Monogatari Series - Volume 27 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

If I were to say it, life is just a series of regrets, filled with the idle complaints of, “It would’ve been better if I’d done this,” or “It would’ve been better if I’d done that.” But it’s impossible to ascertain whether it really would have been “better if I’d done this” or “better if I’d done that”, and it depended on what you use to define what’s “better”, but by the time you think that, I feel like it would already be “being worse” in the present progressive tense. Perhaps “It would’ve been better if I didn’t have any regrets” is closer to the truth of the matter? But in that case, I’d be afraid of making the same mistakes, but I could also say, is it really all that great to make different mistakes? It was simply raising the chances of receiving a fatal injury… Perhaps continuing to survive in spite of your mistakes is more tied to your growth as a person, compared to just continuing to survive normally? If life really was a series of regrets, the fact that it’s a series to begin with is unbelievably fortunate… The fact that you’re still regretting means that you’re still alive. Even saying “it’s over” is no excuse for a series that has continued for over fifteen years, past its own conclusion.

It doesn’t need to be said, but the topic of this volume is not “regret” but “apology”, and if you were to split that into two parts, “apology (謝罪)” becomes “apologizing (謝)” and “sin (罪)”, differentiating between “things you apologize for” and “things that are sins”. The text itself discusses the balance between “anger” and “apology” (the imbalance?), but perhaps “apologizing” and “sin” share the same level of balance. I was excited to see how Araragi-kun’s university arc would turn out as I wrote it, so it was a surprise to see that the dark side of his high school years, which he should have graduated from, had resurfaced. In his own way, has Araragi-kun broadened his horizons? With that, even if you gaze into the abyss, this was like an abyss that doesn’t gaze back at you, “Episode 6: Ougi Light”, “Episode 7: Ougi Flight”. The Nadeko arc is also reaching the best part, but I’d like to keep it simple and bright when I write it.

The cover illustration portrays Ougi-chan (-kun?) wearing a hybrid of a gakuran and a skirt. Wonderful. VOFAN-san, thank you very much. The next volumes will finally be Monster Season, “Shinomonogatari (1)” and “Shinomonogatari (2)”. It’ll be the reappearance of Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicidemaster, and if possible, I’d like to publish both volumes together.

NISIOISIN

Translator’s Afterword

Perhaps saying that I feel apologetic for my translations is not exactly the right way to describe it, but I suppose I’d like to admit my own flaws all the same. It’s not exactly convincing to hear someone apologize for their work if it implies that that work is inferior in some way, but then again, wouldn’t a humble apology be preferable to arrogant posturing? The best thing might be to not say anything at all, but I can’t keep myself from asserting my presence in these sorts of things. In generous terms, it’s to serve as a reminder that a translation can be influenced by its translator, but in not-so-generous terms, it’s just a way to leave my mark on this world. Since the theme of this volume was “apology”, I figured I’d go along with it and write a few words myself. I suppose that makes me arrogant after all.

The title of the first arc was perhaps selfishly translated as “Ougi Light” to preserve an antonymic balance with a previous title, “Ougi Dark”, in accordance with the “front-and-back” themes seen in the novel, but the Japanese raito can actually refer to several different English words. Could it be “right”, referring to those apologizing for their wrongdoings? Could it be “write”, referring to the enactment and subsequent amendment of the ayamarei’s commands? Or could it even be “rite”, referring to the idea that apologies are a ritual? Who knows if even the author himself considered all of these possibilities. It’s up to your imagination whether he’s a genius or a fool. (“Ougi Flight” seems to be a more definitive reference to the flight to Okinawa mentioned in the arc, but feel free to consider that it may actually be “Ougi Fright”.)

On behalf of the author, I would like to thank you for reading "Ougimonogatari"—and, of course, I would like to thank you for reading my translation.

Polaris

Updated January 24, 2024

Notes

[←1]

 The speaker uses 者 mono, which is a relatively more formal or respectful word for “person” (as opposed to just 人 hito).

[←2]

 物語 monogatari “stories”, 物事 monogoto “everything”.

[←3]

 表 omote and 裏 ura are Japanese concepts that I’ve translated as “front” and “back” here, respectively. They can refer to the literal front side and back side of something, but figuratively omote can mean the image one wishes to show to outsiders or the public, while ura can mean the image one holds in private, behind closed doors.

[←4]

 Koyomi puns mystery author 江戸川乱歩 Edogawa Ranpo with 初歩 shoho (“basics”). The final kanji is the same.

[←5]

 命日 “deathday” reads as meinichi, which gets shortened to meni in 命日子 Meniko. Originally, the word “many” was written in English as a pun on her name.

[←6]

 There are two ways to write “egg” in kanji, as shown (with different connotations).

[←7]

 Normally the comparison would be 酸性 sansei “acidity” to アルカリ性 arukarisei “alkalinity”, but Meniko uses the homophone 賛成 sansei “approval” instead.

[←8]

 In the previous line, Koyomi uses 肝 kimo “main point”, and then follows up in this line with 肝試し kimodameshi, which commonly means “test of courage”. Taken literally, it could mean that he’s being tested to find the main point.

[←9]

 Meniko uses the terms 被害 higai and 加害 kagai which I’ve translated here as “receiving harm” and “causing harm”, respectively. Koyomi mentions that she leaves out the 者 character (meaning “person”), which would make 被害者 higaisha “victim” and 加害者 kagaisha (“perpetrator”). Using the abstract concepts instead of the more concrete people does seem to make it more complicated.

[←10]

 The original line is ふたつ返事で穴ふたつ futatsu henji de ana futatsu. ふたつ返事 futatsu henji, literally “two responses”, is a figure of speech for “a quick answer”, often used in the sense of quickly accepting a request without thinking too deeply about it. This is mixed with the phrase 人をのろわば穴二つ hito o norowaba ana futatsu, which means “If you curse someone, dig two graves” (essentially meaning you are hurting yourself as well as the person you curse).

[←11]

 夜這い yobai refers to an ancient Japanese practice where a man would sneak into a woman’s bedroom at night to sleep with her. Apparently, when it was common, it was something that took place between willing individuals, but the term has also been used to refer to non-consensual acts. I would normally leave this as just yobai, but it comes up often enough that I translated it to “night-crawling” for readability.

[←12]

 There was a minor pun here with 逸れる soreru (“digress”) and それ sore (“that”).

[←13]

 御免 gomen “pardon”. 免状 menjou “permit” is prefixed with the honorific 御 go to make 御免状 gomenjou as a pun.

[←14]

 免許 menkyo uses the same kanji as 免じて menjite “for their sake” and 許す yurusu “to forgive”.

[←15]

 すみません sumimasen is a common Japanese expression that means “excuse me” (or “sorry” or “thank you”, depending on the context), but it can be taken literally to mean “unresolved”. So the pun is, “Things wouldn’t be resolved with a ‘sorry’, so I’ll say it’s ‘unresolved’.”

[←16]

 Droit du seigneur: literally “right of the lord”, refers to a supposed legal right in medieval Europe that allowed feudal lords to sleep with women on their wedding nights, before even the groom. I normally would not make a note explaining this, but for whatever reason it has a proper Japanese term (初夜権 shoyaken), so it could potentially be a more recognizable term in Japanese than the French term is in English.

[←17]

 睡姦 suikan, “sex with a sleeping person”. Koyomi considers that the word was actually 酔漢 suikan, “drunkard’, instead.

[←18]

 青い鳥文庫 Aoitori Bunko is a collection of books published by Kodansha aimed at elementary school children.

[←19]

 彼クン kare-kun, quite literally “boyfriend-kun”. It’s supposed to be a little cringey, so I played up the cringe factor a bit more.

[←20]

 Earlier, Koyomi uses 逆説 gyakusetsu for “paradox”. He then takes the 説 setsu (“theory”) kanji and relates it to 道聴塗説 douchoutosetsu, which means the “shallow-minded mouthing of secondhand information”. The latter isn’t actually a “theory”, so it’s really just a kanji pun.

[←21]

 Two literary movements that took place in Japan. In particular,  新本格 

shinhonkaku is a subgenre of the mystery genre under which some of Nisio’s works can be classified.

[←22]

 Refers to formatting the columns of writing (Japanese novels display text vertically) into two rows. Kodansha Novels is well-known for publishing books in this format. As far as I can tell, it’s an older style of formatting that’s starting to be used less often.

[←23]

 契りを交わす chigiri o kawasu. Literally “exchanging vows” (e.g. in marriage), but 契り chigiri meaning “vows” can be a figure of speech for “sexual relations”.

[←24]

 The speaker here uses 間違っても machigattemo, which figuratively means “no matter what happens”, and then uses 間違えていても machigaeteitemo, which is the same word with a different inflection, thus indicating the literal meaning of “even if I’m wrong”.

[←25]

 駅近 ekichika, “close to a station”, a common descriptor for good real estate. 激近 gekichika is just a made up word to pun on ekichika, but the kanji together mean “terrifically close”.

[←26]

 逆鱗 gekirin, lit. “reverse scale”. According to legend, a dragon had a single scale that was oriented in a different direction from all of its other scales. This “reverse scale” was considered its weak point, and touching it would send the dragon into a frenzy. It is used figuratively to describe something that causes a person to get enraged. The usage of this here could also be a pun on the previous usage of gekichika.

[←27]

 The common procedure when praying at a shrine is two bows, two claps, and then one bow. 

[←28]

 新年ムード shinnen muudo “New Year’s mood”, 真剣モード shinken moodo “serious mode”.

[←29]

 はぐらかす hagurakasu “to avoid”, ハグ hagu “hug”.

[←30]

 The Japanese title of Gone with the Wind uses a somewhat uncommon inflection of the verb “to go”, 去りぬ sarinu “to be gone”. The verb “to go” can also be inflected as 去らぬ saranu, “to not go”. In the original, Hitagi is confused as to whether it means she has or hasn’t gone.

[←31]

 Wordplay on 悔やむ kuyamu “to repent” and 病む yamu “to suffer from a disease”.

[←32]

 Again, the speaker uses 者 mono, a more formal or respectful way of saying “person” (see footnote 1).

[←33]

 The phrase referred to here is 一般のかた ippan no kata, or “ordinary people”. かた kata is yet another formal or respectful way of saying “person”.

[←34]

 The previous line and this one are all terms that include 者 mono.

[←35]

 ものものしい monomonoshii “pretentious”. A pun on the earlier mono.

[←36]

 彼女 kanojo can simply mean “she, her” but can also mean “girlfriend”. Koyomi used “she” to refer to her in the previous line.

[←37]

 The speaker uses 被加学的 hikagakuteki, which is a made-up word based off of 非科学的 hikagakuteki “unscientific” but replacing hi and ka with the 被 hi from 被害 higai “receiving harm” and the ka from 加害 kagai “causing harm”.

[←38]

 過剰 kajou “excessive” and 異常 ijou “abnormal”, translated as “extraordinary” to attempt some sort of play on words.

[←39]

 綴じる tojiru “to bind together” (used here in the context of stapling something together) and 閉じる tojiru “to close”.

[←40]

 死相 shisou “shadow of death”, 思想 shisou “way of thinking”.

[←41]

  反省 

hansei “contemplate”, 帰省 kisei “homecoming”.

[←42]

  ごめんなさい 

gomennasai means “sorry”, but when written with kanji as 御免なさい the way Shinobu does it, it looks like the word 御免 gomen “sorry” with なさい nasai, a suffix that makes verbs into a command. She likens this to 左様なら sayounara, which would commonly mean “goodbye”, but when taken as two separate words 左様 sayou and なら nara, it can mean “in that case”.

[←43]

 カリスマ karisuma “charisma”, アーリーサマー aariisamaa “early summer”.

[←44]

 The term for “nutrients” is 栄要素 eiyouso, but the text uses 栄要素 ei youso using 要素 youso “components”.

[←45]

 Referencing the idiom 門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む, which literally means “A young monk outside the temple gate can read sutras he has never studied.” Relatedly, Shinobu refers to “that Hawaiian-shirt brat” using 小僧 kozou from the idiom, which can also mean “young monk”.

[←46]

 謝罪 shazai “apology” shares kanji with 罪 tsumi “sin”. The words have come up before, but this might be the first time highlighting their similarity.

[←47]

  Higasa uses うち 

uchi as a first-person pronoun, which is gives off a casual, girly vibe. Though not specifically pointed out by Koyomi, she also ends her sentences with ッス ssu, which is basically a slangy version of the formal です desu. The use of katakana over hiragana could suggest that it’s somewhat unnatural.

[←48]

 気が抜けた ki ga nuketa, “lost heart” and 垢抜けた akanuketa “became stylish”.

[←49]

 A line from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, attributed to Lü Meng.

[←50]

 暖簾に腕押し noren ni ude oshi and 糠に釘 nuka ni kugi, two expressions that both mean “unresisting” or “worthless”. Translated literally because the meanings are expanded on.

[←51]

 晴れる hareru “to be cleared (of suspicion)”, 晴れがましい haregamashii “ostentatious”.

[←52]

 カドメイア kadomeia “Cadmean”, 角番 kadoban “make-or-break”.

[←53]

 納得 “to understand” or “to agree” shares kanji with  納刀 “sheathing a sword”.

[←54]

 あした ashita is given as the abbreviated form of ありがとうございました arigatou gozaimashita, meaning “thank you”.

[←55]

 片付け katazuke “cleanup”, 片付く katazuku  “to finish”, 片手間 

katatema “spare time”.

[←56]

 生き抜く ikinuku “to survive”,  息抜き ikinuki “taking a breather”.

[←57]

 知見 chiken “information”, 治験 chiken “clinical trial”. 

[←58]

 Koyomi repeats 結構 kekkou “fine” twice and then says こけこっこう kokekkou, the onomatopoeia for a rooster crowing. Not particularly meaningful beyond just the repetition of sounds.

[←59]

 荷台 nidai “luggage rack”, 難題 nandai “challenge”.

[←60]

 ノリ nori “mood”, 乗り nori “riding”.

[←61]

 一貫性 ikkansei “consistency”, 一過性 ikkasei “transience”.

[←62]

 四捨五入 shishagonyuu refers to “rounding”. 捨てる suteru “throw away”, 入る hairu “enter”, 拾う hirou “pick up”.

[←63]

 命令形 meireikei “imperative form” (or “command form”, as in grammar), and 命令系統 meireikeitou “chain of command”.

[←64]

  The kanji for 怪異 

kaii “oddity” is reused here in 怪しい ayashii “uncertain” and 異なる kotonaru “to be odd”, before ending with the homophone 妖しい ayashii “bewitching”.

[←65]

 Like all oddity names, these are made-up terms, but I’ve translated 妖魔令 ayamarei as “phantom command”, and 妖魔霊 ayamarei as “phantom spirit”. The important thing to note is that ayamarei sounds like 謝れ ayamare, which is “apologize” in the imperative form. All further instances of ayamarei use the “phantom command” meaning.

[←66]

 Ougi references the idiom 白羽の矢が立つ shiraha no ya ga tatsu, which literally means “A white-feathered arrow sticks out,” but is used for when someone has been chosen or singled out. Ougi amends 白羽 shiraha “white-feathered” with 白蛇 shirohebi “white snake”.

[←67]

 迷う mayou is used in the context of “to hesitate” here, but the more common definition would be “to get lost”.

[←68]

 Mayoi says 可良々不. The kanji here are used in a grading system often seen in Japanese universities. Converting to letter grades, 可 would be D, 良 would be C, and 不 would be F, so Koyomi’s report card would be DCCF. The pun here is that 可良々不 looks visually similar to 阿良々木 “Araragi”. (In terms of the grading system, the pronunciation would actually be ka ryou ryou fu, but I’ve left it as Kararafu to preserve some similarity in English.)

[←69]

 頭隠して髪隠さず atama kakushite kami kakusazu “hiding your head without hiding your hair” references the expression 頭隠して尻隠さず atama kakushite shiri kakusazu “hiding your head without hiding your bottom”, which suggests that you are foolishly believing that you have hidden everything when you have only hidden one part. 髪 kami “hair” is also a pun on 神 kami “god”, and there could also be a reference to the term 神隠し kamikakushi “spiriting away”.

[←70]

 絵馬 ema are wooden plaques that people write wishes on at Japanese shrines.

[←71]

 暗躍 an’yaku means “maneuvering behind the scenes”, but it contains the kanji 暗 an for “darkness”, hence Koyomi mentioning that it’s literal.

[←72]

 When Koyomi says “whoops”, he says おっと otto, which can be written as 夫 otto “husband”. Mayoi riffs off “husband” and brings up “brother” next.

[←73]

 A threefold pun here. Koyomi says how this is ガチ gachi “serious”, and Mayoi follows up about how being tied down to the mountain is がちがち gachigachi “rigid”. Finally, Koyomi makes a reference to カチカチ山 Kachi-kachi Yama (or Kachi-kachi Mountain), which is the title of a Japanese folktale (though the folktale itself isn’t relevant).

[←74]

 Koyomi specifically mentions 東京都 toukyouto, the Tokyo Metropolis. Mayoi follows up with 小京都 shoukyouto, which is a nickname for towns that resemble Kyoto.

[←75]

 Koyomi uses two phrases, 身も蓋もない mi mo futa mo nai “blunt” or “straightforward” (translated here as “not mincing her words”), and 元も子もない moto mo ko mo nai “losing everything”. There’s parallelism in the grammatical structure that was hard to convey in English.

[←76]

 上京 joukyou “going to the capital”, 状況 joukyou “situation”.

[←77]

 Mayoi first says そんな程度の問題なのですよ sonna teido no mondai nano desu yo, which means “That’s about the degree of the problem,” but somewhat dismissively. She then changes it to そんな程度問題なのですよ sonna teido mondai nano desu yo, where 程度問題 teido mondai means “problem of degree”, or a problem of whether something is appropriate or inappropriate depending on the degree of usage.

[←78]

 A pun on メンクイ menkui “looks-obsessed” and 面食らう menkurau “be taken aback”.

[←79]

 米搗きバッタ kometsuki-batta is the “Oriental longheaded locust”, but can figuratively refer to an “obsequious” or “brown-nosing” person. Mayoi circles back to the “locust” meaning when referencing 蝗害 kougai “locust plague”.

[←80]

 真理 shinri “truth”, 心理 shinri “state of mind”.

[←81]

 試し行動 tameshi koudou, lit. “experimental conduct”. A parenting term that refers to a stage in a child’s development where the child will begin to act out in order to test how much their parent or guardian will allow.

[←82]

 謝らせ ayamarase is the causative root form of 謝る ayamaru “to apologize”. As you may have seen, it sounds similar to Manase.

[←83]

 本命 honmei “favorite to win” contains 命 inochi “life”.

[←84]

 徳政令 tokuseirei. Refers to orders to cancel debt that were enacted in medieval Japan.

[←85]

 生類憐れみの令 shourui awaremi no rei. A collection of laws passed in the Tokugawa shogunate to protect animals, particularly dogs, from harm.

[←86]

 凌ぐ shinogu “to get through”, 忍ぶ shinobu “to endure”.

[←87]

 傷物 kizumono, “damaged goods”, but also a slang term for “a woman who has lost her virginity”.

[←88]

 妖しい ayashii “bewitching” shares kanji with 妖魔令 ayamarei.

[←89]

 激情 gekijou “violent emotion”, 劇場 gekijou “theatrical”.

[←90]

 座りこよみ suwari koyomi appears to be a pun on 座り込み suwarikomi “sit-down strike”, which is basically what Koyomi was doing earlier.

[←91]

 腹を割る hara o waru “to have a heart-to-heart”, but literally “to split the belly open”. It’s then followed up with 竹を割ったよう take o watta you “straightforward” or “open-hearted”, but literally “as though bamboo was split”.

[←92]

 地縁 chien “regional connections”, 遅延 chien “delay”.

[←93]

 何様でもない nanisama demo nai “was nobody special”, and 同様 douyou “the same”. The kanji look similar enough that this is likely a visual pun.

[←94]

 待ち伏せ machibuse “ambush”, ひれ伏せ hirefuse “prostration”.

[←95]

 おもてなし omotenashi “hospitality”. Not etymologically related to 表 omote “front side” or “public-facing side” (pairing with 裏 ura “back side” or “private-facing side”, as mentioned in an earlier note), but they do sound similar.

[←96]

 言葉で射る kotoba de iru “to shoot off words”. The kanji used in 謝る ayamaru “to apologize” has the components of 言 “word” and 射る “to shoot”.

[←97]

 食材 shokuzai “ingredients”, 贖罪 shokuzai “atonement”.

[←98]

 In Japanese, 足首 ashikubi “ankle” is a kind of 首 kubi “neck”.

[←99]

 After she starts screaming, Ochiba repeats あやまれ ayamare in hiragana, so the meaning isn’t obvious. It might be assumed to be 謝れ ayamare “apologize”, but it’s ultimately revealed that she means 誤れ ayamare “err” or “make a mistake” (the full sentence being 道を誤れ michi o ayamare, which I’ve translated as “stray from the right path”).

[←100]

 進学 shingaku “proceeding to a higher school (esp. university)”, 進化 shinka “evolution”.

[←101]

 オチ ochi “punch line”, おちおち ochiochi “calm”.

[←102]

 ためになる tame ni naru “beneficial”, 駄目になる dame ni naru “destructive”.

[←103]

 念じる nenjiru “to pray”, 怨念 onnen “grudge”, 観念 kannen “idea, notion”.

[←104]

 十八番 ohako figuratively means “one’s specialty”, but the kanji literally says “eighteenth” (if you read it as juuhachiban). Ougi then says it should be 十三番 juusanban “thirteenth”, referencing the thirteen possibilities from earlier.

[←105]

 言葉尻を捉える kotobajiri o toraeru “to pounce on someone’s words”, 尻について回る shiri ni tsuitemawaru “follow someone around”, and 尻拭い shirinugui “cleaning up after someone’s mess” all contain the word 尻 shiri “butt, behind”.

[←106]

 救う sukuu “to save”, 掬う sukuu “to scoop”.

[←107]

 落ちこぼれ ochikobore “dropout”, 零れ落ちた koboreochita “spilled out”.

[←108]

 Koyomi says 心寂しい kokorosabishii “lonely”, but puts うら ura as the furigana for 心 kokoro “heart”. Once again, 裏 ura is the “back side” or “private-facing side”. 裏切り uragiri means betrayal, and also contains 裏 ura.

[←109]

 頭を隠して尻尾も出さない atama o kakushite shippo mo dasanai “she’s hiding her head and not showing her tail, either”, referencing the expression 頭隠して尻隠さず atama kakushite shiri kakusazu “hiding your head without hiding your bottom” (see footnote 69).

[←110]

 徹頭徹尾 tettoutetsubi means “thoroughly” or “through and through”, containing the kanji for 頭 “head” and 尾 “tail”.

[←111]

 蛇頭蛇尾, literally meaning “snake head, snake tail”, which references the expression 龍頭蛇尾 ryuutoudabi, which literally means “dragon head, snake tail” but figuratively refers to something with a strong beginning and weak ending. Since both the head and the tail are of a snake, it suggests that it’s both a weak beginning and a weak ending.

[←112]

 蛇の道 hebi no michi, literally “snake’s path”. Refers to the expression 蛇の道は蛇 hebi no michi wa hebi, which figuratively means “it takes one to know one”. Nadeko is implying (or hoping) that she and Uroko are not of the same kind.

[←113]

 失望 shitsubou “disappointment”, 人望 jinbou “popularity”.

[←114]

 首の皮一枚 kubi no kawa ichimai. The literal meaning suggests “the neck is hanging on by a small bit of skin”, figuratively meaning “with a tiny shred of hope”. (The full context is 首の皮一枚も残っていない, so there isn’t even a shred of hope remaining.)

[←115]

 こんな風に konna fuu ni “like this”, 風穴 kazaana “air holes”.

[←116]

 実態 jittai “reality”, 実体 jittai “existence.

[←117]

 白昼夢 hakuchuumu “daydream” (literally “white day dream”), 白蛇 shirohebi “white snake”.

[←118]

 節穴 fushiana “knotholes”, figuratively means “blind” or “bad eyes”.

[←119]

 The previous line uses 胸が空く mune ga suku “refreshing” which literally means “heart is empty”. 

[←120]

 劣勢 ressei “inferiority”, 虚勢 kyosei “bold front”.

[←121]

 ざまあみろ zamaamiro “You deserve it”, can also literally mean “Look at the sorry state you’re in”. ざま zama means “sorry state”, and Nadeko puns on this with 女王さま joou-sama “queen” (translated here as “Her Majesty”), with -sama being an honorific to show great respect for those of higher rank.

[←122]

 難しい muzukashii “difficult”, むずかる muzukaru “to be peevish”.

[←123]

 原因 gen’in “cause”, 元凶 genkyou “main culprit”.

[←124]

 同じ穴の狢 onaji ana no mujina, literally “badgers of the same hole”. An idiom similar to “birds of a feather”, but the literal meaning was kept for the sake of the “hole” reference.

[←125]

 髪の短きは七不思議を隠せず kami no mijikaki wa nanafushigi kakusezu, the meaning as translated above. Refers to the phrase 髪の長きは七難隠す kami no nagaki wa shichinan kakusu, “Long hair can hide even the Seven Misfortunes,” a phrase suggesting that long hair can hide a girl’s other faults.

[←126]

 答える kotaeru “to respond”, 報える kotaeru “to be hard on”.

[←127]

 スクラップ・アンド・ビルド, literally “scrap and build” in English. Refers to an idea in Japanese housing of just knocking down old houses and building new ones, as opposed to renovating or remodeling existing houses.

[←128]

 逆立つ sakadatsu “to stand on end”, 逆鱗 gekirin “reverse scale” (see footnote 26), 逆撫子 saka-Nadeko “Anti-Nadeko”. All using the 逆 kanji for “reverse”.

[←129]

 中傷 chuushou “defamation” can be literally read as “medium wound”.

[←130]

 手下 teshita “minion”, 三下 sanshita “small fry”.

[←131]

 コバンザメ kobanzame “remora, suckerfish, sharksucker”. Ends with zame, a form of 鮫 same “shark”, which could make people think that it’s a shark.

[←132]

 Referencing the phrase 腐っても鯛 kusattemo tai, with a similar meaning to “A diamond on a dunghill is a precious diamond still”. Note that sharksuckers have no relation to sea breams.

[←133]

 自業自得 jigoujitoku, “you reap what you sow”. 自縄自縛 jijoujibaku, “being caught in your own trap”. The latter is literally “being tied by your own rope”, where Yotsugi follows up by replacing “rope” with “snake”.

[←134]

 龍頭蛇尾 ryuutoudabi, literally “dragon head, snake tail” and figuratively “strong beginning, weak ending (see footnote 111). 上首尾 joushubi “great success”, literally uses the kanji for “upper, neck, tail”.

[←135]

 撞着語法 douchakugohou “oxymoron”, 誤報 gohou “false report”.

[←136]

 一筋縄ではいかない hitosujinawa de wa ikanai, “can’t be done by ordinary means”, literally “can’t be done with a single rope”.

[←137]

 やる yaru “to do”, やれやれ yareyare “good grief”.

[←138]

 毒を食らわば皿まで doku wo kurawaba sara made “If you eat poison, you may as well lick the plate”, a phrase meaning that if you’ve committed a crime, you may as well devote yourself to being a criminal. Nadeko appends “snake” to this as per usual.

[←139]

 人類を滅ぼす jinrui o horobosu “to overthrow humanity”, 罪を滅ぼす tsumi o horobosu “to atone for one’s sins”.

[←140]

 ドロー doroo “draw”, どろどろ dorodoro “muddy”.

[←141]

 Nickname once used in “Mayoi Snake”. 公爵 koushaku means “duke”.

[←142]

 腹が立つ hara ga tatsu, “to get angry”. The literal meaning is something like “(anger) rises in one’s stomach”, and Nadeko follows up with 蛇腹 jabara which is literally “snake stomach”.

[←143]

 A superstition in Japan states that whistling at night will summon snakes.

[←144]

 破棄 haki “to dispose of”, 唾棄 daki “to detest”.

[←145]

 西表島 Iriomote-jima “Iriomote Island” contains 表 omote “front side”.

[←146]

 Written as 毒蛇 “poisonous snake” with the furigana ハブ habu for the “Okinawa habu”.

[←147]

 Written as 海蛇 “sea snake” with the furigana エラブ erabu for the “erabu umi hebi” (also common in Okinawa).