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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 8 Chapter 3.6

She really is an Ojousama who is good at using people.

Ikusaba-san crouches and gets ready, clearly prepared for a throw.

「Guh!」

But suddenly he clutches his face and looks down. The reason was the Nanana collection <<ghost hand>> that Ageha-ojousama was wearing around her neck under her shirt. It can only touch living things. It cannot lift or move those things. At first glance it seems completely useless except for scaring people. Although it may seem like the only use for it is to distract people like in the second stage, it can be quite useful in combat if used properly. You can only touch someone, but depending on where you touch them, its effectiveness changes. For example… touching an eyeball.

「Gyaaak!」

Putting my weight into his stomach, I land a right handed punch. Then I hit him with a left to the face. Then I twist my body and kick him with my right heel. Ikusaba stumbles back. Time to finish him off. I close the distance to Ikusaba-san who is stumbling, and slam a fist into his face with all my might.

Blam

That’s a good sound.

「!」

However, the moment the fist hit his face, Ikusaba-san (who had tears streaming out of his one closed eye) twisted his body and grabbed my right arm, using the force of my fist.

No way!

Klunk

Using the momentum of our fall, he slammed me to the floor with all his might.

「Ugh. That’s impossible. That really hurt.」

My back took the hit, or rather the back of my head, and I felt dizzy along with the intense pain.

「That’s my line.」

I glared at Ikusaba-san who had fallen with me but managed to get up before me.

「…you’ve cut my flesh and broken my bones.」

「I don’t like it because it’s so inefficient, but maybe that’s wrong.」

Breathing heavily, Ikusaba-san retreats until he reaches the back wall of the room. He is not trying to make an attack.

I tried to push my aching body up to my feet, and Ikusaba-san didn’t seem to be coming at me. Are you planning to try to recover from the damage already taken? But the more you rest, the less damage I’ll take. Why are you trying to distance yourself from me when I can’t move after being thrown like that? …No, that’s not it. I didn’t create distance from you. You created distance from Ageha-ojousama and Tensai behind me. He is wary of the Nanana collection that they have.

It’s not a bad time to pursue me. However, the two people behind me are still something to worry about. So he’ll start by gathering information and figuring out the range of the Nanana collection they have. He has a really calm mind, which makes him a very difficult opponent.

After going at it for this long, I felt like I was making good progress. If we attack carefully, we can definitely win this 3 on 1 match. But this is no time to slow down.

After catching my breath, it was time for my next move.

「Tensai!」

He throws something high into the air towards Tensai. What is it? The cloth bag containing the 5th key piece, of course.

Ikusaba-san’s eyes opened wide as he searched his pocket, then grinned. It was empty now.

Tensai tries to catch the cloth bag containing the fragment of the key that went flying high into the air.

Pop…. Clang Clang Clang

…unable to actually catch it, it drops to the ground, but she picks it up quickly.

Well… after that… from here on things happen quickly. Tensai tossed the <<air impact hammer>> she was holding aside, combined the key fragment she had picked up with the four key fragments she already had, and quickly completed a strangely shaped puzzle. She then turned around and stood in front of the blocked passageway. She then inserted the completed key into the recess in the door, and with a rumble, the door blocking the passage to the treasure chest room rose up.

「Juugo, come here!」

Before Tensai could tell me to come, the door in front of her had finished opening. I turned my back on Ikusaba-san and started running. I passed by Ageha-ojousama, who still didn’t understand what was going on.

「Huh?」

I turned to Ageha-ojousama, who had let out a quick confused sound, and said a few words to her.

「Ojousama, there is an explanation in the hallway I came from.」

And at almost the same time that I passed through the door, that door which had just risen, quickly fell again, blocking the passage once again.

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

「Wh..wh..what!? What’s going on!?」

Left behind and confused, Ageha wanders around in confusion in front of the closed door.

「How is this possible?」

As Juugo said, Ikusaba had returned from the passageway where Juugo had come from, and he hands Ageha a plate. Ageha peered at it cautiously and her eyes went wide with shock.

「’Only two people can enter the treasure chamber ahead…’ Why is something like this only in the passageway Yama came from?」

「No, that’s not it.」

Ikusaba, who had been looking at the wall around the blocked passage, pointed.

「This plate was probably stuck here. Then Yama-kun removed it.」

It was a rectangular recess on the right side of the blocked passage. It was the same size as the plate Ikusaba had.

「That’s impossible! Yama only just got here! And when we first got here there was no plate like that…「

「Were you guys really the first to arrive?」

That’s when Ageha realized.

「I can’t believe it. I guess Yama was the first one to get here, then removed this plate and hid, and then we arrived.」

「No doubt, that’s what happened.」

Ikusaba clicked his tongue and grabbed his hair in frustration.

He arrived at this place early and monopolized this information, efficiently collected the key fragments that everyone had, and most importantly (although I don’t know how he did it) he recruited Tensai-kun, who was teaming up with Ageha Kachou. It all went according to Yama-kun’s plan, I guess.

「You’ve done it, Yama-kun.」

Ageha was trembling in anger. Ikusaba asks her, 「So, what do you want to do? Do you want to keep fighting me?」

Hearing this, Ageha gasped, quickly picked up the <<air impact hammer>> that Tensai had thrown to the side, and got some distance from Ikusaba.

「You really want to fight me that badly?」

「No. To be honest, fighting you here right now would be a bit inefficient. The one who would benefit from you being exhausted is definitely Yama-kun, who is already in the most advantageous position right now.」

He then looks down again at the plate in his hand.

‘Only two people can enter the treasure room beyond this point. Also, two people are needed to open the treasure chest beyond this point. Unless the treasure is released, this door will never open again.’

This means that once the treasure chest is opened, this door will open again. The condition for winning in this third stage is not to obtain the <<sword of Nanana>>, but to show it to M. Therefore, the <<game>> is not over yet. Despite understanding that, there were some things that Ikusaba just couldn’t understand.

Up until now, I was definitely the one who was the biggest hindrance to Yama-kun. Even though he was in a position where he had an advantage of fighting me three to one, why did he go ahead and turn on Ageha Kachou, his own ally. Was there any reason to rush?

「Oh, you’re late.」

He glances at Ageha. Tsukjimi Tetsunoshin had shown up. Tetsunoshin came through the door and glared at the two of us with murder in his eyes.

According to what Yama-kun said earlier, they had a fight before coming here…

Seeing Tetsunoshin show up, Ikusaba had a thought; So then, did he end our match quickly because he thought Tetsunoshin would soon catch up? From what I saw, the atmosphere was clearly different from the second stage. Also, I’m curious about what Yama-kun said when he called for caution.

After observing Tetsunoshin’s behavior and pondering, Ikusaba throws the plate he is holding at Tetsunoshin’s feet.

「Right now, Yama-kun and Tensai-kun are heading ahead. The rest of us are stuck here.」

Tetsunoshin looked down at the plate then looked back up. Ikusaba asks him, 「We plan to wiat for this door to open again and then take the <<sword of Nanana>>. What will you do? Will you wait for him, or will you kill us here first?」

While asking the question he tried to stay focused so he could act quickly.

Having been asked the question, Tetsunoshin looked back and forth between the two of them and answered…

「…I’ll wait.」

With that said, Tetsunoshin distanced himself from the two of them and leaned against a distant wall.

「Good play.」

Ageha, who was nearby, chuckled.

First, this situation was presented, and then the player was presented with two options: wait, or fight.