Monogatari Series - Volume 19 - Chapter 5.09

009

Of course, there were other possibilities.

Among people I knew who were aware of the situation, for example, Kaiki. I’d made a leap of logic based on a single word, but equating Oshino with mediation was going a little too far.

“Exactly,” Tadatsuru replied nonetheless. “Right, that guy who acts like he sees through everything is an executive in Miss Gaen’s network─so when he contacted me, an outsider, he seemed as free a spirit as ever. The word executive suits no one worse.”

“…”

Likewise, calling Miss Gaen a boss didn’t seem too fitting─an old acquaintance you just couldn’t cut loose sounded more like it than any exaggerated title.

Oshino and Tadatsuru were old acquaintances too, whether they liked it or not. The folklorist might very well go meet the doll-user. As far as timing, it must have happened after Oshino left my town─I wondered what he told Tadatsuru.

A guy who acts like he sees through everything. In acting first, what might he do?

“He told me there was something I could do because I didn’t belong to our senior’s network. Very much in character for a guy who loves to resort to tricks that feel like cheating.”

“…”

“By which I don’t mean that he cuts corners because he’s lazy. He does everything that can be done and takes out every insurance policy available, and as a result the majority of his endeavors come out to nothing. He’s like a squanderer of wisdom, an anti-thrift expert. Getting me involved must have been like going beyond insurance in duplicate, a rare case even for him.”

I sort of got that. Just in my own experience, he’d covered the possibility of me and Shinobu contacting him from another timeline─guessing on tests must be a foreign concept to him. Despite his frivolous demeanor, he was surprisingly diligent.

“But he doesn’t spell things out fully and clearly,” Tadatsuru said. “When he came to see me, he gave me the impression that he just wanted to chat with me. What a buffoon, is all I thought─I suppose his visit was nothing more than a precaution, originally.”

“I have gripes of my own about the way Oshino likes to drop hints─but are you saying he sprinkled Kanbaru’s background into your chat?”

Come to think of it, Oshino had been curious about her background─even he must have been surprised to encounter his college senior’s niece.

He even made sure of Kanbaru’s mother’s name.

“Yep. And, Araragi. Your name came up too─or perhaps I should say your names.”

“Our names? Me and…” Who? In this case, Shinobu?

“Which is why I grasped, or understood, a few things about this town before accepting my request. At the time, I had no idea what he was trying to say─but I think he was trying to promote just how safe you were.”

“…”

“That’s what he hinted. It wouldn’t be worth wasting a doll on you two─that’s what Oshino came to tell me. By the way, that’s also when I learned he saw through my true identity. You know, in hindsight, it may have been a threat. As in, put a hand on my friends and I’ll tell everyone what you are─a doll.”

Tadatsuru gave a wry smile.

What could I say… I was at a loss for words─Oshino had made a move in anticipation of what was to come?

Our official “harmless” label only applied within their network, so he contacted outside parties to protect me and Shinobu. Perhaps he just saw it as proper aftercare, having been properly compensated for a job─but I was moved to hear about such thorough follow-up customer service.

Not something I could do, or did do─wait. Hold on a sec.

In the end, Tadatsuru still came to my town to exterminate me and Shinobu─hmm… Oshino had worked behind the scenes in advance, but the dots remained unconnected.

What happened after that?

“Well, it was insurance─again, most of what he said, he only insinuated, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. This is going to be my own interpretation, but if you’re fine with that, then hearing me out should clear up most of your doubts─you should be able to return to life without any regrets.”

“Without any regrets…”

“Think of my take as a souvenir,” Tadatsuru said. “This was the case he made─‘Koyomi Araragi and Shinobu Oshino. As a rule, they’re harmless right now.’─‘You don’t have to act on it, they won’t be a problem at all.’ ‘That isn’t to say, though, that an exception to that rule couldn’t occur─if Araragi conspires with Shinobu to become a vampire again and again.’”

“…”

“In other words, the application Oshino filed to have you considered as harmless would no longer apply if you began heading down your own vampiric path, apart from your ties to the former Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade.”

“That’s…”

Exactly what happened to my body─I couldn’t believe it.

The guy who acted like he saw through everything, Mèmè Oshino, predicted even this?

“As only one prediction of many, I believe. And it was a concrete fear of his, not some excessive precaution.”

“A fear… He was afraid I’d unthinkingly overuse Shinobu’s power? No…”

That wasn’t it. If he feared that possibility, he wouldn’t have left Shinobu in my hands and skipped town. In fact, I’d convinced myself it was because he trusted that wouldn’t happen, because he believed in me, that he quietly took off to the next town without a word or even a goodbye.

“Yes. In which case, he feared a situation where you’d have no choice─I think that’s why he came to visit me. It’s not like he’s capable of precognition. In fact, he must not have predicted many of the things that attacked your town after he left. Nor can we say for sure that he foresaw an outbreak of cases that’d force you to be reckless. But he did see how you wouldn’t avoid being reckless if such cases did arise.”

“Like that helps,” I spat. I was hardly being gracious.

“A request could come my way were that to happen─that’s what he told me. A request for my involvement. In slaying a vampire. In that event, he wanted me to get in touch with Miss Gaen, putting aside the years of ill will, tossing out that old bad blood, because she’d be waiting to hear from me. She couldn’t make the first move given her position, he said. Not that I really understood him at the time…but that’s exactly what ended up happening.”

He might not be a precog, but that guy must have X-ray vision, the way he sees through things, Tadatsuru muttered. Although I owed Oshino a debt of gratitude, I couldn’t agree more with the doll-user’s sentiment.

“When I received nothing short of a request to slay the two of you, my blood ran cold. At the same time, though, I found it odd. If Oshino feared that eventuality, why hadn’t he done something about it himself? A guy who says that people just go and get saved on their own, all but relying on an old friend? I was curious─which is why I played along. I contacted Miss Gaen.”

Opening the curtain on the farce.

This was his explanation─I still didn’t know what it meant.