Wouldn't he?
Now that he isn't Nadeko's delusion but truly resurrected.
But that's also why this entire conversation is silly—because Mister Serpent now equals Nadeko.
Surpassing a delusion, surpassing a possession, one and the same.
The Mister Serpent sealed in that talisman—has been resurrected in Nadeko after she swallowed it.
Mister Serpent is.
Nadeko.
Which is why everything from here is just Nadeko talking to herself—as usual.
"Did the delusions start when i saw a white snake at the shoe cupboard?"
"Yes, but that's not the exact point of origin—in terms of when it started, for you, I'd say around the beginning of the month before last."
“The month before last. .. beginning of September?" \
The beginning of September means—
"Around when you found out that Big Brother had a girlfriend—when you witnessed him walking happily with her. That's when it all started' for you."
Or maybe that's when it all ended—revises the Serpent.
The end.
"You sure tried to sound like an adult when you spoke to his little sister—but really, Nadeko, you broke a little."
"Broke?"
"Well, that probably isn't the right way to put it. It's normal, after all. It's the regular way to feel. Just like your friend did towards you, dear, you simply became jealous—of his little lover."
“…”
Jealousy. Envy.
Love and all the possessiveness that comes with it—possession.
Oh.
So that's when Nadeko—was bitten.
By a snake.
By a poisonous snake.
When she was smitten—not by love but by a god.
"And then. .. And then what did Nadeko do?"
"Why are you asking me that about yourself? You see, you just thought the same thing that your friend did, Like attracts like, don't you agree, hmmmm?"
"The same thing. ,
Having heard this much, there's no need for more questions, no matter how jumbled Nadeko's memories—the bit about fabricating a narrative should have done it, but i still needed to make sure.
From the Serpent's mouth.
That's how i have to hear it—which makes sense.
It makes sense.
Because Nadeko relied on Mister Serpent for that purpose alone—resurrecting him after he lost his faithful, fell into obscurity, and got sealed away to rest in peace.
Fabricating him.
"If i thought the same thing.. .i tried to use a 'charm' to get rid of that person—Big Brother's girlfriend."
"No, no, stuck in that class of yours, you knew better than anyone how unreliable a 'charm' can be—that's not what you did. But you're right about trying to get rid of her. Wow, you really nailed it."
“…Well, this is about Nadeko."
"You didn't try to take his lover's place, of course. It was just that her existence posed an obstacle to you—for your continued devotion to Koyomi."
"How selfish."
Well, Nadeko is talking about herself.
i go on like it's someone else's business.
"Wallowing in a love that can't be fulfilled because falling in love is tiresome.. .and after everything it's done for you, feeling jealous because that person finds a girlfriend."
"The feeling might not be jealousy—but what could you do? You couldn't stay in love with someone who had a girlfriend, but then you weren't ever going to go after him."
"Right, what could i do…"
Nothing, probably—
That must have been what Nadeko told herself.
"But...if Nadeko didn't rely on charms, what did she do?"
"You chose a more reliable method," Mister Serpent explains. "In other words, you prayed to a god."
"A god?"
In other words—to Mister Serpent? Is that it?
"After learning that Koyomi had a girlfriend, you visited this shrine whenever you had the time. Do you really not remember at all?"
“...i don't. So i made the traditional hundred visits?"
"Well, no, not a hundred."
"You said reliable, but…"
Is it really? i mean…
"Right. Just praying to a god—shouldn't actually be reliable.
That's what anyone would think. But it was different for you, dear, wasn't it? Because this is the same shrine where you were freed of the 'charm' your friend placed on you in June."
Meet an aberration and you'll be drawn by aberrations.
Is that—what that means?
In other words, knowing about aberrations you end up believing in aberrations—
"Oh. So Nadeko learned then—that turning to the gods works."
Which is why—she made the hundred visits.
Well, more like fifteen, i guess.
That was about as often Nadeko could have visited given her daily routine.
"Still, i can't believe i was able to forget that. .. So did i erase the memories because they were inconvenient?"
"You think you can do something that convenient? You're not a certain someone.
A certain someone? Who could that be.
Mister Serpent and Nadeko don't share the same knowledge anymore, so i don't know who he's referring to.
"You're just pretending to have forgotten, dear. And that's more than enough."
Pretending to forget. As in lying.
So i lied?
Nadeko—was the liar.
Well, why wouldn't she—tell lies?
Since she lies to Big Brother, she would to herself too.
"But even if turning to the gods works...even if it does, there'd be no point in doing it here," i observe.
This shrine, after all—fell into ruin.
A shrine deprived of faith. There were no gods here.
"Right. Which you, dear—were told by a woman named Ogi Oshino. That morning.
That morning—the day i was nearly run over by a bicycle.
The morning of Tuesday, October thirty-first.
(Say, Nadeko. I just happen to have seen it many times, and you always seem to be going up to that shrine, and I don't know what you're praying for, but—there's no point.)
(You didn't know? There's no god at that shrine.) (It functions as a place, sure, but it's finished as an abode for the divine.)
(You can pray all you want, but it's not going to do anything.)
(Well—it might be a different matter if it got back its object of worship.)
(By the way, Koyomi Araragi has its object of worship now—Miss Izuko Gaen entrusted it to him, just a few months ago. It must be somewhere in his house. Given who we're talking about, it can't be stored just randomly.)
(A talisman.)
(You could say its god is sealed in that paper—by the way, did you know that the onmyoji who sealed the god in that talisman a thousand years ago is the same person who made the amulet Araragi-senpai used when he saved you? That's all you need to hear to understand just how valuable and terrifying that talisman is, right?)
(And how mighty the god is.)
(If that god was resurrected—if the seal was undone, I'm sure he'd easily grant any wish of yours—no, really.)
(How to undo the seal? How would I know?)
(It's a snake god, so maybe you just need to get some snake to swallow the talisman whole—)
"—You got that tacky scrunchy from that high school girl that morning, too. As a 'token of your budding friendship'..."
If we were that "deep in conversation"—
Then no wonder time passed so fast.
“...And that got you started on fabricating a narrative."
i did first see the white snake, yes, right after running into Miss Ogi.
"So Nadeko atoning for killing the snakes... Even that was just a pat excuse. A tale i spun so i could search Big Brother's room for the talisman—Mister Serpent's object of worship…"
Nadeko even exploited her crime for the purpose.
A delusion. A fabrication. A bald lie.
Nadeko tried to resurrect a god just to have her selfish wish granted.
And to resurrect that god—i forged a god's voice.
Not only was Nadeko hallucinating—she wasn't looking at reality.
With a tale of her own creation as a decoy—
Nadeko plotted behind its cover to restore a god.
.But how did i unlock the front door of Koyomi's house from inside? That has to be the doing of an aberration. A hallucination can't explain that."
"You used an actual key, that's all," the Serpent replies dismissively. How sober and unromantic. "Why did you leave home the previous night in a way your parents would notice, resulting in Tsukihi and Koyomi being told about it? To enter the Araragi residence and borrow the key, of course—the plan must have been to return and take your time searching the house when it was empty in the afternoon. Sure, in the end, you could have tried looking for it that night, but there was no guarantee it was in Koyomi's room, and there was no telling when his little sister might come in."
"Tsukihi really did end up coming in."