Monogatari Series - Volume 22 - Chapter 4.01

Tsuzura Human

001

Kouga Tsuzura was, uniquely, the only human to be a part of the Rumors Squad—even though the squad boasted a lineup of dubious members that could perhaps be called a night parade of a hundred demons, the person at the top that spearheaded it was neither mermaid nor golem, neither werewolf nor vampire, but a pure human. But she herself didn’t put on any airs, often saying, “I’m an impure human. Because I’m just a human,” as she shrugged her shoulders; but, well, in this case, questioning the humanness of a human was really just philosophical. I hadn’t asked Gaen-san why she’d chosen this person to be the leader, but there was probably a good meaning to putting a human in charge of police officers mixed in with oddities, and in charge of an official squad that dealt with oddities before they became oddities.

A pure, or perhaps an impure, human.

In the end, Gaen-san’s project of “going from just a fragment to an official group” or “going from just a unit to an entire organization” was still in progress.

Though I’d taken up my training at the Naoetsu Police Department due to my communication skills with an oddity, Kouga Tsuzura had most likely been elected as the key figure of the Rumors Squad due to her communication skills with other people. When it came down to it, if the Rumors Squad was unable to negotiate on an equivalent level with humans, in both a good way and a bad way, then the existence of the squad itself could end up becoming just another rumor.

So this was probably a countermeasure for something like that.

An equivalent countermeasure.9

That’s why Kouga Tsuzura wasn’t even a specialist.

She had not even one skill she specialized in.

She had no technique where she could universally negotiate with oddities like Oshino Meme, and she couldn’t do anything like swindle people through the use of oddities like Kaiki Deishuu. She wasn’t an onmyouji that could beat up immortal oddities like Kagenui Yozuru, and she did not own a shikigami that was like Ononoki Yotsugi. She couldn’t even cross between this world and the next using dolls like Teori Tadatsuru—and of course, she didn’t know everything like Gaen Izuko did.

She could not see the form of any oddity, hear the voice of any oddity, be able to touch any oddity, or be affected by any oddity. She could not interact with oddities in any way.

That was the purity of a pure human—or perhaps the impurity of an impure human. But in other words, she remained wholly untouched by any oddity.

She probably didn’t even have any guardian angels or guardian spirits.

She’d probably never even received fortune-telling that had been correct.

And she’d never gone wrong—she was always “not quite right, but not far from the mark”.

That’s why she could be put in charge of a mermaid or golem or werewolf.

She was unable to be influenced, and she was especially unable to be negatively influenced—it was because she’d come this far without any ties to the supernatural that she’d taken command of the Rumors Squad.

A government official who could impartially come into contact with fantasy or the occult without investment or bias—for a world that was so strange and mysterious, it turned out that a person like that was unexpectedly valuable.

Because it was Gaen-san, I was sure that she’d been elated when she discovered such a person of talent (and undoubtedly a person of talent). Because she was “an onee-san that knew everything”, she was certainly aware that she’d met “an onee-san that didn’t know anything”.

She would have been thoroughly aware of her.

Ignorance could certainly be considered a crime, but it was also true that knowledge could bring fear.

And because the Rumors Squad was a squad dedicated to eliminating fear, we definitely couldn’t be the bringers of fear.

We couldn’t let any rumors turn into a storm.

A breeze that softly caressed your cheek was best.