Monogatari Series - Volume 25 - Chapter 4.03

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The middle school boy’s name was Doujima Mayumi-kun. 

My first name, Koyomi, was also one that could easily be mistaken for a girl’s name, and he surely experienced the same thing many times, so there was no way I didn’t feel a strong sense of sympathy for him. 

He was a second-year in the middle school section of Yubiwa Academy. 

Yubiwa Academy. 

Unfortunately, it was a school I hadn’t heard of. 

As I expected, he’d come a long way from a different town to visit this town. 

If so, then I assumed that he came because he was a fan of shrines or maybe a fan of abandoned buildings, but Mayumi-kun was actually neither—the reason he came to visit the Kitashirahebi Shrine was, like me, to look at the stars. 

“It was a direct order from Leader, you see… Leader said that, when it comes to stargazing, then that’s Doujima Mayumi-kun’s specialty, so go and take a look. Whenever that leader starts talking, there’s just no way to change that person’s mind… Um, aren’t you a little close?” 

“Huh? Am I?” 

It was true that, on the steps to the shrine, Doujima-kun and I were sitting about 5 cm apart, but since we were both guys, was there really a need to worry about how close we were? 

Perhaps he was at a difficult age. 

Well, he did seem like a rather delicate pretty boy. 

However, from my experience, if you already had a fear of strangers in middle school, then it would be hard on you in the future—I didn’t want to have this boy live a life that would make him sympathetic to my own sad high school life, so instead I got even closer, stuck right up onto him, put my arm around his shoulders again, and said, “Hey, now, there’s no need to be shy.” 

“H—hiii!” 

“Don’t worry, Mayumi-kun. People often say that I have an interest in young girls, but I have no interest in middle school boys.” 

“Th, they say you have an interest in young girls…!?” 

So it’s not just Sakiguchi-senpai, she murmured in shock.  

“Then, I absolutely can’t reveal my identity here…” 

“Your identity? What do you mean by that, Mayumi-kun?” 

“N—no. It’s nothing. Yes, feel free to leave your arm around my shoulders like that. You can do it as much as you like.” 

“All right. I’m really glad, since it feels like I’ve gotten a little brother. If you were one of my little sisters, I’d probably just knock you out for no reason.” 

“……” 

I wasn’t sure why Mayumi-kun was trembling so much, but anyway, considering he’d come all this way to this empty town for some stargazing, I could see why he’d get so depressed at this bad weather. 

Or so I’d thought, but that wasn’t necessarily it—in the first place, he’d only come on orders from “Leader”, which meant that Mayumikun himself didn’t necessarily enjoy stargazing. 

In that case, I assumed that “Leader” had to be the president of the Astronomy Club or something, but it turned out that even this was off the mark. 

“I’m a member of the Pretty Boy Detective Club. And I came to this mountain as part of my detective work—I’ve managed to fulfill my stargazing duties, but I won’t be able to return like this.” 

“?” 

Won’t be able to return? What did that mean? 

No, even before that—he’d fulfilled his duties? 

In this weather? How? Did he mean that he’d finished his observation before it turned cloudy? But no, if it was the time period before it turned cloudy, then it was only the moon that was just barely visible, and if that was all he needed to observe, then he could have done that without needing to climb this mountain. 

Actually, the biggest point of uncertainty would be, what in the world was the “Pretty Boy Detective Club” that he mentioned so casually… So was something like that popular among middle schoolers these days? 

Maybe I’d already lost that kind of childlike mindset. 

A high school third-year, eighteen years old. 

Even though I was still totally a kid, I also got the feeling that I’d matured a lot since my own middle school days—and meanwhile, Mayumi-kun’s skin still looked pretty smooth. 

“Rub rub.” 

“Kya, kyaah! What are you doing!?” 

“Hm? Mayumi-kun, your cheeks just looked so soft that I wanted to try patting them… Did you have a problem with that?” 

“No, no, of course not! After all, we’re both guys!” 

Yeah, of course. C’mon, let’s rub our cheeks together!” 

“Ha, ha ha, ha ha.” 

In order to soothe the heart of the pretty boy that had emanated darkness on that scale, I’d manifested a Kanbaru-like sociability that was very out-of-character for me, so I was glad that Mayumi-kun showed me a smile as a result. 

What, so my social disposition wasn’t that bad, after all! So this was what it was like. 

I’ve won, haven’t I. 

At life. 

Well, putting aside the matter of the Pretty Boy Detective Club as being some sort of school club, I next asked about how Mayumi-kun was able to go stargazing with these clouds. 

Did he have some sort of special tool he used, like a telescope that could observe stars even through clouds? It didn’t seem like he would normally tell someone so easily, but perhaps thanks to my conversational skills, Mayumi-kun responded. 

“I don’t need any tools,” he said. “If anything, I need a special tool in order to not observe them… Ah, shoot. I said it out loud.” 

“C’mon, don’t be so standoffish! There are no secrets between us, all right? We’re brothers who just happened to not be related, aren’t we? If you don’t keep talking, I’m gonna tickle you! Coochy-coochycoo!” 

“I’ll talk I’ll talk I’ll talk! Ahahaha, stop it stop it stop it! I said I’ll talk!” 

Ah, it sure is fun for dudes to mess around with each other. This sort of relationship was hard to forge with someone of the opposite sex, I felt deeply in my heart, but then… 

“Beautiful Sight Mayumi.” 

Those mysterious words that he uttered piqued my interest. 

“That’s what they call me—basically, my eyesight is extremely good.” 

“Extremely?” 

Yes. No matter how thick the clouds are, in the end they’re just bundles of water, so I can see through them—so that’s how I could observe the star that I needed to.” 

“Wow…” 

It was pretty hard to believe just like that, but it wasn’t something that was impossible—so that was his strong point as a member of his “Detective Club”. 

“So that’s it. Then, can I lick your eyeballs a little?” 

“Of course you can’t!? Even if we’re both guys, that’s way too weird, right!?” 

It seemed that I wouldn’t be allowed. 

However, if he possessed such outstanding eyesight, then it felt like it would be quite a hindrance in your everyday life. Was he really all right? 

“Yes. That’s why I normally wear glasses, to keep my eyesight in check.” 

In other words—a special tool. 

Well, glasses were tools used to correct one’s vision, so even if you used them to keep your vision in check, you could still say that that was still a proper use for them. 

“But I lost those glasses somewhere around this shrine… That’s why I’ve been so troubled.” He lost them. 

So basically, when he took them off in order to observe the stars, they went missing? 

“Mm, I don’t wear glasses so I can’t say for sure, but in these cases, isn’t it usually something like you unconsciously having put them in your pocket or something?” 

“Yes… I thought of that and checked myself, but they weren’t in my jacket pocket or my slacks pockets…” 

“You might not know just from looking by yourself. Here, stay still. 

I’ll look for you!” 

Hyaah! Don’t grope around in my pockets! I’m telling you, they’re definitely not there! Definitely! Absolutely! I swear on my life!” I looked with this eyesight of mine, so there’s no doubt! 

Said Mayumi-kun, stubbornly resisting. 

He’d put up quite the struggle, as if his own chastity had been in danger. 

He was quite bashful for a boy. 

Although, thinking about it, everyone was like that during puberty—in that case, perhaps I didn’t really need to worry about Mayumi-kun’s future at this stage. 

Then, instead of the future, the present was more worrying. 

“Well, you can’t help it if you lost them, so maybe you should give up and go back home? If you don’t go back down the mountain soon, the trains will stop… And it looks like it’s going to rain. I can stay behind and look for them for you. If you can just let me know your address, I’ll mail them to you later.” 

“My, my address…” Though he should already have opened up to me by now, he said, “Yes, um, well. In the worst case, I have a spare set, so that won’t be necessary,” still openly wary about me for some reason. “However—I can’t go back down. After meeting you, Araragisan, it made me want to go back down even more, but even so, I just can’t.” 

From the way he said it, it sounded like him meeting me turned into a form of encouragement for him, but what did he mean by he couldn’t? Worried that my snuggling up to him wasn’t enough, I decided to show off my powerful side to this young friend of mine and slipped my arm underneath Mayumi-kun’s thighs with my other arm still on his shoulders, lifting him up and setting him down on my lap. 

He was so light! 

Were middle schoolers always this light? 

“It’s fine! Araragi-san, you’re snuggling up to me plenty as it is!” 

“Really? Well, all right… Then, why can’t you go down?” 

For, for now, would you please let me get back down from your lap…” 

“Now, now, no need to hold back, kid. Besides, you’ve already sat down! Feel free to stay just like that. Here! Now you have a seatbelt!” 

“H—hiiii!” 

“Whoa, your waist sure is thin. It’s not like I was expecting you to be muscular, but I can’t feel any stomach muscles at all! It’s like I’ll be able to feel your ribs. Shouldn’t you really be eating more?” 

“Hiii, hiii!” 

Mayumi-kun had been hesitant to speak, but perhaps due to my great capacity for tolerance or even my great capacity for embracing,  it was as if he decided that he needed to consult with me as soon as possible. 

“It’s because I can see it,” he quickly said. 

See it? See what? 

“Swimming above the town—there’s a giant piranha.”

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6  Araragi transforms 包容力 (houyouryoku, “tolerance”) into 抱擁力 (houyou ryoku, “embracing ability”).