Monogatari Series - Volume 22 - Chapter 1.08

008

And now for the epilogue; or rather, the punch line for this case.

Even though, back in my high school days, Oshino Meme had thoroughly instructed me on how stupid it was to try and resolve oddity phenomena through violence, I had come dangerously close to making the same mistake again. What was the point of saying “I was no longer the boy I was in high school”? If I did the same thing whether I was able to see oddities or not, then there was no meaning to it at all.

The fact that I’d made so many misunderstandings was also just like it was in high school.

When Shinobu had said that of the five drowning accidents, four of them were not accidents but incidents, I had easily jumped to the conclusion that the child who had not claimed to see the “invisible hand” was the one who had simply gotten into an accident, but that wasn’t the case—whether it was “visible” or “invisible” was simply based on each person’s disposition and circumstances.

It wouldn’t have been strange if there were only two, or even one, that testified to see it.

Then, what was the case that Shinobu ruled out as an “accident”? That was, in fact, the case of the “first” to drown.

The case of the unconscious child, whom we were unable to visit as a result of no visitors being allowed—it was only that case that was an accident, and the four that followed were incidents.

They were oddity phenomena.

Though I said as much, a sharper person would probably have been able to figure out the truth much faster… I was, regrettably, too slow on the uptake.

In short, for the four cases that followed—the “invisible hand” that pulled the four children down into the water was the hand of the “first” one. Well, at this point, the wording of “pulling down” was not exactly correct anymore.

Because all that hand was doing was reaching out for help.

“It’s something like a living ghost, I suppose. One that possessed the water. It makes sense that the child never regained consciousness, even after all this time. That’s because their consciousness had become the very water that they drowned in, and were continuing to drown all this time—”

Suou-san, who had gotten back out of the water, was speaking in a dejected tone.

The parts of her body that she wiped with a bath towel were turning back into human skin.

“—It must have been so painful for them. Even drowning for just a few minutes made me think, for the first time in a while, that ‘dying was better than this’.”

“…It was like their soul was taken from their body, was what my junior said.”

There was no way I would’ve been able to guess with such a vague hint, but perhaps those who could guess would’ve been able to—their soul hadn’t been taken but had been continuing to drown.

That’s why—they were reaching out for help. In a daze.

In a daze—in the water.

Having become the water itself.

“The reason why they only sought help from other kids is also a painful one. It’s because they didn’t have any trust in adults.”

“……”

Since both parents worked, they left their child to be independent, which, put in a bad way, meant that they neglected their child. So for them, an adult wasn’t someone they could reach out to for help.

Learning the reason why there was no response to me diving down to the bottom of the river yesterday—why there wasn’t even a trace of that child, as if they were trying to hide themselves… It made me reflect on myself as well.

So that was it.

Though in the past, I was mentally childish enough to play around with grade schoolers even as a high school student, right now, even if I was still immature, I’d become a proper adult.

People will only become what they’re able to become.

It was possible that that wasn’t just limited to occupations, but applied to becoming adults, as well.

Though I had thought about finding the time to visit the Kitashirahebi Shrine at some point, I felt like I now understood the reason why my legs wouldn’t turn in that direction—the thought of no longer being able to see Hachikuji Mayoi as I was now made me freeze in fear.

But, on top of that, it was possible that there were a lot of things that I was no longer able to see—opposite to how Kanbaru’s outlook had widened, my field of vision had grown astonishingly dim.

As if the transparency had turned to zero.

However, in the midst of that resolution, there was a single thread of salvation.

Because in terms of adults, Suou-san, who was even older than me, still got a response from the “invisible hand”—because they reached out to her for help, just as they had for the other four children that had gotten pulled in.

This could be explained by the “first” child ending up pursuing the “mermaid’s flesh” out of a desire to survive, but my explanation differed from that.

It was because Suou-san had visited their hospital room, even though she hadn’t been unable to meet them.

She had brought flowers, and tried to see their face, even if they couldn’t speak to her.

They weren’t just another profile, and they weren’t just another point in the investigation. Suou-san had treated this child in critical condition as another human being—and tried to save them.

It was because these earnest thoughts reached them that the “invisible hand” clung to her, even when she was an adult—though the river stubbornly rejected me when I tried to jump in after her, it still refused to let go of Suou-san.

…I’m really reflecting on my actions, okay?

To think that running into my junior by chance and leaving the hospital visit to my senpai would bring about such a dilemma—while a mistake like this would’ve been forgiven in high school, as a public servant, the mistake was unforgivable enough that I could be made to resign just from that.

Well, actually, the high school Araragi Koyomi that tried to save anyone and everyone was just barely tolerated at that… I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t have had a millimeter of the feeling that “even if I visited the unconscious child, it was only for my own satisfaction”.

It made me laugh.

Wasn’t it that my reason for living used to be for my own satisfaction?

“Try not to criticize yourself too much. The one who really wants to do that is me, after all—being so helpless in front of Mr. Newbie over here makes me want to die from embarrassment. Although I can’t die.”

Suou-san, who had mostly returned to a human form, was lying spread-eagled on the river bank—it seemed that the towel had done all it could, and her next step was to bask in the sun to dry herself out.

She really was an expert on her own constitution.

Although, for a mermaid, it seemed less like sunbathing and more like becoming sun-dried.

“I only figured out the truth after I started to drown, too. Since the last time I drowned was the very first time I entered a pool, it actually felt rather fresh to me, and the shock of it all made me understand—like a dying message.”

Was it like how people’s ability to think spikes up when they’re about to die?… At least, it seemed it was an effective way of thinking for mermaids, if they were in such a deadly situation that they wanted to die.

Was that the reason why I’d come across some awesome (awful) ideas when on the verge of death?… It was like a five-year-old mystery had just been solved.

“Well, it’s not a way of thinking that I’m proud of. And in the end, Araragi-kun, you were the one to take the kid’s hand. That was something I wouldn’t have been able to do.”

Suou-san tried to comfort me, as even though I had gotten out of the water, my feelings had sunk. But even if that was the truth, it didn’t comfort me in the slightest.

The only reason Suou-san couldn’t grasp the hand of the child that was grasping her for help was simply that, because she had become a mermaid, her hands had turned into fins.

That was why Suou-san brought me into the water.

I was just an adult that had been rejected by the river, and besides, I’d been attacking the waterbed with all my might, so it was really the “mermaid’s song” that brought me into the world of the water—into the soul that was reaching out for help.

So I was just acting in her place.

In Suou-san’s place, I took the hand of the child that had reached out to Suou-san for help—and that was good enough.

That was enough to return the flow of the river back to normal.

It was actually Suou-san that pulled me out of the river when I started to drown. Because she had taken a form with lots of sharp piranha teeth, the brand new suit I had worn for training hadn’t just become wet, it had become torn.

Well, I’d rather lose my suit than my life.And not just my life, but the life of the drowned child, too.

“Thanks to you, Araragi-kun, I’m sure that child’s soul has gone back to their body… That means the worst is over, and they’ll probably soon wake up. It’s all up to the doctor, now.”

“…That kid probably isn’t aware of the fact that they pulled in four others, right?”

“I hope so. Although they probably just grabbed the others in a daze, so… What? Are you saying that, because even broken bones were involved, that that kid should take responsibility for it, even if they were just asking for help?”

“No, of course that wasn’t what I was trying to say.”

“Jeez, your stubbornness is just what I’d expect from a career man.”

“Like I said, that’s not it!”

Although, if I had experienced this in my high school days, I would’ve left feeling dissatisfied just ending this by saying, “I feel sorry for the kids that drowned”. But I felt that it was in order to face these feelings of dissatisfaction that I became a policeman as well.

“Well, forgive them for my sake, all right? Disregarding what happened to me, they did end up letting go of the four others in the end… And if their soul returned to their body, then there won’t be any more repeated drowning accidents occurring at this river. The riverbank won’t need to be blocked off, and it’ll serve as a great place to go camping or fishing with your friends for years to come. What a happy ending.”

Quickly wrapping up the case as if it were some fairy tale, Suou-san changed the subject by asking, “I’m mostly dry now, so can you get me my clothes?” I guess she’s just the kind of person that was soft on children.

Well, that’s fine.

It wasn’t like I hated children, either—at least, that was what I thought in high school.

“Huh? Suou-san, you came with your swimsuit underneath your clothes, didn’t you? Are you going to put your clothes back on over it, after swimming?”

“Ah. Damn it, I forgot to bring a change of underwear. Again.”

“What are you, a kid? ‘Again?’ It’s almost as if this happens all the time.”

“Weeell, it doesn’t feel comfortable anymore, and I pretty much exposed myself when I turned into a piranha, so I may as well just take off the swimsuit… Sorry, Araragi-kun. Even though we just barely got to know each other, I’m showing you another unbecoming side of me.”

“Please don’t worry about it. I’ve become used to seeing girls half-naked after just barely getting to know them.”

“What kind of life are you leading?”

In the end, after taking off her swimsuit to dry, Suou-san put it back on to wear her clothes over it. Since her appearance at least looked dignified, she seemed a lot more like police than me in my half-dry, tattered suit.

“Well, let’s report back to the station. If we do that, I’m sure the chief will reward us with another job!”

Though her attempt to take up a businesslike attitude right after trying to save a kid while nearly drowning herself wasn’t particularly persuasive, I had no objections to that persuasion.

Besides, in order to make up for all the points I lost in this shameful debut case, I wanted to show off my good side to my senpai in the next case.

“Uh, huh? Wait a second, Suou-san.”

“What is it? Is there something else in this river? Or did you want to go camping? Why not put in a request to the chief? We can all go as a welcoming party for you.”

“No, no, that’s not it… There probably won’t be any repeated drowning accidents anymore, but the first case of drowning was different from the other four, wasn’t it? If the other four were pulled in by the ‘invisible hand’, then how exactly did the ‘first’ child end up drowning?”

According to what Karen and Kanbaru said, there hadn’t been even a single accident at this river up until now, so I wondered if it was all right to leave this as “just a drowning accident”.

And to that, Suou-san said,

“Well, Assistant Inspector Araragi. Our job is just to deal with the mysterious while they’re still rumors, after all.”

And, rubbing the back of her head as if caught off guard, she said,

“If we don’t leave at least one mystery unsolved, we’ll have nothing to do.”

That was truly something only an adult could say.