"I told Koyomi you'd be fine on your own since you're not a kid anymore, but I guess he went to look for you anyway—and while I think he worries too much and is overprotective, what's amazing about him is that he did figure out where you were.
"Y-Yeah... Big Brother Koyomi is amazing," i nod.
But Tsukihi's words stick with me—no, it's not the words themselves, but they make Nadeko think about what happened last night...
Worries too much. Overprotective.
A meddler.
Big Brother Koyomi.
Knowing that he thinks about Nadeko that way, though…
"Hmm? What's the matter, Nadeko? Not feeling well? Keeping your head bowed like that. I can't get a look at your cute face."
"P-Please."
Don't say that, Nadeko begs, lowering her head even more.
Last night, i couldn't even manage that weak of a reply.
"Don't say that... i'm not cute."
"Hmm?" Tsukihi tilts her head further.
"N-Nadeko...isn't cute."
"Whaaat? What the heck? You're cute, Nadeko, you really are.
You're so cute, you're super cute, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you're the cutest thing alive on the entire planet. You know why it's spelled that way, right? Because everyone wants to C-U. You're cute, cute, cute, cute, cute! I thought it as soon as we were put in the same class that April in second grade. I thought, whoa, she's cute!"
Tsukihi attacks with a surge of cute's as if to snuff out Nadeko's already faint objection. i don't just want to shrink, Nadeko wants to cover her body in bedding and roll up into a ball. "Feeling shy" doesn't begin to describe it.
"Yeah, second cutest after me!"
“…”
She follows up with the same remark as that vampire.
Tsukihi looks like such a sleepy girl, but she has a frighteningly strong sense of pride and so much self-respect.
Could she even be an aberration, too?
She actually might be. She does seem supernatural, in various ways.
"I mean, I knew it the moment I saw you," she continues. '"Oh, I need to be friends with this girl! It'd be a huge loss if I can't become friends with her!"'
“Th-Then..." i say. Something that i shouldn't. "I-If Nadeko wasn't cute...we wouldn't have become friends...maybe?"
"Hm?"
Nadeko asked her question with her eyes still cast down, but i don't have to see Tsukihi to know that she's openly doubtful.
"Doubtful" makes it sound better than it is.
Despite the girlish "Hm?" she replies with, it's so much like the "Hmmmm?" that Mister Serpent likes to tack on to mean, What is this dumbass even talking about?
This is the scary Tsukihi.
A dalinquent is a pushover compared to her.
"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"
“i-I’m sorry... I-It's nothing."
"No, I didn't ask for an apology. I didn't ask if it was something nothing. I asked you what it's supposed to mean. Think you could tell me, Nadeko?"
“…”
i'm scared. Why is this happening to Nadeko first thing in the morning?
"What, did you not hear me? Are you not listening? Or is it that you can't answer my question or don't want to?"
“i...i'm sorry."
"Like I told you, I didn't ask for an apology. What, am I phrasing it wrong? Is it my fault? Or are you apologizing because you feel guilty about something? Did you do something to me that's making you feel bad? Are you thinking something that's making you feel
“N-N…”d
i'm scared i'm scared i'm scared.
It's so not how a middle school girl picks fights.
i mean, Tsukihi has her fists clenched.
The angle of Nadeko's downturned eyes means that i have a clear view of Tsukihi's knees, instead of her face, which i'm avoiding, and on top of them she's balling up her fists tighter and tighter.
Moreover, she's not doing it out of anger. She has her thumbs on the outside like you would in martial arts. Tsukihi's making a powerful statement: I might punch you depending on how you answer.
And also: If you don't answer, I'm going to punch you all the same...
I’m scared.
Though i am, i also think something else, which is, Wow—it's hardly the time, but i can't help it.
Wow. Really, wow.
How is she popular with such a personality?
There must be lots of good things about Tsukihi that more than make up for it—that's what i think.
Yes.
Meaning, of course—it's not just her cuteness.
"All right. I'm punching you. In the stomach."
"Wait! i'll tell you, i'll tell you, i'll tell you!" Seeing Tsukihi pop up without any hesitation in her movement or indecision on her face, her anger boiling over all too easily, Nadeko holds her own hands up toward the ceiling and submits loudly and fluidly like you'd never expect of her under normal circumstances. "Y-You see, Nadeko was told that by someone. This person said to her, 'Aren't you glad you happen to be cute."'
In fact, it was a vampire, not a person, but i'm not going to be that honest—it'll just sound like a lie even though i'm telling the truth.
Nadeko would get punched. In the stomach. The fact that it's not her face proves Tsukihi's not bluffing.
"'Aren't you glad you happen to be cute'?"
“Y-Yes… R-Right. Y-You did a good impression. Perfect."
"Um, I wasn't trying to do an impression... "
Still, the praise doesn't seem to offend Tsukihi, and she looks a little bashful as she sits back down.
So praising her works. How easy...
Actually, i fudged the diction, so it wasn't even possible to do an impression.
Aren't ye glad ye happen to be cute.
Those are the precise words Miss Shinobu spat out—with a faint smile on her face.
"B-But...it, this, wasn't Nadeko's first time... People have been telling her for a long time. Th-That all i am is cute... i'm all looks. .. Things like that."
All you are is cute.
It was—a friend who said so.
X, A girl i thought was Nadeko's friend.
Who i thought was Nadeko's best friend—girl who put the "charm" on Nadeko.
"That 'it's not fair, when you never do anything'—"
"Huh... But in the end, isn't that just jealousy?" asks Tsukihi.
Try rephrasing it, and you'll see what a weird thing it is to say. Like, ('Aren't you glad you happen to be smart,' or 'Aren't you glad you happen to be fast,' or 'Aren't you glad you happen to be rich'—once you put it that way, there's nothing in the world that doesn't just happen to be the case."
"Yeah. That's true, but—"
"What about me? I 'just happen' to be my big brother's little sister.
“…”
So the first thing Tsukihi comes up with for her strong points is having Koyomi as a big brother?
How terrifying. Just how does she see herself?
"Don't worry about it. I didn't think you'd run away from home or anything when you were taking that walk last night, but actually, did you? Because someone said that to you?"
"N-No..."
She has the order backwards.
But it's true that Miss Shinobu saying those words to Nadeko was such a big shock that it made her want to run away—not the words themselves, but something like the hostility in them.
A hostility meant to hurt Nadeko.
It was a shock.