3 bar menu

Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 7 Chapter 1.1

Episode 8: Before the Second Stage, Unexpected Progressers and Unforeseen Connections

1

「Hi, everyone. Good evening.」

A man with sunglasses and a genial smile entered the round table room where the nine who advanced to the Second Stage had gathered.

More people followed him in, one after another.

What they had in common was that they all looked too old to be students and seemed to be carrying various kinds of expensive-looking equipment.

To us, who were bewildered, the man with sunglasses at the front introduced himself.

「Hello, I am Producer Baba. For tonight, I’m expecting a lot from your appearance on our live broadcast at 《NNE》.」

《NNE》? Wasn’t that the local TV station of Nanaejima?

「Nice to meet you. I am M, the representative. I ask for your kind cooperation today.」

Producer Baba smiles at M, the organizer who stands and bows her head deeply.

「No, no, it’s we who should thank you. You’re providing us with an interesting project and we’re grateful. We’ll be backing you up, so let’s make it exciting.」

Following Baba-san, all the other TV staff lined up behind him also greeted by saying ‘pleased to work with you’. Once they finished, the staff said there were preparations to be made and left the room.

「Well, there isn’t much time, could you take a quick look at the script?」

The female staff member (probably the AD, I assume) who remained with Baba-san began handing out thin scripts to us earnestly. Addressing us as we received the scripts, M declared.

「And so, everyone, our game association will now appear on the live late-night broadcast of 《NNE》’s 《Anything Goes》.」

Anything goes? Is that the name of the show? Did she just say it was live? And what is this game association?

Like me, the other participants were bewildered by this sudden development.

「Everyone, the game has already begun. Let’s adhere to the rules and take on the challenge.」

But with that one sentence from M, I understood. This live broadcast was the second stage.

Then Yukihime-neesan, or rather Yukihime Fugi raised her hand.

「I presume it would be futile to ask, but M, I do not wish to appear on television. Is there anything that can be done about this?」

「It cannot be helped. If you dislike it, you are free to withdraw.」

M firmly refused in a polite tone as if coached by someone else behind the scenes.

Of course, Yukihime-neesan must have anticipated that answer and simply backed down with a 「I see.」

Baba-san, who identified himself as the producer, laughed heartily at this.

「Don’t be so tense. We will anonymize your names and make simple disguises so it’s hard to identify you」, Baba-san said assuredly, to which Yukihime-neesan nodded to say ‘Understood.’

However, she didn’t have a very pleased expression.

As a member of the thieves’ clan 《Matsur》, she probably wants to avoid standing out as much as possible.

On the other hand, the self-proclaimed great detective is grinning and thinking, ‘Haha, this is finally my TV debut’, which I’ll just ignore.

But why make a TV show, especially a live one, as the second stage? Is there someone out there who wants to be seen?

At that moment, the female AD who was working in the hallway called for Baba-san.

「Excuse me for a moment.」

Baba-san left the room, leaving the nine of us behind.

「M, is that producer also a Leprechaun?」

The incisive question came from Hiiyo Ikusaba.

Leprechauns, a mysterious organization seemingly continuing to create 《ruins》 where the Nanana collection are hidden throughout Nanaejima. Moreover, they’re the hosts of this 《game》. They prepared trams as a means of transportation from the venue to this place. (a theme park that hasn’t opened yet) The power of this organization seems quite extensive, but their actual objective is completely hidden. Everything about the organization is a mystery.

To Ikusaba-san’s question, M shrugged her shoulders with a 「Who knows?」

「As an organizer, let me tell you this much. The TV staff coming later and the viewers watching the live broadcast starting at 3 a.m. are considered complete strangers.」

The rule M explained before the TV staff arrived for the second stage boiled down to: If a person unfamiliar with the Nanana collection learns about it, you are immediately disqualified.

While the use of Nanana collection is allowed as an overarching rule of the 《game》, this constraint imposed on the second stage seems to be one of the focal points of the competition.

「May I ask something?」

The one raising her hand was Asumi Nishi, the student council president of the Seventh High School and someone trying to create a community to gather the Nanana collections.

「What is it?」

「In the beginning of the script it says ‘Teams will be divided’. What does this mean?」

「It means exactly what it says. The second stage will be a team battle, split into four teams.」

The word ‘team battle’ gets a reaction from everyone.

「Four teams? But there are nine of us. So how will we split?」

「Primarily in pairs of two, and one team will consist of three.」

「How are we going to decide the pairings? By drawing lots or something?」

「No. We will have a room for discussions later. We will decide there.」

「A room for discussions?」

「On TV, we will have to make it look like a meeting. But basically, you can freely form teams with anyone you like.」

「So, we can choose our partners freely? What are the qualifications for progressing to the next stage?」

「At the end of the second stage, the top two teams with the highest number of coins will advance to the next stage.」

So, during the second stage, we’re going to be narrowed down to half.

「I understood that. But I have one more question. Currently, there is quite a bit of variation in the number of coins we each have. How will this change by forming teams?」

That was something I was curious about. Now that the distribution of bonuses for clearing the first stage is complete, in the first place is Ikusaba-san with 60 coins, then M with 25 coins, and Kacho Ageha with 14 coins. The rest each has 10 coins, indeed just as Nishi-san indicated, there’s quite a variation.

「The personal coins you have now will be shared within your team.」

「So you mean, the number of coins each of the four teams has at the start of the second stage is not the same. Depending on the team make up, it could be any number, right?」

「Yes.」

So if I (currently with 10 coins) team up with Tetsu (who also has 10 coins) we would start with 20 coins. But if I teamed up with Ikusaba-san who is far ahead, we would start with 70 coins. Additionally, being part of the only three-person team means potentially starting with a higher number of coins than the two-person teams.

It seems the other participants are also thinking about this matter, as I can tell they are deep in contemplation.

「Hey, M. Can I have a word?」

That was said by Kacho Ageha, who had been elegantly flipping through the script with her legs crossed.

「? What is it?」

「The ‘place for discussion’ you mentioned earlier, is it this 《Doki Doki Love Attack》 section?」

M, taken aback, said, 「D..Doki Doki?」

「It’s called Love Attack, apparently.」

Flustered, M opens the script, 「W.. what is this!」, and seems shocked. Moreover, why is M, who is supposed to be the organizer and knows the rules, surprised?

「Oops, sorry about that. Let’s continue the meeting, shall we?」

Right then, Baba-san returns at a convenient time. M, who is flustered, confronts him.

「Baba-san, this Doki Doki Love Attack, what is this exactly?!」

「Oh, I thought it would spice up the show.」

「But that’s so arbitrary…」

「No, no, it’ll definitely liven things up. It looks like there are four boys and five girls, right? This is a perfect opportunity. Maybe you can get into a lovey-dovey relationship. So, please keep in mind that everyone should form male-female pairs.」

Baba-san has a laid-back, almost stereotypical middle-aged man way of thinking. There’s a certain temperature difference I’m feeling. Is this man truly a Leprechaun like M?

In any case, I’ve gotten a rough idea about the second stage.

The grand prize of this 《game》 is a rare-class Nanana collection item 《Nanana’s sword》 and it’s to decide the single winner who will claim it. This represents a complete turnaround from the first stage where participants were battling against each other to snatch coins. Now it’s about forming teams with someone, who could be an enemy.

Who will you team up with? This choice seems very important for fighting through the second stage.

Only the top two teams will advance.

With that thought, I looked back down at the script.

The title for the second stage game was written in very clear terms so that they could understand.

It’s apparently called 「Sugoroku de Pon.」

I wonder what the second stage will be like.