Monogatari Series - Volume 10 - Chapter 1.07

007

Lord Devil has an odd ring to it.

Why address the Devil, in all his accursed unholiness, with an honorific title? But I suppose if you simply think of the Devil as God’s opposite number, then just like you call God “Lord God,” it makes sense to call the Devil “Lord Devil.”

And while he may be the Devil, he certainly occupies a superior position to humans, so I guess it’d be pretty rude to talk about him without showing some respect.

Though from what I heard, it was meant to be more sarcastic than polite.

Happens all the time.

Still, that kind of idle “joking” can invite dire consequences, as I know all too well.

It was some kind of charm and a fad among Naoetsu High students─because of the thing with Sengoku, I’m sensitive when it comes to so-called charms, but according to what Ogi had told me, maybe I was overreacting.

Just an innocent rumor.

That if you turn to Lord Devil for help with your problems or worries, he’ll solve them for you without fail─though the inclusion of that phrase made it seem less convincing, not more.

Yet no matter how phony, no matter if it were one of Deishu Kaiki’s cons, I’d have had to do something about a “devil” who “solves your problems” even if there hadn’t been the thing with Sengoku.

Because.

In that case Lord Devil could be me.

“Of course, there’s apparently one condition to the whole ‘without fail’ thing─they say Lord Devil won’t accept any over-the-top requests,” Ogi had explained.

His tone was as carefree as ever, which is to say, he made it seem like it was all just inconsequential gossip─no, it really was nothing more than carefree gossip.

For him.

Even if Ogi knew about my left arm, knew what I’d done.

All talk was idle talk to him.

Everything was inconsequential for him.

“Evidently the standard for over-the-top is ‘cases where you should go to the police.’”

What the heck.

That was weirdly particular, or raw.

At least, it didn’t seem like a condition a devil would give for “granting wishes”─even if it was my just deserts, a piece of my body, and a piece of my soul, had been taken from me.

“Naturally. Because this Lord Devil seems to be a particular, and raw, human being.”

“Human…”

“They say she’s a girl around high school age.”

“In other words, some high school girl is misrepresenting herself as a ‘devil’ and dispensing advice to students at Naoetsu High?”

A high school girl.

Sounded more and more─like me.

“Well, yes, but─I’m not so sure about the misrepresenting part.”

We might be dealing with the real thing, Ogi insinuated.

“But isn’t she a particular and raw human being?”

“A particular and raw human being isn’t necessarily not a devil. I mean─if she can solve your problems ‘without fail,’ she’s no ordinary kind soul.”

“…”

If possible, I wanted to get more information out of Ogi, but I didn’t want to give him the impression that I was “hungry for it,” and I’d feigned a disinterested “huh.”

I have to admit that as a display of seniority it was quite petty, but he had this air and you hesitated to bombard him with questions.

It seemed uncool.

Araragi-senpai would probably have forged ahead anyway, heedless of that vibe, and when I realized that I would never be like him, it brought me down.

That said, whether or not Higasa knew anything about it, I intended to act, and since she did, it at least seemed like Ogi hadn’t been messing with me (I might get a bad rap for being paranoid, but he does have a prior record of talking bullshit).

From what Higasa said, though, it wasn’t as positive a rumor as he made it out to be─on the contrary, I got kind of a negative impression.

She suggested that it wasn’t a rumor an optimist would have heard of─which made it a rumor familiar only to pessimists.

Yup.

A pessimist─like I used to be.

…Then again, there’s no such thing as a pure optimist, or a pure pessimist. No matter who you are, sometimes things are looking up, sometimes things are looking down, sometimes you’ve got to look sideways.

Right. Being yourself, and individuality, are illusions.

Failing to understand that will just bring you serious pain─like when I forced an arbitrary illusion, an arbitrary ideal, onto Senjogahara-senpai and ended up angry, and imploded.

And crucially─a “devil” was involved in that as well. Of course, that was a crybaby devil, a low-level devil, not at all the kind of splendid aberration that you’d address as “Lord.”

Higasa clearly didn’t want to talk about it─I had a pretty relaxed relationship with her, unlike with Ogi, and she was someone I could get real with, but there was a time and a place for it. Grilling her about this devil in front of her new friends from her new class would have been cruel, so I fudged things appropriately.

“It’s nothing, I just got a text from my senior Araragi about it, that’s all.”

“Araragi-senpai?!” “Kanbaru, did you just say ‘Araragi’?!” “Like, that Araragi?!” “The legendary one?!” “The legendary Mister Araragi?!” “A legendary text from the legendary Mister Araragi?!” “What-what-what-what, Kanbaru is texting buddies with that Araragi?!” “No way?!” “What is he up to now?!”

The hullaballoo attracted another group of girls who’d been standing far away. Forget appropriately, I’d fudged things monumentally…

Hmmm.

My senior Araragi was a hot ticket everywhere.

He was the star, not me. A superstar.

I would have to wait and bring in Higasa for questioning another day. I decided to spend my afterschool hours investigating Lord Devil.

My career preparing for exams seemed over before it even started, but the mentee apple doesn’t fall far from the mentor tree.

Even if I’ll never measure up.