Did we just jump another chapter?

What is going on?

It couldn’t be that the number 13 was skipped due to its ominousness. In the past, Araragi-kun had said that he understood the sort of inevitability regarding skipping the number “13″, though he wondered just how influential the person who first came upon the idea of skipping “4″ due to its association with “death” – and then spread this bit of wordplay around – must have been, but that didn’t mean “13″ must be skipped simply because of that.

???

Well, it didn’t particularly inconvenient me, so let’s just move on — it was past noon by the time I awoke.

No one woke me up.

As Senjougahara-san had said, I did feel like I slept more peacefully here than at those ruins, a quiet and deep sleep that felt like it eased away the layers of fatigue that had wrapped around my soul.

Well, I was a little surprised at waking up and seeing Senjougahara-san’s sleeping face, though.

No, not just a little. I was honestly quite shocked.

The only way to call it would be a spectacle.

Her features were awfully fine — apparently, a beauty with her eyes shut can carry an almost completely different zest compared to when her eyes are open.

In particular, Senjougahara-san’s smooth features, so overly-fine it looked like she had been crafted, made it even seem as though she was made from porcelain, and yet she was undeniably bewitching in a way impossible for a work of art, so that even I couldn’t help but feel my heart race.

Bump-bump-bump-bump.

My physical fatigue was gone, but I could possibly stay half-awake after having my blood pressure raised precipitously so soon after opening my eyes.

So Araragi-kun had always got to see this sleeping face all for himself, huh.

With just the slightest bit of adult content entering my mind, I got my face red all by myself.

I’m acting like an idiot.

I’m being an idiot.

…..Or, perhaps not.

Not even Araragi-kun could have a monopoly on this, not yet — Senjougahara-san lived with her father, after all.

The one who had seen his daughter’s sleeping face more than anyone else.

The one who watched over her more than anyone else.

It could only be her father.

“…Well.”

Oh.

Suddenly, Senjougahara-san opened her eyes.

It felt not so much like “waking” as “coming back to life”.

Or perhaps “being switched on”.

Being activated.

It seemed Senjougahara-san was also not the type to stay “half-awake” — even though appearance-wise you would think she suffered from low blood pressure.

Well, apparently there was no relation, no effect between low blood pressure and waking up in the morning, anyway.

If I had to suggest something, then perhaps low blood sugar would be related.

“Good morning, Hanekawa-san.”

“Good morning, Senjougahara-san.”

“Well, so we say, but it’s probably not the time for that anymore.”

“That’s true. It’s not.”

“What time is it?”

“Umm,”

Turning my head, I once again checked the clock placed above the chest of drawers.

“One-thirty.”

“A.M.? Or P.M.?”

“P.M., of course.”

How long were you planning on sleeping?

Begin flashback — after that.

After that, Senjougahara-san and I really did take a shower together — as it was my first time experiencing a shower with anybody else, I will simply report now that various embarrassing, awkward things happened.

Due to this, the initiative was completely held by Senjougahara-san, who actually did wash me here and there. She seemed very used to it, and they were clearly the skilled hands of someone experienced in the act.

She was used to playing around with girls!

That’s what it made me think.

I couldn’t sit still and do nothing after having that much done to me, though, so I started washing her back here and there.

In the bathroom that was not quite big enough, we were, literally, completely open with one another. I’m not sure how I should express it, but I certainly feel like I’ve crossed a line.

If I had been facing a line, I sure did crossed it.

You could say it was a turning point.

At the very least, there was no longer any particular reasons to hold back when I was with Senjougahara-san, or so it felt. Truthfully, I had been forcibly brought here by her, and still felt some resistance to the idea of staying at someone’s home.

But after being taken care of for just one day, I could think such things so honestly.

That was the feeling I got.

I honestly thought that.

Speaking of which, that was something I had not done for quite a long time.

What does it mean to be honest?

What does it mean to think?

It would just end up in incoherent rambling if I consider it too deeply.

Though now that I thought about it, Senjougahara-san was also the kind of person who built firm walls around her heart.

Back when she had been mistakenly called a ‘high-class daughter’, she would never have done anything like letting me stay at her place or taking a shower with me, or even running around the city searching for me in the first place.

I thought of the various things she must have overcome these few months, of their weight.

How pathetic I must be that I should experience various things myself and yet, in the end, overcome not a single thing.

Yes.

I haven’t — overcome anything.

Even after the turmoil of Golden Week, or the day before the Cultural Festival.

I haven’t grown at all.

I haven’t changed.

That’s why I am so very envious of Senjougahara-san — and yet so very fond of her, and could never hate her.

I honestly thought that.

After playing around in the shower for about thirty minutes (no one was there to stop us) we left the changing room feeling refreshed.

We wiped ourselves dry and put on our underwear.

“Of course, I assume you’ll be reluctant to try on my underwear, but at least take my pajamas.”

Senjougahara-san said.

“I’ll just go and throw out those dreadful discount-shop sweats. You can choke a chorten with those.”

“Huh? Are they that bad?”

“Terrible.”

Senjougahara-san shook her head, seemingly irritated by her dripping hair.

It was a very frank comment.

“Clothes like that weren’t made under the assumption that people would wear them… they’re for mannequins. Or to confirm the functionality of a coat hanger, perhaps.”

“……”

Was it that bad?

As there had been no mirrors in the ruins, I never had a chance to check how I looked in those clothes… but perhaps part of what made Senjougahara-san cry when she saw me sleeping in my self-made bed was because of I was sleeping in those clothes.

Hmm.

Well, that’s not good.

“But, can I? Borrow your pajamas, I mean.”

“It’s all right. I have quite the wardrobe.”

“In that case, thank you.”

I took out fresh underwear from the ones I bought at the shop.

After that, I put on the sleepwear taken from Senjougahara-san’s chest of drawers.

It was a strange sensation, wearing someone else’s clothes — there was a sense of openness distinct from the act of wearing clothes.

It felt as though something had been permitted.

Though, as Senjougahara-san was tall and her clothes size bigger than mine, it felt looser than it needed to be.

“But of course, the area around your bust looks uncomfortably tight. Wonderful.”

“No, it’s not really that tight…”

It’s just sleepwear. That’s normal.

It’s not a matter of course.

After waiting for Senjougahara-san to put on her pajamas, we dried each other’s hair.

That didn’t take long — though we had fairly long hair in the first trimester, by now the both of us were at the length of bob cuts.

We were soon dry.

It made me feel as though something was missing.

“But Hanekawa-san, ever since you cut your hair after the Cultural Festival, you’ve been growing it out again, haven’t you?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I haven’t been to a salon since then.”

“Are you letting it grow again?”

“Mmn — I don’t really know. I only really noticed after I cut it, but I didn’t realize how much time it took to look after it if you keep it long — don’t you think so?”

“Hmm. Well, you have a point, I suppose.”

“Right?”

“Like when you wake up.”

“…Right.”

She’s not letting go of that, is she?

“So I’ve been wondering if it’s all right to let it grow after graduating — or something like that.”

“After graduation, hmm.”

Senjougahara-san repeated my words in a meaningful tone.

Kill the crows when they multiply
And knock off the monkeys when they multiply
But the pandas die before they multiply
But still people only know how to multiply

We’re always praying to God
But one day we realize
Yeah, like God can notice us
Who do we think we are

I’ve never seen Him
Just saw pictures here and there
But all the Gods that listen to us
Every single one of them looks like us

Coincidence or a nod from destiny
Or just letting your pen wander free
Here and there oh but where’s here
Man what’s up with da Vinci?

But so what if we have a next world, what if we don’t
Why does it matter if we’re reborn, if we’re not
People only do what they want, say it’ll work out, over and over
They stand up high, right at the top, say it out loud, He is here

If I could decide and do everything as God
I won’t bother trying to make the world in 7 days
I’ll slow down, take my time, have a proper plan
Even if I hurry and rush it, cut it and paste it, make it and break it

They multiple and die, die and multiply
Ignore it, why not, just one more time?
Put out a ‘?’, don’t matter if you already know
“Talk to me. Listen. Why oh why.”

‘Cause the lot of us are idiots
But then we already know that
That’s why you knock us off in 1, 2, 3
Really, just do it

Idiots don’t wise up until they die, you can’t help it
We can make it big in the next life, wait, then what about this one
So make excess, then make a mess, turn it all into a stupid mess
So make it end, then don’t let it end, leave everything without an end

So what, what if we screw up, there’s still tomorrow
Why not, just throw it out, there’s always next time
Nevertheless still but though although yet so what do we do
Whatever we say, whatever we do, it’s all no good

Then what should we do? Where should we face
If we can’t be here, or elsewhere, then where ought we be

But so what if we have a next world, what if we don’t
Why does it matter if we’re reborn, if we’re not
So what if we go to Heaven or burn in Hell
Not up, not down, but  there’s always a way, to the side

The story of Araragi Koyomi.

The story of Araragi Koyomi, Senjougahara-san’s boyfriend, and my friend.

I knew about Araragi-kun since before spring break, actually — I don’t know everything, but I knew about Araragi-kun.

It seemed that he did not realize this himself, but he was quite the celebrity at Naoetsu High School.

He not only stood out.

Frankly, he looked like he stood in a police lineup.

He would always be eager to treat me as a celebrity, but looking at Araragi-kun, he looked to be in much the same situation.

Perhaps it would be more correct to say that he was feared.

Yes, feared.

Just as I disliked being treated as an honor student, he disliked being treated as a delinquent, but, well, if there was a student who took days off as he pleased, attended classes and took tests halfheartedly, at times not taking them at all, then I couldn’t possibly be the only one who thought of him in that way.

After we became friends and I asked him, or rather, casually investigated about the details, it would seem that, in terms of what Araragi-kun did when blowing off school or neglecting classes and tests, it was pretty much the same as what he did during spring break or Golden Week.

He became a vampire during spring break as though it was nothing. His life did not change completely because he became involved with the abnormalities, rather, he had been Araragi Koyomi all along.

Even the acts of the Fire Sisters, Karen-chan and Tsukihi-chan, of which he would bitterly complain about while wearing a terrible expression, were similarly treated as though they were nothing, nothing more than a rehash of his own time in middle school.

No, from what those two tell me, when he had been in middle school Araragi-kun was much more dangerous. His extracurricular activities brushed against laws. No, it wasn’t even an exaggeration to say that he fought against those laws directly. I could hardly believe he managed to live to become a high schooler, and it made my amazement evolve into admiration.

Although it did seem to be true that, while Araragi-kun had done much the same thing in both middle school and high school, there was a great difference in the source of his motivation.

What happened? On this point, he had obstinately refused to talk about it ever since spring break, and currently none of his friends, including me, knew, but it would seem that Araragi-kun had some sort of mental turning point when he was in the first year of high school.

You could say it was the reason why he “became a failure”, as he would put it.

…He exaggerated it on purpose, so perhaps it was nothing more than the fact that he stopped studying. There was no law stating that a person’s mentality could only change with great incidents.

Whether he intended on changing or not, Araragi-kun was still Araragi-kun.

Even if the aloof Araragi-kun I first met had been the result of said change, he was still himself.

Regardless of how much he changed, he was still Araragi Koyomi.

So this was simply reminiscing on when Araragi-kun had been a middle schooler, when he had been more excitable, more active and hot-blooded — something that he himself had already forgotten. In this way, perhaps him becoming a high schooler and settling down was something normal.

Everything he did.

Was just.

Normal.

Or perhaps.

Spring break, and Golden Week.

The cases with Senjougahara-san, with Hachikuji-chan, with Kanbaru-san, with Sengoku-chan, with Karen-chan, perhaps these were, to him, inconsiderable compared to what he had experienced in middle school.

And even now, on this very day, he was acting on something.

At some point, I fell in love with him — when, exactly, would be a story for another time.

Araragi-kun had mean-spiritedly said that, in terms of earthquake-proofing, this place was more dangerous than those ruins (though I think this was just his way of expressing his concern for Senjougahara-san) but unexpectedly, as I went up the external staircase, I found that this was not the case, and it was soundly built.

Perhaps this is what is meant when people say older buildings are sturdier than recent, instantly-built structures.

Even the security of the place was incomparable.

There was a lock on the door!

…Now that I’ve actually come to a house, I realize just how much of a danger those ruins were.

It was dangerous.

“Father has work today and won’t be coming back, so stay here for today, Hanekawa-san.”

“Oh… can I?”

“Father isn’t coming home today, actually.”

“Why did you need to restate it like we’re in a romantic comedy?”

Senjougahara-san had a rather nuanced sense of humor, both before and after her rehabilitation.

Room two-oh-one.

Taking off my shoes, I excused myself inside.

She really didn’t have a hallway.

It was a neat 12 x 9 room — there was no furniture except for bookshelves and chests of drawers. It seemed possible that they had tried to fit with the room’s openness by not having much furniture, but, well, Senjougahara-san didn’t seem like the type of person who would have many things in any case. I was sure that her father was the same.

“Despite appearances, I used to live in a manor — back then, I would have let you have an entire room without batting an eye, but this is all I can do for now.”

“Don’t say it like Lupin.”

“What would you think if I told you that I went around to different convenience stores and spent a total of 90,000 yen because I wanted to win Lupin’s Fiat in Ichiban Kuji that badly?”

“I would think you have horrible luck.”

I sat down.

And looked around the room.

“This place calms me down, in a way.”

“Is that so? Araragi-kun always seems very ill at ease, though.”

“I doubt there’s a boy out there who can keep his cool in a girl’s room… but it’s, well, nice here.”

Unable to summarize my thoughts, I simply said these things as they occurred to me.

“It feels like home.”

“Oh?”

Senjoughara-san put on a face, as though she didn’t really understand.

She probably didn’t.

It was natural, as neither did I.

Though I was the one who said it.

As though talking to myself.

What is “home” in the first place? — I certainly did live for fifteen years in the Hanekawa house that was now gone, so of course, by definition, to argue the case logically, it was “home”, and, as I myself had said when I saw it burning, it was “my house”.

But still.

Why is it that I feel more calm in this Room 201 than in the hallway of that house?

Why does my heart feel at ease here?

“At the very least, I don’t feel that it’s my house. After all, it hasn’t been that long since I moved here.”

Senjougahara-san said.

“Well, of course, my previous home is gone as well.”

“……”

Of course.

The house where Senjougahara-san had lived — the house that had been known to my entire neighborhood, that truly justified the use of the word “manor”, was now an empty plot of land.

No, it wasn’t even that.

Isn’t it just — a road, now?

I wonder.

I clearly watched my own house burn, even if it was from a distance — how does it feel, for one’s home to become something of the past?

I don’t know.

I don’t know — so I stopped thinking about it.

Yes.

I won’t be bothered by it anymore.

I won’t be bothered by my own calmness.

“Take a rest from school today, Hanekawa-san.”

Senjougahara-san said, taking off her sweat-drenched T-shirt.

Saying this as one girl to another, she puts on an extremely good show when she, well, strips.

It was worth admiring, even.

“I’ll be resting as well.”

“Huh?”

“I’m tired. Naturally.”

Now that I looked closely, Senjougahara-san’s eyes were rather bleary.

“I could fall into the embrace of my bed right about now.”

“……”

That’s a pretty amazing way to express it.

“I may be a former member of the track and field team, but it’s been too long. My legs are shaking. And you, Hanekawa-san, it looked like you made your bed well, but there’s no way you could have slept well in a place like that.”

“Well, that’s true, maybe.”

“And your hair looks horrible.”

“Please don’t talk about my hair.”

Flustered, I turned to face Senjougahara-san.

“But it’s only the second day of the second trimester, taking a break now is,”

“You don’t think it’s abnormal for someone whose house just burnt down to mosey down to school the next day like nothing happened? ‘Insensitive’ is the word people use to describe people who think like you.”

Taking off her jeans, Senjougahara-san said this strictly, facing me in her underwear.

Her stance told me that she would stubbornly refuse any disagreement.

Though she was wearing so little, no one could appear more valiant.

And no one could appear more sensual.

“Besides, you’re not planning on studying further, yes? Then there’s no reason to care about your attendance or student records anymore.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

But they’re rules.

I want to obey them.

Because they’re rules.

“My goodness, just rest. If you must go to school, then you’ll have to defeat me first.”

Saying this, Senjougahara-san took on a stance from Chinese martial arts.

A gratuitously perfect Praying Mantis.

“Shiiing.”

“Please don’t add your own sound effects… all right, I get it. I’ll do as you say for today, Senjougahara-san. And to be honest, I really do want to rest and relax. Thank you for making me do this.”

“If you say so.”

Besides, minding other people’s business like this isn’t like me — Senjougahara-san said, somewhat embarrassingly, but I wonder. Personally, I thought this sort of officiousness was just like her.

“Oh. Oh, but, is it all right for you to take a break, too?”

“Me? Well, as for me, I plan to go on to university based on recommendations. Regardless of my attendance record, damaging my student record would be — hmm, that’s right.”

Senjougahara-san seemingly worried for an instant, then immediately took out her cellphone. Just as I wondered who she was calling, Senjougahara-san pinched her nose, faked a hoarse voice,

“Cough, cough, oh, Sir? This is… cough, this is Senjougahara. I’ve caught the flu, it seems… it might be the newest strain. Cough, yes? My temperature? It’s averaging at forty-two degrees. I just broke my air conditioner with my fever. There’s no mistake, this is because of the heat wave this year. I’m swimming in sweat. I feel like I’m coming apart… I might infect the whole class, but can I come to school? No? Oh, is that so, I understand. How unfortunate. I really wanted to hear your lesson. Well then — “

said this, and ended the call.

And, as though nothing happened,

“We’re good.”

she said this.

We are not good. At all.

“‘The flu’…? Why did you have to lie about that? What’s wrong with just a cold?”

“The bigger the lie, the harder it is to expose. It’s all right. There’s a doctor who I’ve known for a long time now, I can have him fake a doctor’s note.”

“There’s no way he’ll help you with that.”

What kind of doctor would put his own career at risk for the sake of a high schooler and her sickout?

Senjougahara-san was good at telling lies, and yet she wasn’t.

“And can you please put some clothes back on now? It’s really a bit awkward if you keep wearing nothing but that.”

“Hm? But I’m going to take a shower now.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Aren’t you going to, too?”

“Oh. Yes, please let me borrow your shower.”

Now that she mentioned it, I felt like I was completely covered in dust.

And I sweat a fair bit in my sleep, so the underwear I bought at the shop were in quite the sorry state as well.

The size felt a bit wrong in the first place.

“But, you first, of course.”

“Why are you being so reserved? Let’s go in together.”

After my suggestion, she said this invitingly.

And with a great smile, too.

One that I doubt even Araragi-kun had seen before, a smile that shone like the Sun.

“We’re both girls, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“No, wait, stop for a second. Actually, just stop. That sounds a little inappropriate.”

“Oh, Hanekawa-san, it’s not like I have ulterior motives. Or do you not trust your friend?”

“If the friend could say something like that in a situation like this, then maybe…”

“Don’t mistake me. I’m not like Kanbaru.”

Senjougahara-san said this with a serious face.

“I just want to see you naked. Nothing more.”

“……”

It seems new character traits are being added to Senjougahara-san.

I had previously heard about Kanbaru-san’s preferences, but now I wonder about relationship of the Valhalla Combo when they were in middle school, and how it was perhaps not just a one-sided affair.

“Please, Hanekawa-san, take a shower with me!”

This Senjougahara-san was just too new a character.

Who would be able to follow this?

“If we work together, we can defeat Sengoku-chan!”

“Didn’t the story already establish that you don’t know about her yet…?”

And now metafictional remarks.

I have to be careful.

Just like how I have to be careful of Senjougahara-san.

“…Well, all right. We’re both girls, after all, so I don’t really mind that much.”

“Oh. I’m surprised you’d agree.”

Senjougahara-san returned to her usual self.

“I’m saying this as the one who invited you, but I would have thought that you were the sort of person who would have a line you’d never cross, even with a friend.”

“Ahaha, a line? What? Like someone who never lets anyone into her room, or never plays with anyone outside of school, people like that?”

“Yes.”

“I won’t deny that.”

I have lines, too.

Perhaps you could say that I disliked others rudely intruding on my affairs despite my doing the same in return — my relationship with Araragi-kun was exactly like that.

And why it ended up like this.

“But there’s no reason to keep my distance and act aloof to someone who just slapped me while crying her eyes out.”

“Hmph.”

Senjoughara-san’s face became red.

She pouted, as though she was sulking.

She had been beautiful when she was expressionless as well, but this Senjougahara-san, her face filled with expressions, was also very beautiful.

So much so that maybe I should be the one asking her to shower with me — or is that saying too much?

“Ah.”

It was then that the phone in Senjougahara-san’s hand rang. I thought that perhaps Hoshina did realize how unnatural Senjougahara-san had sounded and called to ask again, but that was apparently not the case.

It was the ring tone for a new message, anyway.

“Who is it from?”

“Araragi-kun. Hmm. From the contents, I think you’ll be getting the same thing.”

“Huh?”

“Why don’t you check? You can just use the outlet there. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to pay for it.”

“Adding that line actually makes you sound really petty…”

Saying this, I took my cellphone out from my bag and plugged it in. Without waiting for it to ring by itself, I checked my mailbox.

New Messages — 957 Items.

“Oh, don’t mind those, I sent those because I was worried.”

“You sent 956 messages in one night?!”

Over half of the messages in my Received folder seemed to have been pushed out and was gone from the memory.

Is this supposed to be my fault?

Shouldn’t I be asking for an apology for this?

As I thought this, I hurried to check the latest message — it really was sent by Araragi-kun.

‘not comingback yet dont worry’

There was neither a subject nor a signature — the message was so bare, calling it ‘straightforward’ would be an exaggeration. It was an urgent mail, as though he was wrote it in such an emergency that he didn’t even want to waste time with capitals, punctuate properly, or fix the spacing.

“Perhaps this is to be expected, but it seems Araragi-kun is at it again — and this time, it appears to be quite serious.”

Senjougahara-san, having seemingly received the same message, said this, mixed with a sigh.

She seemed astounded, even.

“I don’t really know what happened then, but judging from the message, this sounds as bad as spring break, or worse.”

“You think so too?”

“Yes. Well, at least he took the time to send a message this time, so perhaps he has grown… back then, he really couldn’t see anything except what was in front of him.”

“That’s true.”

Does it — have something to do with Mayoi-chan?

Well, Mayoi-chan was only looking to have her backpack returned, and that was the only reason why she was looking for Araragi-kun, so she should be unrelated to what Araragi-kun was involved in right now –

But, for some reason, I felt that way.

And with absolute certainty.

“It’s no good. It wouldn’t connect.”

At some point, Senjougahara-san tried to call him (and with so little hesitation in the act as well) and, with almost no hint of having done something audacious, she snapped shut her cellphone and put it in its charging stand.

“Well, he’s a boy, so I suppose we don’t have to worry for him… it should be all right. Once he comes back, I’ll brag to him about taking a shower together with you.”

“I don’t think he’d be bothered by that.”

“Hanekawa-san’s body curves like this here, it goes like this there…”

“Stop gesturing.”

It wasn’t indecent so much as it was alluring.

“But, this would mean that we have to deal with the tiger ourselves.”

“The tiger?”

The tiger — the one I saw when I went to school.

The giant tiger.

The talking tiger.

Speaking of which, that was the reason that Senjougahara-san said made her worry too much —

“But the tiger — “

“Hm? I’d wondered if that tiger wasn’t the cause of the fire… was I wrong? Is the cause clear?”

“No, we still don’t know — “

It — might have been arson.

That was what the firefighters had said –

The tiger — it was the reason –

” — we don’t know.”

“I see. Then it seems I should have put one foot in front of the other. As a track and field team member would.”

“Please don’t waste such a striking look on a joke of this level.”

“Now, Hanekawa-san, it’s time. We should have our shower, for him as well.”

“I don’t think we need to do this for him.”

“I will be looking at your nude body for him.”

“Please just do that for yourself.”

“Very well.”

Senjougahara-san promptly consented.

Well, I wouldn’t know what to do even had she resisted.

“Ah, yes, now that I actually think about it, Araragi-kun can no longer feel excitement from a naked girl or her underwear.”

“Really?”

“Yes. He’s risen in level after the experiences of these few months. As he tells me, just the act of wearing a skirt is erotic.”

“From that point of view, there really is no way for a girl to protect her body.”

“Oh man, just look at those hemlines waving in the wind, he says.”

“So he doesn’t even need to look inside them anymore, huh…”

That is high-level.

Or, rather…

Yeah…

“Well then, let’s help wash each other’s breasts.”

“You mean help wash each other’s backs, right?”

“Hanekawa-san.”

Thinking that it wouldn’t be good to stretch the conversation out any further, I hurriedly began taking off my uniform, but Senjougahara-san suddenly asked me a question.

With a face that was neither smiling nor serious.

“Do you still like Araragi-kun?”

“Yes. I still do.”

I answered her immediately.

Senjougahara-san said, having gone back to her usual, cool-beauty self as if nothing had happened. The speed of the switch was worthy of my astonishment. Even so, the area around her eyes was still bright red, so she hadn’t relaxed completely yet.

On the other hand, it seemed that I tossed around quite a bit in my sleep and messed up my hair, probably because of the bed (I got called a ‘Super Hanekawan’) so I suppose I didn’t look completely relaxed, either.

I just thought it was incredible how Senjougahara-san managed to act normally, as though the flood of tears from before were just a pretense.

Really, she was just so adorable.

It almost made me not mind the state my hair was in.

“I couldn’t even imagine how it would feel to have your home burn down… I’d thought that maybe you wouldn’t want anyone talking to you right now, so I had been holding back, but I was still worried… so I made up my mind and decided to go ahead and call you anyway, but it wouldn’t go through.”

“Oh. Sorry, I turned my phone off.”

I said.

“I thought the living would be rough from here on, so I ought to be more frugal.”

I wasn’t using the phone in place of my alarm clock because I had some trust in my own biological clock, but of course, there was also a more pragmatic reason.

I couldn’t be completely sure whether the school would let me use their outlets or not (my teacher would lend me one if I explained the reason, but ultimately, the use of mobile phones was banned in school).

“My goodness, you are strait-laced… you can just borrow the outlets here and there.”

“That’s called theft.”

“I had to run all over the city, thanks to you. I managed to learn that you were staying at a friend’s house after asking a lot of different people — but no one told me who in the class you were staying with.”

“How… how many people?”

“Everyone I knew.”

“……”

To Senjougahara-san, who once upon a time had risen beyond a mere fear of strangers and reached the epitome of human distrust, this was a growth.

However, due to said growth, the news of my disappearance was now known to the class…

Well, great.

“Also, I’m sorry. I met your parents as well.”

“Huh?”

That was a surprise.

Does that mean she went to visit the hotel they were staying in?

Well, I guess anyone with the patience and connections would be able to find them…… they weren’t exactly in hiding, and they had a postal address.

In fact, Senjougahara-san probably visited them, assuming that I was following th– that I was there.

“I see. So, you met… Father, and Mother.”

“You’ve never actually called those people ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’, have you?”

Senjougahara-san said nonchalantly.

Even more nonchalantly than usual.

She seemed displeased.

In the past, you wouldn’t be able to tell what she was thinking at all just by reading her expression, but emotions have been appearing on her face lately.

Joy, and sorrow.

And anger.

…It would seem that she had quite received quite the reception.

Things would be so much easier if those two could just improve on their external displays — Oshino-san also got a pretty horrible reception during Golden Week — but I wonder if I were one to talk when I myself couldn’t think of anything decent to say in the current situation.

I just can’t follow up on things like that.

“It seems much has happened. Not that I mean to pry.”

Unlike Araragi-kun, she knew very little about my situation, the discord and distortion of the Hanekawa family, but seemingly with no intention of becoming too deeply involved, she briskly returned our conversation to its original course.

A show of skill from the Senjougahara-san I know.

I remember why I admired her.

“After that, I started looking around at random, and finally, I thought of this place just as it became morning. Well, I thought of this place from the very beginning, but I didn’t even want to consider a girl of your age spending the night in a ruin like this… but maybe, just maybe, I searched this place last.”

“Huh. Huh? Wait, are you saying you stayed up the whole night, Senjougahara-san?”

“I am saying I stayed up the whole night, Senjougahara-san. Staying up all night, what they call ‘stay-upper’ for short.”

That’s why I got so excited when I found you and started crying, said Senjougahara-san.

That’s a cute excuse.

‘Staying up all night’ is an ‘all-nighter’, by the way.

“….A girl of your age wandering around the streets at night sounds plenty dangerous to me.”

“I don’t have any way to answer that.”

I’m not really the thinking-ahead type, said Senjougahara-san.

Now that I looked, she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, a very rough style. The way she was covered in sweat told me that, rather than ‘wandering’, she had been running about like Kanbaru-san.

“Thank you.”

I thanked her shortly, and as nonchalantly as possible, and then lowered myself from the bed.

It didn’t hurt.

I didn’t believe myself to be an excellent human being, no matter how much Araragi-kun may tell me so, but it would seem that I have some talent at bed making.

I fancied myself becoming, perhaps, a bed maker in the future.

Can you learn it by studying in Germany or something?

“It’s all right, it was something I decided to do by myself — and judging from your situation, it seems I’ve done something rather fruitless.”

“Of course not. Not that you’ve mentioned it, I finally realized just how dangerous this was. They say fire can drive anyone into a panic, so it looks like that fire got me in a pretty strange mood.”

“Perhaps. In fact, I hope that is the case — you do some incredibly dangerous things even just naturally, did you know that?”

“Really?”

“Seducing Araragi-kun, for one.”

“Hmph.”

A ‘hmph’ was all I managed.

I couldn’t figure out a rebuttal.

I haven’t been trying to seduce him at all, and yet I couldn’t object.

The theory that I was the one who made him the way he is, was unexpectedly persistent among the public.

“He really was very aloof back then… when he first got involved with me. There’s barely any trace of that left now.”

“Is it… because of me?”

“Well, there was the matter of the tiger, as well… in any case, I certainly did worry too much. I apologize, I should have known better. Now, let’s go.”

“Go? Go where? To school?”

“My home.”

Senjougahara-san said this as though it were obvious.

“I will say this one more time for your sake, but if you attempt to resist, a stapler will be going into your mouth, and it will close shut around the side of your neck. Anything to bring you with me, Hanekawa-san.”

“……”

Seeing as that was apparently what she actually did to Araragi-kun a long time ago, there really was no way for me to go against what she said.

————————–
Page 1
————————–
[1]
“Many choices exist in the world.

[3]
“All of us…
“No –
“All of you possess the right and freedom to choose something.

[4]
“An infinite number of possibilities lay before said choices.

[5]
“Unfortunately, however,

————————–
Page 2 – 3
————————–
[1]
“there certainly exist

[2]
“those who deny,
“those who abandon,
“those who intefere,

[3]
“those who steal, and those who look down and sneer.

[5]
“Yes, this is –

[6]
“a story
“of the bad.”

(…)

————————–
Page 7
————————–
[5]
“Iori.”

————————–
Page 8 – 9
————————–
[1]
“…Oh,

[2]
“Oh my! Kengo Onii-sama…… good… good morning.

[3]
“To continue persevering in her studies, your beloved little sister Iori-chan
“will today proceed to school as well!

[4]
“I’m off!”

[5]
“Hold it.”
“Gweh — “

[6]
“Stop running away.

[7]
“I heard you’re the only one who hasn’t submitted their career path report.
“You’ve always been like this.
“You never try to choose something by your own will.

[8]
“You’ve been running ever since you were born.
“From me,
“and from yourself.

————————–
Page 10 – 11
————————–
[1]
“If you keep putting these things off like that,
“by the time you realize it, it’d be too late to to do a thing.
“Too late to make a choice.

[2]
“Eventually, you’ll reach the end of the line, and the only thing left for you would be to derail yourself.”

[3]
“It’s,
“it’s not like I want to run away!”

[4]
“That’s what I mean, you’re — “
“Kengo~?

[5]
“You know where my earrings are?
“Hm?

[8]
“Picking on our little sister again?”

[9]
“……I’m just teaching her what’s right.”

[10]
“……
So y’know where my earrings are?”

————————–
Page 12 – 13
————————–
[3]
“Haa –
“haa……
“haa……

[5]
‘You don’t need to tell me. I know that already.

[6]
‘I have been running for 17 years.

[7]
‘I don’t even know what I’m running away from.
‘Just, something.
‘If, in the end, it manages to catch up with me,

[8]
‘then everything will change.
‘That’s the feeling I get.

[9]
‘And that’s why I had no choice but to run from everything…’
“Nice excuse, huh…

[10]
“Whah — !

————————–
Page 14 – 15
————————–
[1]
“Whoa –
“whoa –
“phew……

[2]
“Excuse me!
“I was just thinking about something…”

[4]
“You are…

[5]
“a member of the Zerozaki Clan, right?”

[6]
“……
?”

————————–
Page 16 – 17
————————–
[1]
“Oh, aha, um…
“Are you sure you have the right person?”
“……”
“I think this is the first time we’ve met…

[2]
“Are you ignoring me?!

[3]
‘I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but…

[4]
‘their eyes look so
‘dead…’

[6]
“…Well, in that case,
“I’ll just take my leave now.

[7]
“?!

[8]
“What’re you — !”

[9]
“Please…!
“Let me go — !”

[10]
‘I have to run.
‘I have to run, now.

[11]
‘If I don’t,

————————–
Page 18 – 19
————————–
[1]
‘something will change me……’

[2]
“Please……”
“……?”

[3]
“Please let go my hand.”

[5]
“Hwa — !
“But not so suddenly!

[7]
“Wha — !”
“Whoa.”

[8]
“?!”

[9]
“Are you quite all right,

————————–
Page 20 – 21
————————–
[1]
“my dear girl?”

(…)

[4]
“For example,

————————–
Page 22 – 23
————————–
[1]
“let us assume that a murderer was here.

[3]
“He kills in compliance with his own raison d’etre.
“He killed, and people died, of course.

[4]
“Why did they die?
“Why did things turn out so badly?
“…..Why, because

[5]
“the murderer who killed them
“was bad, of course.”

[6]
“This time, let us assume the murderer was captured
“and sentenced to death.
“It hardly needs saying, but this was of course because

[7]
“the murderer’s deeds were bad.

[8]
“But, what if……
“what if it was a false charge? Then what?

————————–
Page 24 – 25
————————–
[1]
“If this murderer really hadn’t killed anyone,
“and was executed simply for being called ‘a murderer’,

[2]
“then it was the legal system,
“or perhaps the minds of the investigator and the judge,
“that was bad.
“Or something to that effect.

[3]
“Let us assume that, afterwards, in a place completely unrelated to this case,
“said investigator was crushed by a meteorite and died.

[4]
“This was, beyond any doubt, –

[5]
“bad luck.

[6]
“You should all know what I’m talking about by now.
“Simply put,

[7]
“The human death is a concept entwined with the bad.
“There is not a single millimeter of space to spare for good will or good sense to enter.

————————–
Page 26 – 27
————————–
[1]
“In a story where people die, no one but bad people appear,
“nor should they.
“No matter how deeply you probe, human death –

[2]
“contains only the bad.”

(…)

[4]
“But…
“this really is an unexpected development.
“I was entirely under the impression that a younger brother would be here…”
“……”

[5]
“Uh……
“Um……”
“Hm?
“What is it?”

————————–
Page 28 – 29
————————–
[1]
“I’d prefer if you could let go of me some time soon…”
“……”

[2]
“Well.
“Please, excuse me.
“I apologize.”

[3]
“Oh… no…”

[4]
“But you really are quite unfortunate, aren’t you?”
“What?”

[5]
“It would appear that they called out, mistaking you for me.”
“Is…
“that so?”

[6]
“How rude!
“How could they mistake this oh-so-charming young lady for the oh-so-wonderful me?”
“Huh… that’s true…”

[7]
“Well now.
“You should hurry to school.
“I wouldn’t want you to be late.”
“Ah, right……
“but……

[9]
“Will you be all right?
“these people…… they seem, well……”
“It’s all right.”

————————–
Page 30 – 31
————————–
[1]
“Leave this to me.”

[3]
“In… in that case, I’ll do as you say and leave now, but, um…
“Please be careful…”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.”

[5]
“……”
「Identity Card – No. 1109
The individual below is a certified student of this school.
Year: 2
Name: Mutoh Iori」
“Iori-chan, huh……

[6]
“You, too…

[7]
“ought to be careful of the world.”

————————–
Page 32 – 33
————————–
[1]
“Now then!
“Sorry for making you wait such a long time.
“Was there something you needed from me?”

[4]
“Are you a member of the Zerozaki Clan?”

[5]
“Oh, yes.
“I am –

[6]
“Zerozaki.”

(…)

————————–
Page 34 – 35
————————–
[1]
“We’ve finally found one.
“A Zerozaki.

[3]
“I wonder what was with that little girl back then?
“Was he hitting on her or something?

[4]
“A Zerozaki doing that, though?
“It’s a bit hard to believe, huh.

[5]
“Ooh,
“maybe that’s just a fake.
“Looks like they got one over us, huh~”

[6]
“……”

[7]
“Hello, big brother~? You listening~?”
“……”

————————–
Page 36 – 37
————————–
[1]
“I know something about that one, with the wiry appearance.
“Considering what happened on the train yesterday,
“and the fact that a real one is nearby,

[2]
“there is no mistake.”

[3]
“In that case, that little girl bothers me even more.
“And it looks like the puppets reacted to her first.

[4]
“……
“What say we egg them on a bit?

[5]
“How about it,
“big brother?”

(…)

[7]
「Career Advisor」

————————–
Page 38 – 39
————————–
[1]
“Have you decided on your career path yet, Mutoh-san?”

[2]
“Even though it’s a called a report, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be set in stone right now.
“You really don’t have to worry so much about it.

[3]
“With your grades, Mutoh-san, you have a clean shot at most universities.
“You can also find what you want to do in the future once you’re there.”

[4]
“What…
“I want to do in the future?”

[5]
“……
“Um, Sensei……

[6]
“why did you choose to become an instructor?”
“Wha –
“Me?!”

[7]
“Well…… umm~

[8]
“Well, both my parents were instructors as well,
“though really, I didn’t have any skills or merits besides studying.
“……But surprisingly, teaching wasn’t as bad a job as I first thought.
“It would be tough, but I supposed being a civil servant wouldn’t be all that bad……”

[9]
“……”
“……”

[10]
“Sensei, you’re…

[11]
“pretty normal, huh.”

(…)

————————–
Page 40 – 41
————————–
[2]
“Phew…

[3]
“……
“Oh.

[4]
“Jion?”

(…)

[5]
“Normality.

[6]
“– I wonder if you have given thought to this topic.

[7]
“In every generation, all the young people admire the athletes and musicians.
“The important thing is, they dislike the suits and neckties.

[8]
“Why, you ask? Why –

————————–
Page 42 – 43
————————–
[1]
“because it’s the normality filling their everyday lives.

[2]
“It means being the average.
“It means being the same as others.
“It is the fear of lacking individuality, being without a self.

[3]
“It means being normal.
“Even though –

[4]
“nothing could be more wonderful…”

(…)

[6]
“Hey, Jion…
“Have you ever thought how you’d be like as a member of society?

[7]
“Me, I can’t even help feeling strange right now,
“just being a high schooler.

[8]
“I feel like I really shouldn’t be here…
“Like there isn’t a single place I belong to…”

[9]
‘That’s why I’ve always been running.
‘And, without reaching any single place, I……’

————————–
Page 44 – 45
————————–
[2]
“You’re putting too much thought into this, Mutoh.
“Life is supposed to be nice and easy, you know?

[3]
“I’m going to grow up to be a musician! I’ll be the next Jim Morrison!!
“…something like that.”

[4]
“……

[5]
“You’re exactly the type who’ll turn out to be a salaryman when you meet them at a reunion.”
“Huh?!
“No way I’m going for a white-collar desk job!”

[6]
“But still…

[7]
“I feel a bit better now.

[8]
“Thank you, Jion.”

————————–
Page 46 – 47
————————–
[1]
“H-
“Hey…

[2]
“You wanna blow off the rest of the day and go someplace…?”

[3]
“…Mmm~

[4]
“No thanks.”
“Why not?!”

[5]
“Because Iori-chan isn’t a bad girl!”

[6]
“……
“Isn’t it normal to blow off school……?”
“……It’s normal if you don’t, Jion……”

(…)

[7]
“One ought never be a maverick to the norm.

[8]
“In the end, happiness as a human being
“means getting along well with the people around you.

[9]
“Thus, being normal and natural is truly a blessed thing.

[10]
“It has nothing to do with prestige, honor, status or wealth.
“Things like talents and qualities ought to be hidden as much as possible.

[11]
“That’s because

————————–
Page 48 – 49
————————–
[1]
“everyone wants to live as human beings.”

(…)

[4]
‘So sleepy…
‘I really should have blew this off and went with Jion…

[5]
‘……
‘Now that I think it……

[6]
‘That person I met this morning, is he all right……?

[7]
‘Leave this to me.

[8]
‘I can’t believe I trusted him,
‘even though I just met him……
‘it’s almost like……

————————–
Page 50 – 51
————————–
[1]
‘I’ve known him for the longest time –’

(…)

[5]
“Sigh.
“No date for me, huh.

[7]
“Guess I’ll head to the arcade……
“Huh…?

————————–
Page 52 – 53
————————–
[2]
“……
“?”

[3]
“Are you
“a student of this school?”

[4]
“……
“Uh, yeah?”

[5]
“I see.”

[6]
“In that case,

————————–
Page 54 – 55
————————–
[1]
“You will do fine.”

(…)

————————–
Page 55 – 56
————————–
[1]
“Haa!

[2]
“Uu…
“I fell asleep…

[3]
“……

[4]
“Whah?

[6]
“Ugh……
“There’s nobody here at all…

[7]
“Maybe there’s an assembly in the gymnasium…?

[8]
“Wish someone had woken me up…

[9]
“But still, the air…
“tastes kind of wrong…

————————–
Page 58 – 59
————————–
[1]
“Waah!

[2]
“Ji-
“Jion?

[3]
“You –
“really freaked me out!
“Didn’t you already leave?

[4]
“Well, Iori-chan was thinking about what she’d do, too!

[5]
“And once I woke up, nobody was in the — “
“You’re a member of the Zerozaki Clan, right?”
“……

[6]
“Mmn?

[7]
“Didn’t someone ask me the same thing this morning…?

[8]
“What’s it supposed to mean?
“Is it a fad?

————————–
Page 60 – 61
————————–
[1]
“Wh-
“Whoa!

[2]
“Wha –
“Argh!

[3]
“Owww…!

[4]
“God!
“What’s wrong with you, all of a…

[8]
“AAAAH — !

————————–
Page 62 – 63
————————–
[2]
“Wh-
“Wha-
“What’s –

[3]
“What’s going on?!
“What is this?!!

[4]
“Is…
“Is anyone here?!

[6]
“Haa…
“haa…

[7]
“Ah…!

[8]
“Haa…
“haa…”
‘His eyes, they’re…
‘the same as the people earlier…

[9]
‘dead eyes.

————————–
Page 64 – 65
————————–
[1]
‘Is he going to kill me?!
‘Why…?!

[2]
‘But I’ve only lived for 17 years!
‘Is this it?!
‘No, it can’t be!!

[3]
‘It’s just too early!
‘I…

[4]
‘I want to live longer –

[5]
‘Ah –

[6]
‘Live longer? That’s it?
‘Live longer……
‘and do what?

[7]
” –
“Oh… I get it.

[8]
“This is…
“what I owe…

————————–
Page 66 – 67
————————–
[1]
“This is what I get for running away from everything all the time.
“The curtains sure came down fast…

[2]
“It really is…
“just like what Kengo said……

[3]
“Hey, Jion.

[4]
“I know… I’m a bit stupid,
“so I might have made you angry somehow…
“I’m sorry…

[6]
“This is
“my stop.

(…)

————————–
Page 68 – 69
————————–
[1]
“The suicide drive.

[2]
“To the living,
“that is the “evilest” thought of all.

[3]
“The world is already filled with things which can represent evil.

[4]
“Just like how you run into traffic lights, eventually,
“you will encounter evil. Don’t you agree?

[5]
“Everyone dies in the end.
“But that’s no reason to go rushing towards it.

[6]
“Regardless of the destiny you shoulder,

[7]
“the crimes you have committed,
“the living deserve to live.

[8]
“That is my belief.”

(…)

————————–
Page 70 – 71
————————–
[1]
“…..Wait…

[2]
“Why is Jion dead?

————————–
Page 74 – 45
————————–
[1]
“Ha…
“Haha…

[2]
“Maybe I…
“have some sort of talent for killing people……

[3]
“……
“Ha…

[4]
“I need to stop saying stupid things and go before…

[5]
“?!”

[6]
“You just said
“something terribly correct.”

[7]
‘Did he see me do it?!’

[8]
“But allow me to make a correction.”

[9]
‘Huh…? He’s……’

[10]
“You should present it –
“not as a ‘talent’, but a ‘quality’.

————————–
Page 76 – 77
————————–
[1]
“We meet again,
“Iori-chan.

[2]
‘from this morning…
‘Is… is he…

[3]
‘a stalker?!

[4]
‘T-This is bad…
‘And he knows my name too, somehow…’
“But this is quite something.”

[5]
‘And he even has something on me now…’
“It’s amazing you managed to kill this thing in one blow with something like this.

[6]
“And they’re scissors, too…
“I feel quite a sense of affinity.”

————————–
Page 78 – 79
————————–
[1]
“Whoa!
“Whoa!
“What are you doing?!”

[2]
“What, you ask…?
“Hmm~
“Inspecting?”

[3]
“Don’t just play around with it like that!”
“Why not?”
“Wh-What do you mean, why not…?

[4]
“I’m going to explain this to the police, so if anything’s different, then…!”
“Oh, I see. Yes, that would be…
” — wait, the police?!

[5]
“Hey, hey, hey, hey!
“I know I look like an idiot for asking this, but you’re seriously worrying me!
“You’re not actually planning on turning yourself in, are you?!”

[6]
“No, no, no, no!
“I am!
“Of course I will!!”

[7]
“Don’t… don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve killed someone!”
“What do you think?!”
“So it’s not?”
“It is!”

[8]
“All the more reason why you shouldn’t go to the police.”
“?”

————————–
Page 80 – 81
————————–
[1]
“Try not to discuss this with your family, friends or teachers, either.

[2]
“For you are now

[3]
“one who can think of nothing but killing when meeting others.
“No doubt about it –

[4]
“you are a psycho.”

[5]
“Well,
“you’re just freshly baked, of course.”
“…Wh-

[6]
“Why are you saying these baseless things? You just came out of nowhere and…!”

[7]
“Baseless….
“Baseless, you say?

[8]
“You of all people should have already realized it.
“How you have just stabbed another person,

————————–
Page 82 – 83
————————–
[1]
“and yet feel no guilt whatsoever.”

[2]
“Oh…”

[3]
“Still,
“there’s really no need to fret about this.”
“?!”
“After all, the fault was with him.”

[4]
“Were… were you already watching when Jion — “
“Hold on.

[5]
“I’d prefer it if you do not misunderstand the situation.
“I did not come to save you,
“much less appear to allow your so-called
“talent for killing to blossom.”

[6]
“After all, I didn’t call out to you until you turned to face me, did I?”

[7]
“The thought that someone would come to lend you a hand at the turning point of your life
“is truly comical.

[8]
“No one can guide you any more.
“Nor will you ever reach a stop.
“You –

————————–
Page 82 – 83
————————–
[1]
“have already been derailed.”

[2]
“……

[3]
“Yes…
“of course…

[4]
“Since I killed Jion, I’m the bad one here……”

[5]
“No.
“I will say it one more time.

[6]
“Even now — “

[7]
“?!”

[8]
“You are not bad.

————————–
Page 86 – 87
————————–
[1]
“Behold!
“That which, despite having suffered a fatal injury in the neck,
“now stands up again to kill its target! The notion of it!

[2]
“What can we call this if not evil?!

[3]
“It’s the same as the ones in the train or from this morning.
“They have my sympathy,

[4]
“but not my mercy.

(…)

[5]
“Well then.
“That’s all for the lecture on what is bad.

[6]
“I’m sure you’re all getting tired of waiting,

[7]
“So let us begin the test.

————————–
Page 88 – 89
————————–
[5]
“Now,

————————–
Page 90 – 91
————————–
[1]
“Let us begin…
“Oh, my bad.

[2]
“That’s the wrong pair.

[3]
“Let me start over.

[5]
“Let us begin –

[7]
“the Zerozaki.”

————————–
Page 92 – 93
————————–
[1]
“Jion-kun, was it?

[2]
“If we were to meet under different circumstances, the possibilities for you might be different.
“but how very unfortunate you are.

[8]
“Jion-kun –

————————–
Page 94 – 95
————————–
[1]
“you fail.

[4]
“Iori-chan.
“I know I said some cold things back there, but I’m not a demon.
“……Well,
“maybe I am, in a way.

[5]
“As you are a newborn,
“allow me present to you a proposal.

[6]
“I am Zerozaki Soushiki.”

[7]
‘Ah… I see…
‘He’s not a stalker…’
“Hey, Iori-chan…

————————–
Page 96 – 97
————————–
[1]
“won’t you be my little sister?”

[3]
‘He’s just a pervert…’

(…)

[5]
“Wow…
“So those giant scissors of his became his own second name.
“‘Suicide Drive‘ – the Mainlaender, huh.

[6]
“So he really is a true Zerozaki!
“And a huge one, just like you said, big brother!

[7]
“It seems like that little girl is involved as well.
“What should we do?”

[8]
“Opposing the ‘evilest‘ by ourselves may be beyond us.
“I will –

————————–
Page 96 – 97
————————–
[1]
“visit her once more.”

[2]
“The ‘evilest’, huh…

[3]
“You’re as cautious as always.

[4]
“But I know nothing about this ‘evilest’,
“so I’m just going to go ahead and make a move.

[6]
“Besides, Tokinomiya-san is here for once.
“Would you help me with my little play?”

[7]
“Oh, I do not mind.
“As long… as I get what want.”

[8]
” — so she says. How about it,
“big brother?”

[9]
“……”
“Very well.

————————–
Page 98
————————–
[1]
“You may act freely.”

Did we just skip a chapter?

Or was it just me?

Ah, well.

If the Rumba were still around, these ruins would certainly be worth of its sweeping, but unfortunately it had been burnt together with the house, so I could no longer rely on it to wake me up in the morning.

In spite of this, I was fairly sure that I would be able to wake up at the right time just the same as always, and made light of it.

The human body has something called a biological clock.

The bio-rhythm permeating your body cannot be so easily broken.

To say nothing of the fact that I’m a person who doesn’t even know the mindset of being ‘half-awake’ — though I had thought this way, the reality was different.

I did not oversleep.

Rather, I woke up before the time I had planned to — and what’s more, I did not simply wake, but was woken.

There shouldn’t be anyone who would wake me up now that the Rumba’s gone –

“Hanekawa-san!”

I was woken by someone pulling me up.

Under my present condition, would an unbelievable sight suddenly pouring into me count as me being half-awake? — so I blithely thought, as I waited until understanding could catch up to recognition.

As I looked at Senjougahara-san before me, holding my collar,

I thought, blithely.

“Are you all right?! Are you alive?!”

“H-Huh? Wha? G’morning?”

Still unable to understand the situation, I — doing something I hadn’t done for a really long time — gave a morning greeting.

I was bewildered as well.

After all, that cool-headed Senjougahara-san was looking straight at me, her face bright red as tears fell.

“Are you all right?!”

Senjougahara-san repeated her question.

Still having absolutely no idea of why she was so worried,

“Y-Yeah.”

I nodded.

I was crushed by her ardor.

“………”

Following this, Senjougahara-san finally let go of my collar and bit her lip, looking as though she was holding back a teary outburst, and then

“Idiot!”

she slapped me.

I was pulled up.

And I was slapped.

I might have been able to avoid it if I wanted to, but her appearance was so menacing that I simply allowed myself to be hit.

No, maybe I really couldn’t have avoided it.

My cheek burnt and stung.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

Not ending with simply the first hit, Senjoughara-san continued to slap me — along the way, her hand broke down from a backhand to simply beating on my chest, like that of a child throwing a tantrum.

It didn’t hurt at all.

But it was so very painful.

“A… a girl! All by herself! Sleeping, in a, a place like this…! What if something had happened?!”

“…I’m sorry.”

I apologized.

Well, perhaps I should say I was made to apologize — after all, I didn’t think there was any reason whatsoever to reflect on what I had done, or in other words, my little game of Scouts and the feeling that I was experiencing something rather interesting.

But, even so,

there was no mistaking that I had made Senjougahara-san, that Senjougahara-san, so very worried about me –

Though imprudent on my part, I was a little happy, as well.

I was happy.

“No. I won’t forgive you. I’ll never forgive you.”

Saying this, Senjougahara-san embraced me, as though snuggling up to me, as though clinging onto me, as though throwing herself onto me.

As though she will never let go again.

“I won’t forgive you. Not even if you apologize.”

“Yeah… I got it. I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Even so, I continued to repeat these words of apology.

I embraced her in return,

and continued to apologize.

In the end, it took about thirty minutes for Senjougahara-san to stop crying and by then, it was my wake-up time, just the same as always.

Well, I already had a problem to begin with, but now I have a bigger problem, and it is the fact that I don’t have a single friend who would let me stay with them for a while.

I do have friends.

Having a somewhat problematic personality, I can’t say I have a lot but, in my own way, I have built up a network of friends appropriate for the average student during my school life.

Speaking of which, while Araragi-kun speaks of his lack of friends with not so much masochism as something closer to pride, on this point, allow me to testify that he is not speaking untruths.

It is not an exaggeration to say that he has no friends.

Or rather, he has for a long time been conducting himself so as to make as few friends as possible — making friends lowers your strength as a human being, or so he says.

He seriously thought, and said, this.

Though this philosophy has already been abandoned, he was still undergoing rehabilitation, and I had never seen him talking to the boys in class.

Actually, I had never seen him speaking to anyone other than Senjougahara-san and me.

Did he know that, just as how Senjougahara-san used to be called a ‘high-class daughter’, he had been called a ‘motionless mute’?

Compared to Araragi-kun’s situation, I still had friends.

Friends with whom I got along well with.

But, when I thought about it carefully, I had never stayed at a friend’s place before.

I had never experienced anything like ‘staying over’, as it was called — hmm.

Now that I thought about it again, I wondered why this was.

Though I hated spending time at the house, I had never genuinely attempted the act of ‘running away’ –

Araragi-kun would probably say something like, that’s because you’re an honor student, and while that might seem to be the truth, perhaps it was rather Senjougahara-san’s view that was correct.

In other words,

“Have you ever said, ‘help me’?”

It wasn’t limited to Araragi-kun.

Perhaps seeking help from others was simply something I could not do — I didn’t like the thought of entrusting something decisive to another person.

I didn’t want to let go of my casting vote.

I wanted to define my own life myself.

That was why — I became a cat.

I became an abnormality.

I became me.

“Well, I guess it’s all right. As luck would have it, I know where to go.”

To cheer myself up, I said this in a way that wasn’t quite talking to myself, and set off. The only luggage I had was the bag I brought to school — as it was the opening ceremony on the first day of the new trimester, it only contained stationery, notebooks and other such unimportant things, but right now, they were my only possessions.

This feeling of being like Anne Shirley, with my single bag containing all my fortune, meant it was untrue that I wasn’t cheekily enjoying the current situation, so I suppose that, as a person, I wasn’t so serious all the way through — and the place where I was going was, of course,

the ruins of that tutorial school we all knew.

It seemed to have been called Noble Minds Tutorial School when it was still in business.

This was the place where Oshino-san and Shinobu-chan had lived for about three months — and Araragi-kun as well during the spring break, so regardless of its ruined appearance, it should have the facilities for one person to stay for the night.

That was how I read it.

I would be thankful for a floor and a roof, at least.

It would be pretty far going on foot, but as I wanted to start saving money from here on, I did not take the bus.

In the past, Oshino-san had placed a boundary field there so you wouldn’t be really be able to reach it even if you wanted to, but it was removed now.

If you just walk along the route,

you should get there normally.

Naturally, there was no electricity, so I had to make my bed while the sun was still up.

Oshino-san and Araragi-kun made their beds by arranging the desks and chairs, didn’t they?

In which case, I should follow their example.

Passing the fence and entering the ruins, the first thing I did was head up the stairs to the fourth floor — I chose the fourth floor because I heard from Araragi-kun that Oshino-san often lived on that floor.

Judging from the living patterns of its previous inhabitant, I guessed that the fourth floor would be easier to live in compared to the others — I had put everything I had in this wild stab.

Rather than hit its mark, it missed completely.

The first classroom I entered on the fourth floor had a hole in the ceiling.

The next one was lacking in floor.

No floor, and no ceiling…

And something must have happened in the last remaining classroom, as though some sort of beast had rampaged around the room — if I had to say, it was as though Araragi-kun and Mayoi-chan were allowed to run amok as much as they wanted.

I felt some regret at my rashness.

It wasn’t supposed to be this damaged…

When I first declared that I would stay at a friend’s house, these ruins were actually already on my mind, but this might be a more severe environment than I had imagined.

Forcing a smile and trying my best to raise my spirits, I went down to the third floor — the first classroom I entered on this floor was lacking in both ceiling and floor.

It would seem that the hole in the ceiling was connected to that classroom on the fourth floor I saw earlier — what happened here, really? From the hue of the hole’s edges, it seemed to have been destroyed very recently…

The earthquake proofing of this building would be put in quite a lot of doubt, if this had collapsed by itself.

With my heart thumping I challenged the next case and, finally, I arrived at a classroom that maintained the normal appearance of its ceiling, floor and walls.

But it was too early to feel relieved, and I immediately began working to make a bed. This feels a bit like going camping with the Scouts, I thought, but of course, I had never joined the Scouts.

Knowing something means you only know it.

It is not experience.

It was as Senjougahara-san had said.

It was as if I accumulated knowledge, and alongside it I accumulated meaninglessness.

Actually, binding the available desks together to make a bed was, despite appearances, not a simple task. I had no rope to bind them with in the first place. I left the ruins for a moment and went to a nearby store to buy some things.

“All right, it’s done. Oshino-san used one more desk for his bed, but I’m not as tall as him, so this size should be enough.”

It was enjoyable, though. Making something.

I thought the bed I had created was quite a piece of work — tempted to try it, I could not resist and laid down, still in my uniform.

“Whoa.”

This isn’t going to work.

As high as my expectations had been, the mental damage I suffered was extreme.

It really wasn’t going to work.

I seriously felt let down.

There was no difference between this and sleeping on the floor.

My expression became rugged.

Believing that a side-by-side test was important, I actually tried lying down on the floor, and it really didn’t feel like there was much difference.

No, in fact, with the number of joints in a human body, it was harder to sleep on the desks.

What a fearsome man you are, Oshino-san.

He can probably sleep on a bed of nails.

I tried thinking of how Araragi-kun and Shinobu-chan had done it, but seeing as Shinobu-chan was a former vampire and Araragi-kun had been a vampire when he lived here, it couldn’t really be used as a reference.

I hadn’t the faintest idea of how a vampire would feel in sleep when they could sleep comfortably even in a narrow coffin.

“A futon. I need bedding…”

Saying this, I left the ruins once again.

I left, carrying my wallet which had a cash card inside — it wasn’t as though I couldn’t go and buy things.

Besides, there were many necessities which needed to be bought in the first place aside from vinyl cords, and it shouldn’t take much time or effort — it was just that, at this point, I had to cut down even on bus fares, so there was no way I could buy a something like warm Hanege quilt bedding, so I had to prepare some sort of replacement.

On this topic, I read in some book that newspaper, magazines or cardboard were very reasonable for the purpose of warming oneself. I ought to be able to get cardboard at department stores for free.

Considering the amount of this-and-thats which I had to buy, I would have to take the bus for the return trip, but on that point, I cleanly gave myself up. It was a bad idea to cut down on even the things I need.

Poverty dulls the wit.

How beautiful those words were.

And that was why I walked.

I walked, slowly.

One step at a time, firmly.

Foodstuff that could be preserved, and water, things like these were absolutely necessary. I’ll use cardboard as the mattress and newspapers, not magazines, for the cover. Tearing the pages would be an essential task if using magazines, and I didn’t think I could manage it. Even if I were to use magazines, it seems I had some resistance to destroying reading material. On this point, newspapers are already undone to begin with.

And clothes.

I couldn’t sleep in my uniform — Araragi-kun seemed to began thinking that I didn’t own a single piece of regular clothing, but this was not true, of course.

Those two hadn’t done a single parent-like thing for me, but they weren’t negligent, either.

They did the minimum.

They did it as though they were fulfilling some obligation.

So they bought me clothes, at least — it was simply that I didn’t really want to wear them.

Well, everything’s been burnt now.

After it’s been burnt, everything came to be nothing.

It felt as though I had been reset.

Yes — though it was, in truth, imprudence on my part, I could not deny that I was in a brisk mood.

Of course, said briskness was also in truth a trick.

There — had been no reset.

This situation was nothing more than a temporary refuge.

Something that was lost cannot be made into something that had never been.

Walking around the mass retailers in the department store, I saw that clothes as a product was surprisingly expensive. I would have to take the bus, but maybe I should head to Uniqlo… as I started thinking this, the neighboring hundred-yen shop suddenly came into my view.

Actually, I thought as I approached it, I already had a hunch about coming here, and I was right. Of course, you would be hard-pressed to find pajamas (-style sweaters) for a hundred yen, but thankfully, underwear was sold for that price.

I bought them without a moment’s hesitation and finished up my shopping.

As I thought about stupid things like how I really can’t show off underwear I bought at a hundred-yen shop to Araragi-kun, I stepped onto the bus for the return trip as planned, and returned to the tutorial school.

Oshino-san hadn’t spoke of bothers like these when he had lived here, but as he was a human being and not a vampire, I felt a strange sense of admiration for him as I wondered if he had really went through three months of hardships like this.

In the third-floor classroom, I began reinforcing the bed. Cutting the cardboard with a utility knife, I used packing tape to wrap together two layers on top of the desks. You may think that, no matter how much I worked on it, cardboard was still cardboard, but this was overwhelmingly more comfortable a bed. I wrapped another layer of cardboard just to be sure, and completed my bedding.

As the amount of work so far had tired me out considerably, I had dinner.

Preserved foods were all that I bought, so there was no need to cook anything.

Of course,

“Thanks for the meal.”

I did not forget these words.

Even if it was just preserved foods, once you trace it back to its source, it had been the sacrifice of some life, somewhere.

At least that’s what I believe, so, thank you.

In fact, even if it wasn’t a living being, it would still become a part of my blood, and my bones, so I will accept it with gratitude.

Life is precious.

Even if it no longer lives.

However, as might be expected, having only this sort of food would be wearisome eventually, so perhaps I should buy a portable stove and pot sooner or later. Though this was supposed to be temporary dwelling until those two found a house to rent, as they are both busy with work, the situation might turn into one where I will live here for quite a long period of time.

“I can use the washrooms and showers at school… if it comes down to it, I can recharge my cellphone at school as well. I can study at the library or reading rooms. As for what’s left…”

Going over the various things that may become problems, I continued the task of inspecting them one by one — I immediately found measures to deal with every single problem.

It would seem that by doing this, I was not so much working out response plans due to the stress my life will be in from now on, but rather working hard to confirm that I was not troubled in any way by the burning down of that house.

I did this, as though I was adjusting myself so to fit into the current situation.

As though I was resolving a paradox.

It really was quite like me to do this.

“That was delicious.”

Seasonally speaking, it was still the height of the summer so the sun should set fairly late, but it had become pitch dark before I realized, so I changed into the nightclothes and the underwear I bought at the shop, and went to sleep on the bed I had just made.

‘Comfortably snug’ weren’t quite exactly the words I could use.

Even so, it was a mysterious thing that I felt a sleep more peaceful than when there had been in the hallway at home.

The first was that you could see the house I lived in from the window of the classroom I studied in every day. It wasn’t as though I never had a chance to stand by the window and look outside.

Why did I not notice it?

Why did I not see it?

I had seen it, of course, but I didn’t consciously recognize it — basically, this was the reverse of the logic that “he who has suffered the aberrant is drawn to it”.

I think I might have pushed that house out of my own consciousness.

However, another thing I had not known was the unexpected amount of shock I would feel when that house burnt down — I was dumbstruck.

To the point where my mind went blank.

It was a terrible blow.

It seems Araragi-kun holds the misconception that, as a human being, I have a good hold of myself — but like others, I have my destructive impulses. Ever since we experienced that nightmarish Golden Week, he had placed too great an amount of trust in my humanity — or no, perhaps he had simply been turning a blind eye to it, surprisingly enough — but to be clear, I myself had wished countless times that ‘a house like this should just disappear’.

But I hadn’t thought that it would actually disappear.

Or that I would feel such a sense of loss when it did.

It was not affection of any sort.

I never even considered thinking of that place as my house — I may have said so by accident, but that was just a delusion.

However, it was the unshakable truth that emotions were once attached to that delusion.

Was that a good thing, I wonder?

I had been deluded.

Yes, that was the truth.

Or was it a bad thing?

Both seemed possible in their own ways, but at this point, it was too late for either.

After all, it had already been lost.

The house in which I had spent fifteen years,

was now lost for eternity.

Disregarding the fact that I had been late, I requested that I be allowed to leave early to Hoshina who of course approved and I ran home, despite not being Kanbaru-san, to find fire engines and spectators milling around the scene, the fire having already been put out.

The fire had been extinguished.

And everything was gone.

Not having spread to the neighboring houses, the fire burnt the house to ashes with nothing left standing.

This being extremely advantageous when collecting our fire insurance would be one cause for hope in this situation.

It was unpleasant, but it was also the most important matter.

Wait, that’s not right.

The most important matter was of course our safety — but there was nothing to be concerned with on that front. I was at school, and it was highly unlikely for the ‘other two’ whom I should call my parents to return home in the morning.

Of the three of us,

not a single one thought of this place as our home.

It was a place, not a home.

But I guess this means that the Rumba was burnt, and I mourned for automatic vacuum cleaner that had gallantly woken me up every morning.

I mourned for it, more so than for the house.

Now, aside from the Rumba, quite a lot of things were burnt, or rather, everything was burnt, but, well, as I was nothing more than a mere high schooler, I had not owned much in the first place, so in that regard there was no reason to be bothered.

I could say that all my clothes being burnt would be a bother, though.

Or perhaps it was the same for the ones whom I should call my father and mother — they probably had nothing important in the house, as well.

They probably left the things important to them at their working place.

I would think so.

This house,

was not a place to leave important things in.

They would be defiled.

Well, in any case, there were many things I had not known — and there were many things that, after the house burnt down, I realized for the first time.

Although I had not met him directly, perhaps this would be what that swindler, Kaiki Deishuu, would call a well-deserved lesson.

I don’t know.

I don’t care.

It didn’t matter whether I care or not — the fact that I had been cast out into the streets was certain.

And while there were places where I had gone to during days off, not because I wanted to but because I didn’t want to stay in the house, it would be a true blessing now to find a place where I could spend the night — in any case, thanks to this, the Hanekawa family will now have a family dialogue, something we have not had for a long time.

‘Dialogue’?

No, even I can imagine that this sort of thing is not called ‘dialogue’ in a normal family.

This isn’t anything like a family meeting.

We exchanged our opinions.

It was not interaction.

Naturally, many troublesome formalities resulted from our house having been just burnt down — but as of right now, even the reason for the fire was completely unknown. Chillingly, even arson was being suspected — this was a long-term problem, and there was nothing that a child like me could do, so what we discussed today was also the most pressing question at the moment, which was to say, ‘where we were to sleep tonight’.

We had nothing like relatives on whom we could rely on living nearby so, of course, there should have been no room for discussion at all, and we should make our way to the nearest hotel — but this in itself was a problem to the Hanekawa family.

It was the biggest problem, or, you could say, the only problem.

We had not slept together in the same room for a considerably long time.

I of course slept in the hall, and even though they were husband and wife, they had separate bedrooms. A hotel room would already be quite expensive, and we would need to have a second and third –

“I’ll be all right. I’ll stay at a friend’s place.”

Before the discussion could become too involved, I said this.

I announced,

“It’s a good chance for the two of you to have some alone time together, as a couple.”

I said, having already understood that my doing this, not out of principle but because of how I truly felt, was due to my terrible inhumanity — during Golden Week, I realized that this was what’s wrong with me.

I did not want to spend the night in the same room as these two.

Though I clearly understood that this was how I felt, I prioritized it as lowly as I could — I knew,

just how unnatural that was.

It was barely within the scope of humanity that I could think of this fire as a ‘good chance’.

That was what Araragi-kun and Oshino-san taught me.

That was my lesson.

Of course, I stood where I was right now, not having made the best of said lesson at all — but I felt that I should return the two of them to how they should be.

I get that feeling.

It would be fine if I could just give those two one last chance before I become an adult, after which they intended to immediately divorce.

So I thought.

Taking everything into account, it would taken several months to rebuild our completely burnt house, so in the few weeks until they can rent a house, with the fifteen years the two of them have had together — things might work out.

I think so.

I get that thought.

I want to think so.

The two consented readily.

They did not stop me from staying at a friend’s place. In fact, they were clearly delighted that I suggested it myself.

Well, but of course.

The two of them together alone was better than the three of us together alone, so perhaps they were thankful for this fire, in terms of how it got rid of a nuisance for them.

They were delighted by what I had done.

I myself must be quite insane to find happiness in that.

* * * * *

– It was a place endlessly surrounded by cravings.

Gluttony and lust bring forth avariciousness and a hunger for fame, in turn bringing forth violence and cajolery. Everyone gladly threw themselves into this endless hell.

The women sell their bodies, the men sell their violence.

The men sell their bodies, the women sell their honor.

Laughing, and being laughed at; devouring, and being devoured; jeering, and being jeered at; harming, and being harmed; violating, and being violated.

This is Shinjuku.

A place that only truly shone in the darkness of night.

A never-before-seen, and never-again-shall-be, battle royale between magi who had attained the qualifications of ‘Master’ and heroes summoned as ‘Servant’ — that is the Holy Grail War.

A magus who had qualified and was now preparing to join the battle was here in Shinjuku as well.

However, he still had a dilemma.

…He could not summon his Servant.

On the roof of a multi-tenant building, a magic circle was drawn in human blood.

The etched circle glittered crimson — and abruptly, as though something had been cut off, the light was lost.

“…It’s not working.”

The man dropped his shoulders in disappointment.

Before his eyes were four strangely-shaped knives and two butcher’s knives.

It was a symbol to summon the Servant.

Using the six blades favored by that ‘serial killer’, the magus attempted to summon the Servant — and failed.

“This isn’t enough. Yeah, it’s totally not enough.”

Generally, having an item with an affinity to the Heroic Spirit will suffice in summoning a specific Servant.

For example, the sheath of the holy sword once wielded by the King of Knights.

Or perhaps the fossil of cast skin from the first snake in the world to shed its skin.

If you could prepare something like that, drawing a specific Servant is comparatively easier.

However, there existed two points which led to the failure of the summoning this time.

One was the caliber of the man as a magus. In this Holy Grail War, entirely unlike the Fourth, there are fourteen magi who become Masters. By necessity, there are also fourteen Servants. It is double the norm.

Following this, the Grail that originally would support the summoning can only exert half its strength, and the rest must be made up for by the magus.

And regrettably, the man was nothing more than a second-rate magus.

Another point was how weak the Heroic Spirit the man had been trying to summon was.

He was weak, though merely in terms of belief.

The Servant the man had been trying to summon was an existence from merely one hundred twenty years ago.

Despite his fame, he was not one who could match those who were worshiped as gods and heroes.

In short, what was needed — was a push, by any means necessary.

“Now what should I do…?”

As he lamented, the man scratched his head.

After a moment, he thought of a good idea. These six weapons were specialized blades used practically for one ‘deed’.

In that case — when would these weapons exercise their most proper function?

The answer was, obviously, when they were being practically used.

He will create a situation where these lethal weapons can be practically used — if he can do this, the connection with the Servant should become strong enough for a summoning.

“So basically, I need a woman.”

The man picked someone suitable for the role immediately.

There was a woman who sold her body to make a living. That was exactly what the woman currently by his side did, wasn’t it? She was originally just a woman on whom he had cast a suggestion when he infiltrated this city. He had no hesitations in treating her as something disposable.

“…All right, let’s do it.”

As he incinerated the magic circle and left the building, the man’s eyes switched from cold ones belonging to a magus to ones reminding you of a warm and innocent young man.

A host was his profession, his working name “Hikaru”. The magus, true name Sagara Hyouma, melted away into the city of cravings — practically perfectly.

* * * * *

To Rikudou Reika, the sounds of the heart were strange.

As her heart thumped, she lived. Without this sound, her brain, organs and limbs would be dead.

This fist-sized organ, sounding as though this small sound was all that it could manage, allowed one to live.

Reika could not help but feel it strange.

One does not live, but is allowed to live by the heart.

Hazily thinking such things — that was how she spent her life, simply being swept along.

She still did not know what the purpose of her life was.

Perhaps it was because she did not have a family.

Perhaps it was because she had been abused before she was adopted.

Perhaps it was because she could not do anything when she was a child.

……Reika knew nothing.

However, even if she did not know, a human being cannot survive without making money.

Even Reika knew this, so for the present, she decided to live on by selling her body.

Fortunately, she had never had trouble with a client.

Why did someone like her, passed by and suddenly hit on by a host on the streets, so easily agreed to live together with him — knowing that she would be exploited?

Reika did not know why she did that, but it hurt her head to think, so she stopped.

Sagara Hyouma was kind.

At least, he did not use violence against her. The most he had ever done was ask for small sums of money.

Even when he did this, he did not threaten violence. He simply requested.

For some reason, she could not defy his requests — she could never even have the intent to.

She did not quite understand, but perhaps this was the thing called “love”.

Reika would think of this in that way. She would think of this, and be happy.

One day, the man may wake up by himself.

Or perhaps he may continue their love.

Marriage? Childbirth? A family? Or perhaps, divorce?

Both being far off into the future, they were a bother for Reika to think about.

She did not know what will happen in her life during the coming days, but at least, she will be allowed to live to the next day — so Reika thought.

And she knew that this was wrong.

* * * * *

“Heeeey. Reika. Are you listening to me?”

Feeling the tap on her face, Reika turned her lightly-colored eyes to the man.

When she tried to stand up, she found that something was preventing her from doing so.

Her ankles were tied with a cord.

“…What, is this?”

Reika posed a question to Hyouma, the man she had been living with.

Hyouma looked down on her with cold eyes, ones that she had never seen him wear before.

– Yes, these eyes,

Reika knew them. These were the eyes of one who would use violence. They were eyes that regarded the one before them as being a worthless existence.

But, why this, all of a sudden…?

Even though she loved him. Even though she still loved him.

“It won’t work unless I re-enact it.”

His soft voice, unexpectedly, made Reika felt as though her entire body froze.

“Re, enact?”

“Yes. Re-enacting the scene of the crime. I’m afraid that’s what is needed to summon him. I need to cut a woman like you to pieces using his knives.”

“What……?”

In order to withstand violence, you simply need to force your heart into a state of temporal death.

That was what she had always done, and what she had planned to do this time as well.

However, Hyouma just said that he would cut her to pieces.

– What was that supposed to mean?

– What was the meaning in cutting her to pieces?

“All right. Magic circle complete.”

The stench of blood, which any resident of Shinjuku would be used to smelling, made Reika’s heart pound as she faced death.

Not noticing the change in Reika, Hyouma raised his right hand, which had a strange tattoo, and began to chant strange words.

“Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Let each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time.”

It’s like an spell, thought Reika.

In spite of the lack of any particularly disturbing content, a scream began to rise inside Reika.

“Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let my great master ■■■■■■■■ be the ancestor. Raise a wall, against the wind that shall fall. Close the four cardinal gates. Come out from the crown. Rotate the three-branched road reaching the Kingdom.”

Hyouma took up a knife in his hand.

“Please don’t…”

Her sense of foreboding turning into a conviction, Reika spoke with a shaking voice as she shook her head.

Hyouma did not reply.

The tip of the knife traced Reika’s body, as though lost.

However, he was not hesitating, but deciding where to strike.

It would be meaningless to finish her off with a single blow.

He had to re-enact those brutal killings, so he needed to slaughter her in the most painful way possible.

Finally, Hyouma decided where to stab.

“– I shall declare here.

Your body shall serve under me. My fate shall be with your sword.

Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. If you will submit to this will and this reason…… then answer!”

Hyouma shouted, and raised the knife up high.

Reika’s right arm sent her a shock.

“……Huh?”

A second late, the pain assaulted her, and Reika screamed.

An enormous heat scorched her body, centered on the knife that had stabbed into her.

“It… hurts… it hurts…!”

All the times when she had been beaten before were nothing compared to this intense pain.

“– An oath shall be sworn here!”

Another knife stabbed her in the abdomen this time.

“…ah……!”

There was no shock, unlike the first.

But the pain multiplied.

Reika, feeling her life flowing away from her, screamed.

Words, ones that she had never thought of in her entire life, overwhelmed her.

“I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven. I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell!”

He aimed for and stabbed her upper left shoulder.

At last, the voice that had screamed for him to stop could no longer make a sound.

“– From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the Balance!”

A knife hovered above her head.

In an instant, she understood that she will die. Fear exploded in her, coursing through her entire body.

No. I don’t want this.

She never wanted to die like this, in such wanton cruelty, and such despair.

How many seconds of reprieve did she have until that knife was swung down?

Must she now accept her death, within a span of less than ten seconds?

No.

I’ll never want that.

I don’t want to, I don’t, no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no — !

“No…!”

As such, Reika went beyond her own limit.

A knife had been driven through her right palm and into the concrete floor. She grasped the blade with her pierced hand.

Gathering all the strength in her body, she pulled it out and thrust it at Hyouma’s face.

Having been enduring the pain of the spell, he stopped the incantation and screamed as pain suddenly assaulted him from the outside.

“Bitch…!”

Spewing out sounds that no longer formed into words, Reika brandished the knife again.

Hyouma glared at her with hate and let off a strong kick at the pit of her stomach.

Unlike the pain of having a knife sticking into her, this was a shock that suspended her vital activities. Reika tumbled to the edge of the magic circle. She was, if anything, vividly conscious, perhaps due to her intense pain.

There was no change in the magic circle. It did not even glow.

“Does it have to be five people, then…? Or do I have to go and kill thirteen? Shit. This is such a pain.”

Hyouma stamped his feet as he tore at his hair.

Blood spilled from Reika’s mouth as she watched.

“Ka, ah…”

Her heart continued to operate, accelerating in order to allow the existence called Rikudou Reika to live on.

However, the pain had long ago breached the limit permissable by humans.

Little by little, she knew that her bodily senses were being lost.

However, she could not feel any relief from the fact that she will no longer suffer.

Reika’s life was flowing out of her with every second.

She didn’t know why she had lived.

She didn’t know why she was allowed to live.

Crushing down the doubts she had had for many years, she gave forth a single answer.

– I want to live.

She simply wanted to live on. She did not want to die. She did not want to die in such pain.

Having despaired at life, she embraced the first craving she had ever had as she faced death.

She wanted to live because she wanted to.

She didn’t want to die because she didn’t want to.

That was simply it, and nothing else.

Yes — what a simple, clear truth it was.

“I don’t… want to… die.”

A single drop dripped onto the magic circle.

In the next instant, an incredible tempest swept out from the center of the circle.

Hyouma could sense it. It was an outrageous swirl of prana — journeying through all obstacles, an uncommon monster will make its advent into this reality!

“…Is this… did I do it?!”

The voice of the magus shook with joy.

– You want to live, right?

It was the lovely, and very clear, voice of a young girl.

The voice spoke, not to Hyouma, but to Reika alone.

Without the slightest hesitation, Reika replied to the voice.

– I want to live.

Reika made her wish. She clung on to it desperately.

The girl whispered with a sweetly ringing voice.

– Okay. We understand. Let us make our contract, Mother.

The magic circle activated, and prana accompanied by fierce crimson light was released.

Reika was captivated by the fantastical scene before her and Hyouma, unlike before, expressed his delight with an assured response.

“…Did it work? It did! All right, I did it!”

The clear voice of the girl reached Hyouma as he danced around.

“Question — are you the one who called for us?”

Hyouma was dumbfounded by the voice which was so far beyond his expectations.

After all, he had been extremely sure that the most famous killer of all couldn’t possibly be a young girl.

“Wha? Huh? Did I do something wrong…?”

Hyouma was bewildered by the girl that came out from the circle. Her silver hair was dense and rather short and her pale, ice-blue eyes gazed at the magus disinterestedly.

The girl shook her head and declared.

“No, there is no mistake.

You summoned us. We are what you have sought.”

“So that means, you’re…”

“Yes. What you had attempted to summon was the Servant Assassin. Our true name — is ‘Jack the Ripper’.”

Hyouma’s face shone with joy.

“I got it… I drew the right one!”

Hyouma, as a magus, understood that he was not a type suited to combat.

The magecraft his house had passed on generation after generation was specialized in unspectacular powers such as suggestion and concealment, and they ended up being ridiculed as “rats”.

However, a rat can kill in ratlike ways, and Hyouma was proud of his tactics.

Of the way he fought, fierce like a sewer rat, cunning, and tenacious.

In order for him to win the Holy Grail War, Servants which fought with great fanfare — like the so-called primary classes such as Saber or Lancer, or the powerful but uncontrollable Berserker must be avoided.

Even considering his own rank as a magus, he did not believe that he could put them to any work, nor could he allow them to fully exercise their strengths.

Assassin was the most fitting Servant for him. There was no mistaking it.

However, the Heroic Spirit which must be summoned as Assassin was fixed. This would also mean that, as soon as one’s own Servant is known to be Assassin, countermeasures can be worked out.

Following on this, Hyouma sought a completely unknown Servant — or at least one that had never participated in the Grail War before.

A serial killer with little history while possessing the ‘monstrosity’ befitting a Heroic Spirit.

In other words, Jack the Ripper.

Hyouma jumped for joy and tried to rush over to Jack. However, she spun around, turned her back to Hyouma, and knelt beside the pitiful living sacrifice, Reika.

“Are you all right, Mother?”

When the girl addressed her, two sounds seemed to somehow overlap. It was a strange sound, as though she pronounced both “Master” and “Mother” at the same time.

“Huh? W-Whoa, wait. Hold on. Hey.”

The girl took no notice of Hyouma’s call to stop.

“Please wait. We’ll help you now. It’s okay. It’s going to be all right.”

“It hurts…”

“We’re sorry, Mother. Please hold on for a bit longer.”

Jack gently stroke Reika’s hair with affection, and turned to face Hyouma once again.

“…You are Servant Assassin. Your true name is ‘Jack the Ripper’… that’s right, isn’t it?”

Jack nodded shortly at Hyouma’s words, without any of her endearing gestures.

So far so good, but to Hyouma, the problems were just beginning.

“You are my Servant, aren’t you?”

The ice-blue eyes flashed like jewels.

Peered at by those lovely, pure and inhuman eyes, Hyouma could not help but become afraid.

The three command spells were carved into the back of his hand.

He felt as though if he hadn’t had those, he would have lost sight of himself as a magus.

The one who summoned her was the magus called Sagara Hyouma.

That was how it should be, but somehow — he could not help but feel as though he was standing in enemy territory.

Jack, without answering Hyouma’s question, picked up her symbol — the strangely-shaped knife that was lying on the floor.

This simple act accelerated Hyouma’s heartbeat.

“Answer me, Assassin. Whose — Servant are you?”

“It’s inconvenient being a magus, isn’t it?”

Jack suddenly murmured.

“Perhaps not small spells, but when it comes to big spells, you have to put it into words, don’t you?”

“What, about it?”

“Even worse, if you have to execute a command spell, you can’t just wish for it. After all, the wish won’t be granted unless you put it into proper words.”

In an instant, his survival instinct gave him a strong alert.

This Servant was dangerous.

This Servant regarded him as an adverse enemy which needed to be eliminated.

“I call upon you with the command spell –”

He felt as though something blazing hot was stuffed into his mouth.

When he ignored it and tried to order her to “commit suicide”, he noticed,

– his jaw, was gone.

” —— !!”

The words he wanted to cry did not come out. The only speech he could manage was a ridiculous breathing sound.

“And you don’t need this, either.”

His wrist received a shock.

In violent pain, with his blood discharging as though from a bottomless bucket, Hyouma fell into a panic at once.

” —— !! — ! — ! — !!”

Even so, he could not speak.

At this moment Sagara Hyouma, having lost his capability of speech, was less than a rat, simply reduced to a piece of meat.

Having confirmed this, Jack walked over to Reika once again.

“We’ll fix you now. It… might be a bit uncomfortable. We’re sorry.”

The girl informed her, deeply apologetic.

Perhaps it was because of how sorry she looked.

Perhaps it was because of how her expression was filled with so much concern for her.

“…It’s all right.”

Reika murmured and lost consciousness.

* * * * *

– When she awoke again, the nauseous agony had disappeared from her.

But there was a wrongness to her entire body that she could not shake off.

The bindings at her feet had been undone. Reika stood up, looked at her right hand, and frowned.

The wound on her right hand had been stitched up, but by methods which were somewhat too crude. A black thread creeped about haphazardly like an earthworm, and it was dubious whether the wound had really been closed.

But the blood had stopped… and she was no longer in pain.

“Well, I guess it’s fine as long as it doesn’t hurt.”

“Yes. Not hurting is good.”

The voice came from right beside her. Turning around, she found the girl from before watching her steadily with an expression of childish innocence. Reika faced the girl again, and talked to her.

“Um, you were the one who saved me, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. We did.”

“‘We’?”

“Yes. We are one, and one is all.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t really understand. Um, what was your name again?”

“Jack the Ripper. Jack is fine, or Assassin.”

“Hmm… those don’t sound like girl’s names.”

“Mm…”

Seeing the crestfallen Jack, Reika hurriedly continued.

“But Jack has a pretty ring to it. Can I call you Jack?”

“Yep.”

” — Now. I’d like to know exactly what happened. Can you explain it to me, Jack?”

“We can. But it’s dangerous here, so let’s move somewhere else.”

“Yes, I understand. Oh, but — what should we do about Hyouma?”

Reika tilted her head to one side, looking at the thing that used to be a person which was taking ghastly, wheezing breathes. There was no blood flowing from his lost jaw or his wrist. Like Reika’s right hand, they had been sewn up with a chaotic surgical method.

“Let’s bring him with us. He might become necessary later.”

Jack lifted Hyouma up without much effort.

“Please bring us to your house, Mother. We will follow.”

“Oh, um, but…”

Reika glanced at Hyouma as Jack carried him. For a start, anyone who saw a person with their right hand and lower jaw cut off would report it.

Perhaps detecting her unease, Jack shook her head quickly from side to side.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

“It’s okay?”

“Yep. No one will know, no one will know.”

In the end, as Jack said, no fault could be found with the appearance of the girl.

Reika, walking ahead by herself, would sometimes turn around to look, but she could not locate Jack.

And yet when she called out “Jack”, she was answered by “What is it?”

It was mysterious, but with so many incomprehensible things happening recently, she could not be bothered to point this out, and walked back to her own apartment at leisure.

She led Jack to the kitchen and made some tea.

“Thank you, Mother.”

As always, it was a strange method of address, as though overlapping the words “Master” and “Mother”.

“Where should we start?”

“Hmm… how about from the beginning?”

“Okay. We will explain as much as we can.”

* * * * *

– Jack the Ripper talked of the ‘Holy Grail War’ in a simplified manner to Reika, who had no magical knowledge.

The Holy Grail, able to realize any and all miracles, had been re-enacted by a group of great magi. However, the Grail would grant the wish of only one.

A Master chosen by the Holy Grail is granted a Vessel for the Grail and Command Spells. After that, one had to summon a Heroic Spirit, the Servant, and use it to win and survive.

All Servants have their own special characteristics… Jack the Ripper is in the class of Assassin.

And, most likely, Reika was chosen by Hyouma as a living sacrifice in order to summon her.

The Grail, magi, Servants… she took in all the preposterous-sounding things that Jack spoke of.

“I see. So Jack, are you really Hyouma’s Servant?”

“That was the original plan, we think. But just as we were about to be summoned as a Servant, we were drawn by words more powerful than his.”

– I want to live. I don’t want to die. I’ll never accept a death like this.

Reika wished strongly for the thing necessary to overturn the pursuing death that had been close at hand.

That prayer was granted by Jack — as a result, she arrived, summoned not as a Servant of Hyouma but of Reika.

This was quite likely an event without any precedent.

As long as the Command Spells exist, the summoning of the Servant is a comparatively simple ritual in and of itself. One simply needed to draw the magic circle and chant the spell — and sometimes, the situation may be that even the spell is unnecessary. If one wishes to draw a specific Servant, one should simply prepare a symbol with an affinity to the Heroic Spirit.

The summoning also takes an exceedingly short time. While the summoning of a Heroic Spirit is a great ritual, with the backing of the Holy Grail, little time is needed.

Thus — it was doubtful whether a third party had ever managed to interfere in a situation like this before.

To say nothing of how said third party, for the sake of avoiding an impending death, had made a prayer with greater resolution than the summoner. Everything about the contract between Jack and Reika was an utter anomaly.

As Jack briefly explained about topics such as the Servant classes and special characteristics, she took out the thing she had crammed into her bag and put it on the table.

“So, Mother. We wanted to talk to you about this.”

“Oh, my.”

Reika reflexively covered her mouth with a hand.

It was Hyouma’s right hand. What appeared to be a tattoo imitating three knives was carved on its back.

“These are the Command Spells. They normally appear on the arm of the magus who would become the Master… um, they’re like tickets for giving orders.”

“Oh…”

Reika touched the back of the stiffened hand in a nervous manner.

“He’s still alive, so it’s still functioning… is he here?”

“Mmm…”

In all honesty, Reika could think of nothing that she would need to order Jack for. However, the power of the Command Spells was immense, yet something that could be manipulated even by Reika. It could be used as a trump card to reverse an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation.

“If he dies, the Command Spells will disappear as well. That would be a waste, so we should keep it around, we think.”

“That’s true. I don’t want to be hurt… but I don’t to waste anything, either.

Well, would you please?”

“Yep, okay. We’re not too good at transplant operations, but we’ll do our best.”

For whatever reason, Reika felt like stroking the head of the bashful Jack. The girl accepted it happily.

* * * * *

The transfer took an hour.

Despite the fact that it had been cut off, Hyouma wept in anguish when the Command Spells were forcibly torn off. Was his sense of pain still connected? Or was it from his despair that his qualification as a Master in the Grail War — that his aspiration had been lost to him?

In either case, Hyouma had just lost his last chance to survive.

During the transfer, Reika’s hand hurt as though it was burnt, but the pain soon disappeared. It still felt hot and ached a little, but that gradually lessened as well.

“Now, the Vessel of the Grail.”

“Is this Grail something like a wine-glass?”

“No, anything can work as the Vessel. Any object close at hand will automatically be acknowledged as a Vessel of the Grail.”

As though these words caused her to suddenly remember something, Reika asked.

“Hyouma. When you lived here, wasn’t there something you had with you that was really important?”

Hyouma stiffened.

“Hmm, I’m sure… yes, it’s this.”

Reika was holding a ruby larger than her hand.

“Is this it?”

“Wow, that’s amazing… this is the first time we’ve seen a mineralized heart.”

“A, A heart?”

Hearing this, Reika nearly dropped it without thinking.

Jack’s eyes were wide with curiosity and surprise.

“Yep, it’s a human heart. That’s brilliant. Was it a curse? Or some kind of sickness?”

“So is this the Holy Grail?”

Jack sniffed the jewel and nodded.

“Yes, this is it. No doubt about it.”

* * * * *

She had made a contract with a Servant, had Command Spells transferred to her, and obtained a Vessel.

Rikudou Reika had become a Master in name as well as reality, and was in a position to use Servant Assassin.

“So Mother, what will you do? In the Grail War?”

“Hm, right. My wish has already been granted, after all.”

To live — that was what she had first wished for, and it had been granted.

That would mean she had returned to her original self.

The one who lived vaguely, simply being swept along.

“Ah… is there a wish you want granted, Jack?”

“…Yes, there is.”

Jack’s expression darkened. The way she held the cup of tea with both hands and sipped from it was rather cute, thought Reika absentmindedly.

“We want to go back to our mother.”

“Back to your mother?”

“Yes. We want to go back inside our mother. It’s so very comfortable there.”

“I see.”

Regardless of its contents, it seemed Jack had a wish.

It was an important wish that she wanted to have granted, no matter who she had to bring down to do so.

Reika, having not wished for anything, could not deny her — nor did she think she was qualified to.

“So we’ll have to join the War, then.”

“…Can we?”

“Oh, yes. You saved me, after all.”

It was a wish that couldn’t have possibly been granted.

It was a situation where being killed would have been a matter of course.

The only thing she could use to repay this girl who had completely overturned all of this would be herself.

“I don’t want to get hurt, though.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt… we think.”

“All right. Well then, let us wage war.”

Jack nodded, her eyes twinkling.

“Yep, let’s wage a war!”

“So… what should I do? I can’t fight.”

“Well, Mother, we require prana to fight.”

The existence of a Servant in itself consumes an enormous amount of prana, though Jack, as an Assassin, is less draining compared to a Saber or Berserker.

Even so, as Rikudou Reika was an amateur, not even being a magus, there was little likelihood of her becoming the main prana supply.

In that case, prana will need to be replenished from other sources…

“Eating human souls would do for us.”

“Human souls? Um, would that kill them?”

“…Yes, we suppose.”

“Hmm… I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Oh, um, but, having only bad people would be best. It might be just us, but a bad person’s soul is more polluted and delicious.”

The nature of Jack the Ripper is chaotic evil.

She is an existence that preaches chaos in the face of order, carrying out evil deeds. Thus, it would seem that souls of the same nature are more easily digested.

“I see. So… would Hyouma taste good?”

When Reika pointed at Hyouma, Jack bobbed her head up and down.

“Yep. He’s a magus too, so he would be delicious.”

Telling her to wait a moment, Reika walked over to Hyouma with the cut right hand.

She crouched down, their eyes meeting as he cowered.

“Did you love me, Hyouma?”

” — ■ ■■■! ■ ■■■!”

Reika smiled when Hyouma nodded and cried out.

“I’m not sure what you mean, but it sounds like you did. Thank you. You probably cast some sort of magecraft on me, didn’t you? I don’t hold that against you. After all, it’s thanks to you that I got to know the wonderful feeling of loving someone.”

Reika gently pressed the right hand to her cheek.

“Yes, that’s right. I did love you after all. But you betrayed me, so it can’t be helped. It really can’t. I’m sorry. You’ll live on as a precious memory.”

” — ■■! ■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■!”

With a bitter smile saying that she did not understand, Reika announced to Jack.

“You can eat him. Oh, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t dirty the place… eat him in the bathroom.”

Reika had no profound emotions as to the fact that she had been allowed to live.

……Similarly, she felt no hesitation in erasing someone she couldn’t care less about.

A mother would grieve for the death of her child.

A lover would grieve for the death of her beloved.

If no one would be faulted for not grieving for her — then she couldn’t care less either.

Watching over Hyouma as his entire body jerked about, desperately struggling to survive, Reika calmly poured herself another cup of tea.

Disposing of the withered corpse was easier than she had thought it would be.

Having been crushed down, the thing she stuffed into the garbage bag did not look like a living being at all, and resembled nothing but a large amount of dead leaves.

There wasn’t even the stench of blood. Only the right hand, with its Command Spells ripped off, preserved its freshness. The only thing she had to remember him by was this hand. I will treasure it, Reika thought.

“You don’t like the smell of blood, do you, Mother?”

“No, not really.”

“So we sucked all his blood, too. Slurp. It tasted bad, though.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You didn’t have to do that for me.”

Jack shook her head from side to side.

“Oh, no, if Mother is happy, we are happy.”

“I see.”

“Well… we will be happy if you would pat our head, too.”

Following Jack’s modest request, Reika stroked her head.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes. Thank you, Mother.”

The bashful girl was so very childish — so much so that it was almost unthinkable that she had just murdered a man a short time ago.

“I’d like to rest for a bit now. Is that all right?”

“Yep. Good night. Don’t worry. We will protect you, Mother.”

“Yes, thank you, Jack.”

As would be expected, fatigue was setting in on her.

As soon as she laid down on her bed and closed her eyes, Reika fell unconscious at once.

* * * * *

And, she dreamed.

The first thing she felt was a rending, gouging cold.

A thick mist covered her surroundings, and every time she took a breath it felt as though poison was seeping into her body.

Looking at her own hand, she was shocked to discover that she was awfully thin, and understood that she had somehow become Jack.

Jack was peeking through the window of a house.

Inside the dreary room, a woman was laughing.

The woman laughed, and indulged herself in alcohol. Her heart and body worn down, she had become an existence that simply struggled to live day by day.

She had no dreams.

The only thing that existed to her was reality.

However, it was clear that her reality had been crushed by her inescapable fate. She suffered from poverty and it was matter of whether she would die from starvation or disease.

Reika looked on from outside the window, together with Jack.

…No, perhaps not.

What Reika saw in the middle-aged woman through the window was her inescapable despair.

She despaired at how she had no way to escape it except by drinking, she despaired at how she did not even know if she will have food tomorrow, and she despaired at her own lack of dreams.

However, Jack — saw in her only “Mother”.

“Mother.”

The girl whispered in a small voice.

As though she were a parrot, she whispered it again and again.

“Mother, mother, mother, mother, mother.”

She knocked on the window, softly, incessantly.

The woman, apparently noticing at last, scowled as she opened the window.

“Quiet!”

Flinging this out with a witch-like expression, she shut the window with a bang.

Perhaps the girl was aware that she would be rejected. She hanged her head and kept back the tears.

And so, with nothing to do — she wandered the night street.

There were laughing voices, charming voices, shouts and screams.

Voices, voices, voices, voices. All of them, voices that would never mourn them.

How far had she walked? The girl suddenly stopped her feet.

“Mother.”

The woman from before was standing by herself, waiting for a client. A man walked up to her, but it seemed they could not agree to a price, as the man spat and went off.

“Mother.”

..Abruptly, the mist thickened.

Reika knew this was something like magecraft — but the woman, of course, did not. She simply seemed perplexed by the sudden thickening of the mist.

In the girl’s hand was a single knife.

“Mother.”

The woman, waving her hands about in the mist, did not notice the girl approaching her at all.

She stood before the woman.

“Mother.”

The woman cried out, twitching with fear, at her call. However, she seemed to have noticed that the one before her was the girl from before. The woman, her expression mixed with relief and anger, said.

“Don’t scare me!”

“I’m sorry.”

Who would know — what this apology was meant for.

The girl briskly cut open the throat of the woman from side to side.

Who would understand, who would believe,

that the true form of Jack the Ripper, the legendary serial killer who knew of dissection and slipped into the darkness of night to perform his quiet dissections, was such a pitiful girl?

“I’m sorry, Mother. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But I want to go back. I want to go back. I want to go back, I want to go back –”

With miserable tears, the girl dissected the anguishing Mother.

Finally obtaining a part of the woman, the girl pressed the thing that smelt of blood against her face, and cried.

– Go back, go back, we want to go back.

– After all, it is so warm. It is so very warm here.

The lamentations of the girl reached no one.

She despaired, and faded away without achieving her dream. Was she killed? Did she choose death? Did she simply pass away? — no one knew.

It is likely that she will perpetually reign as an eternal mystery, an eternal darkness carved into the history of England.

She was no longer a simple killer.

She was one had obtained from others the belief known as fear — a “Reverse Heroic Spirit”.

* * * * *

She woke from her dream.

For a moment, Reika was confused by the fact that she was sleeping on her own bed.

After clearing her consciousness, she grasped that what had happened before was a dream –

“But it felt so real.”

She did not believe that she can recreate 19th-century London to that degree with her mind alone, it being a place she had never been to, much less know about.

It likely had something to do with the fact that she had made a contract with a Servant.

Thinking this, Reika searched for her Servant, Jack the Ripper.

“Jack…?”

When she looked carefully, she noticed a big bulge in the sheets. She turned over the sheets gently, so as not to disturb it, and found Jack curled up there, hugging her knees and quietly sleeping.

“Oh my.”

Feeling she ought not to wake her up, Reika stroked Jack’s head softly. She had no regular work in the first place, so she could use her time freely.

There was no need for her to worry.

Even if she was awake, there was nothing she had to do in the morning.

“…Just a bit longer.”

Murmuring this, Reika put her arms around Jack’s head and closed her eyes again.

* * * * *

When it became night, Reika went out into the streets with Jack.

Jack explained to Reika about a technique called ‘spirit form’ that completely erases her from view.

“Is it different from what you used last night?”

Jack answered, “That’s right.

“What we used yesterday was the ‘presence concealment’ skill of the Assassin class. We didn’t disappear, we just erased our presence. We can’t carry anything while in Spirit Form.”

“I couldn’t see you at all. Did you really just erase your presence?”

“That’s just the sort of creature we killers are. We’re confident that not even a Servant can ever detect us as long as it’s nighttime.”

Despite the fact that she could not see Jack, Reika felt that the girl was puffing up slightly in pride.

“But Mother, are there really lots of bad people?”

“Oh, yes. Um, it should be in this building… was it this floor?”

Reika got a confirmation from the name-plates that showed each floor.

“Akagami Finance Co. — right, it’s here. It’s the fourth floor.”

“Everyone on the fourth floor?”

“Yes. It’s all right, the entire floor is filled with people from this company.”

“Well, let’s go in unseen then, Mother.”

When she reached the fourth floor by elevator, Reika did as Jack instructed and moved to the women’s washroom first.

“What are you going to do?”

“Use our Noble Phantasm.”

“‘Noble Phantasm’…?”

“The secret skills of Servants — us.”

Jack materialized her body. She was gripping an antique lantern in her hand.

“What is that?”

“This is our Bounded Field Noble Phantasm: ‘The Mist‘.”

Servants are heroes from ancient times, and their tales revolve around certain weapons and tools, big and small.

– A holy sword of light, forged in the planet.

– A demonic spear which pierces the heart without exception through the reversal of causality.

– Reins which control beasts from the Age of Gods.

The lantern Jack holds is one of these.

“Have you ever heard of ‘the Smoke’, Mother?”

“I have. That means London, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. When we were there, the smog in London was horrible. It was pitch black — so bad that we couldn’t breathe, so bad we couldn’t open our eyes.”

The mixture of smoke and fog released during the burning of coal is called smog.

From the 19th to the 20th century, London had been harassed by smog countless times.

The worst of all was the Great Smog of 1952. It was said that the thick mist of sulfur covering London caused over 10,000 deaths.

Jack opened the shutter of the lantern, and gently touched the candle inside.

A flame was lit and at the same time, something like smoke began to leak out from the bottom of the lantern.

“This Noble Phantasm can recreate that mist.

No one can ever escape it. They’ll die in agony, all of them.”

A troubled expression appeared on Reika’s face.

“Um… Jack?

Wouldn’t I die too, then? I’d prefer it if that didn’t happen.”

A flustered Jack shook her head from side to side.

“I-It’s all right, it’s all right! You’ll be fine, Mother!

This mist can be ‘directed’. So it won’t get close to you.”

As Jack said, the enveloping mist, which had already gained a deep color, left a blank space in the area around Reika.

“Now — it’s just up to us to finish them off one by one.

We’re off, Mother.”

Jack said in a leisurely tone as she ran off with a knife in one hand.

* * * * *

Akagami Finance was, simply put, a black-market lender.

They lend people money with a smile, and then take away all that they own with wicked faces.

Even in this line of work, they were well-known for their tough collection methods, making use of their advantanges as a still-active cime syndicate.

“Hey, Mr Murano? Hate to tell you this, but you keep this up, and you’re gonna have to sell off a few organs. You get what I’m saying? And I’ll make it clear so even a moron can understand. What I’m saying here is, you’re gonna have to off yourself, sell your organs and use your insurance money just to pay off the damn interest!

Hey, you listening to me? I’m asking you — huh?”

Alas.

Rikudou Reika just happened to have read about a news report on illegal loans posted in a magazine –

“What the hell? Is there a fire…?”

And Reika just happening to know their address was what brought them to this tragedy.

Upon breathing in the dense cloud of enveloping smoke, they fainted from the pain.

“Gaah…!”

“Ugh… I, I can’t… breathe…”

“S-Someone! The window! Get a window open — !”

A strongly acidic smog surrounded them.

It was such a thing that simply breathing in it would burn the throat, and simply opening the eyes would cause them to fester.

“This hurts… shit, this hurts, help! Help!

Help me! Someone help me! Anyone — !”

The frenzied man quickly ran into the leg of a desk and fell clumsily to the floor.

“I… have to get out of here…!”

Get out? But to where? Where could he run?

They themselves had not realized it, but those who tried to escape were deceived by the mist, and simply ran circles around the same place.

“Ha!”

The voice of a young girl, ill-suited to this company, suddenly rang out.

“Gheh — “

And, leaving behind this ridiculous squeal — a colleague collapsed before him.

“Wha– who…?!”

The words of the man, whose throat had been hideously burnt, could not be heard as anything but rasping noises.

“A killer.”

Even so, the light voice of the girl answered.

– A killer?

The hell does that mean, the man thought. Anyway, his eyes and throat were in pain, unbearably so.

He was suffocating as he could not breathe.

His eyes hurt and he could not see a thing.

He wanted someone to hurry and come to ease his pain.

Please, stop this pain for me.

Let me be at peace, let me be at peace, let me be at peace — guoh.

Jack, wielding the knife skillfully, dissected his body.

“Prana — replenished. Heart — gulp.”

She swallowed the heart that had had terror etched into its bloodstream.

Looking around her, she located a new target.

“Hmmmm… found you!’

“Hiiih — !!”

As Jack’s stomach still complained of considerable hunger, she drew the hearts out of every single one of them, and finally managed to fill herself comfortably.

* * * * *

“Thank you for the meal.”

“You’re welcome.”

By the time Jack returned, the mist had cleared.

“Well then, let’s go home.”

At Reika’s words, Jack abruptly stopped.

Staring blankly, the girl posed a question to Reika.

“…We’re, going home?”

“That’s right. Was there something else you wanted to do?”

“No, nothing else. We just… thought it was strange, to go home.”

“Why is that?”

“– We, had no home.”

The girl remembered the alleyways, shrouded in mist and stench.

The nests, covered in waste and feces, where filthy rats ran about, were most certainly not a place of rest.

When you sleep at night, someone may attack you. When you wake up in the morning, someone may have died — that is the kind of world it was.

That was why she could not help but feel that ‘going home’ was an occasion that had nothing to do with her.

The girl explained this clumsily.

“I see… so that’s why.”

Reika looked fixedly at the crestfallen girl.

…Her own self, for whom the feeling of being alive was as sparse as mist.

…The girl, for whom the word “alive” may not even be applicable.

According to the girl, it was often that Servants and Masters have the same disposition.

In that case, this meeting was, in a way — fate, perhaps.

“Mother…?”

“…It’s nothing. Now, let’s go back. But before that, do you mind if we stop at a supermarket?”

“We’ll be spirit form, so we don’t really mind… why, though?”

“I thought we’d buy some ingredients for dinner.”

“Dinner…?”

“Yes. I’m thinking of making hamburger steaks.”

“What’s that?”

Jack tilted her head innocently. It would seem that the problem for her was not whether she liked or disliked it, but what this dish called ‘hamburger steaks’ even was.

“They’re very delicious. Why not eat with me, since you’re here?”

“Um, meals aren’t necessary for Servants. We’ll be fine even if… we don’t eat.”

Though Jack had said that it was all right, she looked glum in some way.

“Oh, can you not eat?”

“We can, but…”

Meals aren’t necessary for Servants. However, this did not mean that they had no sense of taste.

In that case, what was needed — was a good taste, and curiosity, perhaps.

“It tastes great. What if I said it’s a reward for your good work?”

“….Okay!”

At Reika’s words, a big smile appeared on Jack the Ripper’s face, and she danced around in an expression of joy.

As she watched that smile, she thought of one wish for when she reached the Holy Grail.

‘I wish to be happy.’

It was a wish so very pure, so very sincere, and so very guileless — and as such, it was a small wish that could never be granted to the killer and her mother.