Monogatari Series - Volume 26 - Chapter 1.21

021

If the level of destruction could be controlled by such a simple change approach (not so much “new technology”), then I wished she had used the pinky edition when destroying the front door of my house—that was what I wanted to say, but the range hadn’t really been confined to a minimum, and the power wasn’t that suppressed… The bed had been destroyed, down to the floor. It was a relief that she didn’t penetrate through to the room underneath us.

“I’m not really a dab hand at holding back. Or should I say, I’m not really a dab finger.24 Whether it’s my index finger or my pinky finger.”

The god of destruction knew no guilt… Well, the result was that the father doll was now in pieces, so at least we achieved our goal.

However, there had been quite a lot of noise during the destruction, so it was probably better if we got the hell out of this apartment, but…

“Oni onii-chan, keep an eye on this room for a bit. I’m going to go check out the other areas,”

said Ononoki-chan.

“The other areas?”

“The fridge, the trash cans, the toilet, the bath, that intellectual sensei‘s bedroom.”

Unlike before, it was now a full-fledged investigation… Since the third bedroom, which had no clues, was now destroyed, it seemed she was going to investigate all the places we hadn’t laid a hand (finger?) on yet.

I felt like I should help somehow, but since this was a job for the pros, I would probably just get in the way.

But was there any meaning in keeping an eye on this room, which had literally become remnants…?

“There is. The futon that’s been torn to shreds might still start to move.”

“I see… When you’re a professional, you have to be that cautious.”

That made it sound like a really immortal oddity, though… I’ve heard that it’s not easy for even vampires to regenerate after being torn to pieces.

“If the scraps start moving, then I should just call you over, Ononoki-chan?”

“Yeah. If I feel like it, I’ll suspend the investigation and come help you.”

“Maybe you can come to help with more motivation?”

“By the way, isn’t it hard?”

“? Isn’t what hard?”

“Helping an older woman. It’s not like helping a little girl, is it.”

Saying so rather bluntly, Ononoki-chan briskly left to analyze the other rooms—damn, she sure kept telling me off.

Helping little girls was pretty difficult, too… I made nothing but mistakes… But, when dealing with an adult, the kind of difficulty was different.

In the end, perhaps this was just a cautionary tale about not doing favors for people you didn’t know well… I never thought that the lesson my parents taught me about not talking to strange adults would come into play here.

It wasn’t really coming into play, though.

I’d basically ignored it, though.

A lesson from my parents, huh… When Ononoki-chan was around, I could play the tough guy who could chat about things casually even in a crisis, but now that I was alone, I started to think about unnecessary things.

When not only the “beloved three-year-old daughter” but also the “estranged husband” might not actually exist, it really started to bum me out… Even my illegal acts, having long since deviated from what I’d been requested to do, seemed like irreplaceable components of such delusions.

The fact that I, of all people, had turned into such a component gave me more chills than seeing the father doll that had been stabbed in the face… Even after the father doll was torn to shreds, it didn’t relieve me at all.

A haze still hung over my mood—just by coming to investigate, it was as if I wandered into a more abyssal and more circuitous labyrinth.

Well, if it turned out that the estranged husband was not real to begin with, then the urgency of warning him that his life was in danger disappeared, too, so that confirmation alone meant that this investigation wasn’t useless—even more so if the stabbing of the father doll had already fulfilled the revenge of the Iie-chan doll.

But, now that I’d thought of that, the existence of Associate Professor Iesumi herself was never in doubt, right? We’d met in person at the lab, and before that, I had been taking Swiss German from her for the entire first term.

Just as Switzerland was a real country that existed, Associate Professor Iesumi was a real person that existed.

The hope of locating the associate professor based on the whereabouts of her estranged husband had already been cut off. In that case, whether or not we’d be able to locate her would depend on the forensic work Ononoki-chan was currently performing in the first room, as well as the living and dining rooms and so forth… But tracking down the location of someone who may have even forged her residency status was completely beyond the job of a specialist of immortal oddities, no matter how you looked at it, right?

That was, normally, a job for the police.

As an authority on evil spirits, she’d already fulfilled her role when she destroyed that father doll into pieces before it turned into an oddity… Of course, dealing with the “flying blanket” that I’d let escape was my responsibility, but in practical terms, I couldn’t come up with a route to achieve that goal… No, no, don’t get all negative just from being alone.

I should be thinking not about what I couldn’t do, but what I could do.

What could I do right now? As ordered by the tween girl, I was to keep an eye on the torn futon to make sure it didn’t move among the fragments of the bed—it wasn’t an extremely specialized job that only I could do, but it was better than overthinking and losing motivation.

I was the one who should be more motivated.

I didn’t know how long Ononoki-chan would take to investigate all the rooms, so I might as well sit down in the chair to keep watch… Or should I remain standing in order to respond immediately if something happened?

While I distracted myself with such a decision that didn’t really matter…

“——!”

I was startled.

It seemed like one of the scraps actually did move slightly—oh my, perhaps remaining standing was the right move after all, I thought while seated.

However, that tiny scrap didn’t do anything like fly in my direction… On the other hand, it wasn’t the misjudgment of a coward, either, as the scrap continued to flutter slightly.

Watching carefully, even the scraps around it, the feathers that were inside, the cotton of the mattress, and the closed blackout curtains—all of them were fluttering and swaying, very faintly.

Huh… What was this?

Since the weight of each part had become lighter after being torn to shreds, was it just wavering at the slightest breeze—the slightest breeze?

Breeze?

Even though we were indoors?

Maybe if it was as a result of the window to the living room that Ononoki-chan broke—but in this room with the curtains and windows closed, just like the nursery?

Although the floor had not been penetrated, was there air being blown up from the floor through some invisible hole due to air pressure or something? If not… Then maybe it was reacting to the air movement caused by rats or something running around under the floor… But, the idea of rats being in an apartment like this… … …Although, it didn’t have to be a rat to move air… I moved the air just by moving to sit down on the chair… In other words… In other words, it didn’t have to be under the floor, but within this room, right?

By the time I had that epiphany, it was too late.

While I’d readied myself to keep an eye on the shreds of the father doll, I was attacked from behind—by my own thick jacket, which I had just taken off because of the heat.