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“That kid’s true identity is Koyomi Araragi.
“This might be too extraordinary a claim to accept, Koyomin, and I’ll of course explain in more detail. It’s not too complicated of a situation, really─though the explanation might get a little complex.
“It’s interlaced and entangled.
“I’ll need to go step by step to untie it all.
“Because in trying to reveal her true identity, she herself seems interlaced and entangled─messy and mixed like a jumble of cords. Just as you consist of many influences, it’d be a little careless to say that her true identity is Koyomi Araragi, end of story.
“The quickest and easiest interpretation, though, would be…Ogi Oshino is an aberration brought into being by Koyomi Araragi.
“Just like my sister, Toé Gaen, made up the aberration called the Rainy Devil─but when I say made up, I don’t mean it in the same way as making Yotsugi in college.
“If anything, it’s closer to the way Tsubasa Hanekawa made up Black Hanekawa and the Tyrannical Tiger─which is why I’d been a little concerned about that in August. I could see it happening to you, someone who looks up to Tsubasa as a sort of mentor.
“Well, let’s start with the precedent.
“With my older sister, even though it’s my family’s dirty laundry.
“I brought up the Rainy Devil without any explanation, but I’m sure you remember? The aberration that my sister’s daughter, Suruga Kanbaru, my niece, wished upon? The proper name of that Monkey’s Paw.
“Originally, though, it was neither a Monkey’s Paw nor a Rainy Devil. It was by giving the thing an ‘identity’ as the Rainy Devil that my sister managed to mummify an unidentified aberration she’d birthed on her own.
“Originally, it was a less comprehensible aberrational phenomenon.
“A compendium of mysterious events.
“To keep it brief─my sister often misplaced things. All sorts of objects somehow went missing around her─frequently enough that even the grade schooler that I was thought she was awfully careless for someone so harsh.
“But she noticed a trend.
“Although she seemed to be losing various random stuff, they had one thing in common─everything that disappeared was a recreational or luxury item.
“Games, books, snacks, pagers. Clothes that weren’t thrifty, bags on the expensive side, fashionable shoes. Simply put, items that weren’t necessary, but desired─or that interfered with getting things done.
“The kind that strict parents might take away from their kids─it didn’t take long for her to realize this. When she did, she also realized how these possessions were getting swallowed up into a black hole.
“They weren’t getting lost, but being thrown away. The culprit was none other than my sister herself.
“Her heart, ever strict on herself, made up a Darkness that disallowed anything that wasn’t right─or to be more accurate, something like the Darkness.
“She made it up to repress her adolescent, girlish feelings of wanting to play, fostered this aberration herself. I didn’t really understand as a grade schooler and was baffled that she was staging it all, but looking back on it now, it’s so typical of my strict older sister.
“An aberrational phenomenon of unknown origins, if you will.
“This unidentified aberration that Toé Gaen made up embodied her self-restraint─would be an unsatisfying ending, so we’ll go into what happened next. While she might’ve been confused until this point, once she realized its identity, it was in her wheelhouse: cracking down on her unruly self-restraint, her mercilessness extending even to her own stern nature, she vanquished the imitation Darkness.
“She ditched her uncontrollable repression.
“She settled the situation by tidying it up as a Western aberration, the Rainy Devil─brought the tale to an end by giving her dark side a crybaby demon name.
“And lived happily ever after.
“That was a quick summary, but the black hole was threatening to swallow up her friends and then-boyfriend, and it could’ve gotten pretty bad had she not taken care of it─if you’re interested, I can tell you the whole side story some other time.
“Passing down the mummified remains to her flesh-and-blood daughter like some family heirloom shows just how troublesome her personality was─but let’s put that aside.
“The simple view, Koyomin, is that the Rainy Devil was to my sister what Ogi Oshino is to you.
“If you want, Ogi Oshino is─Koyomi Araragi’s self-critical mindset.
“Don’t look so annoyed, I’m just telling the truth. Call me considerate for not saying self-negation.
“Doesn’t a lot fall in place if you think about it that way? She knew every last thing about your concerns, your circumstances, and your relationships. The things you’d forgotten, concealed, wanted never to think about again─she knew all of that.
“While insisting she didn’t know a thing.
“She knew everything about Koyomi Araragi.
“You’re the one who knows─you only needed to take those suggestive words literally.
“And because she knew those things, she criticized you for them. Your lies, your deceptions, your vagaries, your ambiguities, your fence-sitting, your irresponsibility─she kept reprimanding you for them, asking if you were really okay with it all.
“That’s what I mean by the real Darkness overlooking a convenient conclusion like Mayoi Hachikuji becoming a god, but not so the imitation Darkness. Your inability to accept a facile, forced solution to selfishly bringing Mayoi back from hell─your harshness on yourself would spur Ogi Oshino to act.
“Of course, like I said, she isn’t just your self-criticism─that’d never yield an adorable junior, as you describe her.
“Remember? She’s a mix.
“With a headache of a history.
“I’ll try to be solemn during this one part, because the nice lady speaking to you right now isn’t entirely free of blame.
“Wouldn’t you say?
“Apart from outliers like Tsubasa Hanekawa and my sister, high schoolers don’t give birth to aberrations every day.
“Just as Sengoku couldn’t give birth to Mister Serpent, you see.
“In fact, it took a tangle of fate, a number of characters and unavoidable occurrences, for Ogi Oshino to be born─if even a single element had been missing, your last half-year as a high schooler might’ve been a little more cheerful.
“When it comes down to it, though, these are seeds that you sowed─and they were sown last August.
“That case where you and I formed a common front─its preliminaries.
“When Mayoi was attacked by the Darkness.
“Phase one was you ending up learning about the Darkness─a phenomenon that corrects mistakes.
“Bad is bad, wrong is wrong─an entity that judges for us in that way.
“Naturally, you couldn’t abide a phenomenon that tried to swallow up your beloved Hachikuji─but at the same time, your strong self-punitive streak was drawn to this Darkness, which could discipline you for all your deceit, starting with the defanging of Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade.
“You can also look at it this way.
“If Mayoi Hachikuji is unpardonable─then how could I ever be pardoned?
“You wanted to be punished just as she was.
“If that was no good, then how is this good? If something’s bad, so’s everything else─wanting to condemn it all when just one detail is off, precisely because you yearn to protect everything you see.
“That feeling─was planted.
“Well, all of this is psychological.
“No matter how much you feel that way on the inside, not everyone is going to give birth to an aberration─but then, calling you an everyday high schooler would be a bit of a misnomer, Koyomin. You’re a mockery of a human who keeps the shadow of a legendary vampire in his own.
“Now, phase two followed soon after, of course. I mean your duel with the first Aberration Slayer, the legendary vampire’s first thrall. This is where I deserve the blame─Suruga.
“My niece got involved.
“During your first encounter with the First, he energy-drained Suruga’s left arm, the Rainy Devil, didn’t he?
“That absorbed the effect of the Monkey’s Paw─though he must have had an affinity for it to begin with, since the First was something like a synthesis of all the aberrations in this town.
“But imagine if the First took in not just the Rainy Devil, but the pure essence of that unidentified thing that my sister made─no, I’m not getting off topic.
“I get how you see the First as your rival, but you and he are connected through Heartunderblade─Shinobu Oshino.
“In fact, Shinobu went and ate him. A part of my sister’s estate made its way into you via Shinobu thanks to the food chain.
“A precedent─didn’t I say?
“That’s not all. If I’m the mainstay of the experts, he used to be the valve on the monster main. An ‘unidentified’ encompassing all the aberrational phenomena that occurred here along with their respective episodes was born as a result.
“Given her nature and origin, you’re right that Ogi Oshino isn’t a combat type─but she’d be quite adept at using, say, Heartunderblade’s ability to generate matter.
“A hybrid monster that can rouse up just about any aberrational phenomenon─no reason to be embarrassed if you couldn’t do a thing about her.
“Since she was born by way of the First, who was like the town’s aberration itself, she was a true monster when it came to knowledge─though it took her quite a while to make full use of her abilities thanks to them being just so extraordinary.
“By the way, Mayoi already brought up Ogi’s throwaway name and how it refers to being a Suruga Kanbaru fan, but we held off on her last name, Oshino, didn’t we─now’s the time to give you that explanation, Koyomin.
“Basically, it doesn’t come from Mèmè Oshino, but rather, Shinobu Oshino. Considering how you two are inseparable, Ogi Oshino is like a collaboration between you and Shinobu.
“It would’ve been simpler if she’d gone with Ogi Araragi, but yeah, she wasn’t going to be that transparent─as for claiming to be Mèmè’s niece, I probably set a bad example in August when I claimed to be his little sister.
“Sorry.
“I thought I’d try apologizing.
“This is a small detail, but she must’ve introduced herself as a Suruga Kanbaru fan─as her junior─thanks to the element relating to Suruga’s left arm.
“It was almost necessary.
“Suruga didn’t know anything, of course.
“No way she could have─she barely knows anything about her own mother. Better that she doesn’t─it’s what my sister wanted as well.
“That’s why I used a fake name and pretended to be Mèmè’s little sister. I wasn’t trying to play tricks on her, you know? It just ended up backfiring.
“No point in laboring over what’s done─well, I’d love to be so glib, but we haven’t actually gotten to anything special yet.
“Given how many times Shinobu showed off her matter-generation skill, it’d be ‘okay’ in a way if she’d tried to create an aberration or a high school girl.
“Compared to the examples I gave─Tsubasa Hanekawa’s Black Hanekawa and Tyrannical Tiger─the logic is easier to understand since it’s rooted in my sister’s aberration. Likewise, Suruga manifested her own unconscious with the same Rainy Devil’s left arm, and Nadeko Sengoku birthed a fantasy in herself, Mister Serpent, even if it didn’t reach the level of an aberration.
“You didn’t do anything that was especially weird. But uniquely, unlike those girls─uniquely like my sister─the aberration you created was an aberration that attacked yourself.
“It wasn’t self-centered.
“It was self-critical─to the point you could call it, in a sense, autotoxic.
“Regarding Sodachi Oikura’s case.
“Regarding Mayoi Hachikuji’s case.
“Regarding Nadeko Sengoku’s case.
“Regarding Hitagi Senjogahara’s case.
“Regarding Shinobu Oshino’s case.
“Regarding Yotsugi Ononoki’s case.
“Ogi Oshino blamed you tenaciously, dark rather than black─she kept on pushing you into a corner. Are you okay with that, can you forgive yourself, did you really solve it, isn’t that all smoke and mirrors─she kept whispering into your ear.
“Not as a monologue, but as a dialogue.
“Nestling up close.
“…Putting it that way makes it seem like your conscience was trying to regulate you, and almost sounds praiseworthy. It must have been the same for my sister, but frankly, you’re just going about your life making excuses to yourself. Bumbling around saving people, always offering aid as if you only existed to help others, hit a kind of limit and twisted your mind.
“That’s nothing praiseworthy.
“To be blunt, it’s a roundabout kind of self-harm.
“More than anything, you want to feel remorse, to be blamed. Ever since spring break, some part of your mind, or more like your entire body, felt like you weren’t playing fair.
“You ended up saving Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade out of compassion─and sought to be punished for it.
“You formed a friendship with Tsubasa Hanekawa─and questioned your right to, since you couldn’t respond to her feelings in kind.
“You rescued Hitagi Senjogahara from her longstanding distress─and wondered if going on to date her was taking advantage of her debt.
“You respect Suruga Kanbaru─and develop a complex because you could never live as sincerely as she does.
“You saved Nadeko Sengoku─but it wasn’t just her that you really wanted to save then.
“You reconciled, little by little, with Shinobu Oshino─but is that forgivable? Speaking of forgiveness, the First was granted it in August by Shinobu─so aren’t you petty for not granting it to her yet? Aren’t you hoping to be just forgiven too?
“You pretend not to regret choosing a little girl over your girlfriend and your savior that one time, but aren’t you carrying that baggage around with you?
“To begin with, isn’t it cheating to make free use of immortality? Shouldn’t you be punished?
“Aren’t I─as terrible as it gets?
“According to Mayoi, you were mumbling about this stuff even in hell─and Ogi Oshino is the full and unfiltered expression of the critical eye you cast on yourself, a sort of Dark Koyomin. That’s why she attended to it all, one by one, almost dutifully, with Sodachi Oikura’s case as a blueprint─as if she was the Darkness.
“Moreover, as a spirit who’s distinct from you, she’s had dealings with others too. She’s been working hard to create an environment where you’d be barraged with criticism.
“Mèmè Oshino and Yozuru Kagenui.
“And probably Deishu Kaiki, after he cleaned up Nadeko Sengoku’s case.
“She shut them out of this town─because it goes without saying that their job as professionals got in the way of her own job.
“No, it wasn’t too difficult. No different from what I’ve been doing to this park─you put a barrier in place.
“If she then makes them lose their way, we can’t guide them to us─didn’t the First cause an aberrational phenomenon that made you lose your way? In which case Ogi Oshino, with roots close to his, could do the same.
“So don’t worry, Koyomin.
“Mèmè and Yozuru are probably fine.
“No guarantees about Kaiki, though, I don’t understand the exact process in his case… Anyway, it seems you’re concerned about them, but if they aren’t here, it’s only because you yourself refused the help of experts. While we might be in the dark about their whereabouts right now, once Ogi Oshino is defeated, we’ll have no trouble finding them.
“Hm? Oh. I’m able to be here because I’m an expert of a superior caliber─just kidding.
“I committed the ultimate rules infraction when it comes to aberrations.
“I chopped through the barrier with the enchanted blade Kokorowatari to make my way in, how else─I forged the blade so I could cut down any imitation Darkness that came into existence, but it ended up serving an unexpected use.
“In fact, I’m only here now because I forged the blade in time─boy, was it close.
“Just like I predicted? Oh, no. Even if you begat an imitation Darkness, I thought it’d be a little smaller in scale─I guess I underestimated you in that sense.
“If I’d known, I’d have taken other measures, and sooner. We’ve been having to play defense instead.
“So many experts, against an amateur like you─take pride in that if you want.
“But only after we’ve eliminated Ogi Oshino.
“Your self-critical mindset is praiseworthy in certain situations, and maybe people could borrow a page from you─but not in a town without a god, no thanks, it’s too destabilizing.
“Like I said yesterday, now that you’re finished with your exams, I can’t predict your moves at all─which means I can’t predict what Ogi Oshino will do next, either.
“So we’re setting a trap. A scheme to defeat her─to fence her in.
“Reading her next move while we still can, we’ll lie in wait─I’ve already explained that part. If she’s making a move, it’ll be today.
“It’ll be tonight.
“She, too, wants to avoid dealing with moves she can’t predict─we should assume that her job’s time limit is from now until they announce the test results, or until graduation.
“You get it, don’t you?
“If she is Koyomi Araragi’s self-critical mindset…if she surfaced as your guilt in face of the world, then she still has work to do.
“A job left undone.
“That’s right. Tsukihi Araragi─your little sister.
“Your little sister, and not your little sister.
“An immortal aberration─the Shidenotori.
“She survives to this day, despite being Yozuru Kagenui and Yotsugi Ononoki’s target, because you shamelessly and irrationally protect her─she survives mimicking a human, and a part of you, Koyomi Araragi, has to be wondering if that’s fine.
“You don’t hesitate to protect your little sister.
“But it’s not as if you live by a clear philosophy that won’t blame yourself for being unhesitant.
“So I’m going to use your sister as a decoy.
“The plan is to apprehend Ogi Oshino in the act of trying to do harm to your little sister, and to reveal the perp’s true identity on the spot─to compare it to a mystery novel, as she loves to do, we have no evidence so we’re going to have to catch her red-handed.
“Yep.
“That’s right, no evidence─everything I said is nothing more than conjecture. It just bizarrely makes a mountain of sense. If you argued, ‘No, that’s impossible. I can’t believe that she’s me,’ then there’s nothing I could do to convince you otherwise.
“But you understand, right? You must know.
“Better than anyone─what she actually is. That’s why you have to be the one to expose her.
“It won’t work if it’s me.
“If I’d gone ahead with my initial plan and forced Shinobu to become a god, I probably wouldn’t enlist your help, but because you brought Mayoi back from hell with you, I can entrust you with ending this all and breathe easy.
“Breathe easy.
“Yes, I mean it─breathe easy.
“Koyomi Araragi, who’s so harsh on himself that his self-criticism and self-negation birthed an aberration, can obviously defeat Koyomi Araragi, whom he hates so much.
“Win this battle against yourself.
“Easy, right? So far…
“For Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade’s sake, for Tsubasa Hanekawa’s sake, for Hitagi Senjogahara’s sake, for Mayoi Hachikuji’s sake, for Suruga Kanbaru’s sake, for Nadeko Sengoku’s sake, for Karen Araragi’s sake, for Tsukihi Araragi’s sake─going back to square one, for Sodachi Oikura’s sake, you’ve gone to the brink of death and come back numerous times.
“Sacrificing yourself. Killing your self.
“Killing it continuously─until you landed yourself in hell.
“Koyomi Araragi, so selfless and altruistic that there must be something wrong with his head─should find defeating Ogi Oshino, none other than himself, easier than taking candy from a baby, from himself.
“You, who have been tossing your life away like a piece of trash for other people’s sake, chucking any semblance of thought while you’re at it, just need to do your thing here. Kill yourself without a thought.
“Commit self-harm. Commit suicide.
“Kill yourself for the sake of others.
“It’s what you do every day.
“Nothing hard about it.
“Just kill yourself, show the spirit of self-sacrifice in your extreme but usual manner─what you’re facing is no high school girl or junior, certainly no savior’s niece, but yourself.
“So put an end to it.
“You end this, at your hand.
“That’s how your─youth ends.”
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