Monogatari Series - Volume 21 - Chapter 0.26

026

‘“Unlimited Rulebook” — I said with a posed look. Crap, I said it.’

I think I heard something that shouldn’t have been said, but couldn’t be unheard; but that aside, Ononoki-chan used her ultimate technique on the upper floor all of a sudden.

Without reservations.

To bring out the ace at the beginning goes against every theory, and was the mark of an outsider, but this was what Ononoki-chan went for out of caution.

Of course, the target was already locked on.

To ignore the hundred Bloomer Nadekos, despite them being such an offensive sight that gets in one’s way no matter how much one did not want to look, is probably a luxury afforded by an oddity divorced from human emotions — besides, whether she wanted to hide or to escape, that right hand on her back enabled Ononoki-chan to lock onto her and use the ‘Unlimited Rulebook’.

Though not her dominant hand, she expanded her left index finger, and shot towards an as-yet unseen, veiled Divine Nadeko like a bazooka.

If this was all that was needed to settle the match, that would be great, but things are never that simple, are they. Even without noticing the right hand on her back, the opponent must have already understood that the previously severed Ononoki-chan in the Kitashirahebi Shrine was not dead — meaning Divine Nadeko must have prepared some countermeasures against the ‘Unlimited Rulebook’.

In other words, the ‘Nadeko barrier’.

However, whether there were a hundred or a thousand of them, one ‘Unlimited Rulebook’ rendered it all moot — they were no stronger than any ordinary person, so this technique will bat all of them away.

Like piercing through a shoji paper door — no, piercing through copy paper?

If Divine Nadeko mass produced a hundred Divine Nadekos (sheets), then it would have been something we could not handle; we would have needed Gaen-san to bail us out.

But this was something beyond Divine Nadeko’s abilities, because one Divine Nadeko could not control a hundred Divine Nadekos — therefore, these Nadekos were ultimately a distraction, a decoy of Bloomer Nadekos.

NPCs.

Based on that, the real walls probably weren’t the eye-grabbing Bloomer Nadekos, but the myriad heavy bookshelves arranged in this floor, plus the books within.

Therefore, the targets I wanted Ononoki-chan to hit were not the slow Bloomer Nadekos, but the bookshelves.

I will repay this by becoming a legendary manga artist and adding a third storey to this bookstore, I swore as I planned this offensive — going past all bookshelves alongside Bloomer Nadekos, and reaching straight for Divine Nadeko.

In other words, I wished to use Ononoki-chan’s ‘Unlimited Rulebook’ for some roadworks — the great noise from Divine Nadeko’s collapsing bookshelf trap on the first floor had been surpassed by the thundering BGM from my flying bookshelves; amidst the flying flakes of copy paper that originally stored Bloomer Nadeko, I saw it.

A glimpse.

A look.

Divine Nadeko, with a hundred thousand snakes on her head — with a white one-piece dress and baring her feet (yes, Divine Nadeko wears no shoes, that was how she was drawn); despite the untold number of flying bookshelves, comics, and Bloomer Nadekos, despite a direct hit from the ‘Unlimited Rulebook’ dampening her abilities, she still gave that charming, pure, immaculate smile, as if nothing had happened at all.

A godly smile.

She was both shikigami and kami.

I looked like ‘that’ not long ago — when she first appeared this morning, she ran away amidst the chaos, so this was the first time I had had a proper look at her.

Divine Nadeko.

Sengoku Nadeko as the serpent god.

So that’s it.

…Speaking of things difficult to look at, Divine Nadeko surpasses Bloomer Nadeko — such was her holiness. Or, even without Ononoki’s right hand as a marker, with the right thinking, she could probably still be found amidst the hundred Bloomer Nadekos.

Therefore, from her perspective, to make us waste the ‘Unlimited Rulebook’ was worth hiding in this bookstore and manufacturing a hundred Bloomer Nadekos — she might even think that we have fallen for her trick.

In reality, the injured Ononoki-chan could not handle the recoil from her ultimate technique, and was blown off onto the staircase landing — despite saying what she said, Ononoki-chan really was not in a condition to use the ‘Unlimited Rulebook’, not even once.

‘Hehehe’

She laughed.

‘Hehehehe’

And laughed.

‘Hehehehehe’

And laughed.

‘Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe’

And laughed.

Antithetically creepy laughter roared from Divine Nadeko; seems like there was no point in talking, but even so, I cannot turn away — even a god has things they were supposed and not supposed to do.

As somebody who was her, as the artist who created her, this was some sense I have to knock into Divine Nadeko — I know I am unqualified, but I reckon I have the obligation.

The obligation to try.

‘Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha — hI’m going to kill you now ♪’ {V}

God spake forth.