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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 7 Chapter 4.1

Episode 11: Second Stage 1 – Forced Acquisition Game

1

「You two are late.」

I enter the room inside the castle designated for the 《forced acquisition game》. Ikusaba-san, who had arrived earlier, greets Haruto and I with these words as we walk through the door of the robbery room.

「It’s only a few minutes, let us at least go to the bathroom.」

「What small bladders you have there」, he retorts disdainfully while I quickly scan the room.

Inside the room, tables of various sizes and shapes are arranged irregularly. There are several stands along the walls holding small items, and there’s also one female staff operating a TV camera that has been set up inside the room.

And then…

「Now, please gather here as we will now begin the 《forced acquisition game》」,

Behind the table in the center stood a man wearing a banker’s uniform and a mask.

Following the banker’s instructions, we gather at the central table and are surprised.

「What are you doing, President Yuiga!!」

「Oh, just a little side job」, he responds nonchalantly. His eyes are hidden behind a mask, but it’s clearly the club president Isshin Yuiga who was supposed to have been eliminated in the first stage.

「You must have been put to work with some kind of exemption offer dangling in front of you」, Ikusaba-san accuses.

「You know about it?」 President Yuiga asks, looking surprised.

「Yeah, after all I was also involved last time.」

「What’s this ‘exemption’ you’re talking about?」 I inquire, and Ikusaba-san begins to explain.

「It’s a so-called apprenticeship given to the losers of the first stage. Starting from the second stage, the person who contributes the most to the organizer will be rewarded by the organizer with an exemption from the usual penalty.」

The ‘usual penalty’ refers to the seizure of all participants’ Nanana collections, which is only activated if M wins.

「Just as Ikusaba-san said, the volunteers were gathered after the first stage. About half of them agreed to M’s proposal. The rest must be in the audience now.」

「Oh, so that’s why Hanae-chan was in the gallery seats.」

I was curious about one of the figures in the gallery seats on the ground floor of the great hall where I had been earlier. Hanae Nakajima-chan, who had battled against me and Tetsu-kun during the first stage. Also, the young man in a butler outfit with a collar who had battled against me, along with two others in the same costume cast envious glances at me and Tetsu-kun. I believe these three were with Lady Ageha before the first stage. I remember seeing them together. It seems those participants there refused M’s offer.

「Does that mean the people in the gallery have given up on their Nanana collections?」

「Or they’re betting that M won’t win. The exemption is based on the assumption that M will win. If that doesn’t happen, it’s just free labor.」

The reason why the losers of the first stage haven’t had their Nanana collections taken away and been sent home yet must also be because the results are still pending.

「I see, which means we who have survived must work even harder.」

「Stop joking Yama-kun. I’d rather die than work hard just to fulfill the wishful thinking of such naïve people」, Ikusaba-san said, almost scornfully.

Ikusaba-san dismisses the hopes of those naïve ones. Simply assuming someone else will defeat M without any effort is just overly optimistic.

Even Ikusaba-san, who had outsmarted M at the result announcement of the first stage, is fully aware of how difficult it is to defeat Organizer M.

「Let’s leave the small talk there and start the 《forced acquisition game》」, With those words from President Yuiga the ‘forced acquisition game’ finally begins.

President Yuiga, with a refreshing smile behind the mask, quickly shuffled the cards labeled 2, 3, and 4. He picked up the stack of 3s, which I believe must have been about ten cards.

「First, we need to decide which game will be played. On behalf of everyone, I would like the member of the team with the most coins (the thief from the Great Detective Team) to draw one card from here.」

The banker (President Yuiga) then presented the cards fanned out for the selection.

Ikusaba-san selects and flips over one card. It read 《match pickup》.

「Match pickup?」

「The 《forced acquisition game》 this time is decided to be a game of 《match pickup》. Please everyone, head over to table number 5 over there.」

Following President Yuiga’s instructions we move to a different table in the room. Table number 5 is a round, stand-up table without chairs.

As we wait at the designated table, President Yuiga takes a palm-sized case from a stand in the corner of the room, opens it, and spills its contents onto the center of the table.

Out tumbled a large number of matchsticks.

「There are a total of thirty matchsticks here. You will now take turns picking matchsticks from this pile clockwise. You can pick from one to three matchsticks at a time. The player who picks the last matchstick wins.」

It’s a kind of counting game, with other names like nim, among various others.

So it seems the 《forced acquisition game》 is a contest determined by winning mini-games like this… It’s certainly fitting for television.

President Yuiga, the banker, continues.

「Next, we will decide on the number of coins to wager for this 《forced acquisition game》. You will have one minute of negotiation time to discuss amongst yourselves. If no agreement is reached, the team with the lowest number of coins in possession will decide the wager.」

In this case,it would be Haruto, the representative of the Sakura Team which is currently holding twenty coins.

「The maximum number of coins you can wager for 《match pickup》 will be ten times the number of laps taken. In this case, you can wager up to a maximum of ten coins. Each team will wager the amount of coins decided here and all will be taken by the winner.」

Hmm, number of laps taken, huh? And it’s a winner-takes-all scenario.

I see, so while there’s a player who holds the final decision, the number of coins wagered could vary based on the negotiation. That means this negotiation time is quite critical.

President Yuiga places a small hourglass from his pocket onto the table.

「Your one minute negotiation time starts now.」

The sands in the hourglass begin to trickle down as it’s flipped.

Now, what will be the move?

「If nothing is done, the decision goes to our friend in the military uniform… But what do you think, Servant A-kun? How many coins would be good?」

Ikusaba-san was the first to initiate the negotiation. Or rather, being called ‘Servant A’ by this person all over again really makes my blood boil.

With that, ‘Servant A’ who was slightly annoyed replied, 「Well, of course ten coins.」

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

「Well, of course ten coins.」

The location is in front of the Sugoroku board in the great hall. The other participants watching the 《forced acquisition game》 transmitted through the monitor began to murmur among themselves.

「Going straight for ten coins!」

Tetsu remembers the amount of time it took in the first stage when it took an hour to increase four coins into ten and couldn’t help but let out a sound.

Beside him, Lady Ageha who is sitting in the chair prepared at their base raised her eyebrows.

「What is Servant A thinking, making such a big bet without even consulting me?」

Yukihime Fugi responded to Lady Ageha’s words saying, 「Not necessarily」, while standing in front of the Sugoroku board.

「In this second stage, the 《forced acquisition game》 is undoubtedly the quickest way to close the gap in the number of coins between teams. Opportunities to land on the same square as the top team are not abundant.」

「Oh, Yamato Nadeshiko-chan from Team Sakura is rather confident. And by the way, I would rather people from other teams didn’t chime in on Servant A’s actions.」

Lady Ageha, having observed the doki doki love attack from earlier and speculating on Yukihime and Juugo’s relationship, deliberately prods at this point.

Yukihime responds to the provocation sharply with a glare.

「My apologies. It seemed that a certain lady was utterly without understanding of Servant A’s actions. Feeling pity, I inadvertently spoke up. It seems truly troublesome to be a servant, especially so if one has to protect an inept lady.」

「What did you say?」

Now it was Lady Ageha’s turn to become glaringly indignant.

「Well, are you okay with this? If things continue as they are, your team which only has twenty coins will have to wager half of them, you know?」

「No problem. All we need to do is win.」

「My, my, you have such faith in the military boy. You must be quite smitten.」

「I am not smitten at all, but at least he is far more useful than you.」

Yukihime delivers a no-nonsense counter to Ageha, who was attempting to corner her with crafty remarks.

The atmosphere between the two women grew increasingly tense.

「I wonder if you can really win?」

From outside of their intense glares, this mumble came from the Great Detective Ikkyu Tensai who was looking up at the monitor.

「You seem to be placing high reliance on that thief, little detective.」

「I’m not overestimating him. Just calmly analyzing based on his past achievements.」

This leaves Yukihime and Ageha momentarily speechless. Tensai says that about Hiiyo Ikusaba (the phantom thief) who has indeed shown such results in the first stage.

It was at that moment, new footage appeared on the monitor.

「Transaction Record」

– Team Trade

Lady Team & Sakura Team

– Transaction Time

03:13:20

– Transaction Content

If either team wins the first turn’s 《forced acquisition game》, the rewards will be split between them.

– Stamps

Club & Diamond

And duly stamped, with the red seal of 「Transaction Accepted ★1」 clearly imprinted.

This had everyone opening their eyes wide with shock.

「Eh? What’s that? Why is there a 《transaction》 I know nothing about…. Wait, what? My stamp has gone missing!」

While Ageha frantically looks around the base table, Yukihime who is oblivious to the development, does not panic. Instead, she turns her attention elsewhere.

「M, this situation seems somewhat different from your explanation.」

M who was sitting at the Cat Ear Team’s base also stood up in confusion.

At this point, the announcer interjected.

「Sorry, this decision came from us on the TV side. Normally, 《transactions》 between teams would not be disclosed, but concerning the first turn, and particularly this 《forced acquisition game》, we have chosen to display it to explain it clearly to our viewers. From now on though, it will only be broadcasted and will not be displayed on the monitor in the great hall.」

「I see. How considerate. Now everyone here can grasp the situation.」

「Please be assured. Neither this footage nor my voice reaches the people in the robbery room.」

「Does that mean the Great Detective Team’s thief doesn’t know that he’s being set up?」

「That’s correct.」

「Well then, ‘Servant A’ and the foreign soldier boy who’ve conspired don’t realize their dealings are exposed to us observers either, right?」

Tensai smirks deviously.

Inside the monitor, the three’s negotiation time continues.

「Wait, please. Going straight to the maximum ten coins is too crazy. Please, seriously spare me.」

「Since it’s the beginning, why don’t we go big?」

Holding back laughter, Haruto acts as if he is being persuaded by Juugo.

「But I’m scared.」

「Don’t worry… Ikusaba-san, please add your 2 cents.」

「I don’t mind any number of coins」

「Understood. If you two are going to insist that much, let’s go with MAX coins.」

To anyone aware of the prior 《transaction》, their charade seemed rather comical.

「No need for such a bizarre act when the final decision of the coin amount rests with the foreign soldier, since you have to act this part out so overtly.」

Hearing Ageha’s exasperated mutter, Yukihime snorted through her nose.

「You don’t get it. It’s not important to wager ten coins. What’s important is to keep the fact that both sides are working together under the radar.」

「You’re truly infuriating.」

「Thank you for the compliment.」

The two women exchanged glares again, turning their attention back to the monitor.

「Still, to initiate a 《transaction》 from the very start when nothing yet has begun…」

Despite not voicing it, Yukihime shared the sentiment. Concerning the 《transaction》, she believed it was better to wait and thoroughly understand the rules of 《Sugoroku de Pon》 before making any moves.

But that’s exactly why it was effective.

It was meaningful precisely because it was employed in the initial stage, when it was considered unusable and unexpected.

The effect of taking the opponent by surprise was tremendous.

This was undeniably a winning move – one that would guarantee victory.

「Hah, as expected of my worthy rival」, the detective grinned slyly.

However, her smile soon tightened.

「But don’t underestimate Hiiyo Ikusaba, Juugo.」

2

And thus, the forced acquisition game 《match pickup》 began.

The rules were simple. Pick up matchsticks clockwise from the pile of 30 on the table; picking up from one to three sticks at a time. Whoever picks the last stick wins.

As a result of the negotiation time, it was decided that each team would wager ten coins. Winning now would mean an immediate gain of twenty coins. Although, due to that 《transaction》, it would only be five coins in reality. Nonetheless, this would still close the gap by fifteen coins between us and the Detective Team, which was currently in the lead.

Considering the nature of the game referred to as 《match pickup》 or ‘nim’, there’s a known strategy to guarantee victory. When only two people are playing, making sure to leave a multiple of four sticks will assure victory.

The math is straightforward. If it gets to my turn with 5 sticks left, after my pick, there would be 4 sticks left. No matter how many sticks the next person picks, I could ensure to always leave 5 sticks on my following turn. And repeat.

However, this fails to work when more players are involved because you can’t control the numbers just by yourself.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible if you have an ally, like Haruto and I.

When I first heard the 《forced acquisition game》 explanation from M, I had already anticipated the course of the game to some degree. So, taking advantage of Lady Ageha’s distraction, I quietly pilfered the stamp and approached Haruto as we leisurely walked from the grand hall to the robbery room.

「Hey, Haruto. How about we form an alliance?」

With just that, the savvy Haruto understood and flashed a grin as he produced a stamp from his pocket.

As expected of Haruto, always keenly aware.

So, we promptly headed over to the 《bank》 in the room next to the grand hall, where Kishitani-san, a bank employee, stood yawning in front of a two-meter tall safe, watching the monitor.

Kishitani-san, who was quite surprised by our arrival, handed us the transaction form. Quickly scribbling and stamping it, I handed it back for Kishitani to imprint it with the official 「Transaction Accepted ★1」 stamp, effectively completing the 《transaction》 within three minutes.

「I won’t lose, Servant A-san.」

「That’s my line, foreign soldier!」

And so, here we are, staring each other down as allies.