Monogatari Series - Volume 26 - Chapter 2.03

003

“Hiya, nice to meet you, Sengoku Nadeko-san. I’m Gaen Izuko, the administrator of the specialists and an onee-san who knows everything. Can I call you Sen-chan?”

Even if I’d been told to get ready to go out, ever since I started my shut-in lifestyle, I was always spending my time in a jersey, so I could go out as I was without needing to dress up.

There was no dress code to restrict me.

In addition, I wasn’t the type of shut-in that was weak to the outdoors, so I wasn’t particularly opposed to going out… So I was a little excited to see where Ononoki-chan planned on taking me, but I was completely mentally unprepared to meet Gaen-san.

It was that Gaen-san!

Last time, she’d blown me off after I’d braced myself in preparation for our long-awaited meeting, so I’d carelessly assumed that we wouldn’t have another chance to meet for a bit. And just as I’d let my guard down, this sudden development happened.

Ononoki-chan was intent on giving me quite the shock, huh—incidentally, she’d brought me to the capital.

And by the capital, I didn’t mean Tokyo. It was just what I called the prefectural capital. It’s something that was left over from when I was in elementary school and I thought all cities were called capitals whenever I read or watched the news—like how I thought a foreign country was the “Country of Foreign”.

Our means of transportation was the “Unlimited Rulebook”.

High-altitude, high-speed travel with me clinging onto Ononoki-chan’s waist.

“You’ve sure got guts, unlike oni onii-chan. After we traveled, that lolicon would end up collapsing and being completely useless.”

She was as harsh on him as she was kind to me.

Well, I had been a god at one point, and recently I’ve been training in various ways, so I’ve managed to become able to cling to Ononoki-chan as she moved.

It was very useful in saving on transportation costs.

However, seeing as Gaen-san had already been lying in wait at our destination, it seemed that this “interview” was not something that Ononoki-chan had suddenly come up with, but something that she’d made arrangements for in advance—though I had no idea why our meeting place was at a contemporary art museum.

Anyway, Gaen Izuko-san.

The onee-san that knew everything.

She was Oshino-san’s senior, Kaiki-san’s senior, and Kagenui-san’s senior—or at least, she was supposed to be, but honestly, she looked a lot younger than those three. Was it because of her smaller stature in comparison to that taller trio, along with her oversized fashion?

It almost seemed like she was trying to make herself look smaller than she actually was.

Oshino-san should be in his thirties, but Gaen-san, who was his senior and superior, seemed like she was in her twenties—and her early twenties, at that.

Perhaps she was naturally baby-faced, but I wondered if, on the other hand, this “youth” of hers was actually related to that “curse of wisdom” that Ononoki-chan had mentioned—well, I’ll leave the disrespectful analysis at that.

After all, if there’s anyone to be appraised here, it would be me.

That said,

“Please don’t call me Sen-chan… That used to be an old nickname of mine.”

That was something I had to say.

“Ahaha. You don’t like remembering the past? When you were madly in love with Koyomi-onii-chan.”

She stabbed at my heart with a smile.

She was a little like Tsukihi-chan—but, unlike Tsukihi-chan, this person probably knew what she was doing.

A crime of conscience versus a conscious crime.

Personally, I would say Tsukihi-chan, who didn’t know what she was doing, was more evil.

“Then, let’s go with Nadekko.”

Considering she didn’t give me an option the second time around, it seemed that the first time was a feint, and that Gaen-san had decided from the beginning to call me that—there was a structure to this conversation.

Nadekko?

“Then, how about ‘Gaen-san’. Try calling me that? Go ahead? There’s no need to be shy.”

“G—Gaen-san.”

“All right, now we’re friends. Let’s toss out any hard feelings we had in the past and get along.”

We’d become friends in an instant.

Toss out any hard feelings we had in the past, she said… There were probably more hard feelings than I could count between me and this person.

I was a shut-in because I wanted to be, so I didn’t necessarily want to place the blame on someone else, but I imagined the majority of the blame, or at least twenty percent, would be on this administrator here…

Ah, well, we were in the same boat.

According to Ononoki-chan, I’d ended up making a mess of Gaen-san’s plans, and it was because of me that Gaen-san had to cut ties with one of her juniors.

Since she was so readily willing to let bygones be bygones, it was rather refreshing—which meant I couldn’t help but think that she was up to something.

“It’s a bit sudden, but I’d like to ask for your help, best friend of mine. Your abilities have been certified by Kagenui, and Yotsugi can vouch for your character—there’s no need to test you anymore. I want you to shine bright for me.”

She was acting like some sort of hotshot idol producer… Putting Kagenui-san aside, what exactly about me was Ononoki-chan vouching for?

Although she’d disappeared ever since a little while ago.

“Ahaha, I gave her quite the scolding the other day, you see. I don’t have a restraining order against her, but she doesn’t want to approach me anymore. I don’t really like being hated, though. Although, considering she wasn’t such an affable shikigami in the first place, the fact that you were able to win her over makes you all the more impressive. Please lend me your ability. Of course, I will reward you—it’ll be a give-and-take.”

“A, a reward—”

Would I be able to speak properly to her?

Conversation was never my strong suit, and now that I’ve been cooped up for quite a while, “conversing with someone I’d met for the first time” was pretty new to me… And unlike when I hid my line of sight with my bangs, there was no way to escape from Gaen-san’s eyes looking directly into mine.

“You’re looking for a place to stay, right? I can arrange something. Due to my line of work, I have plenty of friends in real estate—I think I can help.”

Her “line of work” was a bit intriguing.

After all, Gaen-san’s occupation was, of course, being a specialist—an authority on monstrous apparitions.

“A friend of mine owns over twenty apartment buildings in the prefecture. As a matter of fact, even this building here is managed by him—so that’s why I had Yotsugi bring you here.”

As Gaen-san spoke with a grin, she pointed at the contemporary art museum—eh? An apartment building? Not a contemporary art museum?

I did a double take.

So this was what the capital was like…!

“D-don’t tell me, you’re going to refer me to this place?”

“No, no, that’s not it. This building may look a bit weird on the outside, but inside it’s quite the upscale place to live, so the rent is a bit high for your current earnings, Nadekko.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

There was the question of rent and so forth, but before that, I had zero desire to live in a building like this, which I could hardly believe adhered to the Building Standards Act. Not even in the future, if I were to become a best-selling author.

“So you see, in regards to this absurd apartment building, my friend is having a bit of a problem—”

Oh, be careful of heatstroke, said Gaen-san as she removed her angled baseball cap, putting it over my short hair.

What a people-pleaser.

“…I’d like you to resolve it quickly for me. If you do that, then I can arrange things so that you can rent out one of my friend’s relatively more normal apartments for a reasonable price.”