to get the password for the webpage during the Tanabata Festival the other day. His entire body is black and he has a stubby snowman-like body with elongated arms and legs, with very round eyes. On his head is a square hat with a number on it.

The black snowman creatures appeared one after another from behind M …No wait. They were all coming out of the cloak M was wearing, as if it was a doorway to another dimension.

After this the atmosphere changed and Organizer M wasn’t seen as unreliable.

「Well then, go ahead. 」

At M’s command the black snowmen give a salute in sync and begin to move out. As if they rehearsed, they arrive at their posts and start guiding the participants to the trams, just like security guards do at event venues.

They didn’t have mouths, so they couldn’t speak, but it was as if I could hear them saying ‘Yes yes. Please form a line and proceed slowly.’ They indicated this by waving their hands, inviting people onto the trams.

「Oh yeah… that’s right. So as the rules state, contacting outside parties is prohibited. So if you brought a cel phone we will keep it with us. Don’t hide it from us, that’s bad! Do you understand? 」

While M was explaining what was allowed or forbidden as if she just remembered it, another group of black snowmen came down from the tram and set a ‘deposit box’ at the entrance. They set it on a table with a piece of paper taped to it identifying it and began screening each participant with a metal detector-like machine as they got aboard the tram.

The participants were a bit confused at first, but they are the owners of the Nanana collection. They quickly got adjusted to the strange sight, obediently following the guidance of the black snowmen and boarded the tram one after another.

「Shall we go too? 」

President Yuiga gets in line as Tensai and I follow.

Cel phones and other small devices were found by the detectors and the participants were forced to leave them in the 《deposit box》.

President Yuiga, who was in front of me, was also caught by the detectors and his cel phone was confiscated. Seeing this I took my cel phone out of my shoulder bag since it would be confiscated anyways, and left it at the 《deposit box》. Tensai behind me was also holding out her cel phone.

After passing through the checkpoint of black snowmen, I found the little girl M standing next to the tram entrance trying desperately to show off how important she is.

「Oh…」

The moment M saw President Yuiga she was clearly disturbed. Meanwhile President Yuiga didn’t seem to be bothered at all and walked right by to get into the last car of the three car tram.

「Hey. 」

「Oh hey Yama-senpa….NOT. Don’t try to get to friendly with me you mysterious, evil-looking guy! Hurry up and get on! 」

I quickly try to pretend that I’m someone else, but it’s too late and pretty obvious. That’s quite a mean thing to say to someone.

「Come on. Get going, you evil looking villain」, says Tensai while pushing me from behind. Stop badmouthing me so much detective.

Before I knew it I was boarding the lighted tram and was given a card with 26 written on it by a black snowman. President Yuiga who boarded first was given one with the number 25, and the card after mine is 27 so they seem to be numbered in order.

We followed directions and sat down in our seat.

I looked outside the window and saw that the last person, Testu-kun, had just finished being searched.

Tetsu-kun’s feet continued to walk towards us, but stopped in front of the tram. That was where M was standing.

「…」

They both stared at each other for a bit, then looked away as Tetsu-kun got on the tram.

Tetsu-kun is being surprisingly mature in this situation. I imagined that Tetsu-kun was going to shout 「Yun!!! 」 when he saw her.

Once Tetsu-kun (who was the last person) boarded, the black snowmen started packing up. Some of them carried the tables and 《deposit box》 that contained the cel phones they had kept, and boarded the tram. The rest of them ran towards M’s cloak. They reached out for it and when they touched it they were sucked into it.

In the blink of an eye the snowmen were absorbed into M’s cloak and she got on the last tram. As the doors closed it began to move away.

As the tram started moving without us knowing the destination, organizer M (who was followed by two black snowmen) proceeded to the connecting part that led to the front car and turned around.

「So first of all I will check each of you to see if you are eligible to participate in this year’s event. Please come to the front car in the order of the number card you were given. 」

After saying this, M went alone to the front car. The five remaining black snowmen in the last car also began to move. They seem to have coordinated assigned roles. They were standing in front of where the cars are coupled and guiding participants who were seated with their hands, as if to say 「Please, one by one, make your way to the front car. 」

Watching this all play out I felt the growing sense of excitement as I realized that the 《game》 has truly begun.

The tram carrying us continues to run down the dark night road.

Where are we headed? I have no idea where we are going.

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

「Phew, I’m tired. 」

Saki Yoshino (also known as Masked Girl M) moved to the front car alone and breathed a sigh of relief.

Saki praises herself for her work saying, ‘I’ve managed things well so far’. The legitimacy of this self-evaluation is questionable though.

「But the 《game》 has just begun, so I can’t relax. 」

The girl who was trying to regain her confidence without going overboard looks back in her mind at what she has gone through to get here tonight.

Late at night Saki left the cake café 《Marmelo》 where she had been hiding for a month. Following the instructions from 《God》 that had just flowed into her head, Saki went to the tram garage.

「I’ve been waiting. 」

The person who was waiting at the indicated location was a young man who worked for the company that operated the trams on Nanaejima.

After Saki and the young conductor finished greeting each other with a simple bow, the conductor led the way to a tram parked in the garage.

「This is what you will use. It’s ready to run right away. Detailed information about the route you will drive is also available in the driver’s seat. 」

「Thank you very much. 」

The young conductor left Saki with a bow and said ‘good luck’ before leaving.