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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 1 Chapter 1.2

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“Translator: Goma/Editor: TheNix”

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Thanks for pointing out your son’s personality so accurately, Dad.

Then, after contemplating for a full 10 minutes, my dad reached a conclusion.

「I will disown you once you graduate high school. Until then, as a parent’s responsibility, I shall provide your education fees and the bare minimum living expenses. That being said, I don’t want to see your face ever again so I am going to expel you out of this house.」

Saying this, he wrote on a paper and shoved it to me.

「I will give you one more hour to get your belongings then leave. You are transferring schools too, you are going to go here instead.」

On the paper was written:

 

**Special Student Zone (Nanae Island), Nanae Island Third Private High School**

 

「Your sentence has been decided. Juugo Yajima. You are to be exiled」

My dad said this as if he was Kinshirō Tōyama [1. TL Note: A popular character based on the historical Tōyama Kagemoto, a samurai and official of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period of Japanese history]. Even his way of chasing his son out was weird.

One hour later, as unbelievable as it was, I was chased out. I was now in the house of the master artisan that helps our family business. The master artisan was a boorish middle-aged man that was focused on his craft. He spoke little as he preferred to communicate with his actions. However, he was actually kind and I’ve owed him a lot since I was young.

While eating the warm udon that the master artisan’s wife had made, I cried in front of them. It had been a long time since I had cried in front of them.

I was frustrated, really frustrated.

I was frustrated about many things like being dumbfounded by the sudden disownment, or how helpless I was in relying on my parents for help even though I had rebelled against them, or how I still simply accepted my dad’s punishment of exile to an island…

If their daughter was still in the master artisan’s house, I would not have cried though.

She was a pretty girl that was three years older than me and had started living alone when she started her university studies. If she wore glasses and a maid costume, she would have absolutely been my type. If she was there, I would have tried to pretend to look tough instead of crying.

It was only because it was the kind master artisan and his wife that was in front of me that I could show my true feelings.

I don’t remember crying this much since being pushed off the third-floor classroom window as revenge for flipping up the skirt of a female classmate during fourth grade.

In no uncertain terms I (Jūgo Yama) was suddenly told that I would be disowned in the future, and would be exiled to a lone island in the Pacific Ocean immediately.

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A man stood alone at the tip of a ship that cut through the wild waves, while dark clouds hovered above. The cold wind from the north, where the ship was headed, blew mercilessly on the man who was mentally drained from being chased out of his home. The ship was carrying the man to a desert island in the middle of the ocean.

…….OK, that was a lie. I was completely lying. Rather, it was the total opposite.

「I am free! 」

I raised my hands up high and shouted towards the ocean, like a certain rubber human who left his hometown on a boat to become the pirate king [2. TL Note: Reference to Luffy in 『One Piece』].

Three days after my dad had told me of his decision to exile me to an island, I was on the ferry that was headed towards Nanae Island.

The sky was refreshingly sunny, as if it was celebrating my independence. The ferry that headed to the south smoothly sailed through the calm waters. The wind that blew from the south was warm and soothing. And most importantly, my heart was indeed happy.

I had really cried on the night I had been told by my dad that he would exile me to an island. Nonetheless, after one night I was already alright. My frustration had flowed out of me alongside my tears, and my heart was clear. I was feeling refreshed. I see. When I am troubled, I should not endure it and cry honestly. I had thought that crying was not good since it looks bad. However, it seems like it was not the case. From now on when I am in a tough situation, I will do my best to cry then. Of course, in secret that is.

Well, a lot has happened. As a result, I had finally been released from that house. From now on, I shall live the way I want to.

「I am free! 」

Thus, I shouted one more time. I was really on cloud nine.

The ferry I was currently on was not heading to the Grand Line [3. TL Note: Main Sea route in 『One Piece』], but rather to the southern heaven, Nanae Island that was well-known as the Special Student Zone.

Living by myself on an island in the south. Surely, my youth would be defined by my time on this island. 

My past did not restrain me anymore. I was starting again from square one. That was why I was thinking of throwing away everything I had learned until now.

I shall forget my family. I shall also swallow my tears and forget the master artisan and his wife as well. I shall completely forget my friends who had alienated me just because I had written a letter to a girl.

Bye. Adios Amigos.

Thus, my heart was only focussed on my new destination. I looked at the pamphlet that described Nanae Island, my destination.

『Nanae Island is an artificial island that is in the Pacific Ocean』. Although the pamphlet said this in the first line, it further explains that Nanae Island could more correctly be described as an altered island.

According to the pamphlet’s explanation, apparently, the base of Nanae Island was a small uninhabited island in the middle of a reef area. They had built an artificial addition utilizing cutting-edge technology using rocks from the bottom of the ocean and soil from the base island to make the current Nanae Island. Currently, its size was almost equivalent to the Awaji Island in the Seto Inland Sea. Apparently the construction to increase the island’s area was still ongoing, and the island was becoming larger. As an aside, I had not been to Awaji Island, so I could not imagine how big this island was.

There was an announcement on the ship that the island could be seen so I looked in that direction.

「……It’s so gigantic」

After that, it took 30 minutes for the ship to actually reach the island. From close up, I could not tell whether it was an island or it was a peninsula of a continent. If I were to ever see Greenland in real life I wouldn’t be able to tell if it was bigger than this island. Well,  I did not really care whether or not this place was a continent or an island. In conclusion, I decided this island of 100,000 people was bigger than I had imagined.

I carried one duffel bag full of my stuff as I disembarked from the ship onto the pier.

I was finally standing on land again, although according to the pamphlet apparently this was not real land. The entire coast of Nanae Island was made by a floating tile using the best modern technology. In other words, it was the just sea underneath this ground. However, the ground was so firm I could not tell that it was floating on the sea……..besides, isn’t the things written on this pamphlet a lie anyway? The ground resembled normal ground so much that I could not help but think it was real.

I was expecting Hula girls that I had seen in a show about Hawaii on television to welcome me. Instead, a bunch of middle-aged men that looked like security guards who had been standing under the arch said, 「Welcome to Nanae Island」.

After the welcome, I was ushered over to the neighboring building and was told to stand in a queue.

It was really the same as the immigration checkpoints at foreign airports that I had seen on television.

Our luggage was checked by a machine that looked like a metal detector, and I received quite an intensive body check. Then, to top it all off, questioning by an immigration officer. When I gave my Nanae Island identity card to the immigration officer he gazed at my whole body as if judging me, and opened his mouth.

「What is your reason for coming to this island? 」

I had intended to say something funny to make him laugh. However, just next to the immigration officer was a well-built security guard that was playing with his police baton. He resembled Edi E. who is the boss of the third stage of the game Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES): Final Fight that was in my father’s retro game collection. Hence, I answered honestly.

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