Monogatari Series - Volume 15 - Chapter 6.01

Chapter Six- Koyomi Tree

001

There’s no question that the path Karen Araragi treads, the path of karate, is a steep and severe one. But for a slacker like myself, the very idea of having such a clear path laid out before me is enviable. If it were anyone but my little sister, I would be eyeing her jealously; since it’s my little sister, however, I just avert my eyes awkwardly. Nevertheless, I’d be lying if I said I never tried to imagine just what it would feel like, what it would be like, to walk unfalteringly down a ramrod straight one-way street, a highway even, laid out before me with no twists or turns, no need for a map.

To know I was striding down the right road.

Both feet firmly on the ground.

Proceeding step by steady step every day.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step─and on a journey of a hundred miles, ninety miles is only halfway. In a world where darkness is always one step ahead of you, it’s an untold blessing just to be able to see the path you travel down, even if it’s a path without an end.

Darkness.

The Darkness.

For her there’s no such thing.

I said I’d be jealous if it were anyone but my little sister, but by the same token, if it weren’t my little sister, I might fall in love with that level of humanity─and yet, the kind of life she lives always comes with a disclaimer.

Precisely because her path is so clearly laid out before her─think how shocking it would be to lose sight of it. I can’t help envisioning that horrible eventuality as well.

I’ve asked her.

If you were in a situation where you had to give up karate, what would you do?

A situation where she had to give it up.

A situation where she had to give up.

Where she had to leave that path─that highway down which she walks.

I really wasn’t scheming to upset my sister by bringing up this statistically improbable, exceptional eventuality─I’m not such a mean person. I was only trying to show my concern for her by mulling over my misgivings about a real possibility.

And it is a very real possibility.

When you train morning, noon, and night in a combat sport like karate, there’s always the possibility of sustaining a grievous, career-ending injury─or the love of your life might implore you to give up such a dangerous activity. Maybe you end up in a position where you have to focus all your attention on your studies─however clear the road before you, however well-maintained and spectacular, there’s always the chance of mechanical trouble.

With the engine, or the electrical system.

There’s potential trouble everywhere─however bright the path, however dazzlingly the sun shines down upon it, that doesn’t necessarily mean the future is bright.

The Darkness isn’t only ahead.

It can also be─inside.

If you stalled out on your path─what would you do?

You find yourself in a pickle sooner or later.

But Karen’s unruffled, confident response was simply, “You’re wrong, big brother. Because wherever I drop is the finish line. Getting to the point where I can’t go any further is the goal.”

To walk until you drop, without ever stalling out.

In other words, she expressed a fierce determination to forge ahead until she fell.