Monogatari Series - Volume 21 - Chapter 0.27

027

Two Sengoku Nadekos stood against this god.

Present Nadeko and Anti-Nadeko.

The shikigami that is Anti-Nadeko.

The shikigami who hated doing work, who swung chisels around, determined to spill my guts; so if she tried to stab me again once released from the seal, it was the most predictable and also the most worrying thing to consider, but her speedy response to assist came to me as, if anything, a disappointing anti-climax.

Instead of saying she agreed with me, the creator and the user, it might be better to say she had a grudge against Divine Nadeko — no, I was the one who held a grudge, she was the one who embodied it.

More than that, Anti-Nadeko’s rage could be more than mine — these four shikigami should all be equal; the way Divine Nadeko had treated Gentle Nadeko and Fawning Nadeko seemed to be unremittable in her eyes.

Therefore — more than the assistance, more than the conjuring, Anti-Nadeko joined me in my battle.

‘…Mm?’

Divine Nadeko raised her eyebrows.

She probably thinks she’s seeing things — yes, the two Sengoku Nadekos facing her were indeed Present Nadeko and Anti-Nadeko, but both of them looked like Present Nadeko.

Very short hair, with Tsukihi-chan’s clothes.

And the unmatching sandals.

In terms of character design, it was a complete overlap, completely indistinguishable — like those hundred Bloomer Nadekos (vastly reduced, it’s roughly forty now), like a mirrored reflection.

Obviously, gone were the uniform fringes, the yukata, and the wooden clogs; I asked her to imitate my appearance — inspired by Fawning Nadeko’s line, ‘give me those clothes you’re wearing next time’.

Anti-Nadeko got there first.

I copied it for her.

Two Sengoku Nadekos that nobody can tell apart.

I redrew her in that style.

‘……????’

Divine Nadeko gave a puzzled look.

The exact reaction dogs or cats give when they look in the mirror — no, wouldn’t a snake looking in the mirror be more appropriate?

This was my own business, so I cannot say for sure, but during the time I became Divine Nadeko, my cognition, my judgement, already lacklustre, were lowered to an extreme.

Like a child.

This was probably the cost of receiving the godly power I nowhere near deserved — therefore, for her to suffer this cognitive dissonance in front of these two Sengoku Nadekos was an expected outcome.

Thinking back, Divine Nadeko using traps, mass-producing Bloomer Nadekos, and treating her co-belligerents as disposable, such acts were less evil or cunning, and more like something primitive, childish — but by no means did this exonerate her.

Anyway, whilst this was a surprise, we would be dumb if we didn’t do anything with the other side dumbfounded — without knowing which was Anti-Nadeko, the pair of Present Nadekos sprinted forwards in sync.

Charging towards Divine Nadeko at full speed.

Though both have the same design, the delimited Anti-Nadeko could probably match Kanbaru-san in a sprint, but if she ran at that pace, then the slower Present Nadeko would be found out, so I asked her to adjust her speed.

This did, after all, depend on symmetrical movement.

Making her a dead ringer of Present Nadeko.

So, the two Sengoku Nadekos held in their hand the paper used to seal Divine Nadeko — of course, the one who would actually seal her remained me, her creator. Even if Anti-Nadeko clamped Divine Nadeko with her sheet of paper, it would do nothing and mean nothing.

However, to be sealed is Divine Nadeko’s fatal weak spot, so she had to react to this stunt.

And deal with the two Sengoku Nadekos gunning towards her.

Which one was real deal? Which one had the tools? She was about to face the ultimate true-or-false…

‘???……’

With high command (Divine Nadeko) in shambles, the surviving Bloomer Nadekos were also virtually static — even if not, as mass-produced models, their slow processing and lack of specific instructions meant that the sight of the Present Nadeko duo charging down the path opened by the ‘unlimited rulebook’ would not make them think to block.

‘…Whatever, how annoying. Kill them all.’

Divine Nadeko remained nonchalant, lightly saying what seemed in her eyes the most brilliant solution.

As if getting tired of thinking and giving up, as if getting annoyed by the chaos and switching up, by the time she finished her sentence, she held two giant fangs in each of her arms.

Those venomous fangs.

The fangs that split Ononoki-chan into chunks — their sharpness, their foreboding, their toxicity; a chisel stood no chance.

Divine Nadeko, without hesitation, without agitation, without hostility, even, like a child stomping on ants, or a middle school girl carving up snakes, said,

‘A one, and a two.’

And swung out both fangs, left and right.

Blithely driving them out.

As if expressing ‘as long as I’m cute, what can’t I get away with?’, those mindlessly thrown fangs pierced the two Sengoku Nadekos with ease.

Unlike Anti-Nadeko aiming at my stomach, Divine Nadeko wanted to nip this in the bud; the two spears that were flung out struck them in the face, where no sheet of paper can hide on.

The one on her left, Anti-Nadeko dressed as Present Nadeko, exploded into confetti.

The one on her right, Present Nadeko as herself, also exploded into confetti.

‘Eh!? Ehhhhhhhh!?’

‘Yup. It’s a bluff. Plain and simple.’

Said I.

Whilst Divine Nadeko focused on the front, I finally reached her back, nesting her into my sheet of paper.

Victory.

With that, Divine Nadeko exited the third dimension, leaving only Ononoki-chan’s right hand — at the same time, about forty surviving Bloomer Nadekos also turned into plain, floating flakes of paper.

Where traces remain of stalwart warriors past, where a hundred Bloomer Nadekos once stood, remained only one Sengoku Nadeko, dressed identically to everybody else — meaning I was the only one standing where I was. {W}

Ugh, hearing about it was already a pain, yet one year later, there I was, exposing my all in this wretched, unwatchable sight.

Geez, no gods nor buddhas in this world.