Monogatari Series - Volume 22 - Chapter 1.05

005

Even if I wanted to make amends for neglecting my friends, I’d been thinking that I’d have all of four months to do so, so there was no need to worry (although that kind of thinking was what prompted my feelings of ingratitude). However, as fate would have it, on the very next day, I ended up in an unexpected reunion with my junior from high school named Kanbaru Suruga.

On the morning of the next day, I went around with Suou-san to visit all of the children that had drowned to hear what they had to say—but unfortunately, we didn’t get any results.

It ended up just being a reconfirmation of what we already knew. The ones that supposedly saw the “invisible hand” claimed to have seen it, and the one that supposedly didn’t see it claimed that he absolutely did not see it.

Well, we technically got results in that we were able to hear their accounts firsthand (it wasn’t easy to get kids to talk to you, but Suou-san was great in that respect). Either way, since we had visited four out of the five kids that had drowned, we decided we might as well visit the remaining one.

The one that was still unconscious and unable to speak.

“When you see the face of the person involved, your motivation changes, right?” said Suou-san when she made the suggestion, and there were no complaints on my end.

And so, we had come to the hospital with flowers in arms to visit the final child (although technically, in terms of when they drowned they were the “first child”) when we were met with an unexpected greeting.

“Oh! By the sound of those footsteps, it must be Araragi-senpai, isn’t it?”

A cheerful voice called out from the reception desk.

Since we were in a hospital, she naturally didn’t come at me at Mach speed the same way she did in high school, but when I turned around, I was unmistakably face-to-face with my junior Kanbaru.

She had grown out her hair again, with it falling long and straight down to her lower back.

And she had opted to go for a nurse look.

Huh? According to my sources, wasn’t Kanbaru-kun aiming to become a physician?

Was this cosplay?

“I’m just working part-time! It’s a part-time job. And I’m just helping out in the office, too—I’m not even a nurse. It’s just policy to dress like this, since if I don’t, I might get confused as not being part of the staff.”

It was true that she wasn’t even wearing a nurse cap, and when I looked closer, I realized she just had on a blouse and cardigan… I thought that in itself could cause some confusion, but then again, that could be the point of the rule.

Like how I was told to keep wearing a suit and tie during my training period.

“But still… a part-time job?”

“Yeah. I gotta earn money for tuition. After I turned twenty, my grandparents decided to stop supporting me financially.”

I’m even paying rent now, said Kanbaru, sticking her chest out in pride.

That boastful way in which she didn’t even treat her senpai like they were her senpai was the same as ever, but to be honest, that was indeed something to be proud about—compared to me, who had been dependent on his parents all the way through his college graduation.

Anyway, while her lively demeanor and peppy attitude (as well as her boastful attitude) was the same as when she was in high school, the 22-year-old Kanbaru Suruga had naturally grown up since then—although it was possible that the impression she gave off was stronger due to us having run into her at her workplace.

Even though I had thought she was still a student…

It really felt like she’d gotten ahead of me.

“Is this someone you know, Araragi-kun? In that case, I’ll go on ahead, so you can take your time here and come later.”

“Ah, no, Suou-san… I mean, we are in the middle of work, after all.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! Social interaction is a part of our work, too. They’re always like, ‘cherish your local connections!’ and all that.”

Without allowing me to refuse, Suou-san forced me to stay where I was before heading towards the room of the child we intended to visit—though I was thankful, she sure was one pushy senpai.

“Sorry, Kanbaru. Even though you’re probably working right now.”

“Nah, I don’t mind! The morning rush just ended, so I thought it was a good time for a breather, anyway.”

Though I didn’t know if that was really the case or if she was just saying that out of consideration for me, hearing it did make me feel more at ease.

It would definitely be the former if it were the Kanbaru I knew in high school, but after her learning of the toils of hard work, it could very well be the latter as well.

Anyway, seeing as I’d been left behind, I decided to take up Suou-san on her offer—Kanbaru and I moved to the break area. Because I wanted to seem like I was still some kind of senpai to her, I treated her to some juice from the vending machine.

“Araragi-senpai, I’d heard rumors that you’d become a police detective or something, but was that pretty lady earlier your senpai? I didn’t know you were back in town, though. You should’ve given me a call!”

“I just barely got back, you see. I thought I’d do that once things settled down.”

It sounded a lot like an excuse, and in reality it really was an excuse, but even as I said it we clinked our cans together as a toast to our reunion. We were indeed both of drinking age, but considering it was the middle of the day and we were both in the middle of work, getting alcohol could be going a bit too far.

“How’d you hear that I became a detective?”

I thought it would be from Karen, but the answer I got was completely different.

“From Ougi-kun,” she responded—hmm.

That basically meant that information about me was being leaked to her.

“When I heard the news, I was thinking, ‘That guy has grown up to be a fine young man now, hasn’t he?’ I was so proud.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“Do you work here, now? I was sure that you wouldn’t come back to this town again. I was sure you’d passed on.”

“Well, this is at the very least just for the training period, so I don’t know what’ll happen afterward… and ‘passed on’!?”

I had nothing to say in response.

In some form or another I was a government official, so even if I wasn’t a professional baseball player, my destination was something I couldn’t decide by myself.

And that was especially the case when Gaen-san’s plans could sink their teeth into me at any moment.

“How about you, Kanbaru? Why a physician? I was sure you’d aim for becoming a professional basketball player or something… Or is there even a league for women’s basketball yet? Maybe a corporate team…”

“Ah, basketball? I felt like that’s something I saw through to completion. Although I still play for fun, on days off with friends.”

“Friends. I see.”

It was a word I hadn’t used even once when I was in college.

I’m envious of your satisfying college life.

“But still, to become a physician. In this vast ocean we call life, isn’t that a pretty drastic change of course? You’re going from an athlete to a doctor.”

“Nah, I’d already been thinking about it in my last year of high school. I went to a college for athletics because I wanted to stay active, but I chose the medical department because of what I wanted to do in life. …That is, become a sports doctor.”

“A sports doctor?”

In other words, a doctor that specialized in preventing sports-related accidents or injuries, and helping with physical therapy, huh?

As I heard that, everything made perfect sense.

That’s right. When I was still attending college in this town, Kanbaru had reunited with an old friend of hers—someone who had once been a rival, before she had been forced to retire after an injury that occurred during a game.

And while it wasn’t due to an injury, Kanbaru herself had had to withdraw from the court after her left arm was rendered unusable. It was probably because of those bitter experiences that she chose this path.

Such splendid reasons.

My kouhai was so dazzling that I felt like I was being purified…

“To think that this Kanbaru Suruga, who would speak of nothing but boobs and panties, would become like this… It’s a story I wouldn’t be able to tell without crying.”

“I feel like I spoke of more than just that, though.”

“Then, you’ve stopped reading BL novels by now, right?”

“Oh, no, those I still have an interest in.”

Was that so.

In any case, it was a far cry from how I responded to the question of why I became a police officer with, “because my parents were”—this kouhai was too much.

She’d become too good to be true.

I was glad I ran into her like this.

Seeing how I felt like this now, I could tell that I had had some hesitation about meeting Kanbaru again, afraid of what kind of person she had turned into.

Considering Kanbaru’s mother was in fact Gaen-san’s older sister, there had been the possibility of not me but Kanbaru being used as one of Gaen-san’s pawns, but it seemed that avenue no longer existed.

That string of fate had been cut.

A completely clean cut.

Although I didn’t want to acknowledge it, it seemed that that con man, Kaiki Deishuu, had anticipated Gaen-san’s movements and chopped down that string of fate in advance—looks like everyone and their mother was trying to get ahead of one another.

Would I be able to become like those adults?

“It’s not as simple as it sounds, though. I already felt like I wanted to quit a couple times. I’ve even started to think more pragmatically about if it would be okay to just take any position that deals with medical care. Like with basketball, even though I said that I ‘saw it through to completion’, despite how I was said to be at a super high school level, I just ended up being discouraged at a college level.”

“……”

“The world is vast. I thought there was no one scarier than Senjougahara-senpai, but after going to college, I met dozens of people that were even scarier than her… Although I never met anyone that I liked more than her, so I did feel that my outlook was narrow.”

“…That’s right. There are tons of crazy people in this world,” I agreed, from the bottom of my heart.

Those feelings remained, even as I entered the working society.

Even in spite of the Rumors Squad being one of Gaen-san’s schemes, I had never imagined that there was a girl that had turned into a mermaid after eating the “mermaid flesh”.

I’d never thought that I’d been particularly special for having my blood sucked by the iron-blooded, hot-blooded, cold-blooded vampire, but the Rumors Squad boasted a lineup of members with histories that could easily brush any conceited thoughts away.

Kind of like how “one in a million” actually meant quite a lot of people when thinking on a global scale.

“Crazy people, but incredible people, too. If there’s a monster that’s the only one of her kind, it’d be Hanekawa.”

“Ah.”

Kanbaru gave me a subtle look of understanding.

Though they hadn’t interacted much with each other, Hanekawa probably still left a big impression on her.

“Is she still alive and well?”

“She’s still alive—from what I can tell. Apparently I’d get some sort of message if she ended up dying.”

“What kind of life is she even living?”

Hearing that, she’s probably not the type of person to give up before accomplishing something, said Kanbaru.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to lose all your motivation when comparing yourself to Hanekawa, but, as I expected, it was different for a star who had been prominent for a generation.

Her conviction was different.

It didn’t seem like she was just going to stop with high school being her glory years.

“By the way, Araragi-senpai, what business do you have at the hospital?”

“You can stop adding senpai, now. We’re not high schoolers anymore.”

“To me, you will forever be my senpai, Araragi-senpai!”

“Really, this junior is too much.”

As I said that, I wondered to myself if this could be considered fate—I doubted that Kanbaru was aware of every patient that entered this big hospital, but I didn’t think there could be that many unconscious children that had been hospitalized.

“As you guessed, I’m here for work. —Do you know about that kid?”

“Oh, the one that drowned in the river… Even though that river wasn’t supposed to be that dangerous. I guess maybe it’s changed since I’ve been there?”

Of course, she knew about it already.

Do you love going camping, too?

Although I already knew that she did.

“For the police to get involved, does that mean they judged that this was some sort of incident? Like they were held down in the water, or were pushed in, or something.”

“Well, my job is really to make that judgment. It would be better if it wasn’t an incident—although I suppose there’s no ‘better’ when a person has drowned. …What do you know about that kid’s condition?”

“I’m not directly involved in treatment, so I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think it’s looking good for them. There are no signs of them regaining consciousness… It’s almost like their soul was taken from their body.”

“Their soul—”

What kappa took from people was their shirikodama, right?

Although I didn’t know what shirikodama was exactly.

“I want you to keep this a secret, but there have been a lot of similar accidents occurring at that river. At this rate, they’ll probably have to close down the whole area.”

“No way… If that happens, where will we be able to go camping from now on?”

Then it doesn’t matter if they close down the whole area, was the kind of resentful thought I had when I heard that.

Unlike you, I’ve never had to think about where my friends and I will go camping, and I never will.

“In that case, Araragi-senpai, please do something so that that doesn’t happen! …or maybe I shouldn’t be asking that from you.”

“It’s fine to just ask that from me, but I can’t promise anything. Since it’s really Town Hall who decides that, while I’m just here to investigate.”

“That’s right. Well, then I guess it’ll be fine if I go and ask Town Hall.”

It felt like she actually would go and do that.

Her proactive personality may have even doubled from her high school days.

Since, unlike me, she had plenty of friends from high school, she probably even had some friends that were employed at the Town Hall—was what I had thought. But I would never have guessed that, among the few people I had become acquainted with in high school, one of them would in fact be employed at the Town Hall.