Monogatari Series - Volume 13 - Chapter 1.29

029

Black and white.

She gave the impression of a mix between the two─no, I’m not claiming I got some insight into her inner self from a single glance, it was just a simple impression created by the girl’s hair, a mixture of stark white and midnight black.

I naturally had no way of knowing who the hell she was, this girl wearing winter boots, with her rough duffel coat and earmuffs.

But I intuited from her brazen attitude, her total lack of subterfuge, that she was not my “tail” from the day before, nor the one who had stealthily delivered the letter to my room. I intuited this.

No─she made me intuit this.

“Hello, Mister Deishu Kaiki. We meet at last. My name is Tsubasa Hanekawa. I’m a classmate of Miss Senjogahara and Araragi’s,” she─Tsubasa Hanekawa, that is, said, bowing deeply to me, swindler that I am. When she bowed, she naturally took her eyes off me for a few moments, during which time I could almost certainly have dashed away to safety.

That’s how much confidence I have in my speed.

Unfortunately, however, it wouldn’t have been a sure thing on that snowy road, and, for some reason, I didn’t feel like running away from this girl.

Which was rare for me─or virtually unthinkable, but standing before this girl, I couldn’t imagine being so cowardly as to flee.

Even though I had never once in my life thought that fleeing was in any way cowardly.

“I’m…” I finally managed, “Deishu Kaiki─though it seems an introduction is unnecessary. I can only surmise that you’ve heard of me from Senjogahara or Araragi, am I right?”

“You are,” replied Hanekawa, raising her head with an earnest look.

Something about that expression, combined with her fine features, threatened to overwhelm me. In possessing an intensity beyond her years, she was not unlike Senjogahara.

Birds of a feather flock together?

Yet this was─

“But to be perfectly honest, I knew of you even before they told me about you. Having previously assisted the Fire Sisters with their investigation─”

“No need for a kid to speak so formally,” I cut her off. “You need to talk to me about something? I’ll listen. Please go ahead. I may have a few things I want to talk to you about as well.”

“…”

Brushing away a loose strand of hair with an “Mm,” Hanekawa said, “Fair enough, though perhaps this isn’t the place.” Her tone was still polite, which is to say it didn’t swing all the way to informal, but her attitude seemed to soften somewhat.

“There’s something I need to ask you first, though. Do Senjogahara and Araragi know that you’ve come to see me?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Ah.”

Every last one of them.

In my mind another player took the stage in the tale of the watch-fob and comb, but anyone trying to get in between those two lovebirds would be more like comic relief.

Who was I to talk, though, when my own role had to remain every bit as surreptitious as Hanekawa’s.

Two clowns standing by the side of a snowy road.

The thought even popped into my head that the two of us were in some sense birds of a feather ourselves.

“No skin off my nose, I couldn’t care less. I’m not going to rat you out, don’t worry. I have no intention of using your secret against you.”

“No need to spell it out, I’m not worried on that score,” Hanekawa stated with a wry smile. Her smile was also─how can I put this─roomy, expansive, capacious. Unfortunately, however, under that coat, I couldn’t gauge the size of those breasts Senjogahara had mentioned. “And from my perspective, our meeting doesn’t need to be such a closely guarded secret anyway.”

“Oh, no?”

I felt like I had missed an opportunity, but I supposed so. I began to walk along the snowy road.

“But then, I’m a pariah in this town. Got to keep my presence a secret. It might be best not to be seen with you of all people. By virtue of which I was thinking of hailing a cab, that okay with you?”

“Yes, it is,” Hanekawa assented without ado.

Never mind waiting for me out in the open like that, getting into a car with a swindler was beyond ballsy.

And also beyond my ken.

So much so that I, myself, shrank from the situation instead, but as the one to suggest it, I couldn’t back out now.

Hanekawa and I walked away from the mountain and found a taxi, skipped the train entirely, and headed straight to the shopping district. Maybe I was being too cautious, but this Tsubasa Hanekawa girl cut an overly conspicuous figure, so I don’t think I was.

If I were to be thoroughly security-conscious, I’d part ways with her temporarily and rendezvous elsewhere a few hours later.

Unlike Nadeko Sengoku, though, it seemed Tsubasa Hanekawa wasn’t very aware of her “cuteness” or “beauty,” for better or for worse.

“Yes, my hair really is conspicuous, isn’t it. I’m sorry, when I was still going to school I dyed it black every morning, but what with winter break it completely slipped my mind.”

She said this with a bashful air.

“…”

And during the ride, as we chatted idly and gossiped about nothing in particular, it struck me.

Maybe this girl hadn’t been “doted on” while she was growing up. Maybe her parents had been strict, or laissez-faire.

It’s not like we were discussing anything deep, so I couldn’t say for sure, but the kid’s oddly un-childlike attitude made me imagine such a past.

“I heard from Senjogahara that you were overseas at the moment… What was that about? Was she trying to keep us from interacting? In other words, was she lying to me?”

“Oh, no. It wasn’t a lie,” Hanekawa responded to the question that had been uppermost in my mind. “Or rather, Miss Senjogahara thought it was true when she said it. She and Araragi both think I’m still overseas.”

“Oho…”

What in the world was this girl trying to sell, what kind of gift was she trying to give? It was a mystery. Aside from making contact with me, there was no reason for her to keep her return to Japan secret, was there?

“Yes… Well, at this point,” she went on, “it’s kind of a waste of effort, or a vain struggle for peace of mind. I’d hoped that such a feint might lead to a breakthrough.”

“A breakthrough…”

“Yes… I was pretty sure Mister Oshino wasn’t really overseas, so while I had a feeling it was doomed from the start, I thought maybe I could throw some sand if I left the country for a while. Or put up a smokescreen.”

“Sand─in whose eyes? Nadeko Sengoku?”

“Her too, but Ms. Gaen, mainly.” Having said so, Hanekawa seemed to catch herself and apologized, “Oh, I’m sorry, Mister Kaiki, for speaking like that. It’s rude of me when she’s your senpai. Pardon me.”

“She’s not my senpai anymore. Gaen-senpai disowned me.” I sounded ludicrous, persisting in appending the honorific. But I didn’t put an ounce of respect into the word in the first place. “So don’t worry about it… Right, I heard you’d gotten a direct warning from her. What can I say… That must’ve been tough.”

For a second I almost started apologizing to Hanekawa, but I realized there was no reason to.

Heheh, she chuckled. “I wanted her to think that I was on the wrong track…which is why I’m only back for a moment. I’ll be off again tomorrow morning.”

“Only back for a moment… You sure you want to be spending any of that precious time with me?”

“Yes, I am.” Hanekawa nodded emphatically. Funny, her saying so seemed to imbue our little tête-à-tête with some deep significance. “It might not mean much against the all-knowing Ms. Gaen, but if my overseas trip freed up Miss Senjogahara and made her get in touch with you─then I’m glad. A happy accident, or should I say a happy according-to-plan? Mister Kaiki.”

She looked me in the eye. I’d never met anyone who could look another person so squarely in the eye.

“Please save Miss Senjogahara, okay?”