Monogatari Series - Volume 24 - Chapter 2.13

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As one who’s always narrating all the bildungsromane, I am of course obligated to clarify that only peacocks have all the eye-catching feathers, but even though Benikujaku-chan’s a girl, there’s a part of me that still wishes she’d grow up to be as equally attractive.

But, from a few hundred metres above (I think; by the way, Ononoki-chan could easily fly up to the stratosphere – if she put her mind to it, she could probably reach outer space, so horrifying is her rocket launch), all I can see is how peaceful the town is.

From a bird’s-eye view, or should I say, a monster’s-eye view, the town itself quietly welcomed the night – almost all the lights from the houses were off, and all that’s left were the street lamps.

Not a single person in sight.

There is of course the risk of being seen from down below, so I’m glad nobody’s down there as I was hugged onto by a young girl flying in the skies, but when I say ‘not a single person’, that includes the small girl I’m looking for, so this isn’t going very well.

Well, I say that, if that year five girl who’s left home and freed herself from anything is having a banquet in the middle of the road or in a park, then my job here would be done, but that’d mean there’s another problem, and I’m not lucky enough to have things end this neatly, so I guess I can’t help it.

Even though it’s all a rough approximation, knowing the layout around the school district is already plenty of progress…all that’s left is for me, someone who doesn’t have a photographic memory, to see how long I can stay up in the air.

I’m great at forgetting things.

Shinobu skilfully controlled her bat wings and gently landed on a road just outside the school district – she may have a superb skeleton, but it seems those thin, flexible wings also show potential, I thought to myself.

‘Arigatō, Shinobu. This will serve as a great reference; alright, but this is where we really begin looking for a small girl. Let’s take a walk around town and go around in circles.’

‘Akin to a snail’s shell, I see.’

Shinobu said after retracting her wings.

She looks quite tired…not only is she no longer as powerful, she also had to carry a human with her; I can appreciate it’s not easy at all.

Thanks for all your hard work.

‘A lost cow, a snail, huh. If it were me, I would have turned it into escargot a long time ago.’

‘If you’re tired, why not return into my shadow?’

Surely it’s more comfy than riding on my shoulder – besides, if somebody does show up, having a blonde, gold-eyed girl would not make a good first impression.

‘Let us proceed.’

It seems I’ve asked a lot of Shinobu tonight; it’s not often she’d actually do as I tell her and return inside my shadow.

I feel sorry for her.

Whilst I cannot break the usual blood-giving (blood-sucking) schedule, I think I should give her some special doughnuts as a reward tomorrow – I wonder what promotional events are going on?

Having no partner for conversation makes me particularly lonely (standing in the middle of an unfamiliar town in the middle of the night gives anybody that feeling), but some things one cannot go ahead and do until one is truly alone – and I’m not talking about the weird stuff.

Even without a young girl in tow, as far as these peaceful quarters are concerned, a loitering university student makes for quite a creepy story – naturally, I don’t want to be stopped and questioned, and nor do I want to scare the people living around here.

I’m serious, sighting rumours like these are how tales of oddities get spun – some rehashing an old legend, some completely new inventions.

An oddity on the prowl for small girls night after night.

How frightening.

Up until now, I’ve went out at night thinking only ‘well, it’ll all be fine’ and not give it any second thought, since I was only in high school.

With that in mind, I must keep up a wholesome disguise whilst searching for the small girl, and that means some compromises – namely, I have to give up a detailed combing-through.

To let out walking as an option.

And run.

Which is to say, pretend that I’m jogging – running along a track, a spiralling track.

If we’re talking about wholesome disguises, nothing beats jogging. One exception being my junior who does two sets of ten-kilometre jogs daily; she’s a wholly unwholesome pervert – no, to give that sicko credit, jogging is perhaps the only thing keeping her from being shunned by everyone around her.

Fortunately, I’m currently wearing sneakers, half-length trousers, and a parka. It’s no proper sportswear, but it is an adequately sporty look.

Although to be honest, it also looks halfway between sportswear and pyjamas…even though I’m meeting a god I’m on good terms with, it’s still a bit disrespectful, but now it has come into good use.

The reason why I’m confident in my physique is because I’ve been strengthened by being a vampire before – this is another instance of skirting the rules, but between doing this and getting arrested for doing things properly, I’d rather jog to my heart’s content.

I can’t do that if Shinobu isn’t in my shadow…that one-piece dress of hers wouldn’t suit a middle-of-the-night jogging very well.

That lightweight garment is going to flap around.

There is another advantage to this plan – this may sound obvious, but running saves plenty of time compared to jogging.

But a disadvantage within the advantage would be a higher risk of missing something important, though my vampire after-effect that is my improved vision would be enough to compensate.

So come on a journey.

I did a few stretches to warm myself up (I plan on relying on my vampiric powers, so this is more aimed at my psyche, which is quite important), and then I started running – I never thought this would be what I look like the first time I jogged, but I guess these experiences just accumulate as one gets older.

Please ignore the inherent contradiction in tracing a spiral, inspired by a slow snail’s shell, by means of rapidly running ’round.