Sherumi and Menae

"Menae"

- I wonder why we can't go together...? But soon enough we'll understand... We're twins after all.

"Snipers" Sherumi and Menae (シェルミとメナエ) are siblings that appeared in Distant Characters 1 and 2 and had a brief appearance in How are you? Somewhere - Jiruo. In Distant Characters 1, it is briefly explained that their conversation was located in the East District of Orth.

By some as of yet unknown circumstances, the two of them ended up as members of Hail Hex, the curse fleet.

Appearance
As members of Hail Hex, they wear loose, frilly tops that cover their hands, skirts, "masking plates" that cover their faces, and beret-like caps. Additionally, they wear an accessory that resembles a gas mask and an unknown "glossy, pale colored whistle-like" object.

They lack arms and legs and are adorned with metal sockets and fur just short of where one would normally find elbows or knees. As such, they rely on Artifacts: Third Works as prosthetic legs and, as of yet, unseen replacements for arms. They have animal-like features, such as floppy ears on the top of their heads and six nipples on their torsos. According to Reg and Nanachi, they are capable of secreting an unknown liquid from their nipples. Sherumi has a scar going down her spine.

Personality
As twins, Sherumi and Menae seem to be very close to each other and interested in abyssal language.

As underlings of Srajo, they are shown to be dutiful and inquisitive.

They appear shy but also playful, when interacting with Riko's team. They seem to have quickly taken a particular liking to Reg.

Distant Characters 1
They discuss how tens of thousands of pictograms drawn on Abyssal Artifacts exist and how the simple ones were chosen and applied to the sounds of the official language which became the Abyssal Writings that they now currently use. They also talk about how each of the characters originally had "sounds" and "meanings" and were called Pictograms.

Distant Characters 2
They mention how Delvers use simplified versions of some of the Abyssal Writings characters as codes; there are two types of characters mentioned: "Nether Glyphs: Abyssal Writings" (characters used regularly), and "Beyond Glyphs: Distant Characters" (seemingly endless newly discovered characters). They also talk about a character unknown to them, "Iruburu", and wonder if its meaning would be known by the time they grow up.

Birthday-Death Disease Arc
After Jiruo's talk with Ozen about the Birthday-Death Disease and other various topics, Menae is suddenly shown talking to a deceased rotting Sherumi covered in flies in a dark room and wonders if Ozen would return again. After questioning why they can't go together, Menae stops talking and presumably dies. After this, a shot of Reg is shown where he sees Funeral Tickets fall from the sky; one of these tickets reading: "Sherumi returns to the Abyss".

Curse Fleet Arc
Sherumi and Menae run up to Nishagora's arms as she and Riko's party arrive at the camp and are greeted by a member of Hail Hex and Srajo.

Riko's team are then to be tested in order to see if they can be trusted and whether they're the Shrine Maiden's scattered bait. They are to bring Nishagora down into the ground by any means necessary and Reg volunteers to do this alone while Nanachi assists in predicting moves and Riko prepares to blow her whistle. As they are fighting, Sherumi and Menae wonder whether they are themselves different from what Reg is, to which Srajo tells them to pay attention as he is not what they mean.

While Reg has been powered up by Riko blowing her whistle and Nishagora is now on the other side of taking a beating, Faputa notices that Srajo hands down the creature on her neck to Sherumi and Menae and is preparing to use her own whistle. Srajo then commands Sherumi and Menae to 'take the Waveproof Stance' and blows on her own whistle, powering up Nishagora similar to how Reg does, covering her in white fur.

Reg and Tepaste are asked by Srajo to bathe Sherumi and Menae, Tepaste instructs them to take off their Works. Sherumi and Menae scream offscreen and as Reg enters the room it is revealed their 4 limbs are prostheses. Reg takes charge of getting Menae out of the bathtub and Menae is impressed by Reg's extending arms, Reg asks how he got his but Menae asks Reg not to make him remember as he and his friends too will turn out like this.

Trivia

 * Srajo refers to them with the moniker "Snipers".
 * According to Ozen, twins are exceedingly rare in Orth. Every set of twins born there is named "Sherumi and Menae", always for seemingly unrelated reasons. Supposedly, the names "Sherumi and Menae" appeared in the original texts of the Hariyomari Collection; presumably these names disappeared with the lost portion of the script.