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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 9 Prologue Part 1

Prologue

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「Let me ask again, what is the situation?」, the girl asks with her eyes closed.

「I can’t feel Nanana’s presence from outside. You’re really in Room 202 of the Happiness Dorm, right?

「Yeah.」

「That is strange then.」

The earthbound ghost opens her eyes and stares out the window from inside the room she has been stuck in for the past 9 years.

Under the dusk of a midsummer sun setting, a white fox sits on the roof of the building opposite. It’s large, fluffy tail is actually not just one, but seven tails tied together.

Ryuugajyou nanana, a girl who is a spirit bound to Room 202 of the Happiness Dorm, holds in her hand the power of the Nanana Collection, the <<sword of Nanana>>, and the white fox speaks to her telepathically. Its name is Ketekete. Of course, this strange nickname is not her real name, but a name that Nanana gave her.

Nanana closes her eyes again and says, 「I can see you from here though, Ketekete.」

「I can’t see anything from here after all. Has anyone spoken to you directly after you died?」

「Yeah, there are people who have come to this room and spoken to me.」

「So it’s some kind of barrier that blocks the inside from the outside. I had no idea such a barrier had been set up.」

「How did Ketekete know about me while we weren’t together?」

「Of course I know that you died 10 years ago, Nanana. I also heard a rumor that you were resurrected about a year later as an earthbound spirit. But like I said before, I couldn’t confirm it myself, so I thought it was just a rumor or something. That was until Nanana called to me the other day.」

「I see. Do you meet the others?」

「We pass each other every now and then. It still feels like we are close, but in reality everyone just lives on this island, doing whatever they want.」

「Everyone stayed on this island after I died.」

「There was nowhere else to go. And you told me about it a long time ago, Nanana.」

「About what?」

「’If you like me, you should like the kids on the island too. And if you become friends with them, lend them your strength.’ In the end, no one left the island even after you died, so they really are a bunch of boring people.」

「You too, Ketekete, right?」, Nanana muttered happily.

Ketekete turned away, saying, 「I don’t know what you’re talking about.」

「How about you? How’s it going? The <<sword of Nanana>> has returned to you. You’ve spoken to the others, right?」

「That’s right, but for some reason I can’t get in touch with everyone.」

Hearing the names Nanana mentioned, Ketekete agreed, 「I see.」

「Apparently you can only contact those in relatively close proximity. And maybe those who have found new masters too.」

「Oh, so some children have found new masters?」

「For example, White Emperor’s father has contracted with Sansa.」

「What?! Shirotora, you made Sansa of all people your master?」

「Also, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it seems that Kazan was eaten by a human.」

「…Eaten? That’s a lie! I mean, Shinjuu was a divine beast!」

「But it was a turtle.」

「That’s scary! I don’t know who it was, but that person is scary!」

「It seems Renha is building a harem in the chicken coop at the zoo.」

「Oh come on, Boubo is a phoenix! What is he thinking?」

「The last time we met, he said something like, ‘I’ll have women (birds) from all over the world serve me.’」

「I don’t know if that’s on a big or small scale!」

As I quip and tremble in fear, a sense of joy wells up inside me.

「Hey, Ketekete. Do you know anything about the whereabouts of the Nanana collection?」

「I have no idea about that. Nanana died, and when I woke up, none of them were there. What on earth was that about?」

「Oh, actually, I asked Negakana for help.」

「Speaking of negative kana, you’re talking about the guardian of the <<heaven and earth, yin and yang, feng shui board>>, right? I’m pretty sure they’re a quirky little brat.」

「That’s true, but now she’s grown up and become a grown woman. And she has a pretty nice body.」

When I think of her hooded head, I imagine a middle-aged woman wearing white lace.

「What are you talking about? Are you sure that’s really Negakana?」

「That’s definitely her. Only Negakana talks like that.」

「Hmmm.」

「So, Ketekete, I have something to discuss with you.」

「What, seriously?」

「I want to go out somehow, is there anything we can do about this?」

「And then?」

「? What do you mean and then?」

「What are you going to do when you go out?」

「Well, I’ll play with everyone, let’s go!」

Hearing Nanana’s plan, Ketekete goes quiet.

「? Ketekete?」

「Oh, isn’t that strange, Nanana?」

「What is?」

「Even if though you’re Nanana, the one who collected all the treasures in the world and subjugated all the spirits and divine beasts you liked, you’re still wishing for something so trivial. Surely you have other things to wish for, like coming back to life or something.」

「That’s impossible. There’s no treasure that can bring the dead back to life.」

「Still, there must be something, right?」

「…Yeah, there is. The one that turns the dead into zombies and brings them back to life. But I don’t have a body anymore. I’d rather be an earthbound spirit than a zombie anyway.」

「Don’t be so greedy. I could use the power of other spirits and divine beasts…」

「Hmm, well, to begin with, my current situation of being an earthbound spirit is quite unique, and I don’t really know why I’m like this.」

「Have you not looked into it?」

「I haven’t found out anything concrete from all my research I can do from here.」

「I see. All You’ve found out is that the reason you can’t take a single step outside the room where you were killed is because you’re a ghost bound to this room.」

「Also, I can eat pudding. I can touch people if I want to. I can play video games, watch funny comedy shows, and I’m now a charismatic figure in the online gaming community.」

「What’s with that impossible set of traits for being a ghost? And the second half is all just your hobbies. …Anyway, that’s enough.」

「Yeah.」

「Shouldn’t you be looking for the person who killed you?」

「….huh?」

「I just thought that something like that might happen. That’s how you got in touch with us. If you’re an earthbound spirit, it’s normal that you’ve got some regrets about this world and have come back to it as a ghost, right? If so, then it must be that you’re harboring resentment towards the perpetrator. If you’re our master, then surely you should give us orders and achieve your goal.」

When she pointed that out, Nanana thought.

She’d been locked in this room, and she’d been hating the person who’d locked her in this place, the person who’d killed her. She had no intention of forgiving them. But…

「…Well, I can talk about that a bit later.」

「What’s that?」

Then Nanana started thinking about the <<game>>. Getting out of the room and having fun, fighting with everyone, getting a tight hug from Sansa for the first time in a while… all of it was so fun.

And then she thought about going out and playing with Tensai and D’arc, who she always had fun with in this room. It would be even more fun than it is now. There would be fun things she couldn’t even imagine.

It is because she was able to remember that feeling of how fun it is outside. It is because she was only thinking about that…

So until Ketekete pointed it out to her like this, Nanana had completely forgotten about the bitterness and resentment she felt towards her murderer.

「And…」

「And?」

Because there’s a boy who promised to find my murderer.

「Nanana?」

「Oh, sorry sorry. It’s nothing. Anyway, we can’t get started until we get outside first.」

「That’s true. So what are we going to do?」

「I wish I could get my hands on something from the Nanana collection that would help.」

「But Negakana is in charge of the Nanana Collection, right? If so, why doesn’t he just bring it to you?」

「There are some circumstances that make that impossible. By the way, how much do you know about the <<ruins>>, Ketekete?」

「They are the places where the Nanana collection are hidden have started appearing all over the island. And the students who conquer them will be able to get their hands on the Nanana collection inside.」

「I was the one who entrusted that to Negakana.」

「I see, that’s it is.」

「So, if possible, I’d like you to make sure that my request isn’t revealed to Negakana.」

「Why?」

「There’s a few circumstances…」

「There sure are a lot of circumstances. Well, never mind, then should I just find something from the Nanana collection and bring it over?」