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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 8 Chapter 3.10

I turn my gaze to M who is standing in front of me, and I am once again convinced. As expected, the key to everything is the girl in front of him, and the leprechauns. Getting closer to these two would put me in an extremely advantageous position when it comes to assembling the Nanana collection. No, it would lead to learning something even better.

「That’s the end of the story. Please leave now.」

And so M tries to end the conversation. She senses that there is nothing more to discuss.

Isshin grits his teeth. He’s been warned, but if he backs down now, it’ll just be the same as always. Don’t give up. Hang in there. You may never get another chance to talk to the head of the leprechauns.

「This has caused quite a lot of trouble.」

So Isshin suddenly brings it up, but she doesn’t reply. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t hear what was said.

「It was a big mistake. It’s going to be hard to make up for this.」

As expected, she doesn’t respond. But he doesn’t stop. He continues speaking. It’s a tactic he often uses. It’s a technique he uses to get women interested in him. Persuading the other person. That’s the only card he has left. Isshin continues talking.

There’s no need to have any confidence or certainty about what he can do for her. Just keep trying until you get a response out of her. When it comes to feelings towards other people, the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Therefore, if you get some kind of reaction from a person who was previously indifferent, that’s progress. Any emotion is fine. From there, you can start to close the distance between you one step at a time.

I need that trigger. So I will never give up until I get it.

A vertical cliff towers before me. I try to climb up it. I grab hold of it again and again, only to slip down again and again and again…

「I’m sure I can be of some use to you.」

「You’re quite persistent, aren’t you?」

She turns around with an exasperated voice.

In his head Isshin chuckles. His fingers had caught a hold of a cliff that should never be climbable. This is where it starts. He had to make a connection here no matter what…

Klack

It was at that moment that the door behind Isshin slid open.

「What, oh it’s you.」

The man who entered the room was Taisei Amagi. He was the leading candidate to win this game, but Isshin dragged him down and they had both been eliminated in the first stage.

M looked away from Isshin and asked Taisei, 「Is there something you need?」

Inside Isshin clicked his tongue at the fact that the slight attention that had been directed towards him had now shifted to Taisei. However, Isshin also had the same question as M. What on earth was Taisei Amagi doing there?

「Well, how should I put it…」

It happened suddenly. Behind Taisei, something slid in through the door he had left open, and passed by Isshin.

「Just a simple robbery.」

Appearing from behind M was Neidhart D. Polnareff. It was as if he teleported. No, that’s not it. He had gotten that close to M with incredible speed.

Haruto reached out his hand towards M. However, as if he had known what was coming, M dodged it with ease and put some distance between them.

「<<Milt Meer’s pocket watch>>?」

「You already know about this then.」

Haruto tried to act cool, but he was clearly shaken that his move was dodged.

「I’m not impressed with this robbery attempt. Are you trying to steal this <<stardust army command cloak>>?」, M asked, fluttering the cape. Haruto shook his head.

「That certainly is attractive, but there’s something even more attractive.」

「And that is?」

「The red notebook.」

Isshin didn’t miss that moment, as he saw M react slightly when he heard that one word.

Then Haruto disappeared again. As if to match his movements, M also moves. M continues moving in place, her cape fluttering from side to side. It looks as if she is dancing. This dancing had meaning though.

Soon, Haruto appeared quite a distance from M, having moved at lightning speed. Haruto glared at M and was breathing heavily.

M stopped moving and said, 「You seem to properly understand the drawbacks of the super speed achieved with <<Milt Meer’s pocket watch>>. If you collide with something at super speed, you take a lot of the damage too. It’s an equation of motion. And that can be enough of an impact to kill a person.」

「You’re saying some scary things.」

「It’s true. That’s why you hesitated to try. And moving at super speed puts a lot of strain on the body. How many more times can you do that?」

「You know a lot.」

「Yes, I have a fair amount of knowledge about the Nanana collection.」

Haruto glared at her annoyed.

M asked, 「By the way, you are of course aware that what you’re doing right now is a clear violation of the rules of this <<game>> right?」

「Of course. I’ve already lost though, so it doesn’t matter「, Haruto said jokingly. M sighed.

「It looks like I need to be punished.」

M fluttered the cloak she was wearing. Then, countless stars on the cloak began to sparkle, and pitch black humanoids started pouring out of the cloak, one after another.

「Grr, grrrr, grrroooooowwwwl…」

The blank faces of the pitch black humanoids split open, and growls rang out from their fang-lined mouths.

「I have no intention of holding these things in check. Run away and try not to die.」

Then as if waiting for M‘s signal, the pitch black humanoids let out crazy screams and rushed towards the first prey they could find.

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

「Ah, I’m sleepy. Let’s go home right away.」

At roughly the same time that Juugo and the others advanced to the deepest part of the <<ruin>> beneath the castle, and Isshin and the others confronted M, the other participants were seen leaving through the gates of the castle.

After an explanation of the third and final stage, everyone was free to disperse, and one of the student participants who lived relatively close to Sevens Land chose to walk home.

「Even so, it was pretty fun.」

In addition to that participant, two others had chosen to walk home. It was the first time they’d seen each other in this <<game>>, but it turns out they lived nearby, although they went to different schools. The three hit it off, and while making small talk about going out to eat some food next time, they walked through the deserted amusement park in the early morning and headed towards the exit.

「Hmm? What’s going on?」

One of them noticed something strange. They saw someone standing a little ways away. It was an armed aman… no, a group of men, like in a fighting game. In his hands he was holding big guns in their hands.

The three of them stopped in their tracks. Then they noticed the armband on the men’s arms.

Nanaejima General Security.

Bam

A very loud sound echoes throughout the silent amusement park.

For a moment the participant did not understand what had happened. But suddenly the person next to him fell to his knees, and he understood everything.

That was a gunshot, the shot had come from the man holding a gun over there, and the person he had been having a pleasant conversation with just a moment ago.

「Uh.. uh.. uuuaaaaaaahhhhh!」

The participant and the remaining person fled screaming. A deafening gunshot rang out from behind them. The two remaining people ran back the way they had come.

The men who suddenly appeared started firing their guns, as if to make their presence known.

The sound of gunfire echoed through the silent amusement park in the early morning.

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

「? Gunshots?」

In a corridor inside the royal castle. After the defeated participants had left the main hall, they were killing time in various ways. Yukihime was among them. The sudden unfamiliar sound made the participants look at each other.

「Yo, look!」, someone shouted from the window.

Hearing this, the participants surged towards the windows and were left speechless. The participants who had already left the building were fleeing. Chasing them were a group of armed men in black. They looked familiar.

「The Nanaejima General Security.」

The soldiers who had been chasing the two people fleeing gathered around the entrance to the castle, firing their guns. Then one of them shouted through a megaphone.

「This is Nanaejima General Security! We are now arresting all students in this castle! Stop your futile resistance and surrender! I repeat, stop your futile resistance and surrender!」

While making this order, they continue to fire on the fleeing contestants. They are not resisting, they are just running away. And they are being shot at.

Fear spread among the remaining participants as they were forced to watch this unreasonable treatment.

Meanwhile, Yukihime was thinking calmly, ‘This is strange. This is too aggressive’. Yukihime had dealt with the Nanaejima General Security several times since coming to the island, but she could not believe the tragedy unfolding before her eyes. What is going on?

Just then, the person from the General Security who had been speaking into a megaphone suddenly fell over. The reason for this soon became apparent. One of the participants being chased had fought back. That’s right, with his own Nanana collection.

Perhaps surprised by the sudden counterattack, the soldiers from the General Security retreated, dragging their fallen comrades with them. They continued firing, but it was clear they were cowards.

「We can do it! We can do it!」, this shouting could now be heard. 「If we stay like this, we don’t know what they’ll do to us when they catch us. But we have the Nanana collection! With these we can beat those guys!」

As if in response, voices could be heard saying ‘That’s right!’ and ‘We can do it!’ rising up.

Then several participants run out of the great hall. The remaining participants also begin to move on their own. Shiki was shocked.

「Nonomiya-chan, when this mobile headquarters was attacked and Kiiyomi was abducted, several people were stripped of their clothes, right?」

「Yes, eight of us in total.」

「How many people are firing on the crowd over there?」

「Eight of them.」

Then everyone realized something.

「Sansaaaaaa!」

Shiki slams her fist into the table in anger, shattering it like it was a prop fake table.

「Nonomiya-chan! Go rescue the students right now…「, but then Shiki’s words are cut off. Then, with a bitter expression on her face, she continues in a quiet voice.

「…We’ll go and rescue them. However, even if the students try to fight you, you must not retaliate. We are only to kill those eight.」

At this point, Shiki realizes what Sansa is planning. But even so, even though she knows, she has no choice but to act the way Sansa wants her to.

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

Sansa Kurosu was enjoying a pleasant early morning walk with several of her subordinates, including Kira Kanna. An empty amusement park, with the occasional gunshot and scream created a pleasant background ambiance.

「Now that I think about it, I must have become some crazy terrorist.」

To be honest, it’s not my thing though. Early mornings are not for walking, they’re for sleeping. If possible, I’d like to sleep until noon. What’s more, I’d like to sleep while holding Koma in my arms. That’s more my style.

Among the participants in tonight’s <<game>> were several people connected to Sansa. Even Tetsunoshin didn’t know this was going to happen. One of these people was the person whom she handed over her cell phone when she switched places with Tetsunoshin earlier. Incidentally, the first person to pretend to have been shot and collapse was also one of these people. Furthermore, they were the first to fight back using the Nanana collection. They were also the first to shout in the Great Hall. And thanks to the convincing performances of the leaders, the other participants were fired up. Now, the participants attacked only those wearing the General Security gear and without question.

Sansa grins and continues to walk.

It’s about time for Shiki to make a move. Even if she knows it’s a trap, Shiki will still make a move. Shiki is not so analytical or mature that she can just sit back and watch the students of this island being overrun. It’s about time for Shiki to act. Even if she knows it’s a trap, Shiki will act. And she will definitely waste time dealing with those students. And she will be met with fierce resistance by the same students who she is trying to save.

That’s enough time for them to finish their work. Everything is going according to Sansa’s plan.

「Perfect.」

Unfortunately, however, something unexpected occurred that ruined this perfect plan.

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

The first to encounter the threat was one of the participants inside the castle. Lacking the courage to go outside and fight, the participants were simply wandering around the castle looking for somewhere to hide until it was all over, when they suddenly encountered something.

Something was walking towards them in a group.

It was the pitch black humanoids that came out of the Nanana collection cloak.

「What is it? It seems dangerous…」

「Kishaaaaaah!」

For a moment, the student let out a sigh of relief, but was unable to speak as the pitch black humanoids roared. They attacked the students who were paralyzed with fear suddenly, fangs bared.

In response to Haruto’s violation of the rules, M gave her pitch black humanoids only one command. Attack the person in front of you.