Monogatari Series - Volume 21 - Chapter 0.28

028

And now, the reveal.

I’m sure everybody here already has a rough idea, but I have to leave at least some explanation, so here goes.

In summary, with Divine Nadeko placing a hundred Bloomer Nadekos as a shikigami ‘Nadeko barrier’ across the entire floor, then I could blend in too, at least that was my idea — no, this really was the entire idea at its infancy; all the other bits were appended on.

Blending in the ‘human barrier’ that is Fawning Nadeko’s classmates, whilst not impossible, would have been difficult with my lack of sociability, but against a ‘Nadeko barrier’, blending in that group should pose little difficulty, as Sengoku Nadeko.

As long as I looked and dressed the same as all the others, then I can approach Divine Nadeko without her noticing; be it from the rear or from the sides, I could collect her into my sheet of paper practically without warning.

The gym shorts and gym shoes I materialised after drawing them — inscribing the essence of gym shorts was no easy task, and I referenced Kanbaru-san, putting detail even in the threads.

Obviously, the same attention to detail also went to the gym shoes.

‘It’s on the level of the former Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade’s powers of materialisation.’

Ononoki-chan commented; anyway, since one could seal non-shikigami materials such as chisels, I figured, quite simply, that it could work in reverse — in a worst-case scenario, I would have had to catch a Bloomer Nadeko and snatch her clothes, but fortunately this did not need to happen.

Already basically naked, then to be robbed of what little remained, that would be overly atrocious.

The hundred Bloomer Nadekos were based on Gentle Nadeko, so they all had long fringes, but I figured that I could blend in even with my very short hair — when dressed like this, the hairstyle becomes quite irrelevant, as I learnt during my conversation with Sodachi-onee-chan.

In the end, I ended up going around the entire floor, squatting down when I needed to, crawling my way forwards like a snake, feeling quite stealthy.

But of course, even without Ononoki-chan’s comments, I knew that was not enough — sneaking into the crowd of Bloomer Nadekos was not a bad idea in itself, but in order for it to become a valid strategy, there should be a dummy battle going on too.

From Divine Nadeko’s preparations for a siege, I knew that she was trying to prevent me from getting anywhere near her — I did not get to use it fully whilst I was a god, but snakes have pit organs, which allows thermography, so if I were to hide my tracks, I must have someone distract Divine Nadeko whilst I went about my business.

In this occasion, Anti-Nadeko will serve that purpose — but even with redrawn clothes and hairstyle to imitate me, for her to charge into the upper floor for no reason at all would appear too suspicious.

Therefore — after changing Anti-Nadeko’s design, activating her, then drawing the gym shorts and gym shoes and materialising them, I designed another Present Nadeko and brought her into three dimensions.

Yes.

Using two shikigami at once.

Something that should never, ever, ever be done or be allowed to do, as Ononoki-chan said — more than that, she also reminded me to make the shikigami different from the creator, since there were cases of the shikigami replacing their masters.

These bits of advice did not elude me.

But with Divine Nadeko conjuring a hundred Bloomer Nadekos, so came my thought that maybe this method will work — meaning, even though I can only summon one shikigami in the form of Anti-Nadeko, I can let Anti-Nadeko summon one shikigami of her own.

A shikigami’s shikigami.

If my own anger and the righteous anger against Divine Nadeko could awaken some latent power within me, then that would have been fantastic, but such an emotional progression did not come, so I tried rationalising it like my life depended on it.

In terms of drawing ability, Anti-Nadeko was, in the end, me, so she could definitely draw shikigami — though it would be too much to ask her to control a hundred shikigami like Divine Nadeko, one Present Nadeko was something she could control.

That said, things did not go that smoothly; the Present Nadeko Anti-Nadeko drew was similar to the mass-produced Bloomer Nadekos, in that she could only receive simple commands, a shikigami like an NPC.

A fuzzy version of myself.

Perhaps this was not a question of how many, but the very nature of shikigami created by shikigami. Even Ononoki-chan did not know the answer to that, so there is room here for future research — as a shikigami herself, Ononoki-chan must have her own thoughts on the matter.

Moving on, let us try a simple command.

For instance, how about ‘run’?

So — I let them run.

Anti-Nadeko dressed as Present Nadeko, and her shikigami, Present Nadeko (shikigami edition), running in parallel towards Divine Nadeko.

This required a straight course, which I let Ononoki-chan handle with her ‘Unlimited Rulebook’ — this goes without saying, but shattering Divine Nadeko with the ‘Unlimited Rulebook’ itself would have been the most ideal outcome.

Turns out wracking my brains until it nearly exploded was not a waste, because with two, three safety measures, this idea seemed to have a high likelihood of success, and honestly, I have not bragged like this in a long time; but as one can see, not everything went according to plan.

This was completely unacceptable.

To say this was a success is really pushing it — no, I do not mean having dress up like that to seal Divine Nadeko. Not that I dressed in much to begin with.

My plan would have me grabbing Divine Nadeko before Anti-Nadeko and Present Nadeko (shikigami edition) got defeated — her pulling out those fang spears was beyond my expectations.

After Fawning Nadeko, I had once again sacrificed my shikigami.

Two of them, no less.

When I was making my plans, I already had their sacrifices in mind; in the end, I am no different from Divine Nadeko.

Two bluffs, and at the same time, two lures — in the end, that me was the result of this me.

‘You do have obvious differences from Divine Nadeko, I think… if you think all of you are Sengoku Nadeko, then rather than saying that you’re wrong, I should say that’s a strange conclusion to reach.’

At the landing, Ononoki-chan commented after hearing my lengthy assessment, sitting with both her legs stretched straight.

This could be a form of consolation — but not only did the right hand of dirt fall off, every part of her body seemed to be misaligned after that impact on the landing, so she needed to be repaired all over again; I was not quite sure if Ononoki-chan could find the energy in her to console me.

I took back the right hand that was on Divine Nadeko’s back, and pressed it on Ononoki-chan’s wounds to make it heal.

It does feel like I am already familiar with healing doll oddities, but this was something I wish I would never get to experience ever again — seeing Ononoki-chan in this state made it plain for all to see how fragile, how flawed my plan was.

‘You took the biggest risk. That’s for sure. Between me, Anti-Nadeko, and Present Nadeko (shikigami edition), you shouldered the most dangerous job of all with mere flesh and bone… that alone deserves plenty of praise.’

You’ve changed a lot from Divine Nadeko only staying in her comfort zone.

You’re no longer who you used to be.

Ononoki-chan said. Said to me.

No longer like back then.

I had never heard words that made me happier — but at the same time, hearing those words also made me sad.

‘I’m not asking you to accept it. An easy-going character like myself would be taken quite aback if you just accepted it like it is. Well, if you really want to memorialise them, then why don’t you preserve these experiences and these feelings in the form of a drawing?’

‘Drawing…’

To preserve, huh.

Becoming a drawing, a work, a memento, to preserve.

Too true. This was the way.

What I could only do — what I could repay.

To have something I can do, I’m overjoyed.

‘Drawing characters so cute that you wouldn’t want to put them in harm’s way; there’s no manga artist who’s like that — letting them roam free may be alright, but sometimes they need a fitting test of character, or a fitting end. That aside, Naddie —’

Just as what could barely be called first aid was done, the freshly repaired Ononoki-chan opened and closed her long-awaited right hand, and looked towards the bookstore’s upper and ground floor, respectively.

‘The “deflective barrier born from fear of human contact“ is well and truly gone now — you’d best leave this place fast.’

‘Oh… then let’s go together, Ononoki-chan.’

‘No, I have to clean this up. I am a pro. With this much mess and carnage, I cannot just walk away — aah, there’s no need for you to help. Now that the dust has settled with Divine Nadeko, contacting Gaen-san or onee-chan wouldn’t be a problem — the real work that comes after this is something left for the pros. Frankly, you serve no more purpose here.’

She sounded like shooing me away, but it was clear that Ononoki-chan was shouldering all responsibility as a pro.

Taking all my responsibilities — like a shikigami.

Like a true friend.

For this kid to look after me, I felt glad to be able to reunite with Tsukihi-chan — no, it may sound like an emotional tale, but for Tsukihi-chan, whose clothes were borrowed without her lending them, it would sound cruel.

It always feels that, with all this, my fate shares a lot of parallels with Chinou Nomi-san from a certain world, but with Tsukihi-chan willing to restart her relationship and care about me, she has my deepest respect. {X}

That was no lie.

‘So therefore — go to a place where you’re needed, Naddie.’

Sengoku Nadeko.

You’ve got somewhere you need to be, don’t you?

Ononoki-chan said after a pause.

‘Mm. Yeah.’

I nodded in response.

Yes. This was not the end.