022
‘Right! That’s a wrap! Good work!’
With a ‘cut’, Higasa-chan pressed the stop button on her smartphone’s camera app – wait, doesn’t that mean her cheery last line got recorded too?
And with me being serious for once as well…
‘Forgive me for being blunt, but you should’ve been more optimistic! Seriously, Araragi-senpai, the reason why it’s like this now is because you insisted on not using the script I gave you! And after having gone the extra mile to accommodate a big-shot VIP…’
‘That’s because, Higasa-chan, the script you wrote had a BL gag every five seconds…’
‘But with a great quote to live by every twenty minutes!’
‘That’s even worse! It’s too long.’
Reviving the Naoetsu High School Girls’ Basketball Club, Phase I: Operation ‘A Video Message from an Esteemed Pioneer’.
As I’ve made clear in that message, ‘an esteemed pioneer’ is a giant lie, so frankly, I don’t think this’ll turn out great, but since this was Higasa-chan’s pet project, refusing her was pretty much impossible – only with the BL gag-laden script did I manage to successfully resist.
Incidentally, this is all happening in a place that’s not my room – not with Hitagi-san having warned that she’s watching me. Even so, going to Higasa-chan’s house would also be risky, so I ended up in neutral territory – that is, the Kanbaru household.
We didn’t film it in Kanbaru’s own room, of course (this came up at short notice, so I didn’t have time to tidy her room); we filmed it at a different spacious room inside the house.
Which means Kanbaru is also part of the production – she was on a second camera, filming me from a different angle. I heard they wanted to take footage from cameras 1 and 2 then cut them together…I don’t see the point in putting all that work just for a home-made video message.
Incidentally, the reason why the typically raucous Kanbaru didn’t make a sound was because she wasn’t used to operating a smartphone (the phone’s mine; Kanbaru’s still rocking a feature phone), which is taking up all her concentration…she doesn’t seem to know how to stop recording, as she continued filming myself talking with Higasa-chan.
If this went on air, it’d be bad.
As bad as a broadcasting blunder – thinking back on it, the bit where I was pretending to be serious ended up quite dark; should we start over?
‘Nah, this is fine, no?’
Kanbaru said, seemingly finally able to find a way to stop recording – although she still didn’t seem to know how to press stop, which means she probably just shut the phone off.
‘That speech was fantastic, Araragi-senpai; no wonder I hold you in such high esteem! You’ve really touched my heart! Out of everything, I want to end up exactly like Araragi-senpai!’
‘If that’s the case, then I don’t think my speech was effectively inspiring at all.’
Eh, whatever.
I couldn’t muster up the emotions to say something happy at this moment anyway – not that I’m a bright personality to begin with.
Much as I can’t be honest about everything, I think it’s still important to let everyone know the truth.
‘If anything, Kanbaru, I wanna be like the lil’ scamp that you are. Do a substitution trick or something.’
No, that’s not a ‘trick’.
Seems I haven’t fully cast away my faux-detective schtick…even if I pretended to be Kanbaru, what does that achieve in terms of mentoring my juniors?
‘The thought of becoming someone like Araragi-senpai is a thought I’d never touch with a ten-foot pole’, Higasa-chan said, ‘but I’d like to be an adult as soon as I can. If my words get more convincing with age, then maybe my juniors would actually take what I have to say to heart.’
She ended softly.
‘In summary, school uniforms are a drag. Wouldn’t you say so, Ruga?’
‘Obviously. Gets me the urge to take it all off sometimes. Especially in the streets.’
Personally, I think Kanbaru’s urge can be attributed to a different reason…not that I couldn’t understand it.
Uniforms are a symbol.
Now that I’m in uni, there is a part of me that misses not having to spend time choosing what to wear.
‘That’s another reason why we invited you, Araragi-senpai. Compared to us little rabble-rousers, the words of a uni student carry greater gravitas.’
‘You know it’s all the same, right?’
It’s something that’s leaving a lasting impression throughout this case.
People may change with the times, but whether they grow with the times is, I guess, a different question…or, to put it another way, even if one doesn’t change deep down, as long as their title changes, then people would perceive them differently.
‘Anyway, as long as people can walk away from it thinking “eh, so that’s what a uni student’s like”, then I’m happy. I feel your juniors have a tendency to take things too seriously.’
‘No worries. I’m going to upload this to a video site, so it can be relished by all mankind.’
‘Stop. If the worldly Hanekawa ever saw it, I’d die from shame.’
I say all that, this is still an acceptable Phase I – them choosing to enlist me, of all people, aside, they do need some ‘outside perspective’.
In the hypothetical but plausible locality whereby a group of acquaintances, regardless of the relationship’s nature as overall leaning towards having fruitious or deleterious effects, find themselves in a state of figurative, if not additionally literal confinement and entanglement, form inseparable bonds under continuous and uninterrupted forward temporal movement, it is thenceforth guaranteed that any internally-set rule with the originally benign intention to function as mere informal multitudes of guidelines would heretofore enter such a state whereby the challenge or otherwise deliberate attempt to fail in discharging such functions, thereby sabotaging aforesaid items, would prove overly burdensome even amongst those most capable…although Oshino’s lebensstil could be interpreted as an outlier whose general application would see significant and highly visible and perhaps even risible obstacles in terms of individual, if not societal, acceptance, the demonstrably simplistic and indisputable observation that human beings, i.e. homo sapiens, share a common habitat speaks volumes on the considerable importance that ought to be awarded regarding the sōtaika [相対化, ‘relativisation’] of societal values.
If this video message makes it known to them that there exist other people outside of their hermetic circle, then, to me, it has served its purpose.
A hermetic circle…
Families are like that too.
Until someone from the outside points them out as strange or inappropriate, any house rule would be enforced as if they are nothing out of the ordinary.
‘Take, for example, me bathing with my younger sisters. It took until middle school when someone else pointed out to me that I thought it was strange.’
‘Araragi-senpai, you only pretended that it was normal before someone else pointed it out, didn’t you…’
Besides, I kept going into the bath with my younger sisters in high school; if we view it from a more global perspective, it’s true that certain cultures would find it completely natural to see a family bathing together.
One can’t be certain about everything.
‘Mm? What about it, Araragi-senpai? Why would you segue the topic at hand into talking about family? Although it is true that I see and love everybody in the Girls’ Basketball Club as family.’
Wouldn’t that take too much of a toll?
That’s precisely the bad influence you have on your juniors, you lil’ – no, I can’t say that.
It’s inevitable for the juniors to be starstruck with Kanbaru; instead of changing the values of that charismatic superstar that is Kanbaru, it’d be easier to change the values of the junior members themselves.
‘Uh, that’s because my mind’s been on something else recently – ah, right, Higasa-chan.’
I said, trying to change the topic. I can’t answer Kanbaru’s question, and besides, I had to apologise to Higasa-chan over something too.
‘Sorry I acted on my own. Must’ve surprised you when Benihibari came over.’
‘Benihibari?’
Higasa-chan tilted her head in confusion.
Crap – Benihibari is a nickname I made for her.
‘Beniguchi Hibari? Asking you through Mitonon? You know, when you told me the thing that “stays in the room” yesterday – your teammate’s senpai from middle school?’
‘What’re you talking about? Nobody came looking for me.’
What?
Actually, that makes sense; even if one reverses the five circles, it wasn’t strictly necessary to contact Kanbaru or Higasa-chan to get to me.
Having briefly seen face-to-face with Mitonon, she could’ve made a little shortcut – maybe she heard my name from her father (in the middle of him pointing the finger at her), then asked her junior Mitonon for verification.
‘Am I the only one who thinks there’s an inherent danger in Araragi-senpai dead set on calling her “Mitonon”?’
‘I saw Benikujaku-chan’s older sister in campus today during lunch; I thought she met with you first, Higasa-chan…’
Kanbaru’s danger radar is quite an accurate one indeed, and if Higasa-chan was telling the truth, then it would be dangerous to continue talking about this, albeit in a different sense.
I assumed Higasa-chan already knew about the things I only learnt through that rampaging episode last night, but if she doesn’t know, then technically I’d have broken the injunction.
Even if she was the one who gave me the information that was supposed to ‘stay in this room’, I don’t want to repay her with something like ‘it turns out, she not only had one tooth plucked out, but all of them’…unlike Benihibari, Higasa-chan isn’t directly related to the victim.
It’s just that now I’ve brought it up with the endlessly nosey high school girl (and her troublesome best friend), how should I stop this from snowballing? – this calls for some delicate judgement.
Having mentioned Mitonon, I’m sure if Higasa-chan wanted to know, she’d have the right connections herself.
Stealthily segue into something else, I thought to myself – but Higasa-chan replied with,
‘If you’re talking about meeting her, I don’t think that’s possible.’
‘? You don’t think it’s possible for me to meet her?’
‘You’re talking about Benikujaku-chan’s older sister, right? Yep. Impossible. Araragi-senpai, could you have mistaken somebody else with her?’
‘Mistaken? I’m pretty sure it’s her. Because Benikujaku-chan’s older sister is in Manase Uni, just like me –’
‘Yes, that’d be correct. I don’t know how you know, Araragi-senpai, but I did some digging myself. After giving what I know to Araragi-senpai, I figured that “Mitonon’s senpai in middle school” is too vague a piece of data, which is a source of embarrassment, so I went home and did a little investigation.’
‘I’ve no idea what you’re on about, Higasa-chan, but what’s gotten into you…?’
Kanbaru asked.
‘Because, you see, I model myself after the school journalists you see in shōnen manga! My catchphrase is “I’ll take this exclusive scoop!”, and my nickname is “Hyena”!’
Higasa-chan ejaculated, giving a thumbs-up.
Why would you want to be someone who doesn’t look to be very popular…? What’s wrong with being an antelopish basketball player like you are right now?
That aside, Higasa-chan turned towards me:
‘And what I’ve found is that, yes, Beniguchi Kujaku-chan’s older sister is indeed a student in Manase National University, just like Araragi-senpai, but she appears to have applied for overseas travel, so shouldn’t that mean she’s abroad?’
‘Abroad? Abroad, like –’
Hanekawa?
No.
Going abroad to study, to find employment, to find oneself – we may have touched upon this previously, but –
‘She’s not busy finding herself, she just has a few buddies from high school who started their grad trip late. It’s a bit like that “new school, finally out of home, spreading your wings” kind of feeling she’s going through. By the way, they’re headed to Ayers Rock, in Australia.’
Ah.
They’re going to ban climbing it soon, aren’t they?
No, when it comes to travel destinations, you can just discuss and come to an agreement with your friends later.
‘So to give an update to “what I said stays in this room”, she went away from home, and left Japan; as soon as that happened, her little sister got snatched – and that’s the gist of her email asking Mitonon for help. That’s all the details I got after asking a few questions.’
So in other words, since she’s overseas, she can’t do anything in Japan, so she went to lengths to contact her old junior from middle school…was that it?
To give her credit, even if things were embarrassing between her and family, with a possibly-kidnapped little sister – not to mention a front tooth in the postbox – it’s only reasonable to do anything in your power to head back.
The fact that she chose the relatively nearby Manase University after graduating leaves even little doubt – though since she’s abroad, not everything would go to plan.
I’ve never travelled abroad, so I can’t say from experience, but I can imagine it being tricky to change dates on a plane ticket…you’d have to book a seat first, and more than that, she’s on a student trip, so it might be a package tour.
Cancelling that could incur fees of its own.
Since she couldn’t come back at once, I can understand why she’d put that sliver of hope on others…I imagine Mitonon wasn’t the only person she approached.
It’s an explanation I’m content with, but that means an even bigger mystery has arisen.
‘Then who on earth was I meeting with at lunchtime, in the recruit suit?’
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login