Nekomonogatari (White) Read online

  And what that indicates─

  …Oops.

  Why am I even trying to analyze my friend’s dad?

  I thought I already stopped doing that kind of thing.

  Yes.

  It seemed that I, of all people, was slightly shaken by a “dad” appearing out of the blue.

  Not that anything about me is special enough to warrant the “of all people.”

  An ordinary girl─I may not be, but even then.

  There was nothing to be shaken by to begin with─it’s not as if I had any mental image of what a “father” or “dad” is.

  I may know a person who should be called my father.

  But what I didn’t know─was a person I ought to call my father.

  I didn’t know anything.

  “Anything interesting happen at school?” asked Miss Senjogahara, moving along to a regular line of conversation as if to conclude the topic of her father’s presence.

  I could certainly learn from the audacity she showed at times like this. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Was Araragi there?”

  So that’s what she wanted to ask.

  I hesitated for a moment, but it felt wrong to hide it. I decided to tell her what happened at school.

  “He texted Kanbaru?”

  “Yes. He seems to need her help with whatever’s keeping him occupied at the moment… But it was so short that we couldn’t figure out why he was summoning her…”

  “How unbearably unpleasant.”

  Her words, surprisingly direct, were mirrored by her expression.

  “Direct” was actually an understatement. She was furious.

  What’s more, she was angry at Miss Kanbaru, not Araragi.

  Her ire was pointed at her junior, not her boyfriend.

  I immediately found myself regretting telling her.

  Was it going to create a rift between the Valhalla Duo?

  “That woman got Araragi to ignore me and seek her help instead? What should I do to her? Starting with her organs─”

  “Miss Senjogahara, you’ve gone back to being your pre-rehabilitated self.”

  “Uh oh,” she noticed, pulling her own cheeks until her face formed a smile.

  It was such a forced smile that it hurt to look at…

  “I’m sure there’s a reason─for why that happened,” I said. “Especially because he wants to ask her something. And unlike the two of us, there’s still an aberration remaining in her left arm.”

  “I suppose─there is.”

  The Monkey’s Paw.

  Miss Senjogahara continued, “So could that mean it’s not Kanbaru he needs─but her left arm?”

  “It’s just a guess, of course.” I doubted it was that simple, but broadly speaking, it seemed likely.

  “So if it’s Kanbaru’s fighting abilities he’s after─does that mean even more fight scenes down the line?”

  “It’s hard to say. But as far as combat, Araragi has Shinobu now─so I doubt he’s necessarily looking for more people to help him in a fight.”

  All of this was based on conjecture.

  Miss Senjogahara and I didn’t know what kind of situation Araragi was in. We could talk all day and never arrive at a conclusion.

  “So, Miss Hanekawa. What are you going to do?”

  “What am I going to do?”

  “Are you going to their meeting spot? Or are you not? Whatever the situation, you’d be able to meet him there, yes?”

  “…I considered it, but I don’t think I will. I feel like I’d only get in his way if I did─”

  “Oh,” she nodded at my reply. “Then I won’t go either.”

  “Really?”

  I’d assumed she’d insist on going and was ready for a heated argument, but instead I was fooled, or maybe tripped up.

  I’d been wondering what I could possibly do to stop a determined Miss Senjogahara who insisted on imposing upon him.

  “I’ll take his lack of correspondence as proof that he’s doing well─it doesn’t seem like he’s trying to hide anything the way he did with Kanbaru’s monkey,” she said. “If anything, he’s being out in the open with it. He has to know that any message he sends to Kanbaru is going to make its way to us.”

  That was true.

  But still.

  “You’re not going?” I asked as if in confirmation.

  “I’m not,” she replied. “I feel the same as you. I could go, but all I’d do is get in his way─and it also feels like there are other things I might be able to do.”

  I didn’t have a clue what her suggestive addition was supposed to mean─but that’s how things stood.

  His lack of correspondence was proof that he was doing well.

  A sign of trust.

  Yes, I was going to accept that convenient interpretation─

  “But it does seem like Araragi and Kanbaru aren’t the only ones with lingering aberrations in their bodies.”

  “What? There’s someone else?” I tilted my head at her remark. “Araragi’s demon and Miss Kanbaru’s monkey are the only aberrations around us left, aren’t they?”

  “Purrcisely,” she responded, making for some reason what sounded like a cat pun.

  I wanted to press her, but just then Mister Senjogahara brought tea and teacakes for three, and our whispered conversation was cut short.

  No, it probably would have been at that point even if he’d taken a little longer to make tea.

  I say this because at that moment, there was a knock at the door of Room 201, Tamikura Apartments─it didn’t have an intercom, if you were wondering.

  “Oh. Looks like they’re here,” Miss Senjogahara said, getting up, so she must have been expecting the guests.

  Expected or not, I was on guard, in the dark as to who could be visiting. But when she opened the door and I saw who was standing there, I understood everything.

  Including the nature of the “scheme” she’d mentioned the day before.

  I didn’t need any explanation.

  And I didn’t need any introduction.

  Outside the door were Araragi’s little sisters, Karen Araragi and Tsukihi Araragi. The Fire Sisters.

  025

  There was apparently a conversation that went like so.

  “My goodness, look at what we have here. If it isn’t Karen. What a surprise, meeting you in a place like this.”

  “Oh wow, look at that. It’s you, Miss Senjogahara! What a coincidence, meeting you like this in front of my home.”

  “Yes, it’s almost as if I used my phone’s map to figure out your exact route back from school and was waiting here to ambush you, heheh.”

  “Ahaha. Well, maybe some people might be stupid enough to get that mistaken impression. The world is full of idiots, after all. It’s too bad there are so few clever kids like me out there. Wait, but what about school, Miss Senjogahara?”

  “School? What’s that?”

  “Er, I guess it’s fine if you don’t know…”

  “No, I’m just kidding. Of course I know. That was just a ’Gahara Joke. I took the day off due to somewhat unavoidable circumstances. Your middle school has half-days until today, right?”

  “Yep. But you’ve got some bad timing. I’m sure you wanted to meet my brother while you just so happened to be here, but he’s actually out right now─he went off somewhere as soon as the new term got started. My guess is that this is his journey of self-discovery part two. He’ll probably be able to shoot a Kamehameha by the time he gets back.”

  “Journeys of self-discovery aren’t about that sort of training…no, never mind.”

  “He might even be able to shoot an Evangelion.”

  “I don’t think Araragi has the talent… Oh, but I just happened to think of something. You know, completely out of nowhere. Did you hear that Miss Hanekawa’s house caught on fire?”

  “What?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. That was a stupid question. How could Karen Araragi, the enforcer of those two defender
s of justice the Fire Sisters, she who singlehandedly upholds peace in this town, not know about an incident of that magnitude?”

  “Hm? Oh, yeah, of course. I know all about that, real rough stuff. I was planning on visiting a visit on her.”

  “She wasn’t hurt, fortunately, because it happened while she was at school. But her home did go up in flames, and she doesn’t have a place to stay tonight.”

  “Huh? Really?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  “Well, I did know. I was just thinking of bringing that exact topic up. Why’d you have to go and say it first?”

  “I’m sorry, okay? But it really is strange, isn’t it? To think that a good girl like Miss Hanekawa doesn’t have a bed in the world she can sleep tight in. It feels like the most unjust thing imaginable. Like if justice really did exist in this world, what’s it doing not helping her?”

  “……”

  “So, since that hollow so-called justice won’t do a thing for her, I’m actually taking the day off school looking for a place where she can sleep. Oh, speaking of which, you went to school today like it was any other day? Did you have fun? While Miss Hanekawa was in trouble?”

  “……”

  “Oops, sorry, sorry. There’s no point in telling you, is there? You’re just Koyomi Araragi’s little sister after all, nothing but a middle schooler. I’d be expecting far too much of you if I started treating you like him. Your big brother is your big brother, and you, Karen, are you.”

  “……!”

  “This really is some rotten timing. If only Araragi was around. I know he would never abandon Miss Hanekawa. The Fire Sisters (lol), on the other hand.”

  “(lol)?!?”

  “I’m so sorry, I must only be a nuisance talking to you here when you can’t do a thing without that big brother you love so very much. I didn’t mean to worry you, not when, unlike Miss Hanekawa, you’re enjoying your life. It’s enough that she’s in distress. We’ve been standing here and talking for quite some time now, so I think it’s about time for me to go. After all, I understand now that justice is like a bed for Miss Hanekawa─nowhere to be found in this world.”

  “Hold on just a second!”

  “Hm? Does something seem to be the matter?”

  “A bed for Miss Hanekawa does exist…and so does justice!”

  ……

  Thus, deftly leading Karen along, Miss Senjogahara pulled off what she called her scheme─well, describing it as “deft” might not be right.

  It was more like watching a bird fly straight into a window. I suppose that if you really wanted to, you could call it a scheme that she went after Karen and not Tsukihi, the strategist.

  So with that.

  I had come to the Araragi residence.

  To its living room…

  “Just make yourself right at home, Tsubasa.”

  “Mm-hmm! Treat it like it’s your own home. Just like your own, Miss Hanekawa.”

  With those words, Karen and Tsukihi poured me some tea.

  While the older sister dexterously took the chilled barley tea out of the refrigerator, the younger sister took glasses from the cupboard. They’d split up these duties without so much as a single advance meeting.

  I was getting a first-hand look at how well the Fire Sisters (lol)…sorry, the Fire Sisters worked as a team.

  They were communicating silently.

  Your own home, huh?

  This wasn’t actually the first time I’d entered into this house─I’d already gone in a number of times. I did work as Araragi’s home tutor, after all (though I held classes at the library, not here), and I’d stayed late into the night in the past, like the time that Karen had collapsed with a fever.

  But it was a little different on this occasion. This was my first time (at this late date) being invited to the home as “a guest.”

  It made me weirdly nervous. Or maybe it’s better to say that it made me feel oddly uncomfortable.

  “……”

  Karen Araragi and Tsukihi Araragi.

  Araragi’s little sisters.

  The more I looked at them, the more they resembled him.

  You could even say they were his spitting image.

  I know it’s a strange way to describe them, but they were like triplets who weren’t the same age.

  Of course, their personalities, or rather their character traits, were quite different─Karen was a martial arts-obsessed, handsome girl, and while there was something calm about Tsukihi, you could tell she had a firm core.

  It did surprise me that both of them had changed their hairstyles from when we’d last met… Karen had chopped off her distinctive ponytail to give herself bobbed hair (her bangs were straight, just like me and Miss Senjogahara in the past), while Tsukihi had a thick braid wrapped around her neck like a scarf (Wasn’t she hot? It was summer).

  “You know, Tsubasa, you’re too standonish,” Karen said, sitting down on the sofa with just her own glass of barley tea in hand.

  She must have meant “standoffish.”

  “You shoulda come straight to me if you didn’t have a place to sleep. I was really just waiting for you to say something. But I did think it might be hard for you, which is why I went and made the proposal on my own.”

  She had yet to realize that she’d been manipulated by Miss Senjogahara. Even the lie that she knew about the Hanekawa residence burning down─she seemed to believe it more than anyone else. I’d have worried about her future if I weren’t so concerned for our middle-school girl’s dangerous here and now.

  “Mm-hm. You proposed it, Karen. All on your own!” Tsukihi said, trailing behind her sister with both her tea and mine in hand. This girl who sat smiling next to Karen seemed to have made a conscious decision to go along with Miss Senjogahara’s plan.

  Yup.

  The younger one was pretty black-hearted.

  By the way, Karen was in her third year of middle school, while Tsukihi was in her second. When I saw the two of them seated there in the same clothes (Tsuganoki Second Middle School uniforms), they really did seem like twins (there’s a height difference between the two, so they don’t when they’re standing).

  “I was thinking. So, barley tea is a tea made out of barley, right?” Karen burst out about a random topic. “Does that mean that it can become beer if it tries really hard?”

  She had such an incredible sense of closeness to others.

  This wasn’t a conversation you had with someone five minutes after inviting them into your home.

  I wished she would start by calming my nerves.

  I told her, “They do both start off as barley, but I guess the difference is that it’s roasted for barley tea and fermented for beer. So, well.”

  Though I didn’t know about “trying really hard,” you could say they were like relatives in the beverage world. I’d intended to say that they were completely different, but I had to admit, her question actually did address the truth of the matter.

  “Huh. No wonder I get all excited when I drink barley tea.”

  Her conclusion, on the other hand, was a disappointing one.

  Karen chugged down an entire cup of barley tea in a succession of gulps─how stirring.

  Actually… Upon closer inspection, these cups seemed really nice.

  Were they Baccarat crystal?

  They were nice enough that it almost felt rude to call them cups.

  What’s more, judging by the way Karen and Tsukihi used them, they probably didn’t know what these cost…

  Was the Araragi family, in fact, affluent?

  “Anyway, Miss Hanekawa,” Tsukihi said, shooting Karen a sidelong glance. She gave me the feeling that as Karen’s little sister, she’d gotten used to her wild ways. “If you don’t have a place to stay, you’re welcome at our home for as long as you’d like. Conveniently, our big brother isn’t home right now. So use his room.”

  “Araragi’s─room.”

  “Yeah. He has one of those pointlessly bouncy b
eds, pointlessly enough.”