Snakes in my hair? It’s more likely than you think. - Chapter 21：Maybe You Should Keep Researching

Juno didn’t think it would be this bad, this is terrible. She can’t help the feeling of sadness that overcomes her. Normally, anything remotely sad will have her in tears so it’s no surprise that she’s already crying but it’s different this time.

She’s not the one who’s crying.

She wipes her tears away and whispers gently, “Hey are you okay?”

It’s hard to describe it but Juno knows that it’s gone. Again, and probably only for a few minutes.

So those tears were really the snake’s.

//Noa went missing. Just like Mila. Could this be the same thing? Also, the snakes went missing too but now they’re back. Why? How is this all connected? I can’t even ask the Immortal Snake because it’s grieving.//

She goes to type something new in the search bar but her hand wavers.

//Is that monster the cause of all of this? Is this the enemy? Did it, did it target Mila?! Is she going to…//

Juno shakes her head. She’s overthinking! There’s not enough proof that it’s even real-

She freezes.

“You’re not saying that…”

“Oh.”

“B-but you still don’t know what it is exactly?”

“…”

She swallows down her fears and asks, “What should we do now?”

She looks up ‘ferocious monster’, of course that gives her nothing substantial. She tries being more specific and types ‘ferocious monster from 2500 years ago’ with the results being slightly better. She stumbles upon an article that describes the monster similarly to the other source.

Juno quickly realizes this monster doesn’t even have an actual name.

That’s true. This article refers to it as ‘faceless ferocious monster’, ‘monster living in the shadows’ and ‘mythical monster’.

It seems that since it never made much of a controversial appearance except for that time two thousand five hundred years ago, people just don’t seem to care as much anymore. Juno can’t help but feel that if she had better resources than just her laptop, they would find out more. But this is all she has to work with!

The school library itself could have more information but it’s most likely restricted. It’s also huge and a pain to navigate. There’s also the fact that she can’t leave the hospital just yet.

//Maybe Eve has..//

Anyways! She continues researching without much luck and doesn’t stop until there’s a knock at her door.

It’s one of the other nurses bringing her some food.

Oh yikes, it’s already 1? Where has the time gone?

Juno thanks the nurse but she eyes the food with doubt. There’s no way she’s going to eat that again.

Juno has no idea either to be honest.

“What?”

It’s silent for a moment before asking,

“Did you really forget all of that too?”

“Hm.”

Juno’s mind goes blank. She doesn’t have the heart to tell the immortal snake that she knows less than it does.

No offense Medusa!

“Um…”

“Well I don’t know if this is like, important but almost everyone knows about Medusa and Athena’s rivalry. Not enemies per say. Although, that’s kind of debatable. Uh…”

Ouch.

“Yeah? Like there’s always been things they’ve fought over. Uhh wars and … stuff.”

“Hm. Yeah. I think so? But she’s like ancient or at the very least the story is? I don’t know much about her except for that. I mean, who rejects Medusa right? And lives?”

“O-oh yeah, sorry.”

“Hey! I’m not the best at remembering things okay? Well, boring stuff. Not that she’s boring! Aha! It’s just a lot since she’s super old!”

“Aah wait! There was this guy that tried killing her.”

“Ack- like, I was taught that he found an all powerful sword that would kill anyone, as long you b-behead them. Even an Immortal Goddess! He almost killed her! But he failed? I mean of course he did! It’s Medusa. He got sent to the underworld to repent? His name was Perseus?”

The snake hisses,

“I think so? At least, he should be! It’s mostly believed that he is but…”

“There’s like other versions of that ending too. The one I was taught was that he repents in the underworld but others say that he was e-excuted with the sword. I think there’s also a version where he was also a god, and was stripped of his powers and left to die a mortal death. Or that he became a fallen god. Though I guess suffering in hell is more ideal to teach your kids or whatever.”

She sighs but doesn’t complain.