Monogatari Series - Volume Ex - Chapter 3

003 

The mystery of how she, Hanekawa Tsubasa-san, knew my name was quickly solved—the shogi newspaper that Hanekawa-san was wrapped in just happened to be the one where a picture from one of my matches was printed. 

This was basically a coincidence, but even if it was a coincidence that it was me, it was no coincidence that she met a shogi pro. In order to meet a pro, she had an interest in sleeping in front of the Shogi Association after all—this wasn’t the behavior of a normal high school girl. 

At worst, she would be there until she died. For a professional, who considers the Shogi Association as his workplace and a battlefield, it is inconceivable to leave a suspicious person like her sprawled out in front of the building. It was also the fact that I was forced to be meaninglessly worried, because it was like being half-pulled-in, but it wasn’t like it was completely unpleasant. 

“No, but I really am glad. That Kiriyama-kun who is of the same generation as me, is the one who called out to me. A guy who looked like the Grim Reaper peered down at my sleeping face and then just went off somewhere, I was so scared.” 

When I saw that exactly half black and half white bed-head (which is probably in a worse shape than she remembers since she braided it and slept on it), patting her chest to calm herself down, amazement rather than anger was the first thing to pop up at that complete lack of thought, and seeing that figure of her praying “let’s keep this a secret from Senjougahara-san” (leaving aside just who this Senjougahara-san is), I felt glad that I was the one who called out to this girl who seemed in trouble. 

The Grim Reaper was probably Namerikawa-san.  

As for where he went, he was probably going back to his parents’ house. 

“So you’re probably asking yourself why I was waiting for a kind shogi pro, right? Kiriyama-kun.” Already speaking casually? 

She was a grade above me in academic years, but in terms of date of birth, after I knew we were the same age, that way of closing the distance wasn’t so remarkable. 

I’ve never talked to a girl in my own class with this sense of distance—no, well, that probably had more to do with my position in the pecking order at school. 

Hanekawa-san. 

“There’s something I want you to tell me—OK. Kiriyama-kun, what kind of monster do you think the word ‘genius’ refers to?” 

She took out two sticks of white chalk that might be used on a blackboard in a classroom, that seemed to have been directly inserted into her uniform’s skirt pocket, that was more wrinkled than her pleats since she was sleeping directly on the ground. 

“Shall we change the question? Kiriyama-kun, what kind of shogi do you think the word ‘prodigy’ refers to?” 

What Hanekawa-san drew was—this board state. 

Impossible! What the hell is this! Are you making fun of me!? 

That was my first impression, and even after calming down and reevaluating it, those thoughts didn’t change at all—it was a preposterous board state. 

It seemed all that talk about “prodigies” was just filler and the something she “wanted me to tell her” was about this board state— even if you were asking me for my professional opinion, it was troubling. 

I couldn’t give an opinion. 

As an extreme case, it might be more realistic if the pieces had been accidentally scattered about the board—this wasn’t even a matter of ignoring standard moves. 

Even if black and white players had worked together and talked it out to arrive at this state, I could say with absolute certainty that this could never happen. 

“Is that so—hmmm.” 

Hanekawa-san looked slightly disappointed by my reaction, but I could not tell a lie here. No, even if I did lie, I didn’t have the slightest idea how I should lie—just what kind of answer did Hanekawa-san want from me? 

“Excuse me, Hanekawa-san…… Just what is this?” 

I asked, still not knowing if it was OK to ask (and not knowing whether it was OK to do so in a casual way). Putting it bluntly, I couldn’t let it pass without saying anything after being shown this unnerving board state. In a sense, it left a bad taste in my mouth the way walking past a collapsed high school girl without stopping would. 

“Hmmm. Well, I came here because I don’t understand it either. I thought a professional shogi player might be able to tell me something.” 

Those were some very rough expectations. 

However, it’s troubling even if you treat me as the representative for shogi professionals. 

Of course, there were swarms of monster-like pros in the Shogi Association—the problem was that, the higher-ranked they were as pros, the more they should realize the impossibility of this board state. 

Having said that, I couldn’t leave it like this and possibly give a bad impression of the professionals. “If you can give me a little more detailed circumstances, I might be able to tell you something.” I indirectly took a stab at arousing Hanekawa-san’s interest. 

“Really? I guess I’ll be a little sweet on you then.” Putting on a happy expression, Hanekawa-san ran the chalk across the asphalt again—first of all, even if that was the best approach, a high school girl shouldn’t be drawing on the ground crawling on all fours, you know? Even for Momo-chan it was barely permissible charming behavior.  

“Ergh.” 

But that anxiety was blown away from the shock at Hanekawasan’s smoothly drawn picture—it was a portrait, so to speak. 

It seemed to be the portrait of an actual person, but you could really grasp their characteristics. The portrait of a girl. Twintails, and if you just raised them up, it would be the same as Hina-chan.  

But she had a terrible look in her eyes. Heartless. Nasty. It was like she had a speech bubble saying “I may be a hateful person, but I have absolutely no intention of letting it hurt me”—if I had to say something, it would be that the fierce aura emanating from that picture made me remember my step-sister.  

“This girl is my fabulous friend, Oikura-san.” 

To capture the characteristics of a fabulous friend this far, she had quite the nice personality. Hanekawa-san looked like she was acting nonchalant, but including her observant eye, she wasn’t the person she appeared to be. 

Or was she half-black and half-white, just like she looked? 

At any rate, getting a grip on the mysterious Nikaidou-style art appreciation,  just what was Hanekawa-san trying to convey to me?— It shouldn’t be how scary her friend is. 

“This game board is the one Oikura-san received from a pen-pal when she was in middle school.” Pen-pal? What’s a pen-pal? 

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3  He’s referring to his fellow professional shogi player Namerikawa Izaya, who has a pale look, a dark attire, and comes from a family of morticians. 
4  Kawamoto Momo is Akari’s 3-year-old sister. 
5  Kawamoto Hinata, often called Hina, is Akari and Momo’s teenage sister. 
6  Kiriyama’s relationship with his step-sister Kouda Kyouko is filled with resentment. Additionally, Kyouko is voiced by none other than Sodachi’s voice actress, Inoue Marina.