That night.
Just like Nadeko promised Mister Serpent, she goes to find his corpse—and slips out from her home.
i decide to keep it a secret that i'm feeling excited over acting a little like a bad girl.
"Hsshh, hsshh—I'm relieved," the Serpent comments as soon as i'm outside, the first thing i've heard from him in a while.
Could he really have been sleeping, like he said? To—what was it, conserve his energy?
"It's because of what you said this afternoon... I thought that maybe you were all talk when you accepted my request, and I was worried that you might not do anything."
“…i wouldn't do that to you."
Anyway, Nadeko pleads, don't talk yet.
i want him to be quiet until we're a little farther from Nadeko's house.
Otherwise i'll be a "pitiful girl."
For once, Mister Serpent does exactly what i ask—and after a bit, he tells me again, "I was worried."
When i hear him repeat it, it makes Nadeko think it wasn't out of "pretens." He really must have been worried.
And he must really feel relieved.
"It's not like I interviewed you and took your character into consideration to settle on you as my partner—if you were an irresponsible, half-hearted liar, my hands would've been tied. Not that I have any limbs, of course..."
His snake joke isn't very funny.
People say that Nadeko is "proan" to laughter, but i can't laugh at unfunny jokes.
"i don't do what i can't do. .. i can't do what i don't do, and i don't do what i can't do. That's all," Nadeko says, walking. "i...might be an irresponsible...half-hearted liar. You might be exactly right... At the very least, i can't promise that i'm not those things. i can't. But... Well, as far as finding your object of worship, Mister Serpent.. .i, uh, think i can do it..."
"I wonder. Do you really think you'll be able to find it when
you're being that unenthusiastic?"
“…”
i feel pretty annoyed that Mister Serpent is still trying to "cuarrel" with me, and it does make Nadeko less interested in doing this, but yes, i guess you can't blame him for thinking that Nadeko isn't a serious girl after seeing the kind of class president she is and the way she acts towards her homeroom teacher.
And it's not like Nadeko is actually a serious girl. .. Of course, i don't like being called unserious, either...
"Will you listen to Nadeko, Mister Serpent?"
"Hm? What?"
"Well, it's...a grype, but will you listen?"
“...?Sure, I will. Go ahead."
"Well-behaved girls who are shy and bad at talking.. .quiet girls like Nadeko. ..weak girls who are bad at making friends and who cry over anything... For some reason, they're always thought of as 'virchus.'"
'"Virchus'?"
Oh, virtuous, Mister Serpent says.
Nadeko nods.
"And that's probably why everyone tried to make Nadeko be the class president, and why Mister Sasayabu made that ridiculous request... But it's not true... Nadeko's not virchus or innocent, she's not a 'good girl'. Honestly, it's kind of tough when you have to let down people who decided on their own to expect that of you," i say, recalling Mister Sasayabu's disappointed expression.
It really is a grype.
Not something i should be sharing.
But it's just as tough to betray someone's expectations as it is to have your expectations betrayed. Even if they're unfounded.
"Which is why i ought to tell you now, Mister Serpent... Nadeko wants to do everything she can to atone for cutting your 'breathren' into pieces and killing them.' But that's not a guarantee that i'll absolutely find your object of worship. And if that time comes, please..."
Don't be disappointed.
Nadeko speaks the words then keeps walking.
She doesn't look at the Serpent on her right wrist.
It took a good bit of courage just to say that. Courage has surprisingly bad cost-performance. It feels like i should have saved more for later when i think about the kind of work i'll have to do—
"Hsshh, hsshh. Well, I don't mean to force you to give me an absolute guarantee. I just can't bear to have the search conducted unseriously—after all, you're the only one I can rely on."
"You just Kanbaru?"
"I just can't bear to.
“Can't bare to... Um."
In that case, Nadeko switches topics.
Not the way she changes the subject when it's inconvenient with an "anyway" or a "that aside." It feels like we're finally about to dive into the real issue.
"Nadeko has to sleep at night, too, so i can't stay up until morning searching. ..Mister Serpent. How should Nadeko look for your object of worship?"
The dowsing example was just a guess, not anything definite.
Unless he starts by telling Nadeko a way to find this object of worship, whose location and form we don't know, there's no figuring out where to go from here...
"Hsshh, hsshh. Just wander around this area for now—despite what I said earlier, it actually shouldn't be too far from the shrine."
“…Why?"
"I don't really know how to answer that, but it seems only proper to start at the original location, no? It's not like it was stolen or anything."
So it wasn't stolen?
But—even if it wasn't, Nadeko somehow assumed it was taken away by someone.
After all, since an object of worship can't move on its own, how could it disappear unless someone had it with them? It's not going to walk off, is it?
...Still, it's an aberration.
Not to mention it was a corpse worthy of being enshrined as a god. Maybe it really can walk on its own. It's only common sense that holds that dead bodies can't move. Vampires are like immortal
corpses, so maybe you could say that corpses "night-walk," too.
"When it comes down to it, this object of worship is my body, a real, physical body. I'll certainly react if we pass near it—my body's going to vibrate, like a cell phone. At that point, you can look around the area and close in on the spot."
"So Nadeko just needs to keep wandering like this?"
That would kind of feel like a letdown.
i'm wearing a baseball cap right now, not a knit hat, but i still
pull down the brim thanks to this feeling of being faked out.
Not that it means anything.
Just a habit.
"We start with that."
The Serpent's words seem to hint at a violent future, but Nadeko pretends not to notice.
She probably wouldn't hear a very good answer even if she pressed him.
i pretend not to know what i don't want to know.
And i pretend not to understand what i don't want to understand.
". ..Do objects of worship get buried in the ground or stuck inside walls? In other words, could it be hidden somewhere?"
"Well—dunno. I have no idea what state it's in, either. Like you suggested, maybe it's even been sliced into pieces and scattered all around. Forget being hidden, maybe it's been crucified on a bunch of different trees. Hsshh, hsshh."
“…”