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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 8 Chapter 2.3

Tetsu then saw the true form of the squirming thing…

The dragon birthmark peeking out of the right side of Saki’s neck.

「Saki Yoshino will die soon.」

I didn’t understand what it was saying for a moment.

「….What are you talking about?」

「Didn’t you hear? Saki Yoshino said that she would die if things continued like this.」

That can’t be true, I thought to myself, but couldn’t make the words come out. I remembered the words of Isshin Yuiga. Yoshino Saki died once in the <<ruins>> of South Red Mall. I couldn’t believe it. But then again I’ve learned about the mysterious power of the Nanana collection on Nanaejima. Now I know it’s not impossible.

The person possessing Saki asks Tetsu (who is glaring at them with a closed mouth) a question.

「Do you want to help Sakin Yoshino?」

「Help her?」

「For me?」

Intuitively I felt that the person who had been keeping Saki alive up until now was the person in front of me. So I had no hesitations.

「I want to help.」

I spoke my wish.

「If so, win this <<game>> and bring me the <<Sword of Nanana>>. If you do, I will make a contract with you and save Yoshino Saki’s life.

「….I understand.」

「You must not tell anyone about this. That is one of the conditions of this contract.」

「Contract?」

A mysterious being… no, <<God>>, announces it.

「Once you bring it to me, I will ask for your cooperation together with Saki Yoshino. As a dragon-man…. No as a leprechaun.」

3

 

With M and Tetsu-kun absent, the second stage <<sugoroku de pon>> continued without incident, and the second stage was soon concluded.

First Place: Great Detective Team

Second Place: Young Lady Team

The ones who made it through to the second stage where Ageha Kachou, Tetsunoshin Tsujima, Yama Juugo (myself), Ikkyu Tensai, and Hiiyo Ikusaba.

And as for the organizer M, she was defeated at this stage.

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

As soon as filming of the program finished, the <<NNE>> staff, led by Producer Baba, exchanged quick greetings and began loading their equipment into the car. Their packing up took less than 10 minutes. After the staff had finished their teardown work, the cards carrying them departed Seven’s Land in a line.

During the car ride, one of the staff members (Oda) asked producer Baba, 「Baba-san, do we really not need to clean up?」

「Yeah, it seems like Seven’s Land is going to take care of everything. In fact, they specifically asked us to leave as soon as the live broadcast was over.」

「Even so, this was a really strange plan. With the full cooperation of Seven’s Land, they let amateurs use the facilities before they even opened to hold a gaming tournament. Who was the one who came up with this plan?」

「Now that I think about it, who was it? Was it Takahashi or Isozaki? But once we started though everything went smoothly.」

「It’s almost like it was all planned.」

「Hey now, don’t say scary things like that, Oda.」

「Sorry, I was just kidding」, said Oda (who was one of the leprechauns) with a smile.

Of course, at this point, Oda had forgotten that he was a leprechaun.

And without ever finding out the truth of the matter, the <<NNE>> television staff withdrew from Seven’s Land.

It would be several hours later before they realized, to their dismay, that they had missed the opportunity to capture on television the catastrophe that followed in Seven’s Land.

Interlude

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

「I never thought that M would be defeated here.」

Isshin Yuiga muttered to himself as he walked alone down the hallway.

As the organizer, she was in an overwhelmingly advantageous position and I was sure she would make it to the end. What broke this was the decision of a girl to sacrifice herself and advance her friends. Just like myself in the first stage.

「…Well, I feel bad for putting you in the same category as a selfish guy like me.」

If I were in her position, would I have been able to do that? No, I couldn’t.

If I was on the same team as the organizer, we would have come in first place by a long shot. When the championship is within reach, there is no way I can make such a choice. I can’t suppress my desire to win.

Of course,l even if I had advanced to the next stage, it would have been doubtful that I would have been able to win as long as M (who had mastered all the rules) was there. Even so, even though I know that M has an overwhelming advantage, and even though I know that there will be a penalty if M wins, I still can’t throw it away. The possibility of winning. The small miracle that it could happen.

「…But that kind of thinking is probably not the way to go if you want to win this <<game>>.」

In tonight’s <<game>> orchestrated by the organizer M, there may not have been even the slightest bit of room for an ambiguous element like a miracle. What is needed is not to blindly believe in such baseless things, but to think, explore, and act on ways to reliably overcome the situation before us. Those who can do that continue to move forward.

Yama Juugo and Ikkyu Tensai. I was shown by them once again how amazing my kohai are.

And then I started thinking again. There’s no way I could beat those two in my current state.

As Isshin walked down the hallway, he stopped in his tracks.

「Kagetora, are you there?」

「Yeah.」

Out of nowhere came the voice of Kagetora Tsurezure, the Adventure Club’s head of intelligence.

「How did the investigation go?」

「We still haven’t found anything that could lead us to the leprechauns, including where they are keeping the <<Sword of Nanana>>.」

「I see.」

Tonight, Kagetora received a phone call from Yuu Ibara, who had been held captive by Shiki Maboro and her crew. Actually, Kagetora was already hiding near Seven’s Land before Yuu called him. That’s why he was able to respond to Yuu’s summons so quickly.

Kagetora, who did not take part in tonight’s <<game>> as he did not have a Nanana collection, was in fact following Isshin’s orders to tail the <<game>> participants, just as the Nanaejima Security Forces and the Three Skulls had done. The purpose of it was, of course, to follow Isshin Yuiga. And as instructed by Isshin, he was searching for information on the leprechauns, who were using Seven’s Land as the venue tonight.

「Still, what was unexpected was that Ibara acted on her own.」

「Exactly. I was shocked when I heard the report from you Kagetora.」

「It’s unusual for you to be worried about Ibara.」

The voice of Kagetora was laughing, which showed his amusement.

「That’s not true. I’m always worried about Yuu.」

As Isshin smiles his refreshing smile, Kagetora laughs through his nose.

「I don’t want to hear it from you.」

「It’s true. I really do care about Yuu. That’s why I get scared sometimes.」

「? What’s that?」

「I was worried that Yuu would do something reckless and disappear.」

The meaning of Isshin’s words resonates somewhat sadly. It is entirely possible that this could happen while searching for Nanana collections. It is an unbearable pain that Isshin had experienced once before.

「It’s because of your everyday behavior. Your words have never sounded more like lies than they do now.」

「Haha, that’s harsh.」

Kagetora makes sarcastic remarks about Isshin, who has flirts with so many women, but Isshin thinks to himself that he’s right.

「We will continue our investigation. There are still areas where the black creatures are still present and we haven’t been able to investigate.」

「It doesn’t matter if it’s something trivial. Please gather as much information as you can. And, if possible, I’d like you to obtain the <<Sword of Nanana>>.」

Isshin spoke with a refreshing smile. Kagetora, whose face was covered, let out a sigh.

「My field of expertise is intelligence, not thieving. I will do that if possible though.」

「I’m counting on you, Kagetora.」

「So, Isshin. What are you going to do after this?」

Although I was prepared to, to some extent, I lost the <<game>>. In order to find out more about the leprechauns myself, I accepted M‘s invitation, worked as a banker in the second stage, and even tried to woo a female camera operator who was a TV staff member to extract information from her. In the end, I was unable to obtain any useful information, but I did get an unexpected gift, which was getting to do Kurosu Sansa a favor. I feel like this will be enough for tonight.

But I’m a bit more greedy than that. That’s why…

「There’s a girl I’m interested in, so I’m going to talk to her.」

With a refreshing smile on his face, Yuiga Isshin started walking down the hallway again. Incidentally, Kagetora (who was lurking in the shadows) was seriously considering whether to stop gathering information and jut go home.

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

「Daisei, how far can you go?」

As Amagi Taisei rejoined the group after changing out of his banker’s uniform, Neidhart D. Polnareff (who had been defeated in the second stage) spoke to him in a low voice.

「What’s that?」

「How far are you willing to go for Asumi?」

Taisei answered Haruto’s question with a serious expression that was completely different from his usual playful demeanor.

「To the point of risking my own life.」

Hearing Taisei’s immediate answer, Haruto laughed happily.

「Excellent. In that case, I have a suggestion.」

「Suggestion?」

「Want to get the best treasure?」

Taisei frowned at what Haruto said.

「Treasure… you mean the <<Sword of Nanana>>? Hey, come on, you’re wanting me to steal it?」

「No, it’s not that. It’s something just as valuable, if not more so.」

Neidhart D. Polnareff… no, Ishbal Corunald grins and reveals his true face.

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

「Are you listening, Advisor?」

「…Ah, sorry. I wasn’t listening.」

Outside Seven’s Land, in the mobile headquarters of the Nanaejima General Security Special Forces.

Seeing Shiki Maboro’s momentary absent-mindedness, Himeko Nonomiya (who was watching over her) sighed.

「Please stay strong. A car belonging to the TV crew is coming out. Do you want us to restrain them?」

「There’s no need for that. They probably don’t know anything anyways.」

「I understand. Then, I will make a list of the TV staff who were involved in this show shoot… are you listening, Advisor?」

「…Ah, sorry. What was that?」

Shiki just can’t concentrate on what’s in front of her. Nanana left that room, even if it was just for a bit. That one thing just wouldn’t leave Shiki’s mind. Standing next to the two of them is Yuu Ibara.

「…Damn! If I had known this would happen, I would have recorded the show!」

「Isshin’s masked banker look was quite good this evening.」

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

In a room in the office building where the Three Skulls are hiding out.

「<3」

While many of her subordinates, including Kira Kanna, made preparations, Sansa Kurosu lays on the sofa humming to herself. He didn’t move. There is a cell phone on the desk next to her.The cell phone still hasn’t rung. It will ring in a few minutes though…

And then Sansa Kurosu starts to move.