Monogatari Series - Volume 23 - Chapter 1.15

015

Some might argue that a naked little girl was a naked little girl, regardless of whether she was a mummy or not, and others might argue that naked was naked, regardless of whether she was a little girl or not—of course, some would argue that a mummy was a mummy, regardless of whether it was wearing clothes or not.

Just as a mummy was a mummy, regardless of whether it was wearing a high school uniform or a patient’s gown—however, the situation had changed. We were now in the grounds of a shrine at night, within the traditional main shrine that was completely unconnected to electric lights, and that diminutive mummy seemed to fit perfectly there, as if it had been made-to-order.

The stage effects were astounding.

Rather than an oddity phenomenon, it was like I was being shown an important cultural treasure—and though I’d temporarily fallen into a panic, I was brought back to my senses by…

“S—Suicidemaster?”

A small voice that came from above me.

A whisper.

At that moment, with Oshino Shinobu calling Ononoki-chan “doll girl”, and her calling Hachikuji “lost girl” even after she’d become a god that ruled over the town, I belatedly realized that it was extremely rare for her to refer to someone by name.

Suicidemaster.

Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicidemaster—was it?

“Wh—what a mess you’ve become!”

“O-oi, Shinobu. What, what did you just say?”

“Hee-yah!”

Could she tell that the mummy was her former master, even when it was all dried up?

Even though Shinobu had stubbornly refused to come down from my shoulders even after we reached the summit, she now placed both hands on my head as if it were a vaulting box, spread her legs out magnificently to the left and right, and jumped wide.

And, in the air, she spun twice around before landing, and then rushed up to the mummy of the naked little girl. The little girl was rushing up to the little girl.

“Whoa! Shinobu, be careful—”

Remembering the bitter experience I had faced in a shack on the side of the road to school during the daytime, I panicked and called out to her—however, what I’d feared did not come to pass.

The mummy didn’t stir an inch. If I said it like that, then it sounded completely natural, but… Hm? Instead of the difference between wearing and not wearing clothes, and instead of the difference between a high school girl and a young girl, but as a mummy itself—did this individual follow a different providence?

Perhaps I should have also drawn close to check for this mummy’s pulse or breathing, but I couldn’t seem to move my body very well… It felt like my body wasn’t mine. It felt like I’d actually become a child seat, or even a vaulting box.

“Hachikuji…”

“I’ll say this now, but it isn’t like I stripped this little girl naked for the sake of Araragi-san. The mummified little girl was naked from the beginning.”

Um, that wasn’t what I planned on asking or anything…

“Also, she hadn’t been a mummy in the beginning.”

“What do you mean by that? What happened?”

After reflexively rushing up to the mummy, it seemed she hadn’t decided on what she’d do next, as Shinobu had been circling the mummy aimlessly before she asked that question to Hachikuji.

“God. What exactly is happening in this town?”

The question wasn’t aimed towards me, but because of Shinobu’s unprecedented tone of voice, even I couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Even now, the administrator of the specialists, Gaen-san, should have been looking around town in pursuit of the unidentified vampire—so why was that unidentified vampire, Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicidemaster, assumed to be the culprit behind the mass creation of these mummies, sheltering away in a shrine as a mummy herself?

She’s—sheltering away, right?

“……”

At any rate, there was no longer any doubt that Shinobu and I had long since diverged from Gaen-san’s plans.

The prime suspect behind the mummifications had turned up as a mummy—it sounded like that old proverb, “the mummy hunter becomes a mummy”, but wait. If it followed the proverb, then the next one to become a mummy would be me.

“Shinobu. What state is that mummy in? That naked little girl? I’m already kind of astonished that your progenitor who birthed and named you was actually a little girl, but that’s definitely not what a vampire should look like—is she in a zombie-like condition?”

The prime suspect had become the next victim.

It was kind of like a mystery novel, maybe?

“No. If I had to say it, then this is cryptobiosis.”

Shinobu responded with a careful, and marveling, voice.

Though a marvelous god was right there.

Cryptobiosis.

In other words, anabiosis.

The ultimate state of suspended animation used as an emergency measure to preserve one’s life, that tardigrades, real, non-monstrous creatures said to be as immortal as vampires, used—or so I’d read in a book.

“It’s not like a living corpse, but more like in critical condition… Is that why you called us here, lost girl?”

“That’s right. I couldn’t exactly have a clean conscience if a foreign visitor lost their life in my area of influence—as for what exactly is going on in this town, I would like to ask the same question.”

That’s why, for the sake of learning the truth.

Araragi-san, I would like you to procure the medicine that will revive this person—said Hachikuji.

“The medicine—what? Procure it—where?”

Is there a pharmacy in this world that would prescribe special medicine with components that would revive vampires, which are immortal by nature?

“It is not in this world. But, it is in the next world. As you are well aware.”

“Th-the next world? Even if you say that I’m aware, I don’t think I know what you’re talking about?”

“You should be well aware, Araragi-san. After all, you visited it quite recently—it’s hell.”

It’s the Blood Pond Hell.

That was what Hachikuji said—the Blood Pond Hell.

Indeed, it was the perfect medicinal ingredient for the vampire’s condition, which neither doctors nor the hot springs of Kusatsu would cure.