"Nadeko just thinks she couldn't help it...because Nadeko thought she'd die otherwise, There's a possibility that Nadeko just might feel remorse, but I don't."
“...But your massacre was meaningless, and in fact, only made things worse for you, didn't it?"
"Still, i couldn't help it...because Nadeko didn't know."
"i couldn't help it. Yeah. Nadeko can deal with anything that way. Because everything that happens to her is someone else's problem."
Even the way i'm trespassing on Big Brother Koyomi's home now—i feel like there's nothing i could do about it. If he gets mad at Nadeko—she'll probably apologize.
After all, someone is mad.
Of course i'll apologize.
Like it's someone else's problem.
"And it's because you're mad, Mister Serpent—that Nadeko is atoning like this."
"No, I'm not particularly mad at you—
"i bet Nadeko could kill a person and still say, 'i couldn't help it'—
"Nadeko!" Mister Serpent suddenly shouts—surprising her and freezing her hand before it can flip another page.
"Wh-What... Is it something about the girl on this page?"
"No, no... The bookmark that was inserted there."
"The bookmark?"
The one that fell on the floor?
Could it be a special first-run bonus with a girl's photo on the opposite side? Nadeko does as she's told and picks up the facedown bookmark.
And then—
"Ah…”
Drawn on the front side—is the picture of a snake.
One that's eating its own tail.
A picture—of an Ouroboros.
"And wait.. .is this not a bookmark...but a talisman?"
i think back.
Yes, the talisman that Koyomi stuck on Kita-Shirahebi Shrine's hall in June—the talisman that Mister Oshino supposedly entrusted to him.
That's what it looks like. It's almost "identacle."
Wasn't the work of putting that talisman on the shrine worth more than five million yen? Of course, there were characters written on that talisman, while there's an illustration on this one. To say that they're similar might not make logical sense.
But.
The red ink used—to draw the image, and to draw those characters, is similar—the strokes of the brush are undeniably—
"I see," Mister Serpent says. "So that's the form it was preserved in—my object of worship was saved not in material form but as an image... I didn't expect that one. Hsshh, hsshh."
"An image..."
It wasn't a corpse.
It wasn't a pile of bones, or even a mummy...
That makes sense, it'd be easy to take away, to save, to hide like this—and it helps explain why Mister Serpent couldn't find it despite his powerful dowsing skill. But...
An image?
"S-So people can worship this? i mean, it's—paper-thin."
"They sure can.
Even if it's—paper-thin, Mister Serpent answers Nadeko without so much as a pause.
He's shamelessly contradicting what he said before.
"You humans don't think twice about worshipping images."
"W-Well, true, we do fall in love and start admiring them, but
that whole culture is pretty recent..."
"No, no. That's not what I mean."
"A-Are you saying like paintings and not just photographs?"
"i'm talking about Rembrandt and Da Vinci, that sort of stuff."
"Ahh..."
Okay.
Now that he mentions it, that's worship—isn't it?
"It doesn't have to be an image," the Serpent says. "It could be music, or literature—anything could end up being worshipped. And of course that includes corpses, rocks, trees, and the like.
Nadeko takes another look at the talisman again when he says this—hm.
It just looks like a plain image to Nadeko.
Not the kind that gets worshipped, i think.
It would still look like a bookmark if it never got referred to as talisman.. .but maybe that's exactly why this was the perfect hiding place.
Normally, you wouldn't expect a shrine's object of worship to be hidden in the pages of a dirty magazine—in fact, isn't that a good way to get yourself cursed?
It might actually be why Big Brother's luck has been so bad recently, and his life full of so many disasters...
"Turning an existence, a concept, into an image to preserve it forever—I guess there's wisdom in it. But to think that I, Master Serpent, could ever have a body so paper-thin—hsshh, hsshh. You're right, Nadeko, knowing oneself is harder than you'd expect." . .So does that mean everything's okay?" Nadeko asks, looking at one side of the talisman, then the other—to check with Mister Serpent.
A final check.
"Now, Mister Serpent, you have your energy back... Which means you can keep on existing without having to worry about running out—
"Well, I doubt it'll last forever—this piece of paper is only like a copy of the original, and it's not like I'll be able to regain all the faith in me that's been lost. But I should be able to continue on for a few centuries—a lot longer than if I was an e-book. Come on, Nadeko.
Hurry up and let me eat that talisman."
"Let me eat..."
"Don't worry, I'll keep my promise—I'll make sure to resurrect your bangs. No, maybe I owe you more as thanks. If you have any other wish, I'll grant it for you."
Mister Serpent is in a better mood than he's ever been—you could even say he's high.
i don't blame him.
He finally found the thing he wanted, his body—his energy, the source of it.
“…”
"Hm? Nothing, Nadeko, no wish? I don't mind how ambitious. Like reversing what happened at school today—I should have enough energy left over to pull it off."
"Ambitious..."
Something—out of reach.
A wish.
Like i'm visiting a shrine—in that case, what does Nadeko want?
What do I want.
For the girl called Nadeko Sengoku.
"i don't need you to make it so that today never happened."
"Hmm? Are you sure, Nadeko? After all that talk about your life being over? Well, I'd only be erasing everyone's memories, but still—are you really fine with everything being over, hmmmm?"
"It doesn't matter either way... You see, Nadeko is bad at working in groups."
"Huh. Sure, I'd assume as much."
"But sometimes i think about how arrogant it is to say that you don't work well in groups, too—what you're saying is that you don't belong with the people around you. Nadeko is scared of the words 'pair up with whoever you like'—because there's no one she likes."
"That's why it doesn't matter either way—for Nadeko, it's been over for Nadeko from the start. It's been over for her for a long time now. It's just that I never saw that. It was already over, done for, and not about today, whether or not that charm was cast, but no matter what."
It was already over.
“...So, what, nothing?" presses Mister Serpent. His good mood and all the excitement has vanished—he sounds serious. "Nothing you want to ask a god for?"
"Ask for."
"Pray for, if you prefer."
i think.
The question makes Nadeko think.
It's tiresome, but—i think.
"My dear..."
Nadeko speaks.
Speaks the tiresome words.
"My dear Big Brother Koyomi... If Nadeko asked for him to love her back...could you make even that come true?"
"That's asking for too much, Sengoku."
The voice comes from behind Nadeko—isn't Mister Serpent's.
i don't have to turn around to be able to tell.
He's here now—right behind Nadeko.
Big Brother Koyomi.
Koyomi Araragi is here.