Okay.
An hour has passed since i screamed like a dying demon king pierced through the heart with a legendary sword.
i don't really remember what happened afterwards.
It's vague. It's fuzzy.
It's a total mystery why i'm now staggering toward school.
It's strange that i'm lurching from left to right to right to left, not knowing whether i'm awake or asleep, vision blurred and warped, and heading to middle school.
Why am i still alive?
It's strange.
To escape reality, i try thinking back to the faint memories, and Yes, the first flashback is Big Brother running into his room after hearing Nadeko scream and slugging Tsukihi.
Yikes, i think.
A girl getting punched with a closed fist basically right before
Nadeko's eyes... The image is so shocking i lose interest in finding fault with Tsukihi for the "atrosity" she committed against Nadeko.
Even Solomon wouldn't try to punch his little sister in two.
"Sengokuuuuuuuu! Hang on! Relax, you lost your bangs, that's all!"
He held Nadeko's shoulders and swung her back and forth.
Nadeko lost her bangs, that's all?
Nope.
Isn't that, like, everything?
What's left if you take Nadcko's bangs away from her?
"It looks really weird, but don't worry!"
It looks really weird, but?
It wasn't even an attempt to comfort Nadeko... He was just announcing a fact...
"Karen! Get over here! Take Sengoku somewhere safe! I need to have a talk with this littler little sister of mine right now! No, I have nothing to tell her anymore, but the two of us need to be alone!"
"Heh, heheheh," Tsukihi laughed eerily as she lay under Big Brother's mount.
The way she laughed with blood pouring out of her mouth was so awfully real.
It isn't super-deformed or anything.
"H-How bold, Koyomi. You want us to be alone?"
"Bold is damn right! I'm about to do things to your body that will get censored for teens and Tokyoites! You better be ready!"
"D-Don't go too hard on me..."
"Oh, I'm gonna show you hard!"
A terrible sibling fight was about to break out.
No, Karen forced Nadeko out of the room after coming in like some kind of beast summoned by Big Brother Koyomi, so i don't know if their fight was terrible, or worse.
"Wh-What the hell have you done, Tsukihi... Even I can't defend you on this one..."
Shaking uncharacteristically and streaming a bizarre sweat (not the refreshing kind), Karen brought Nadeko to the first-floor washroom. Then—
"Umm...I want to say that Tsukihi normally uses...”
She took a pair of scissors off of the shelf. These were serrated and for trimming hair, rather than the regular kind for cutting pieces of paper that Tsukihi used.
"We can't leave you like this, I want to clip it so it looks natural... Is that okay?"
Karen was being considerate.
Karen, who's supposed to be crude and tactless...
"What's it like now?" i asked, looking toward the mirror with
Nadeko's unfocused eyes.
In that mirror, i saw—who?
That's what the sight made Nadeko want to ask—a girl with no bangs, whose eyebrows and forehead were out in the open for everyone to see.
The end.
"No way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way," Nadeko mutters as she heads toward school—hiding her face with both palms as she walks.
i actually want to wear a hat pulled all the way down... Even a bowler would be fine, but i'd have to take off any hat at school, no matter what kind...
i even feel like taking the day off.
i don't want to go to school with this hair...
Well, it's a hairdo i can kind of be seen wearing thanks to Karen's surprising styling talent. .. Still, there's no hiding the imbalance between Nadeko's bangs and the sides and bottom.
There's no balancing it without having her hair cut extra short.
Try as she might to hide her face as she walks, it's useless—her
small hands can cover her face, but they only reach up to her forehead.
i feel like everyone's laughing at Nadeko,
"No way, no way, no way…"
"No point in trying to run away from reality, my dear Nadeko—hmmmm?"
Then.
i hear a voice coming from Nadeko's face, now unguarded by her bangs—well, it wouldn't from her face, it actually comes from right next to it.
Maybe i should just say from the wrist of her right hand covering the right half of her face.
Yes.
In other words, after all this time, it's Mister Serpent.
“…”
"Hm? What's the matter, Nadeko? Why aren't you reacting?
"Sh-Shut up," i say.
It's rare for Nadeko to be so rude.
It's a rough tone you shouldn't use toward anyone even if they aren't gods. But it's all too much for Nadeko right now.
i can't believe you... Mister Serpent."
"You can't believe me? Why not?"
"Y-You didn't save Nadeko.. ."
"C'mon, don't be ridiculous—what could I have done in that situation? I did exactly what I promised you and stayed quiet until the very end, didn't I? Far from scolding me, you oughta be praising me, hmmmm?
“…”
Logically speaking, he's right.
But i'm not talking about logic.
This is about how i feel.
"Either way, what reason do I have to save you? It's pretty high-handed to complain that I didn't, you know. A real self-centered, me-first story, hmmmm?"
"That's true, but...urrrk," Nadeko groans, lowering her right hand.
When Mister Serpent starts going on like this, acting as an aberration and not a scrunchy, he's too close for comfort up against Nadeko's face (to put it in a romantic way, our lips were nearly touching) and it feels hard to talk to him.
But since her hands are already small, it's not like Nadeko can
cover her whole face with one hand, and she gives up and puts down her left hand as well.
Well.
i can't play peek-a-boo like this all day, anyway...
No matter how much you peek-a-boo, people can see you.
This bangless girl.
Ahh, i feel so anxious. It's like i'm walking around buck naked.
No matter how much i look down or away, Nadeko can't hide her face. What is this.. .immoral sense of freedom?
Does Miss Kanbaru always feel this way?
It'd be amazing if she does. She'd have Nadeko's respect.
Well, not that Miss Kanbaru is always walking around buck naked.
"Nah, it's just normal. What immoral sense of freedom..." Mister Serpent teases like he's read Nadeko's mind.