Monogatari Series - Volume 23 - Chapter 1.26

026

Afterwards, we greeted the sunrise with no particular progress having been made—no report came to Gaen-san about the discovery of the fifth mummy, Kiseki Souwa-chan, and neither did any report about the discovery of a ‘true culprit’ that wasn’t Suicidemaster.

If there was any consolation, it would be that we also hadn’t received any reports of other, unexpected victims being discovered, or of Gaen-san’s collaborators being attacked, either—so the investigation was back to square one.

“The sun may have risen, but Suicidemaster will most likely completely recover by nightfall, as expected. Until then, this onee-san will come up with a new plan of action based on the newly discovered information… But nevertheless, during the day, it’ll be the same as yesterday. Gather as much information as we can.”

“I’ll be in charge of the living message left by Kanguu-chan.”

“The living message maybe left behind by Kanguu-chan, or the signature maybe left behind by the culprit, or the diversion maybe left behind by the culprit while pretending to be Suicidemaster, that is. In other words, in charge of the code—meanwhile, I’ll be analyzing the cell phone that we found that code in. I’ll be taking a look into the darkness of these girls and their club activities.”

“Please take care that you don’t get swallowed up by that darkness.”

It wasn’t the kind of advice you would give to an adult who’s seen the best and the worst of life, but I couldn’t help but say it—well, there’s no way Gaen-san was thinking something so cute and pure as the thought that “all children are cute and pure”.

“I may be a little late in doing so, but I will go and patrol around the town. After all, I’m the god of lost children, and the god of walks.”

Allow me to assist in the investigation from the point of view of a god, said Hachikuji—she probably was just looking forward to saying “the point of view of a god”, but she probably couldn’t act neutral anymore after the suggestion that the oddity she let in from overseas was potentially causing harm to the town.

Rather than being in a dilemma between humans and oddities, it was more like having Hachikuji work as the ferryman between humans and oddities.

Up until now, everyone’s assignments had turned out as expected, but then,

“During the day, I’ll be going to sleep,”

said Shinobu.

“When it becomes night, I shall cooperate. It will probably be better if I were there when we listen to Suicidemaster’s story—if you want, I can take charge of the interrogation.”

“—Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

Gaen-san did not bother questioning why the sealed oddity was being so cooperative—and that was good.

Rather, she approved the appointment with a terse reply before Shinobu could change her mind—when interrogating a vampire under suspicion, the presence of her old acquaintance was the best we could ask for.

However, the possibility that I’d thought of just a moment ago—the possibility that Suicidemaster had come to eat Shinobu. With that in mind, wouldn’t it be dangerous for Shinobu to be there…?

In any case, I couldn’t go against the leader’s decision. Don’t forget, Shinobu and Hachikuji and I were ‘Team Failure’, after all.

If we made any more blunders, we could end up having our harmless certification be revoked, or deposed from the godly seat—if “Team Failure” sounded bad, then let’s say we’re “Team Probation”.

If we didn’t show Gaen-san what we were capable of, it would be just as dangerous.

Well, I doubted that Shinobu offered to help Gaen-san because of such fussy calculations (since Shinobu couldn’t plot things anyway)…

It was a delicate matter, so I decided to talk to her about it when we were alone.

“Then, I’m about to head straight to school without dropping by at home, but where should we meet afterwards? Since we’re talking about deciphering the code, it might be better to explain it directly, like yesterday.”

If it turned out to be a code where I’d need diagrams or figures to explain it, then it would certainly be hard to explain it verbally over the phone.

“Then, let’s meet up at Naoetsu General Hospital. I’ll introduce you to the fourth mummy, Kanguu Misago-chan.”

It wasn’t like we could shake hands even if she were to be introduced to me, but still, I suppose it would be good to see her directly…

If I only thought of victims of oddity phenomena in terms of numbers, I would be no better than that con man who only thinks in terms of money.

“With four victims having been discovered, it’s getting tougher to manipulate the flow of information. Even this onee-san that knows everything has limits to her barrier that can hide everything. The incident has gotten convoluted, but no matter what the truth is, we’re going to have to settle this by tonight.”

It’s gonna be a ruckus—said Gaen-san.

But the reason for hurrying to resolve this issue was more than just because it would be a ruckus… There was the sense of justice of wanting to not have any more victims, but it was more than that.

If, by tomorrow morning, the series of incidents had not been resolved.

Kagenui-san would arrive.