Monogatari Series - Volume 25 - Chapter 9.01

Chapter Army- Shiogi Ranger

001 

Hagihara Shiogi was an experienced tactician, Yukariki Ichihime was an adaptable string master, and Saijou Tamamo was a reckless berserker. That’s why, even though those three were completely equal high school students just like me, they were beings that were completely different from me—although, recalling the fact that I myself had transformed into a mighty vampire over that spring break, then even if we were completely different living beings, you could perhaps say that we were completely equal monsters in that respect, so it was hard to judge. 

Anyway, allow me to introduce them, one by one. 

Hagihara Shiogi. Sumiyuri Academy third-year. 

The academy was one that strived to gather various kids with various circumstances and train them into graceful Yamato nadeshiko,  or perhaps into elegant combatants, and she happened to be that academy’s representative—for my own convenience, I took it to mean that she’s something like the student council president, but the title 

of tactician was not quite so easy to understand. Despite being in the middle of training herself, she had placed the academy under a substantial amount of control, like a shogi player manipulating the pieces on a board, so it was awfully awe-inspiring—if I wanted to look for someone similar to her at Naoetsu High, then there probably wasn’t anyone other than Hanekawa. But, a high schooler that could actually compare to Hanekawa? Just the thought of it sent chills down my spine—not to mention, unlike Hanekawa who was primarily of the intellectual type, this tactician was well-versed in martial arts, which made her all the more difficult to manage. 

Yukariki Ichihime. Sumiyuri Academy second-year. 

A combatant that the tactician placed her trust in—however, her main role was to be in charge of searching for the enemy. As a string master—to put it simply, it was more or less a user of strings—she wove a complex system of “invisible threads” in all directions like a spider building a nest, using it to grasp the situation. It was apparently a technique she acquired from a “master” that went by the name of Shisei Yuma, but in a way, she’d already surpassed her master—the skill with which she used the gloves she inherited was far more accurate than even high-tech radars, and far more gruesome as well. However, just because she was entrusted with a support-like role did not mean that she was lacking in combat prowess at all—in fact, she was in that role because her combat prowess was exceedingly high. For the tactician who would use any means to achieve her duties, she thought “it would be unsportsmanlike to put this junior on the front lines” and decided to put that transcendental skill—in other words, Yukariki Ichihime—in reserve. The spider’s thread that she wove around could just as easily turn into sharp sawblades with exceptional cutting ability. Even the legendary vampire had had her limbs cut off once before, and even I had more or less been chopped up into pieces before, but even so, I’d probably say that that was preferable to the fate of the victims that had gotten in her way. 

Saijou Tamamo. Sumiyuri Academy first-year. 

A combatant that the tactician didn’t place her trust in—a berserker. If there existed high school girls that were born for the sake of combat, then she would certainly be one of them, and if there existed high school girls that were born for the sake of killing, then once again, she would certainly be one of them. The large knives, far larger than the usual 15-cm kind, that she gripped in both hands reminded me of the vampire hunter, Dramaturgy—however, she was not a solidly-built giant but a cute and lovely girl. However, the number of people that Saijou Tamamo had killed up until now surely far surpassed the number of brethren that Dramaturgy had exterminated. As for what those vacant eyes of hers were focused on, there was no one who knew. Not even she herself knew. 

Tactician. String master. Berserker. 

This ridiculous three-man cell of rangers was said to equal an entire country’s troops with just the three of them—and it was none other than Humanity’s Strongest Contractor that had said so, so I probably couldn’t take it as a simple joke. However, with that in mind, the facts were just too hard to accept—that I, someone who was “completely ordinary with no good points”, would end up taking on all three of them at the same time. 

It was like it had been fabricated. 

Yes, as if it wasn’t a story, but nonsense.  

In the latest work of the series, “Musubimonogatari”, I, Araragi Koyomi, had splendidly grown up into a fine 23-year-old, but this was an event that occurred after I’d only just turned 18—that is, near the end of April. If you’ll allow me to use some know-it-all specialist terminology, then this incident occurred some time between “Kizumonogatari” and “Nekomonogatari (Kuro)”. However, as things were, without even making it to “Musubimonogatari”, I would have lost my life before even running into the various oddities that appeared 

after “Nekomonogatari (Kuro)”—becoming a 23-year-old would have been but a dream within a dream. 

By the way, I’d be happy if you could still remember that threeway intersection. 

After all the blood was sucked out of me by the iron-blooded, hotblooded, cold-blooded vampire, and after I’d been reduced into a dreadful vampire, I’d fallen into a pincer attack from three sides by Dramaturgy, who killed those of his own kind; Episode, the halfvampire; and Guillotine Cutter, who fancied himself a god—it was that very same intersection. At those very same coordinates, I ended up going through the exact same experience. 

No, I could even say that the situation was even worse than that time. 

After all, unlike during spring break, I couldn’t rely on Oshino to help me—of course, that middle-aged guy in a Hawaiian shirt would claim that he didn’t remember helping me at all, and that he was just keeping the balance between humans and oddities. But if I were to accept that twisted view, then that made me even more certain that he would not gallantly appear to save me in this case. 

After all, those three that had me in a pincer attack this time were not oddity specialists at all. 

They were human specialists. 

Those girls were not trying to exterminate me as a vampire—they were trying to exterminate me as a human. Good grief. 

However, I’d managed to just barely survive that hellish spring break in some way or another after this and that—I hadn’t yielded to Dramaturgy’s dual swords or Episode’s gigantic cross or even Guillotine Cutter’s despicable hostage-taking strategy. So if I were to be murdered by these three girls in the same breath, or rather in the same spurt of blood, then I’d just feel sorry for those three men. 

I’d show them that I could survive once again—even without Oshino. 

I’d show them that I’d be able to survive, even if I wasn’t a vampire. 

Because one day, I wanted to appear in a mystery novel like, “My classmate that was supposed to have died during high school invited me to a class reunion…?”, or something along those lines. 

And I didn’t want to appear as the “classmate that was supposed to have died”. 

But there was no time to cower. Now, at this three-way intersection where all roads lead to hell, what road should I take? 

To take the right path and fight the berserker → proceed to 002. To take the left path and fight the string master → proceed to 003. 

    To take the back path and fight the tactician     → proceed to 004. 

“Swaaaaaay… sway.” 

“Your purpose will be cut off here.” 

“Even if the opponent is a vampire, my name is Hagihara Shiogi. By any means, fair or foul, I’ll shoot you from head-on.” 

These roads leading to hell were full to the brim with high school girls in arms. 

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1  A Japanese term meaning “the epitome of pure, feminine beauty”. 
2  As if it wasn’t Monogatari (物語, “story”), but Zaregoto (戯言, “nonsense”).