005
The epilogue, or maybe, the punch line of this story.
In the end, we never decided what kind of methods that swindler had used to popularize his “charms” within the middle school girl community─and in that sense, our meeting ended fruitlessly. I suppose it was still a little early for Sengoku to take on a subject like the state of trends in modern society.
While we were still chatting, Karen and Tsukihi came home, and the meeting came to a close─then the four of us hung out for the first time in ages. Actually, Karen, who was a year ahead, hadn’t really hung out with Sengoku back in elementary school, so it might have been the first time that particular quartet had been assembled.
Sengoku’s shyness skill was operating at maximum capacity, though it was canceled out by Karen’s amiable-to-a-fault interpersonal skills─but anyway.
It wasn’t until a little later that I found out the truth about that swindler’s methods─specifically, it was the middle of August.
August fourteenth.
And how did it happen? I met with the man himself─met with him the way someone meets with an accident.
Having promised never to return to our town a second time, he’d “returned for his first time.” Gimme a break and fuck off already.
The main topic on that occasion was a couple of his fellow experts─but in the course of the conversation, I asked him about it.
“Hm,” he said. “The ability to know which way the wind is blowing, the ability to control the wind─nope, that’s beyond me. Granted, that might also be a lie.”
“…”
Can’t trust this guy even an inch.
Maybe it was stupid to even ask, I was thinking, but then he went on. “If you ask me, though, something like the ability to know which way the wind is blowing isn’t particularly important. Because the most conducive environment for a pandemic is a state of calm.”
“C-Calm?”
“That’s the vital thing for causing a pandemic in my opinion, Araragi.”
“By ‘calm’ you mean like─the absence of wind?”
“While one thing is popular, another thing can’t be─strictly speaking, I suppose you could say that even if something else tried to break through, it wouldn’t be able to… So if I wanted to popularize something specific, I’d be sure to choose the right time and place even if I couldn’t choose the target.”
“…”
“Rumors last for seventy-five days─then for those seventy-five days, you have to give up on creating a trend. Take this town. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything over spring break because rumors of a ‘vampire’ had captured everyone’s imagination. No sense in trying to take on an overwhelming number-one smash─and when I say overwhelming, I mean the virus would’ve overwhelmed any other virus. So once that rumor had run its course─I injected my own into the empty space, the hungry space, it had left behind.”
It seemed so obvious once he said it.
In other words, a pandemic will break out where there’s a vacuum─or is more likely to do so, anyway.
“Ghost stories and the word on the street, urban legends─and baseless rumors, they all run rampant when people are emotionally distraught. Which is the same as saying when people have nothing anchoring their lives. A trendless time, in other words─now Araragi. What kind of person do you think a swindler targets, who’s the mark? Think about it.”
“Th-Think about it? That’s not something I want to think about.”
“Humor me.”
“Nothing funny about that question. Anyway…rich people, I guess? Don’t you go after the wealthy?”
“Just what an upstanding person would think. But satisfied people are surprisingly hard to deceive─people who have financial leeway also have emotional leeway. So swindlers target those who’re unsatisfied with their lot, who don’t have that room to breathe.”
“Which is why you set your sights on middle school girls the last time you were here?”
Or.
Going further back─on Senjogahara’s family, while they were agonizing over their daughter’s illness.
“That’s right. A mind filled with anxiety is a mind ripe for deception. Because that person doesn’t have the leeway to worry about whether you’re lying to them or not,” pontificated the swindler, without any hint of remorse. “You were saying that in preparation for my con, I popularized ‘charms’ that would debase human relationships─but in fact it was just the opposite. Their relationships were already debased, so they jumped all over my ‘charms.’”
A state of calm is not necessarily a state of asepsis.
In fact, a virus with the potential to cause an explosive pandemic is always lying dormant just below the surface─said the swindler.
“Are you saying─it was their own fault they got duped?”
“When you put it like that, it makes me not want to put it like that. How about we just blame it on the zeitgeist? If you want to understand the kind of chaotic situation that makes you wonder, ‘Why is this even popular?’ or ‘How did that get so popular?’ it’s really the vacuum that precedes the chaos you should be thinking about.”
“The vacuum─”
“The darkness, you might say. So let me give you a piece of advice: if ‘something inexplicable’ becomes trendy─keep an eye on the zeitgeist. Keep an eye on the very ground beneath your feet. Assume that something is fucked─assume that the situation is critical. Whether it’s a human scheme or a natural occurrence─it’s happening because you live in an age enveloped by darkness.”
“Enveloped by─darkness.”
“The circumstances that make it easy for a fad to break out are pretty much the same as those that make it easy for a riot to break out─when there’s no stable footing, you end up getting swept up by the tide. Ah, but there’s no easier time to be a guy like me,” Kaiki observed, ominously, before continuing, “Now, Araragi. Having taught you such an important trade secret, I must demand an additional fee from you.”
“…”
I’d already paid this guy for information about a certain two-man cell of experts─but because I’d foolishly asked a question, some kind of option had kicked in.
“I know you’ve got your emergency fund in the inside pocket of your jacket.”
He’d seen right through me.
Hmm.
The wind isn’t blowing my way today.
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