Nadeko Prime’s search for a topless Meek Nadeko leads her to the Araragi residence. None of that family is there when she enters, but the front door was forced. Rather than Meek, the Nadeko she finds in Koyomi’s bedroom is Wrath Nadeko, who immediately rushes her with a sharp gouge chisel.
Wrath is like an exposed nerve, all emotion and, well, wrath and no logic or reasoning. Prime will never be able to convince her she won’t force her to work for her; every fiber of Wrath’s being is designed not to trust anyone, not even and especially not herself.
Prime is no match for Wrath in strength or speed, so she instead employs trickery that works wonders against such a direct and unyielding opponent. Wrath dodges Prime’s first attempt to rush her with a piece of paper, but when Wrath stabs her, she stabs the paper under Prime’s hoodie, which successfully seals her. Two down, two to go!
With the tear in her hoodie exposing her belly, Nadeko decides to borrow some of her “self-centered friend” Tsukihi’s clothes. And lest we forget how wealthy the Araragi’s are, get a load of that lavish walk-in wardrobe! I also like how the ensemble she picks, while cute in its own right, calls to mind many of Nadeko’s past outfits, including Meek’s hat and Flirty’s frills.
After answering the Araragis’ phone and inexplicably announces herself as Nadeko to the person calling (Hi Senjougahara!), she makes a cartoony break for it. With no further leads on Meek Nadeko, Prime heads to the North Shirahebi Shrine, the most likely place God Nadeko went. She finds a macabre sight: pieces of Yotsugi strewn all over the shrine courtyard.
Of course, as Yotsugi is both a corpse and a doll, she is neither dead nor harmed. Nadeko simply needs to gather her pieces (the hand cart is a nice practical touch) and squishes them together like clay. As she does, Yotsugi describes the circumstances that led to her uncerimonious disassembly.
Yotsugi was following Meek Nadeko, who turned out to be merely a decoy for God Nadeko, who used a snake fang to rip her to pieces. There’s also a possibility that Meek, whom Yotsugi last saw not topless but in a school-issued swimsuit, may now be God’s ally, possibly united in their disinclination to acquiese to Prime Nadeko’s request to help her draw.
In the worst case scenario (which is probably where we’ll end up), Meek may already have evolved or deified into a second God Nadeko. Yotsugi isn’t keen to call upon any specialists (or con men) to assist as it would reveal her failure and possibly lead to said specialists eliminating Nadeko, once they learn of her shikigami-spawning powers.
Yotsugi also doesn’t want to ask the new god of the shrine (i.e. Mayoi) for help, because it would be presumptuous and lead the god to distrust them (the idea being they should be doing her a favor she asks of them, not vice versa). Worse still, even though Yotsugi is reassembled by Nadeko, she’s still in bad shape physically, to the point she may only be capable of a single Unlimited Rulebook.
That said, she at least knows where God Nadeko is, thanks to the fact she literally “dealt her hand” by gripping the back of the God with her severed right hand. She doesn’t know her exact location, but she knows which direction she’s in, and that all of the Nadekos should be limited to Prime’s general living area (i.e. the town).
Since it’s unlikely she’ll be able to blast both Nadekos at once, she tells Nadeko it’s time for her to continue the bravery and resourcefulness that led her to capture Flirty and Wrath. When Nadeko predictably expresses worry relying primarily on her to capture the remaining two is impossible, Yotsugi clarifies that she didn’t merely capture Flirty and Wrath, she exorcised them.
Nadeko Prime isn’t one Nadeko, but three. Add Yotsugi in a support role with a pocket Unlimited Rulebook, and our budding mangaka has a fighting chance to reclaim those remaining wayward yet essential parts of herself.
