Monogatari Series - Volume 22 - Chapter 4.06

006

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

After thinking long and hard about how I would proceed forward without betraying myself, I’d finally managed to take my first step on the long path that stretched out ahead of me, but I was less trembling with excitement and more utterly exhausted. I’d headed straight home in order to make up for the lack of sleep from the previous day, but what greeted me at the entrance hall was something that made me the most fed up in days—it seemed Tsukihi had returned from Tokyo, as a pair of sneakers that were neither mine nor Karen’s had been left at the entrance.

I’d only noticed because I’d been faithfully checking the shoes at the entrance ever since Tsukihi’s and Hanekawa’s home visit before… But I would’ve preferred to not notice.

Although she did say that she’d drop by once more before going back overseas… But why did it have to be tonight? Karen was on a night shift today, so I’d been planning on getting some peace and quiet. It was as if both Oikura and Tsukihi had taken careful aim to have the worst timing possible… But oh well, at least this was a chance to pry into my sister’s overseas lifestyle. I doubted that her utterly nonsensical private life would serve as a good reference for me, but I could at least use it as an example of what not to do. Thinking about how Senjougahara Hitagi was awake and moving around due to the time difference in that foreign country, I decided to interrogate my tiny sister—but then.

When I entered the living room, pumping myself up to stay awake for a little while longer, who would be sitting cross-legged on the sofa but the one that should be awake and moving around in a foreign country, Senjougahara Hitagi.

“Yo.”

“This isn’t a time to say ‘yo!’”

I’d fallen to my knees, but I’d barely managed to keep myself from collapsing entirely, and crawled my way towards the sofa.

“How did you even get in?”

“You’d be better off changing where you hid the spare key.”

“You do know you broke into a house of police officers?”

“I’m sorry I apologize I was foolish.”

She looked right into my eyes and apologized.

Although, she was wearing colored sunglasses that made it obvious she’d just returned from some area with bright sunlight, and her voice had been completely monotone, but it seemed she was not actually apologizing for her audacious trespassing.

Don’t tell me… Did she return to Japan to apologize…?

Seeing the sturdy suitcase that had been set aside, it seemed she hadn’t even gone back to her parent’s home, and come straight here instead—although she’d probably never say as much herself, considering how obstinate she was.

“Er… It’s my bad, too. It was just a lot of stress that piled up. I’m sorry.”

It was a strange feeling that I could only describe as having been beaten to the punch, or having been one-upped, but I felt a huge sense of relief, and I sat down on the sofa facing Hitagi.

Because even though I’d come up with various schemes using brains that I didn’t have, I hadn’t discussed any of them with Hitagi at all.

I’d wanted to act based on my own judgment until I reached my goal. I’d wanted to demonstrate my sincerity, but perhaps I was just being stubborn about it, too.

Well, I had thought about giving her a call starting tomorrow, but now that I met her face-to-face like this, I couldn’t keep quiet for even a second longer. I wanted to share the career choices I’d thought of with Hitagi.

“Hitagi. There’s something I want you to hear first, is that okay?”

“Whatever you want. As long as it won’t turn into our fourth breakup. And, as long as you hear what I have to say first, Koyomi.”

“Mm…”

She was really taking the wind out of my sails here, but oh well. If I got too passionate and started prattling on without thinking, she might just get mad at me for just moving the conversation along on my own. It’s better to think about what I want to say in advance.

“As a condition for my promotion onto an official team, I sent in a proposal to establish a Japanese branch to the CEO, and it somehow turned into reality. It’s not decided for sure, but if I can get cleared on the budget, I’ll be able to return to this town this spring, together with my boss and my team. So I’ll be able to live together with you, Koyomi, from now on.”

“……”

She’d moved the conversation along on her own.

Eh? Ehh? Ehhh?

You put a condition on your promotion? And not only that, you got your boss and your whole team involved? Just to come back to Japan? Just because you didn’t want to be apart from me any more?

“Establishing a branch in Japan had already been talked about before. I just pushed it along a bit… This means I’m really becoming straight-up rivals with my father, but daughters have to surpass their fathers someday, anyway.”

I thought the line had to do with sons, but I guess there was nothing saying that daughters couldn’t surpass their fathers, either… But anyway, what the heck? We’d had the exact same thought process. No, well, I had tried to move through my system, with conditions placed on my advancement, while Hitagi had changed her system entirely, and advanced by placing conditions, so I could only say that she’d one-upped me in that respect…

But, in that case… What were we going to do?

What was with this “Gift of the Magi” situation that spanned nations?

If I were to put it like Ougi-chan, these were truly gifts of fools.

“What’s wrong? If you’re not going to be happy for me, I’m going to burst into tears.”

“I’m happy. I’ve never been happier… I’m even trying to restrain myself from getting up and rejoicing. But, Hitagi-san. Can you prepare yourself and listen to what I have to say?”

If it was like this, I almost wanted the symbol of peace once known as Hanekawa Tsubasa to erase the borders of countries all over the world already, but we couldn’t just lazily wait for that day to come. In the first place, if that ever became reality, Hitagi would have to constantly watch over the state of international finance, and in the worst case, I might have to be the one to regulate it.

So, before that, let’s talk it out.

“What is it? Preparing myself… You’re making me all tense. Don’t tell me we’re actually going to break up for the fourth time? If so, I’m going to burst into tears.”

“That’s not it! Why do you want to cry so much? There’s no way that’s it. In the first place…”

In the first place, before we could break up for a fourth time, we’d need to reconcile our third breakup, didn’t we? Right, before anything, we’d need to talk about that—I didn’t want to hear any more about how common it was to get back together and then split apart again. And I didn’t want to put off getting back together for a minute more.

I extended my arm and gently pulled off her sunglasses. I had thought that the fact that she was still wearing them indoors meant that she’d pompously wanted me to take them off for her, but this was completely off the mark—Hitagi had just been hiding her eyes, because they were completely red, as if she’d been crying for days on end.

She’d already burst into tears, hadn’t she? She really was a bit of a crybaby.

Then, if I said this, she’d probably cry even more… But I was at a point where I’d have to start studying foreign languages from now on. Whatever happened next, I’d figure it out as I got to it, but for now, I’d love it if my girlfriend, who had spent quite some time in the country, could check my pronunciation for me.

“I love you.”

Her red eyes turned wide, and smiling while crying, bashfully responded with, “Koyomi, tore.”

The words of our union13 were not words that had caught on, but words from our memories alone.