Chapter 2- There are so many couples

I got kicked out by my father and made my way to this island.

Starting a new life as a hikikomori turned out to be troublesome, because I have to live in a room possessed by a spirit.

What will happen now?

That narration sounded relaxed, but in reality, it is not that easy.

While I am on this island, there is one thing I must find out.

Which is: "From here, what will I do?"

Until now, the future was an easy and possibly not rough path towards inheriting the family business. And this path is changing to head towards different destination.

But I have already left that path already and currently my future doesn"t have a single path.

My future is only a neglected overgrown field of gra.s.s, but I am at least able to say that whole thing is the path. This path is able to go any direction even if it"s narrow. Yet it will be destroyed before my eyes.

Which way should I go next? Should I make a mark and continue on?

There is no one to tell me what path I am walking on.

Presently with my newfound independence, it looks like that I will only be hesitating in life. However, there is one thing I must do before anything else.

"Care for my broken arm so it can heal as soon as possible"

After that, I can slowly think about finding what I really want to do without anyone controlling me, since I believe that is freedom"s greatest happiness.

"Now introduce yourselves, new students."

"My name is Juugo Yama. I"ll be in your care." I bowed to the audience when called out by the teacher standing in the front of the short stage.

The whole room applauded to welcome the new student with the bandaged arm and dangling necklace.

On Monday it took me about 20 minutes to get to Nanae Private Third High School, which I just started attending, from the Shiawase dorms.

On Nanae Island there are are 7 high schools in total. It appears they are numbered by the order they were built. That is to say, the third high school was the third one built on this island. But if you think about it, it was only finished being built 5 years ago so it"s still new.

This school is the product of an organization that has a different way of thinking than normal. That"s why the school is built in an artistic way. But when you look at it, it"s strange to the eye and has a fascinating allure.

I greeted and introduced myself to the teacher in the teacher"s lounge and went over to my cla.s.sroom to introduce myself during homeroom. Morning pa.s.sed. During break, I hung out with cla.s.smates that I befriended quickly and the other periods of cla.s.s pa.s.sed by quickly.

"H-h.e.l.lo Yama-kun."

After home room finished, a reserved looking girl with gla.s.ses came near my seat.

"Uh"

This girl bowed to me, who is caught off guard since I was called out without warning.

"My name is Yumeji Yurika. I"m the cla.s.s president."

The cla.s.s president who wears gla.s.ses looks like a diligent, smart student. I believe it"s true; it"s like an established unspoken rule.

"Nice to meet you."

"I actually am speaking to you because the teacher asked me to show Yama-kun around the school. Are you free after this?"

The option to refuse the gla.s.ses girl was not there in me at all. So I answered with a smile.

"I"m free. I"ll be in your care."

I was excited because this was a spontaneous activity, so I followed Yumiji-san out on the hallway.

"I"ve been curious since this morning, so to speak, what happened to your arm?”

Yumeji-san"s eyes were looking at my arm with a slight excited light.

"Oh, I dislocated it due to a careless accident."

"Uh, or is it a fight or something?"

"No, it"s not like that. It"s just a normal exchange resulting from wanting to discover something."

"Huh?" Yumeji-san tilted her head when she heard my answer.

I wasn"t able to give her a straight answer, which is that my arm was sacrificed to grope some b.r.e.a.s.t.s, so I was only able to say that much.

"It"s not difficult, is it?"

"I"m pretty used to getting injured, even if this is my first dislocated shoulder."

Yumeji-san showed me various buildings at school along with her continuous meaningless chatter.

There wasn"t anything special, just a regular tour of the school. But the fact that I was walking alone together with a girl made me feel naturally excited.

Man, it"s nice. A time like this is probably a High Schooler"s happiness.

"Over there the ground isn"t level, so be careful."

Every really kind word and action of Yumeji-san"s made me happy. I instantly became part of her fanclub.

"Thank you very much. You helped me a lot."

Even though I gave her my sincere thanks in the hallway, Yumeji-san acted like she was embarra.s.sed.

"Please don"t misunderstand…"

My eyes widened after hearing that remark.

Or is it… Isn"t this what they call a Tsundere?! What she"s going to say next is absolutely going to pierce my heart.

"…My kindness to Yama-kun was only for the behavior points."

Um… Why does it sound like the reason is actually true, even to the point where I can’t even get excited at all?

There are a total of three buildings in the third high school. The buildings are school building, special building, meeting room. The height and length of each of the buildings are different. It looks like there is a center point, which makes a right-angled triangle shape. If you look at it from a bird"s-eye view, you"ll see that it splits into three directions like a cosmos. There is also a section in the middle where all the buildings meet.

I stopped walking abruptly. It wasn"t because someone was in front of me, but because the garden itself was so beautiful. There were orange floor tiles placed among lush green plants and a fountain which had a unique design. Just from looking at it you don"t feel anything at all. But because this had the white school logo, it made the fountain look distinct.

During the time when there’s no limited rule, and each thing combines together, it has changed into the perspective that can attract people"s minds.

People who are able to calculate and perform it are called true geniuses.

"These buildings are really interesting, right?"

Yumeji-san stood next to me while I was muttering and looking at the scenery.

"Your eyesight is really sharp to see this place. I myself like to see the view from here before."

I was happy to know there was someone who thought the same as me.

"Yama-kun, can you tell me what is one thing you like about this inst.i.tution?"

I shook my head at the question that sounded like an introduction. Yumeji-san pointed to a direction.

"This third high school has a total of 3 buildings.There are a total of 3 walkways. The walkways are from the 1st to 3rd floor and has 3 lanes. The view from the walkways intersecting on floor 1 that you can see from here is really beautiful. And there"s also another building where you can see another beautiful view like this in another 2 places."

After she finished explaining the meaning I understood.

"You can see from the other two intersections. But if you look from there you will see the buildings behind the fountain in a different perspective."

"That"s right." Yumeji-san laughed.

"The image of the fountain, if you view from the front you won"t see much differences. whether or not the view from behind the buildings are wonderful."

"It"s like i thought. The person who built this is the coolest."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Uh…It"s Mutsumi Koma."

Mutsumi Koma, a person who was designated a genius child architect. She designed many buildings starting from her teenage years. Currently she"s not even thirty years old but she has partic.i.p.ated in the creation of various design plans and has an abundant amount of blueprints left in the architecture club which all is from her brain.

"Mutsumi Koma"s products are world famous. Her beginnings stem from Nanae Island here?"

"I don"t know that too. Is it like that?"

"Yes. It seems like those who built Nanae Island this island 12 years ago are a group of 7 genius students. They were called the GREAT 7 and Mutsumi Koma herself was one of them."

"Heh?" I tilted my head in thought at that greatly.

"Yama-kun, do you like architecture?"

"It"s not like that. I do like all of Mutsumi Koma"s designs though."

"Why"s that?"

"Because I don’t know why I feel it but It"s like the buildings have life in it."

Before I came to this island, I myself used to go visit Mitsumi Koma"s architectural designs many times. No matter where it was, I felt as if they had a different spirit as if it were human. Each building had symbol unique to it. They are not too strange, even with the distinct characteristic and it"s to the point where it is bizarre. I viewed many of her buildings before and they all are able to convey a great meaning.

The themes for Mutsumi Koma"s works are the accordances called "harmony."

By chance when I looked next to me, I saw that Yumeji-san was taking some notes.

"What note"s are those?" When I tried to peer over and look in the book, Yumeji-san immediately stuffed it into her bag.

"I"m sorry. It"s just that I write down quotes I find brilliant into this notebook. …it"s not bothering you is it?"

"It"s fine, it"s not bothersome or anything. I was just wondering, why do you write them down?" When I asked in that way, Yumeji-san lowered her face and replied in a soft voice, as if she was embarra.s.sed.

"That"s because… I want to be a writer."

"Wow, that"s amazing! Awesome!"

I didn"t realize I was speaking so loudly. I think people who have goals and try their their best to reach it are really amazing.

When I spoke like that, Yumeji-san was surprised.

"…You"re not laughing?"

"Uh, why would I be laughing?"

I had no idea why she was speaking like that.

"Oh, because it looks like Yama-kun is a person who would do that…"

"Uh, I look like I have that bad of personality?"

"N-No, it"s just on the outside, Yama-kun is… Okay. You"re like a delinquent character…"

"Huh? I"m sorry but I can"t really hear you. Can you say it again?"

When I bowed down closer and tilted my ear towards her, Yumeji-san"s face instantly turned red.

"U-Uh… I thought you weren"t a good person!"

Once she said that, Yumeji-san ran away.

I was left alone there in a sort of shocked state.

"…when other people see me, do I really look that bad?"

I thought about it and decided when I get home that night I would practice smiling cheerfully in front on the mirror.

I thought that while looking in the direction where Yumeji-san ran off to and had an abrupt thought.

"Myself in the future, huh?"

Once I finish school, what will I, who refuses to continue the family business, do?

"No way, that"s not it. So I can do something I have to do something."

This was another one of my family sayings.

"Don"t mix your goal with your path. The two are vastly different, therefore you must build your bath towards your goal."

I thought about what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do.

I thought about what my father said while I smiled.

"This is kind of on the difficult side, huh."

Because the sayings of my ancestors floated into my head unknowingly, it caused me to think that I am probably not able to escape the curse from my family.

Finally the incomplete tour of the school grounds came to an end.

Since I couldn"t do anything about it, I walked home. Yet every step felt heavy since once I get home I will see the ghost that"s possessing my room.

"…Maaaaan I don"t wanna go home."

I dislocated my left shoulder on the first day I arrived on the island on Sat.u.r.day. Maboro Shiki-san, the owner of the place I rent, smacked my head and complained I was "annoying", and looked at my swinging dislocated left shoulder.

"What did you do?" She grabbed my left arm and shoulder. There was a "guk" and she shoved my shoulder back into place.

"I"m strong when it"s about the human body."

Due to the Shiki-san"s kindness, she helped perform simple first aid and introduced a clinical doctor that is closeby. The result of the appointment was that it would take a month to heal, and was just a minor injury. "You"re great at pulling out your shoulder." were the Nanana-chan"s teasing words.

rFinally the judgement in room 202 was completed. I therefore became a person with a lower status than Nanana-sama.

Regardless it is just an ordinary problem. I haven"t been asked to do anything as a gopher, sometime it"s simply a command to "please buy me some pudding."

But the problem is a different outside one.

Today is Monday, meaning that I have been with Nanana-chan that I caught for the second night.

What I concluded was…

Nanana-chan is different from humans.

Even the first time I thought she was able to also watch TV together, have normal conversations. But during that time I was able to see the differences clearly. First, when I"m hungry normally, I just eat some instant noodles but Nanana-chan doesn"t eat food. Even sometimes she wants to eat pudding, but it looks like she doesn"t necessary need it. I go to the bathroom, normally shower (even though I say that, but my left shoulder can"t be used so I just use a wet towel to wipe myself). However for Nanana-chan, the ability to move for issues like these doesn"t seem necessary. She doesn"t leave this room for even one step.

And the most outstanding difference is…

When I"m sleepy, I go to sleep. Nanana-chan doesn"t sleep, not even a nap.

"Say, I have to go to a meeting after this. Gotta walk 3 hours."

Nanana-chan dragged the computer mouse and hit the keyboard. Her eyes continued to stare at the computer.

A ghost that doesn"t act like a typical ghost, but acts like a girl who trolls on the internet. She is really the first to not understand humans or those who have lived on Earth past the age of 16 like me.

Aside from looking like a cute little girl, in reality she"s not human since she needs to live in the room where I don"t know if it"s natural for her. It makes her easily irritated.

I must continue to live my life in this room with a girl like this. Whatever Nanana-chan says is never wrong.

The act of a person and a spirit using a life together is a difficult subject.

I try to use my time by being outside as much as possible before I have to go home and prepare to go sleep as quickly as I can.

"Eating cup ramen again? You ate that this morning too."

I don"t know why Nanana-chan when she is in a bad mood since last night today also looks like she is still in a bad mood.

"Well, I don"t know how to cook."

"But if you don"t start and just keep eating like this, it"s going to have a negative effect on your health you know."

Even if it will result in that, but my arm is injured like this I"m not able to even try to challenge making some food. Not only that, I don"t have money so I"m not able to change my raw materials. The thought of working specially but I injured myself like this so I"m not able to do anything.

I thought that way but I couldn"t say anything. I ended replying "I"ll be careful then." which was a reply that seemed the most satisfactory while I sniffed the ramen noodles.

When I said that, Nanana-chan hugged her pillow in an upset manner. She turned away to quietly watch TV.

It"s such a tense environment.

In a room like that, I sniffed the ramen quietly.

Of course I want to eat delicious food too. Even though I can"t use one arm, I miss the way of life before I moved. I wondered about the things needed to trade in order to go to to heaven are truly expensive or not.

It"s for sure that humans must run to find some hardship (desire). While reviewing incorrect thoughts on that life, I quickly ate my food. Then I went and shut myself in the bathroom.

Even though I didn"t need to go, I just sat on top of the toilet cover and played with my mobile phone sending messages to people I know. I checked some of my SNS, watched the news on the net…

And I just complained in my head. Maaaan, why is n.o.body replying to my messages? Ehhhh are people still doing stuff now? The economy will probably be stagnant…

That thought made me happier and have a more open mind. The narrow s.p.a.ce like this made me in turn happier.

"Hey, how long are you going to stay in the bathroom, huh?"

I heard Nanana-chan"s irritated voice coming from the other side of the bathroom door, and was startled.

When I saw the time that was displayed on my phone I was shocked since it meant I was shut in the bathroom for about two hours now.

"I"ll be out in a moment."

Even though I replied back quickly like that, in reality I didn"t want to leave the bathroom at all. I felt like I would rather stay in the bathroom than to be in the room with Nanana-chan.

?

It shouldn"t be like that at all because truthfully the time I had with Yumeji-san after cla.s.s that one time was more on the fun side.

When I thought about what the difference could be, it is for sure that because Yumeji-san is a human girl like me. As for Nanana-chan, she"s a spirit.

It looks like a simple problem, but in truth it is a huge problem that I think about a lot.

It"s not just any spirit that can be seen clearly, can be talked to normally, be able to touch things, and eat pudding. At the beginning when I didn"t know Nanana-chan, there were people who spoke of her spirit. There was a clear difference here which made me even more stressed.

Last night was also the same. I didn"t feel good so I hid in this room and secretly cried a bit.

"…Living a life this way is difficult too, right?"

In the future, the a difficult wish that pushes you to get stuck  and use your own life because of you getting infatuated with a girl, the dreams of Yama Juugo himself looks like it will disappear already.

Click.

"Hmm?"

When I heard that at the time, there was a following "thunk" sound as if something fell.

When I swept my vision to look around suspiciously, I noticed a difference around the left side of the toilet.

"Am I sleeping?"

A wooden board that was about the same size as the small window was moved open. There was a thread sticking out from inside. When pulled, it appeared to be tied to the toilet.

When I checked deeper inside carefully, it looked like it was attached at the same time as the toilet was. It seemed as if the weight was over the limit, it was built to open up.

"Who the h.e.l.l prepared this elaborate thing?"

Even though I was perplexed, I removed the top and bent over to look inside. Inside was a single school notebook.

I took the notebook out carefully and looked at the cover. A frown unknowingly formed on my face.

"Nanana Manual?"

That was written on the cover.  Underneath, the owner"s name, "Konjou Kasumi," was written.

I adjusted my sitting position on the toilet seat cover and opened the Nanana Manual that I just found.

On the backside of the cover the following was written: "For the undercla.s.smen who will live in this room in the future" and "Absolutely do not remove and absolutely do not let Nanana know of this."

I flipped the pages to look. There were cute drawings and instructions written inside.

I am your uppercla.s.sman due to the face I lived in this room previously. This notebook was recorded about Nanana-chan, whom I knew from when I lived in this room for 3 years. This information is incomplete. If you would like to know more, go investigate for it on your own. Therefore, if you are not interested in Nanana-chan, I recommend you to return this notebook to where you found it and immediately move out from Room 202. There is no need to feel bad about Nanana-chan because in the end, Nanana-chan is only just a spirit of a person who pa.s.sed away already.

I"m not sure why I felt uncomfortable with the last sentence, so I flipped to the next page.

The following page had numerous amount of headings about Nanana-chan written down.

Nanana"s Weaknesses

Nanana is very strong. When she was still alive, she had enough strength to be part of the nation"s top 10 people. However, this strength of hers wasn"t pointed out to show her strength or weakness of her power, but to show that Nanana was able to learn various martial arts when she was still alive. She also had an abundant knowledge of numerous things, but that is not the point because finding the standard to compare the superiority or inferiority of humans is a difficult problem. And of all the people, Ryuugajou Nanana is superb.  That is to say, in short simple terms, she is loved by G.o.d. And most of all, she is a frighteningly lucky person. Even though she became a spirit, she hasn"t changed at all. Therefore, if the opponent is Nanana, it doesn"t matter what kind of contest it is, don"t even risk it. She will win for sure. But the strong Nanana does have a weakness. That is the fact that she isn"t able to leave the room, not even for a single step. To be exact, she is not able to leave the room she was killed in for even a single step. You can say that this is is Nanana"s one weakness.

Once I finished reading, I started to understand. It"s true that Nanana-chan has never left the room. It is a characteristic of a bound spirit. She is only in the room and never goes to the bathroom, toilet, or even the c.r.a.ppy kitchen.

"So it"s like that" I thought as I flipped to the next page.

Nanana"s favorite thing

Although Nanana is a spirit, it is unknown why she can still eat. Is she actually a spirit? In truth, Nanana is not able to actually eat food. I"m not sure why or for what reason.

However, Nanana is only able to eat pudding.

Thus, when you are in a bad mood or when you need something from her, just offer her a pudding.

Caution: Do not give her a pudding that more delicious than normal. Nanana"s tongue when she became a spirit has only tasted pudding. It is very experienced with pudding. She has tasted every pudding sold on this island and created a ranking, which is shown below.

Rank 1 Light Pudding from Randoya

Rank 2…

A cheap 3-pack 100 yen pudding that is sold from ubiquitous convenience stores is recommended. Or don"t give her any pudding at all, but then I"m not responsible for your life.

Ryuugajou Nanana"s life before she pa.s.sed away

Try researching using a school computer. Then you can search for anything.

How to make Nanana be reincarnated

Find Nanana’s killer, but absolutely don’t do the same. This would be abandoning finding the “Nanana Collection” which is important for breaking Nanana’s curse.

Once I read up to here, I had a puzzled expression.

What is Nanana"s Collection?

There was more written in the next lines.

About the Nanana Collection

There isn’t much detailed information about this here. If you want to find someone who knows more, visit the club building for the Adventure Club at school. Even if you don’t go, someone will contact you for sure. When that time comes, whatever happens is up to you.

This is clearly like a prophecy.

I flipped the page even though I didn’t understand the sentences. Once I saw what was on the this page stood out immediately.

Conclusion

If you have read up to here, then you are probably somewhat interested in the Nanana Collection. So don"t shut yourself in here. I want you to be with Nanana-chan. Us, we are different. Nanana-chan is a spirit even though we are human. At first, I myself hesitated on how to deal with Nanana-chan. But then I quickly realized that the problem was me, since Ryugajou Nanana is only a strange spirit who is a lonely girl and hasn"t changed for 10 years.

Therefore, undercla.s.sman, please help my dear friend for me.

This is the plea from an uppercla.s.sman who I"ve never even seen.

She"s a spirit, but she"s also a lonely girl.

I looked at the content that was written there and felt as if something clenched my heart.

I placed the notebook back where I found it. I left the bathroom and went straight for the bedroom.

"So you have finally come out."

Nanana-chan was hugging a cushion on the bed, pouting.

I instantly realized that the reason why Nanana-chan is in a bad mood like this is because yesterday after I shut myself into the bathroom until I cried. When I came out, I didn"t speak to her. In fact I didn"t even open my mouth to say anything at all.

So she"s a lonely girl like that?

That"s right. No matter who you are, if she gibes you the cold shoulder, you wouldn"t like it. It is like Nanana-chan right now isn"t it?

…She didn"t change at all, that spirit of Ryuugajou Nanana. She hasn"t changed from a normal girl at all.

When there is a girl like that in front of you, what will you do Yamada Juugo?

And so I decided to say the following.

"Okay, Nanana-chan! Let"s play some games together. I"ll show you joystick techniques."

"You wanna play games, yet Juugo you can"t use your left hand."

"Then let"s play cards! Feast your eyes on my G.o.dly skills in my legend!"

"If you only play with one hand then you can"t even pick up the cards. Also I never even played cards from the start."

"Then let"s eat a cup noodle! So my injury can heal faster so I can play with Nanana-chan!"

"For your injury to heal, you gotta eat something that is nutritious."

"I don"t have money, I can"t eat like that! If you have the spirit you can do anything!"

I skillfully fired my words like a machine gun. Even if it was just

to find fundamental information about Nanana"s island.

I quickly added the words "Ryuugajou Nanana" into the search bar and moved the mouse pointer over the search b.u.t.ton and clicked.

In a few seconds the search results appeared.

"Huuuh!!"

I was appalled by the first flash of text on the screen.

Total of 450,000 results.

How come the spirit of Room 202 has this many hits?

I clicked the first header even though I was so shocked.

And that page had true information about Nanana-chan.

"Ryuujou Nanana, leader of GREAT 7 or for those who know them as the founders of Nanae Island"

I"ve heard of GREAT 7 when I spoke with Yumeji-san today. They"re a group of 7 genius students that built Nanae Island.

I skimmed through the various headings that appeared from there.

"The goal of Nanae Island is to build a place where youths are able to chase all of their dreams. This project started in 20XX (12 years prior to now) and was built to completion. Construction was started immediately. In only half a year, the prototype of the island was perfectly finished (the 1st at present). The construction continued for another 1 year after starting the project. The Nanae Island Island First High School, which is the first educational inst.i.tution to be established. This caused many students to move into the island. After that, the island began to adjust and more area was continuously added until the current building of the Fifth was completed…"

Hey now, the spirit I"m stuck with is actually really amazing.

I skimmed through the sentences, dumbfounded, and came across a sentence explaining something big.

"…to proceed in a smooth way,on the 14th of August 20XX (10 years prior to now), Ryuugajou Nanana was stabbed to death in her room. Currently her killer"s whereabouts are unknown."

In the story of her past, the end of Nanana-chan was written out in the shortest sentence.

It looks like the development of this island continued after Nanana-chan"s death. Nanae Island itself has a large number of brave students that continue to appear. The student population grabs at the special privilege of writing the special privilege ballot of the resulting research that they might meet. This can lead to a huge profit and the island itself is able to use it without remorse for increasing the area of the island even further.

Something that I learned from reading all the information fervently was from the educational inst.i.tution to the convenience stores that are all on Nanae Island are run by the "Administration Committee."

Whether it is a convenience store, a fast food restaurant, or a family restaurant that is on this island are original. There is no store that has been on TV a lot or a single store that has been on the mainland.

There is only one construction company on this island. From the company president to the workers, all are alumni that graduated from this island and the head of the real estate company on the mainland (j.a.pan) that introduced vacation houses before looks like they are the lead business in the service industry. For sure,every employee in the company is an alumni that graduated from this island.

It looks like it will go to the very end, unlike when the island was first being built. Currently no matter what company in the country doesn"t allow any intervention in the local businesses. This may be a reason why there is strict checks on people entering the island. That is to say, it is as if it is the Edo period when j.a.pan was a closed society here.

I do understand why though.

Because another thing is, Nanae Island is a place to help students who chase their dreams without regrets; guaranteed a.s.sets, meaning the results of the research of the student population or the brave engineers. And from that these results are used in the development of the next generation of students.

It looks as if this is the building plan of this island.

Even though many other similar systems exist, the system used here is the most perfect.

I wonder who are the people that were a part of the GREAT 7 group that created this project. I thought while searching online.

"Of the 7 students that make up the GREAT 7, the group that conducted the Nanae Island project, are currently are part of the management of administration committee. But the 7 people from the past have currently diminished to 5 people, due to the pa.s.sing of Ryuugajou Nanana and the disappearance of Kurosu Sansa."

There was a photo with the names of the 5 people listed below.

Ikkaku Shunju, Kankyou Uzuki, Futaba Saito …and also Mutsuki Koma.

When I looked at the last person I felt stiff as a board. Written there was "Maboro Shiki" and there was an image of a girl that had the same face as the lazy landlady of the apartment.

"It"s nice to meet you. I"m the 4th head girl of this island. My name is Maboro Shiki. Currently I"m accepting all plans to go drinking for the rest of my life. And if you"re a person who only wants to do my bidding with a smile, I"ll take that too."

Shiki-san, the lady who uselessly says and acts her thoughts out directly.

"What do you say, Juugo, you interested?"

"No, Thank You."

I answered with the best native p.r.o.nunciation I could bring out.

The place we were in was the room that stinks of alcohol from the caretaker.

"So what then? Why did you come here?"

Shiki-san, who was seated by the folding table on the floor, tilted the beer can like before while she was watching dramas all day. What does she even do?

"Truthfully, I want to know about Nanana-chan."

"If it"s like that, then isn"t it better to ask her herself?"

That is true, but when confronting her directly, I"m not sure why it"s so difficult to ask her out loud.

Shiki-san saw me with my head down. "But… Asking me is okay too I guess." And so she stood up.

"Umm… Where is that photo alb.u.m… Ah! Found it!"

Shiki-san dug around with a loud crackling sound in a cabinet on the wall. She took out a photo alb.u.m from a miscellaneous pile and opened it on the table. Then she pulled some photos out from it for me to look at.

"This is?"

"A picture when Nanae Island was still being built."

In that photo were some students making faces. The eyes and uniforms of the students were different for all 7 of them. The girl who was standing in the middle and smiling straight at me was Ryuugajou Nanana.

"This kid here was always cute since before too."

Even now she is in the same state stuck in Room 202.

"That is, the me from that time was the cutest of all."

The girl on the side who was smiling had a scowl on her face and was turned away. She had the same face as the past Shiki-san, with a sulking look.

"Yea, cute all right. Very different from right now, I couldn"t even tell…"

I just spoke how I felt. For sure I"m going to get hit for my thoughts.

The rest of the pictures were of students that were rest of the 5 members of GREAT 7. Every one of them had their own abnormal strengths in some area.

"So how much have you investigated so far?"

When I stared at the photo, I  saw the sparkle of curiosity in Shiki-san"s eyes.

"Um, just the normal information."

"Hmmmm. And what do you think?"

"I"m very surprised that Shiki-san and the others thought of this when you were still about my current age."

"Oh it"s not that great." Shiki-san acted embarra.s.sed like someone named Shin-chan and bowed her head to look at the last photo, laughing immediately.

"You never thought it was strange? How a project created by 7 students became as big as this?"

"Isn"t it because everyone is a genius?"

I clearly knew that Mutsumi Koma was a famous architect around the world. From what I learned from searching everyone else on the internet was the person named Saito Futaba has strength in the field of science. It seems that they call her the Mad Scientist. There"s also Ikkaku Shunju, the manager of all the markets of Nanae Island and it also looks like he is the highest level administrator of Nanae Island as well. I wasn"t able to find information on the other members on the internet, but I a.s.sume they are also just as distinguished too.

When she heard my reply, Shiki-san tilted her head.

"It"s not possible if it"s just only that. Even if the project we built is as perfect as you say, it"s only just that."

"Eh?"

"Even if we build dreams, to be able to have them come true is beyond our abilities."

"Why is that?"

"Because we"re broke."

The force moves use forward, or what we call "money," is a great obstacle for dreams.

Shiki-san continued to speak.

"We definitely tried to find a sponsor that would fund us. We solicited interest from the adults by saying how amazing we are, but do you think there are any adults that would follow our story of our dreams from the mouths of young students? The answer is there is no such person."

Shiki-san boredly tilted the beer can and resumed speaking.

"Everybody was very heartbroken because we ourselves knew that we had the talent and a detailed mental image. Then someone stepped up and said, "Let"s destroy all the adults who can"t see the future.""

"That"s a really cute student."

When I spoke out my feelings, Shiki-san laughed and said, "That"s right."

"When everyone resisted with an unsatisfactory feeling, Nanana spoke and said, "I"m going to do something." And Nanana actually did that. She earned all the money to change the "dream" into "reality" all by herself."

"How did she do that?"

"By… by disappearing for about half a year and she returned as a multimillionaire somehow."

"What the. If it"s like that she must have swindled someone then!"

"That"s for sure. But if it"s Nanana and money, she"s able to do it. Nanana is more special than other people. She"s a strange kid, when she has something she wants she is able to get it no matter what. I can"t read that kid at all or what direction she"s looking at. She"s a person who is different like how if we stand in a line she will stand out. Since we were kids younger than Juugo"s age now, she would yell all the time at the kids that had begun to lost their dreams, I am j.a.panese."

"That"s awesome."

"Yeah, really awesome. Her will pulled everyone who paid attention? She has resolve. Nanana and us 7 people who are geniuses were brave and smart. Even when we were teased, we could do anything that no one could think of. That is building this island. In the end it was so everybody could do what they needed to and came to a conclusion. That is "to build an island where no matter who you are you are able to follow your dreams to reality together." For it to be real, that is because Ryuugajou Nanana was there."

Shiki-san spoke as if she was nostalgic

"Well, then you two were friends."

"Um… How do you say it."

Is she embarra.s.sed? Shiki-san just continued to laugh.

"But if it"s like that it"s the greatest then. Nanana-chan here, until now, hasn"t figured it out."

"In a sense, that kid is very reserved since she became a spirit. Only eating pudding, watching TV, playing games, um, is probably all she can do."

And then she snickered mockingly.

"There, I feel for her. I gotta endure it until I die for sure."

Shiki-san looked fed up and took another sip of beer.

"If you say it like that, how come you still let people rent the room haunted by Nannaa-chan then?"

It"s not as if it"s a place where you are hara.s.sed by an invisible ghost.

"That is is her value isn"t it? It"s a big problem for me if I lose out on rent for one room because of a spirit in it."

"It"s something you know?"

"Yeah, it"s something you know. The income from renting the house is excellent. You don"t have to do anything and you get money for alcohol. It"s great being a landlady!"

She"s really a useless adult. In addition to the fact that she"s also a selfish landlady too.

"Another thing. If someone stays there, that kid won"t be lonely too."

Shiki-san shook her head. What she said made her feel a little happier.

"If Shiki-san lived there wouldn"t it be good? I mean you only drink alcohol in your room all day anyway."

"You"re kidding. I don"t have a problem with that, it"s Nanana who does."

I was laughed at.

"You don"t want Nanana-chan to be reborn?"

"Of course I do. I looked sometimes already. Hired an exorcist already. But she won"t go be reborn yet."

"No, I didn"t mean it like that. You never thought of looking for the criminal who murdered Nanana-chan at all?" It"s the way to fix the problem from the origin, doing everything to completion.

"I"ll tell you what, Juugo, think about it really hard. However, 10 years ago Ryuugajou Nanana was the head of the this island. Both in name and reality. Do you think n.o.body would do anything after a kid with a t.i.tle like that is murdered? Everybody desperately tried to hunt down the killer. I myself did too. But it ended up no one was able to find the criminal. When we finally realized it, we were already in a labyrinth."

It figures that was the outcome. The consequences of that had an effect on the present like this.

"Haa." Shiki-san sighed again.

"Even if we couldn"t find Nanana"s murderer, this island still continued to increase in size as time pa.s.sed. If it"s like that, I wonder what Nanana is doing as a spirit stuck in that room. In fact, I wonder what the meaning is."

Shiki-san who out of a sudden, spoke smoothly, concealed her sorrow. Suddenly she forced a laugh while waving her hand back and forth.

"Uh, sorry for talking. Forget about it. It looks like I"m probably too drunk. You don"t have any more questions right? If you don"t have any, then that"s enough for today."

"Ah, then just one more question please. What is the "Nanana Collection"?"

When I asked that, Shiki-san laughed as if it was a joke.

"You know some interesting words. The friends who used to play in Nanana"s room, hundreds of kids, it"s weird. Is this the force that is keeping Nanana?"

Shiki-san laughed and spoke.

"I told you already that Nanana returned a millionaire to build this island right? We used that money to build Nanae Island to the finish. After that, if she had time, Nanana would travel the world. It sounds like I"m joking but every time she returned to the island she would bring back a treasure from who knows where.

"…a treasure?"

"Yeah, it wasn"t actually a pile of coins or a wad of banknotes, but gold bars, jewelry, and a ton of other stuff. A bunch of random treasures."

"Awesooome."