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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Voulume 5 Chapter 2.4

「That’s right. When mail is collected by the post office it is always postmarked by that office. Nanaejima is no exception. Nanaejima is divided into five zones: Chuo Ward, Kita Ward, Higashi Ward, Minami Ward, and Nishi Ward. As for post offices, there is one in each ward. So I was able to narrow down the area naturally. 」

「In other words the postmark on the letter was from the Kita Ward post office? 」

「That’ right. I believe that Saki Yoshino posted the letter to a postbox in Kita Ward, so she is hiding somewhere in Kita Ward. 」

Nanana-chan clapped for Tensai, who showed off her splendid reasoning.

「That’s amazing Tensai-chan! You’re like a detective! 」

「Nanana-dono, don’t it wrong. I’m not like a detective, I AM a great detective. 」

「I see. Sorry about that Great Detective-chan. 」

Uh, what is this exchange? Well it’s sweet enough to make me smile just watching it.

I see, that makes sense. But…

「That postmark, I think the credibility is pretty thin. 」 With this statement Tensai looks towards me.

「Hmm, why do you think so? 」

「Those who are capable of such large-scale falsification wouldn’t make such a mistake. Instead I think it would be reasonable to think that they are hiding outside of the Kita Ward. 」

「I see. So you think they sent the letter from a different area than where they were hiding? But if that’s the case, then isn’t it also possible that Saki Yoshino’s letter itself is a fake? 」

「Nah, I don’t think so. 」

「On what basis? 」

「You’ve been saying for awhile now, things have been tampered with on such a large scale. There’s no point in sending fake letters in the first place. 」

The one who objected to me was D’arc. 「But Juugo-kun. Thanks to this letter Suruga-san and Tsujikoku-kun were able to relax. So wasn’t this letter necessary to help cover up Yoshino-san? 」

I shook my head.

「That’s not true. Even if there was no letter from Shun-chan, it would eventually become clear that she was taking a leave of absence. That would have lead to the cover-up to make it look like she left the island. 」

「Hmmm, it’s certainly as Juugo says. Since it is Saki Yoshino that went missing just the other day, everyone’s thoughts were going towards foul play. If this was a normal student, they would start by checking where they live first. If you do that you’ll start to assume the leave of absence because of the cover-up. 」

「That’s how it is. In other words the presence or absence of the letter did nothing to help with the cover-up. Then why does it exist? Because Yun-chan wanted to write it. In other words Yun-chan is the one who wrote the letter. However the person who mailed it is from the organization that is hiding Yun-chan. 」

「I see, that makes sense. 」

「Actually, I’ve been wondering about something for some time too. Thanks to Tensai’s reasoning, I’ve been able to get my thoughts together. 」

「Is there something you were worried about? What is it? 」

「The contents of the letter. 」

「Is this what you mean? 」

I nod at Tensai who was holding up the cute piece of paper.

「Tensai, lend me that letter. …here. This sentence here. 」

I take a specific page from the letter I took from Tensai and point to it.

「Here ‘There is something I have to do’ is that the part? 」

「At first I thought it was because she was taking care of her parents, which was the reason for the leave of absence notice, but I thought it was strange. But we found out with Tensai’s deduction that that was a cover-up lie. So this means something else. 」

「Juugo-sensai, I have a question. 」

「What is it Nanana-chan? I notice that your pudding cup is empty. 」

「Isn’t it possible that the letter was written by the organization that is hiding Yun-chan? Just for consistency? 」

「Yes, that’s a really good question. Let’s give Nanana-chan a second helping of pudding. 」

「Yaaaay! ♪」

「Well as for the answer to Nanana-chan’s question. Teacher thinks that’s not true. 」

3 people frown.

「What’s do you mean Juugo? 」

「I’ll tell you my conclusion first; Yun-chan is being hidden by the organization, however she doesn’t know how she is being hidden. By that I mean the organization that is hiding Yun-chan has not been able to communicate properly, I think. 」

「? What do you mean? Explain Juugo. Why do you think that? 」

「Take Tetsu-kun as a point. 」

「What about Tetsunoshin? 」

「What do you think would be your biggest obstacle if you were secretly hiding Shun-chan here on Nanaejima? 」

「? You mean the police? 」

「Why? 」

「Saki Yoshino stabbed Yiuga-dono. If that came to light Saki Yoshino would be pursued. 」

「I see, that’s certainly true. But I know even more troublesome people. 」

「Who are you talking about? 」

「Tetsu-kun and the others. 」

「Tetsunoshin and the others? …that’s right, the Three Skulls! 」

「That’s right. Right now the police aren’t doing anything because Yuiga is protecting Yun-chan for some reason. However, in the midst of all this the ones who are frantically searching for Yun-chan are the Three Skulls who have a connection with Yun-chan. Especially Tetsu-kun. 」

「Certainly they are the most troublesome people to hide Yun-chan from on the island. 」

「Tensai, the Three Skull’s sphere of influence doesn’t stay in Tsukuyomi-gai does it? 」

「Hmph, you know the answer don’t you? The Threee Skulls never leave Tsukuyomi-gai, however their influence reaches everywhere on the island. 」

「They say that they will order whatever the client wants from outside the island, so naturally there must be many customers. If so, the Threee Skulls have a fairly wide range and reach of connections. Considering that, to the mysterious organization that’s hiding Yun-chan the Three Skulls’ strong influence on Nanaejima’s underground makes them the most troublesome opponent. It was a clear misstep to make them an enemy. So how did that happen? 」

「So that’s it. This is because Saki Yoshino disappeared without contact. If the organization that is hiding Saki Yoshino was communicating with her properly then Tetsunoshin could have made even one phone call and everything would be settled. That would have made the Three Skulls their enemies. 」

「There was also a strange contradiction in the organization’s cover-up. 」

「It’s the date they submitted the leave of absence notice. That is strange. 」

「If I knew exactly what Shun-chan had done I would have also set the date and time like that. Because…」

「Saki Yoshio was in the middle of being thoroughly guarded by Tetsunoshin, who was wary of the stalking of Ikusaba Hiiyo while we were looking for the Ruins in South Red Mall. It would be too obvious to submit a leave of absence notice during that period with a reason of nursing a parent’s illness. 」

「In other words, the mysterious organization couldn’t see Yun-chan’s situation at all. 」

D’arc raises his hand.

「But Juugo-kun, isn’t is possible that Yoshino-san asked the mysterious organization to hide her? 」

「If it was Yun-chan’s plan then it’s strange that she didn’t contact Tetsu-kun. 」

「Oh, I see」, agrees D’arc.

「Juugo, let’s get back on topic. I understand the delicate relationship between Saki Yoshino and the organization that is hiding her. Besides that though what do you think about the ‘There is something I have to do’ part of the letter? 」

Tensai returns to the main topic, and the eyes of the other two are directed at me. To those three I give a fully satisfactory answer.

「I don’t know. 」

The three people all fall over. Yeah that was a good reaction.

「Are you kidding me Juugo? 」

「I’m not kidding, I really have no idea. But I think it’s ok. 」

「Then you can’t catch Saki Yoshino, can you? 」

「Is that your opinion Tensai? I’m not thinking of catching Yun-chan. I just want to meet Yun-chan and hear what she has to say. 」

「Isn’t that the same thing? 」

「Not really. Anyways, back to the topic. The important thing for me is that Yun-chan will definitely be making a move in the future. 」

Tensai frowns. In contrast, Nanana-chan who is eating pudding smiles.

「Hmmm, Juugo has some interesting thoughts. 」

「Does Nanana-dono understand Juugo’s thoughts? 」

「Yeah. In other words Juugo, you plan on going fishing. 」

At this point Tensai seems to understand and snorted somewhat frustratedly, 「Huh, so that’s what it is. 」 Nanana-chan is rather amazing to be able to figure that out before Tensai.

「Ah… um. I don’t understand at all. 」

She can’t keep up with everyone else so I decide to explain it to D’arc who is a little teary eyed.

「In other words. Right now Yun-chan is hiding somewhere on the island, but I can’t find her. But it seems there is something she needs to do. And Yun-chan is definitely going to do it. She wrote in her letter ‘Of course I plan to come back when I’m done with my errands.’ 」

「I see. We watch for the place where she comes out of hiding to do the thing she wrote about. That would be your chance to get in touch with Yoshino-san. That’s why Nanana said ‘fishing’. 」