3 bar menu

Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 8 Chapter 3.9

There was a knock on the door.

I heard a voice from inside say ‘Come in’, so I opened the door.

「I thought maybe someone had returned from the <<ruins>>, but it’s just you.」

In one of the waiting rooms at the back of the second floor of the main hall, M stood by the window and glared at the person who had entered the room. A young man with a refreshing smile, Isshin Yuiga.

「Nice to meet you.」

「That’s a strange thing to say. I’ve been with you all evening.」

「Yes, I’ve been with Saki Yoshino, the organizer, for a long time. But this is the first time I’ve spoken to you.」

The girl in front of him is Saki Yoshino, yet she is not Saki Yoshino. Just like the others, Isshin sensed it too. In order to talk to this person, Isshin had come to this place alone.

「Well, that’s fine. So what do you want from me?」

The reason Isshin Yuiga participated in the <<game>> tonight was to win and obtain the power Nanana collection.

And one more thing……

「How can I become a leprechaun?」

Up until then, M hadn’t seemed particularly interested, but for the first time, her expression changed.

「That’s an interesting thing to ask.」

「I’ve always wanted to be a leprechaun. I’d love to be one if it’s possible.」

To come into contact with a leprechaun, and hopefully become one.

The leprechauns are involved in all of the events surrounding the Nanana collection on Nanaejima. Just as they continue to create <<ruins>> all over the island, they are also the organizers of tonight’s <<game>>. The ones who are in charge of everything are the leprechauns. They are the masterminds, the initiators, so to speak. If you can get involved with them, you will have a big advantage over the other challengers.

Tonight when Isshin asked about Saki Yoshino’s true identity… no even before that, he had been thinking about this.

After a moment of silence, M asked, 「What will you do if you become one?」

「I expect something in return.」

Straight to the point, Isshin answered honestly and pointed at M.

「The cloak you’re wearing now is a very powerful Nanana collection. I thought that if I become a member of the leprechauns, I might be able to get my hands on something like that.」

「That’s quite an honest answer from you.」

「I have no intention of making false statements or using any unnecessary tricks. I clearly stated what I would like in return and if I could receive that, we would definitely be able to build a good relationship.」

「If you become a leprechaun, that will come true.」

Isshin nodded.

「I believe there are a considerable number of people who make up the leprechauns. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to continue secretly building the <<ruins>>. And I believe they are all working together because they all receive some kind of benefit.」

「Benefit?」

「Yes. Say, coming back to life after supposedly being dead.」

He stares intently at the body of M, or rather Saki Yoshino, in front of him.

「There seems to be a slight misunderstanding.」

「Huh?」

「You can’t bring the dead back to life, and leprechauns aren’t the kind of people you think they are, if you think they are looking for something in return.」

Isshin is confused by M‘s denial. What does that mean?

So he asks, 「So how do I become one?」

M silently opens the glass door in front of us.

「Please throw yourself off the balcony there.」

Isshin was taken aback by what M said as he was feeling the breeze blowing in through the window on the upper floors of the castle.

「…what?」

「That’s how you can become a leprechaun right now.」

「There’s no way that’s true.」

「It is. That’s how you become a leprechaun.」

「You want me to become a fanatic who doesn’t even care about my own life?」

「That is just the down payment that you must offer up front.」

Is giving up your life a payment?

Isshin thinks about it again.

I thought Yoshino had lost her life at one point in the <<ruins>>, but she didn’t just die and come  back to life. So says M who is standing right in front of me. If that’s true, does that mean she was rescued just before she died? However, there was no mention of Yoshino being injured when she was found by the Three Skulls. There was very little time between Yoshino-san’s near death in the <<ruins>> of South Red Mall and her being found unconscious on the grounds of Tsukuyomi Town. During that time, she had moved from South Red Mall to Tsukuyomi Town, and the wounds that had nearly killed her had completely disappeared. There were no traces of them even on her clothes.

This is truly an impossible phenomenon, a discrepancy in events called a <<point of contradiction>>. So is creating this <<point of contradiction>>?  ‘That is just down payment that you must offer up front.’

I don’t know what kind of power they are using, but it is a being that can cause events that humans could never achieve. The conversation just now, the events up until now, and now the impossible phenomenon of controlling someone else’s body…

Then Isshin understands.

It was the person in front of me. The person controlling Yoshino-san’s body. They are the one who controls the leprechauns, the leader of the leprechauns. And he realizes his mistake. What if the leprechauns are not an organization made up of people who seek their own profit? What if all the people who belong to the leprechauns are people who have received some kind of benefit from him, not a reward? Those who received a miracle that amounted to saving their lives.

So that they will never betray them… no, they can’t betray them.

In other words, it is impossible for me to infiltrate the leprechauns with ulterior motives in my heart. If I do, I will definitely die.

「You were the one who couldn’t win this <<game>>. Not many being have come this close to the leprechauns. But let’s leave it at that. If you want the Nanana collection, there’s no need to contact the leprechauns. Just find the <<ruins>> and obtain it with your own abilities.」

「…..」

「This is a warning. If you approach the leprechauns any further, you will be removed from the contract.」

That one sword caused Isshin’s thought to race.

Removed from the contract? Contract? What’s that?

So does that mean I am currently covered by that contract?

I am? Just me? No, I should think that it’s not just me. So who else is in it besides me? Who and who else… no, to what extent does the contract cover? What kind of contract has been made with us?

He felt like he was on the verge of figuring something out. So Isshin racked his brain frantically.

Think. Think. Think. Any idea is fine, it doesn’t matter how absurd, it doesn’t matter if it’s contradictory, just think. List everything that comes to mind.

Yoshino-san received a blessing from her just before she died. That’s why she survived and is still alive as a leprechaun. In other words, the price of avoiding death is becoming a leprechaun. A price paid in exchange for a benefit. That is the contract.

So what about the contract they mentioned earlier that we are all subject to? ‘You will be removed from the contract’, they said. A great blessing that can even overturn death… no, protect from it. That’s why they told me to jump out of a window earlier, because that would be the down payment on their reward. As a result, I wouldn’t die, but I would become a leprechaun.

And so Isshin arrived at a certain possibility. So does that mean that I… no all of us players can’t die? We won’t lose our lives in the <<ruins>>?

Then I realize; taking on the life or death adventures of the <<ruins>> isn’t actually risking one’s life.

I know people close to me who have been seriously injured,  I’ve seen the carnage right before my eyes. But she’s still alive. But I’ve never heard of anyone dying. …No, I’m sure no one has. Well, maybe I just don’t know if it’s happened…

In any case, are we protected by some unknown power?  If so, who made such a deal with them? Who was it that first made a pact with this being who wields powers almost like that of a god?

Only one name comes to mind. Ryuugajou Nanana.

I felt like the calculations I had made inside me up until then had shifted. I made a discovery in my speculation that overturned the whole thing. But it was still not enough. It was nowhere near enough to know the truth. It felt like I was so close, but I just couldn’t see it. It was so frustrating.

Isshin bites his lip.

If only I had the deductive reasoning skills of Tensai-kun, if only I had the cunning of Yama-kun…