Koimonogatari

by Nisioisin

  In other words, there were no photos of Nadeko Sengoku and her parents, only those of Nadeko Sengoku by herself.

  Sure, they require someone to take them, so I could understand why there might not be a lot of pictures of the three of them together… But there should have at least been some of her with her mother or her with her father. Even if this was Nadeko Sengoku’s personal album, no, precisely because it was her personal album, there was no need for such a strict line to be drawn.

  I had intended to postpone my analysis but ended up thinking about it anyway─what the hell was going on in the mind of a girl who kept in her room a modeling portfolio of an album, devoid of family photos?

  I looked over my shoulder, but the Sengokus didn’t seem furtive or defensive in the face of someone who’d seen it.

  As if there wasn’t a single thing about it to be ashamed of─in fact, like they were proud, even under the circumstances, that their daughter was so adorable.

  Good, law-abiding citizens indeed.

  They believed wholeheartedly in their decency.

  Even with their daughter missing─they probably thought they’d made no mistakes in life. They were probably proud of that fact.

  Why is he staring at us? they seemed to be wondering, a bit suspiciously perhaps, so I covered for myself with a little calculated flattery: “I can really see both of you in your daughter.” Speaking as a professional swindler, it was a bit blatant, but it seemed to do the trick. While their mood didn’t openly improve, they appeared relaxed for parents whose daughter’s room was being scoured.

  I continued my search, and just when I was starting to think, I’d better decide what this important item was that my daughter lent her, I reached for a closet that had been fitted to the corner of the room.

  Well, I began to reach for it, to be precise─I’d left it until last, but Mrs. Sengoku raised her voice for the first time: “Ahhh, please don’t touch that closet.”

  Her steadfast conviction, manifest in her tone, would clearly require a great expenditure of effort to overturn.

  I asked the perfectly natural question, “Why not?” and naturally expected an important reason. But all her mother said was that they’d been told not to touch the closet.

  Told? By whom? I probably didn’t need to ask but did so anyway, and just as I thought, their daughter had told them.

  It’s hard to describe how I felt then, so let me simply state the facts.

  In short, their daughter was missing, and even though they might find an important clue, her parents, devoted to keeping her room clean and just the way it was, humored Nadeko Sengoku and never opened the closet.

  015

  It would be difficult, in my ostensible role as her friend’s dad, to persuade them to let me open the closet, and downright impossible to search it behind not one but both of their backs, so I put it off until later.

  Well, I knew about it now.

  I’d learned of its existence.

  That alone made the visit to the Sengoku home worthwhile─I gave her parents my cell phone number, took down theirs, told them I’d contact them if I discovered anything and that we should stay in touch, and left.

  Setting aside the closet (even if I opened it, the punch line might be nothing more than a bunch of naughty books lined up inside as you’d expect of a middle schooler), I had managed to learn from my light dredging of her room that Nadeko Sengoku did indeed appear to have a dark side.

  I might be the only sourpuss in the whole world sour enough to find darkness amidst that strawberry-colored room, though. I imagine I am. Or maybe I’m just assuming that anyone who becomes a god through a mysterious ailment must have a dark side.

  Apparently I’d spent more time than I intended laying the groundwork to win her parents’ trust, because when I left the place it was already what you could reasonably call evening.

  I thought it wasn’t too soon and called Senjogahara.

  “I didn’t do anything rough,” I sarcastically opened with her own plea, then continued, “Now send me a picture of Nadeko Sengoku.”

  “What, you didn’t even know what she looks like?”

  I surmised that the New Year’s celebration had come to an end since she didn’t lower her voice at all for this barbed reply.

  “I’ve never met the girl,” I said. “You’ve been insisting she’s my indirect victim, that’s all. Upon reflection, I can’t even be sure that’s true.”

  “Are you telling me I’m deceiving you?” She probably didn’t want to hear that from me. She sounded mortified.

  “I looked at a photo album at her house. Cute kid, isn’t she. The kind you’d hate.”

  “…” There was a long pause in response to my renewed sarcasm, after which she admitted, “Yeah.” So honest─definitely no way she could deceive me. “The type I hate the most. Even if things were different, we could never, ever be friends.”

  “I haven’t figured out yet if they baby her or if she just acts like a baby, though. Did you have her address because you’ve been to her house? By which I mean, have you spoken with her parents?”

  “Of course I have… One of Araragi’s sisters was friends with Nadeko Sengoku, so I do know them, just barely. Then again, Araragi’s sister could befriend anyone, so that doesn’t mean they were particularly close.”

  Hmmm, Koyomi Araragi’s sister… Karen, or Tsukihi? Given their characters, Tsukihi seemed like the more logical choice.

  “Are Araragi’s sisters─aware?” I asked. “Of their brother’s situation? Based on the New Year’s festivities, it seems like their folks, at least, are in the dark…”

  “His sisters don’t know either. Not their brother’s situation, nor what’s happened to Nadeko Sengoku. The only ones who know are me, Araragi, Shinobu Oshino, and Miss Hanekawa. I actually wanted to keep it secret from her as well… But the cat’s out of the bag.”

  Why would Senjogahara add that playfully? Who was this Hanekawa, anyway?

  “That’s only as I understand it, of course. Maybe Araragi spoke to someone and is keeping it secret from me.”

  “Hmm.”

  That seemed entirely possible. A real-life watch-fob-and-comb couple, they did seem to keep a lot of secrets from each other. I’m pretty sure I’d heard something about how they promised not to hide anything where aberrations were concerned, but who knows, maybe that promise was riddled with loopholes.

  If Araragi were to seek help without telling Senjogahara, who would he go to? I thought about it, but nothing came to me.

  I didn’t have a good notion of the width of his social circle─if I had to guess, maybe Kagenui or Ononoki? Those two immortal-slayers seemed to have reconciled their differences with him, boringly enough…

  “Why are you playing this so close to the vest? If you went public, you might find an unexpected solution,” I threw in, though I kind of saw what the answer would be. Enlisting Kanbaru, whose left arm seems to have been taken over by an aberration, was an option, for example─it wouldn’t be particularly desirable from my perspective, but as far as I knew, the quota of wishes available from that Monkey’s Paw had yet to be used up.

  “Well…she’s just savage. Nadeko Sengoku is.”

  Savage, Senjogahara had said, choosing her words. The acid-tongued (at least in my experience) young lady resorting to such a straightforward expression was unexpected.

  Savage.

  The word wasn’t applied to humans as often as you might think. You used it to describe a beast─or a small child.

  Not how one typically describes middle schoolers, anyway, nor gods for that matter.

  Not typically, and yet.

  “It’s as if she wouldn’t hesitate to lump in and get rid of anyone we might ask for help… Originally this is just an issue between her and Araragi, but she has no qualms about dragging other people into it, me included.”

  “…”

  Even I wasn’t so uncouth as to complain, Hold on, doesn’t that mean that my life is in dang
er? You were perfectly happy to drag me into it though I might die?

  I’d known all along.

  I’d taken the job fully aware and cognizant of the underlying circumstances. Every job carries some risk, and ultimately work is about balancing the risks and benefits.

  But what the hell were the benefits of this job? Over half of my 100,000-yen expense account had already gone to clothing costs.

  “I see, so you can’t speak to just anyone.”

  That’s why she’d wanted to exclude this Hanekawa─who was clearly no ordinary person, if she so easily sussed out a life-or-death secret Senjogahara and Araragi were trying to keep.

  It was the Fire Sisters and Koyomi Araragi, along with Hitagi Senjogahara, who uprooted the con I planted in the town six months earlier, but─and this is an educated guess, or more like speculation─maybe this Hanekawa actually helped out with the weeding as well.

  “Hang on, Kaiki. Don’t misunderstand me, I came to you because─”

  “Doesn’t matter. I don’t mind at all, so skip the annoying excuses. I’m a pro, I put my life on the line every day.” A little too cool for its own good─no need to impress Senjogahara now, this wasn’t two years ago. “What matters is that I got a glimpse into Nadeko Sengoku’s domestic circumstances… But Senjogahara, what did you really think of her?”

  “Weren’t you uninterested in my views?”

  “As a point of entry, no, but otherwise it’s fine. Think of this as a chat, not a formal briefing. The type you hate, savage, you said, but well, I want to hear some anecdotes to go along with your general impressions.”

  “…”

  “Hm? What’s the matter?”

  “The fact is…I’ve never actually met Nadeko Sengoku.”

  “Huh? Are you serious?”

  Now this was a surprise.

  Nadeko Sengoku wanted to kill someone whose face she’d never seen?

  “Yes. We made a deal, or…had a conversation over the phone once, but even that was after she was no longer human.”

  “I see. I think I’m starting to get the picture. Of the insane situation you’re in─I’m surprised you’ve maintained your sanity.”

  “Me too.”

  “Except, if you’re coming to me for help, maybe you’ve actually lost your mind,” I said, turning my gaze towards the setting sun. Dusk, the hour of fey encounters.

  “Kaiki, listen to me─”

  “For the time being, I think I’ll go see Nadeko Sengoku. I can find her at Kita-Shirahebi Shrine, right?”

  “Not necessarily. At least, I haven’t met her since she became a god, either─she must hate me that much. Araragi finds her there about one in five times…and nearly gets killed whenever he does.”

  She could kill him any time she pleases, but I guess she’s letting him live until the appointed day, Senjogahara added unsettlingly.

  The fighting continued, then.

  A lengthy campaign for sure.

  “He won’t be there today, will he? I have no interest in running into him at the shrine.”

  “Nope. Tonight, he and I─never mind,” Senjogahara cut herself off.

  My, my, how sweet.

  It seemed that even as the battle unfolded, so did their love affair─I suppose passions escalate when your life is in constant danger. I’ve never been in that situation so I can’t say for certain, though…

  “Well, if I don’t find her, then so be it. Can’t make any headway until I’ve seen the place for myself.”

  “If you do meet her, what will you do? Do you have the material to carry out a con?”

  “Not at all. I’m just going to drop in, pay my respects─and who knows, maybe the whole thing can be resolved with a little chat.”

  “Yeah… I doubt that’s about to happen, but go for it.”

  What a low-key pep talk.

  I wasn’t encouraged, or anything else.

  016

  People like to throw around the term “power spot,” but naturally I don’t lend it much credence. In that vein, however, Kita-Shirahebi Shrine would be a “negative power spot.”

  Negative power. Damn, that sounds fishy.

  Oshino called it a “hangout for aberrations”─as well as an “air pocket.” Those descriptions, apt and to the point, are very him, but if you ask me it’s just a plain old hilltop.

  Such a place being damp, dark, and uncomfortable was par for the course. I’d intended to visit the shrine on a number of occasions last time I was in town, but for various reasons never got around to it.

  I had heard about it beforehand, and according to those stories it was nothing more than a crumbling ruin─but when I got there (after trudging up the mountain in the snow and almost giving up more than once), a splendid main hall that looked brand-new greeted me.

  Not just looked, I was pretty sure it was brand-new. It had the feel of fresh construction─could it possibly have appeared in the ruins thanks to the wondrous divine power of a newly manifested serpent god?

  No, that was a ridiculous thought, it was probably just the fruit of some bureaucratic process─construction plans that had been made a long time ago had only now been put into action. Nothing to do with Nadeko Sengoku.

  Oddly, though, the imposing presence of a small but tidy main hall in the dead center of the grounds seemed to lend the mountain itself a brisk air.

  Like the dampness had been swept away.

  I walked down the path to the hall.

  They say you’re supposed to stay to the side because the center is where the gods tread, but what do I care.

  There ain’t no path I can’t walk, ain’t no mountain I can’t climb.

  In fact, if my sacrilegious attitude sent the god here into such a rage that she appeared before me, that would be to my benefit, but sadly, no such luck. People wouldn’t appreciate deities who popped up so readily.

  I arrived at the offertory box.

  I didn’t sense anyone inside the hall─maybe this should go without saying, but it seemed unmanned. The shrine may have been rebuilt, but it hadn’t openly revived as an object of worship, and a quick survey of the scene showed no sign that anyone had come for a New Year’s visit.

  Being in snow country comes in handy in these instances: you can determine the recent turnout from how the snow is piled and any footprints, or lack thereof.

  There seemed to be no question that I was the first person to visit the shrine since the beginning of the new year.

  In other words, the main hall at Kita-Shirahebi was new, but that was it─nothing else had been restored. Some head priest probably looked after the shrine, of course, but was hardly putting it to active use. Then again, who knew what the future held?

  To put it another way, if this shrine ended up bustling with people on New Year’s Day, Nadeko Sengoku’s divine powers would be further enhanced, until no one could stop her─if anything was to be done, it had to be done before then. Well, maybe it was already too late, and no one could stop her. And if things continued the way they were, Araragi and Senjogahara, at least, wouldn’t live to see next year.

  Anyway, I’d do what was mine to do.

  Whatever’s mine to do, to make life easier for myself.

  I took some change from the pocket of my suit, thought better of it, pulled a 10,000-yen bill from the other pocket, and placed it in the offertory box.

  Bow twice clap twice bow once.

  I wasn’t sure if that was right, but I went through the worshipping motions as I recalled them─how many years had it been since I last made them? As a minimal act of recalcitrance, I had slipped the 10,000-yen note into the box as deliberately as possible instead of tossing it, and to judge from my awkwardness, this may have been Deishu Kaiki’s first-ever New Year’s shrine visit.

  As my worship came to an end─

  “Here’s Nadeko!”

  Racing out from inside the main hall, the deity manifested just like that.

  Appreciate, no.

  But I had a favorab
le impression because a 10,000-yen bill had drawn her out─even if her jubilant look evoked not so much a god pleased by almsgiving as a child exulting over a New Year’s cash gift.