Monogatari Series - Volume 27 - Chapter 2.03

003

Leaving the hospital ward behind me, if I took some wrong paths, I would reach Ononoki-chan waiting for me on a downstairs landing—a peculiar eyepatch-wearing tween girl standing by. She was an expressionless doll wearing a daring open-backed dress that would make you confuse her for a French singer that had come to comfort a patient, but seeing her face was a relief to me.

“Good work, Nadekou.”

To those monotone words of appreciation, I responded, “Yup—I’m exhausted,” as I descended the stairs.

“Having to forgive someone who isn’t apologizing can be this painful, huh. It might’ve been more painful than having my entire body be squeezed by a snake… I never knew.”

“It’s not like you had to forgive her. You didn’t have to overcome her, either. You should’ve just lightly sidestepped it and forgotten about it all.”

Ononoki-chan said so indifferently as she took the sketchbook I offered her—she flipped through the pages to check it.

“Do you regret it? Visiting your old friend.”

“Mm, no. It’s not on the level of regret… I think.”

Rather, I was embarrassed at having carelessly told a lie as nonsensical as wanting to be a courtroom sketch artist. But I couldn’t possibly mention my dream to become a mangaka in front of Nakuna-chan.

Tch. My darn pride.

Even though I swore to profess my dreams!

“Your tastes are pretty peculiar, too, to bring up wanting to be a courtroom sketch artist at a time like that. Maybe you were unconsciously treating her like a defendant.”

It’s the shadows in the hearts of middle schoolers, said Ononoki-chan.

That’s saying something.

But, perhaps that really was what I was thinking—and yet, even though Nakuna-chan was sensitive to malicious intent aimed at her, it was surprising that she readily agreed to become my model.

Perhaps she really had fallen a lot.

From the Tooboe Nakuna-chan that I knew.

“Maybe now, Nakuna-chan wouldn’t make fun of me even if I told her my real dream…”

“That’s for sure. At the very least, she wouldn’t be like your lovable parents constantly repeating, ‘anything but a mangaka’.”

“Right… I never thought my parents would criticize me using such words.”

Incidentally, what they meant was that I was “a girl who couldn’t become ‘anything but’ a mangaka”.

Before being rude to their daughter, it was rude to all mangaka… It was much too large of a wound to be considered defamation.129 I was aware I was causing a great deal of trouble, so I could forgive their opinions of me, but I could not forgive their opinions of Tezuka Osamu.

“It’s not like your parents brought up Tezuka Osamu. Or did you tell them? That you were going to become Tezuka Osamu?”

“Of course not. As if I would.”

“That reminds me, Nadekou. How was that AI Tezuka Osamu project? As a doll created as an imitation of humans, it makes me curious.”

How was it, indeed?

It was hard to say what constituted a Tezuka work… Because even if you say “Tezuka Osamu”, he comprises a large range of works and a large range of eras. Even if you put his most famous works, like Phoenix and Black Jack, through a deep learning model, I had the feeling the output wouldn’t be Tezuka Osamu.

“I see. On the other hand, even if you gathered all of Tezuka Osamu’s failed works, it wouldn’t be very recognizable, either.”

“Tezuka-sensei has never failed. There have only been times where he surpassed our comprehension.”

“You’re someone who should never get involved in the production of AI Tezuka Osamu.”

“I may not have said anything about becoming Tezuka Osamu, but I may have said something about becoming Tezuka Osamu’s assistant.”

“What a weirdly lofty ambition.”

Perhaps the most difficult point was, in this age with starkly different drawing technologies and attitudes towards manga production, what would Tezuka Osamu draw… He might become a completely different artist from the Tezuka Osamu that we think of. Aside from the matter of innovation, there was also the matter of the human rights of mangaka and publishers, which we think fondly of in the present day. But if the works of the past could only be produced as a result of those extreme conditions, then I could only conclude that it was something AI was unable to reproduce.

“Personally, rather than just the art style, I’m curious as to how well it can recreate his writing style. Even if the AI Tezuka Osamu’s manga were to be adapted into an anime, if it doesn’t personally work on the anime, it wouldn’t be Tezuka Osamu.”

“Well, Tezuka-sensei may do as he pleases.”

“You’re the one that sounds like an AI.”

Although, an AI Sengoku Nadeko didn’t seem like it would be very decent.

At least, the four Sengoku Nadekos were like that.

“Also, there’s also the limitation that the AI Tezuka Osamu shouldn’t be allowed to produce a work more interesting than those of the real Tezuka Osamu.”

“Ahaha. There’s no need to worry about that. That would be impossible for even the most sophisticated of AI.”

“If the robot uprising were to ever occur, you’ll be the first to be deleted. Actually, when the AI Tezuka Osamu is completed, there’ll be no room for you to enter the world of manga.”

“Urk… When that happens, I’m sure the AI Sengoku Nadeko will be there to inherit my will.”

“If it inherits your will, it’ll become the assistant of the AI Tezuka Osamu, right? But if you have the fighting spirit to surpass gods, then maybe your parents will say ‘anything but a mangaka’ with a different meaning? A girl who could become ‘anything, but’ had to become a mangaka,”

said Ononoki-chan.

She was probably trying to cheer me on.

However, if I told them about an ambition like that, then I felt like they would just say, “Then, let’s start by aiming to be a doctor”... Although, I would’ve liked it if my parents had been at least that considerate.

“Huh. So she had this many holes in her—it’s like she fell onto hell’s mountain of needles. It’s worse than I thought. A normal curse reversal wouldn’t end up like this… It might be possible that she ended up cursing herself.”

“Cursing herself?”

“Even if she acts with the arrogance and audacity of a queen, if she’s always irritated, her life won’t exactly be pleasant—if things always go the way you want them to, then even the slightest stress can become unbearable. And she wouldn’t be able to feel better without a minion like you to take it out on.”

A minion?

What an incredible word to use.

“But, you know, whether it’s with Tooboe Nakuna or Araragi Tsukihi, you sure love hanging out with arrogant friends. Rather than a minion, you might have the disposition to be small fry.”130

“I don’t have such an awful disposition…”

Though it was a viewpoint that was hard for me to deny.

I was embarrassed to be described with words like minion or small fry, but it was a fact that, in elementary school, Sengoku Nadeko had the inclination to try and get in under the umbrellas of powerful people.

Thinking about it now, the Fire Sisters’ advisor, Tsukihi-chan, was the very example of that. When I was in second grade, I humbly leapt into the arms of that powerful person, not knowing that I was actually throwing myself into the fire.

“It’s not that you’re being chosen for the entourage for the sake of appearances. Ecologically speaking, when a creature like you tries to get close to a powerful person, it’s like a certificate of pedigree for them. ‘If a sharksucker is attached to them, then that person must be a shark.’ That’s the idea.”

“That’s a terrible way to put it.”

“Also, a sharksucker isn’t even a shark itself.”131

“On top of being a sucker, it’s not even a shark…”

I felt like I’d heard that exchange before in the commentary tracks…

Was it a relative of the sea bream?

Even if it’s rotten, it’s still a sea bream. Even if it’s a sharksucker, it’s still a sea bream.132

“It’s a similar kind of isolationism, but it’s a different lifestyle compared to oni onii-chan, or for short, onii-chan. When it came to going under someone’s protection or entering their territory, you were never particularly negative about it. Your ability to sniff out the strong was first-class. But if we go there, then onii-chan treated the idea of flocking together as defeat. Even now, he remains alone at his university.”

That seemed different from what I’d heard before.

So he was alone even at his university…

“Perhaps I admired those types of people. But, of course I would have a powerful desire to live quietly and comfortably under the authority of powerful people…”

“You really had such a desire? That’s outrageous.”

Personally, if you end up like that, then it’s over for you—said Ononoki-chan. As someone who’d spent a long time sharing a room with Tsukihi-chan as a freeloader in the Araragi household, her words had a lot of weight to them, monotone as they were.

“In terms of Doraemon, you’d be like Suneo-kun, huh? Hesitating over whether to enter Gian’s protection, or Doraemon’s protection. Plus, it’s not like Doraemon can keep watch over you in school.”

“True. It’s huge to have someone you can rely on in class.”

“So basically, rather than Suneo, you’re Sunemi.”

“That’s a character from Chimpui.”

Was there a Gian-like character in Chimpui?

“Although, I did suffer a lot of damage from being invited into Nakuna-chan’s entourage, and in the end, Nakuna-chan herself fell from that position.”

“She was just reaping what she sowed. Or should I say, she was caught in her own trap? Though it’s a snake, rather than a trap.133 So, was it an anticlimax—or rather, was it a great success?”134

Ononoki-chan asked rather brusquely.

From her point of view, since she had never met Nakuna-chan directly and had no emotional attachment to her, there was absolutely no reason for her to sympathize with her.

I said, “Yep,” and nodded.

“When I finished my drawing with Nakuna-chan as the model, all the holes vanished from her body, with not a single one remaining—but would it be an oxymoron to say that the holes vanished? Or a false report?”135

The snake’s bite marks had completely disappeared.

From her face, from her neck, from her chest, from her arms. And most likely, from beneath her patient gown and the blanket, too. Her holes and her openings, they were all wrapped up together and sealed in the sketchbook—of course, in reality, nothing happened.

It wasn’t as though she herself had been unaware. It was simply that the traces of that giant snake were something only I could see, and I had just put that optical illusion, that hallucination, into a drawing.

Just tilting at windmills, so to speak.

It was even doubtful if the curse was even lifted—perhaps all it did was make her feel a little better, and Nakuna-chan’s hospitalization would have to continue for a while longer.

“Of course, it’s not an easy knot to untangle.136 The end of that rope is connected with Araundo, after all—but, isn’t it enough if she feels a little better? Considering everything she’s done to you.”

“Considering everything she’s done to me, then yeah. But, considering everything she’s done for me, it’s not like there’s no room to think about the extenuating circumstances.”

As I said that, it felt a bit hypocritical.

Well, not just a bit.

Because it wasn’t as though I’d come to visit a former friend of my own volition—if it hadn’t been for Gaen-san’s instructions, who would willingly go to such a meeting… Even though it would surely result in a bitter aftertaste and a bad mood, no matter how it played out.

The reason I drew with Nakuna-chan as the model was not as training to become a mangaka or even a courtroom sketch artist, but as training to become a specialist like Ononoki-chan under Gaen-san’s guidance.

“I’m thrilled that you chose me as your objective. It makes me want to do everything I can to help you.”

As she said that, Ononoki-chan tore out the relevant page from the sketchbook—as if sealing it away, she folded it twice and put it in her pocket.

“Well, Gaen-san isn’t trying to raise you up, Nadekou, into a power-based character like me. My ‘Unlimited Rulebook’ is never going to be able to lift that kind of curse reversal like you… At best, all I can do is add another large hole to her body.”

Like burying a hole with a larger hole.

Although in Ononoki-chan’s case, it would be a physical hole.

“Phew…”

In any case, I did all that I could. I did my best. Though it does make me think, “Good grief”...137 It didn’t really matter if Nakuna-chan was forgiven by me or continued to be resented by me, but for how things would go for her from now on, it was up to Nakuna-chan herself.

“Then, shall we go back, Ononoki-chan? Let’s throw ourselves on the bed and eat ice cream without using spoons.”

“That’s an invitation as sweet as ice cream, but don’t act like you’ve forgotten, Nadekou.”

Like dry ice, Ononoki-chan spread her arms wide to block my path forward (path backward?). Her being a tween girl made that movement kind of cute, but I couldn’t forget that those arms held a strength that could blow this hospital to smithereens.

“There’s one more person you have to visit, right? One more person you have to meet and lift the curse from—it’s very convenient that they’ve been admitted to the same hospital.”

Actually, it was extremely inconvenient.

However, now that she’d told me, it was unavoidable.

If I’ve eaten snake’s poison, I may as well lick the plate.138

Resolving myself, I turned on my heel and headed for the room where the other person to curse me last year, Sajou Sunshi-kun, was hospitalized—as a courtroom sketch artist, or perhaps, as a specialist.