009

The epilogue, or maybe, the punch line of this story.

I escorted Hitagi back to her home─or rather, I just sat in her passenger’s seat, so I guess she was doing the escorting─before walking back to the Araragi residence in the now fully darkened night, only to experience déjà vu.

A feeling─that this had happened the day before, too.

To expand, a shadowy figure lay in wait for me in front of my home─it was too dark for me to make out the perp’s identity, but it couldn’t have been Hitagi, as we’d just parted ways.

Who could it be, I thought as I approached. Had Ononoki worried about me and come out? Or maybe it was my sisters? And then I saw.

The dark shadow─was Ogi Oshino.

It was Ogi.

“Hey there─I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve gotten tired of waiting for you. I’ve gotten tired just waiting for you,” she said, sounding like her uncle─she was wearing the same easy, flippant smirk too. “How was it? Did you enjoy your last date with Miss Senjogahara? I did try to be considerate, and kept from forcing my way into the real world. I think that deserves some gratitude,” she appended with a shrug.

“I am grateful…but why call that our last date? It was just our last date as high schoolers.”

“Is it, now. Yes, that’d be nice─it’d be nice if you two had a future.”

“…”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I really do feel that way, you know. Please don’t twist my words around. Despite all I am. It’s just that I have these silly thoughts that there may be a number of factors that could call that into question─okay? Whatever happens, though, I can’t imagine you having any regrets.”

Ha haa, laughed Ogi.

And then.

“Hey, Araragi-senpai?” she continued. “There’s one thing I wanted to ask you, just for reference─what are you planning on doing next?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, exactly what I said. Don’t overthink it. The question is a changed-around version of what being right means─or maybe a change-up, or maybe an extrapolation.”

“An extra…”

“And I suppose a case of extra innings.”

What does it mean to be right.

That’s it. She’d asked me before─and told me we’d pick it back up when we met again.

Where could she have said that?

If not in the real world─then in a dream?

Or maybe in hell?

“Ogi. Did you try to get rid of me? Did you ask an expert to do something like that?”

“Oh, did someone tell you that? A groundless rumor like that? What a sad piece of misinformation─please allow me to explain myself. I would never do anything to harm you,” Ogi replied, her voice calm, showing no signs of being shaken. “Remember what I said? I’m expecting you to make the right decision, and walk away and not fall for Miss Gaen’s sweet talk.”

“You did?”

Well, if she was saying she said it, she must have.

Even if she hadn’t, my reply would be the same. I only had one answer to give her, whether it was right or wrong.

“But I can’t─abandoning Shinobu and Hachikuji isn’t a choice I can make. There’s no room for choice, no room in my heart for that. I might not know what it means to be right, but I do know the path I need to take.”

“I do wish you wouldn’t rush to conclusions─but, well, I suppose so. I wasn’t expecting a positive reply, I just thought I’d try asking. Still, it’s disappointing,” Ogi said, not sounding the least bit disappointed. “Personally, I’d ask you to bow out around now─would I be overstepping my boundaries if I insisted? Oh, by the way. May I correct you about something you might be getting wrong?”

“Something I’m getting wrong? Like…what?”

“I’m not the Darkness.”

“!”

I was surprised─but I think I managed to hide it.

I had trouble keeping my composure, though.

The shock came not so much from the words themselves but the fact that Ogi was speaking them.

This junior of mine had made plenty of borderline statements─but this one stepped right over the line.

Almost like a declaration of war, like a signal announcing the start of a battle.

Yet she showed no sign of realizing that she’d made an extraordinarily important statement.

“By the way,” she changed the subject with ease. The way she switched topics was so skillful that I almost believed I’d misheard her earlier words. “Do you not have anything for me?”

“Hm? Uh…have any what?”

“Any White Day presents for me. I gave you chocolates, remember? Godivas.”

“Godivas…”

Had she given me something that expensive?

I had no recollection, but if she said she did, I must have just forgotten about it─how pathetic of a boy was I to have forgotten?

“Ha haa. From the looks of it, you must not have anything for me─too bad,” Ogi lamented, actually looking disappointed this time.

The sight made my heart ache.

“In that case, why don’t I make a request of you instead, the way Miss Senjogahara did─what do you say?”

I didn’t know how she’d learned about the agreement we’d made as a couple, but how could I say no? I couldn’t make light of it, whatever it might be. If her request was for me to bow out, though, I of course intended to reject it flat-out.

But Ogi’s request was of a different kind altogether─or maybe along the same line, but in the exact opposite direction.

“You may have no regrets now that you’ve gone to hell and on a date─but I still have one regret when it comes to this town.”

“A regret?”

“A regret. Business left unfinished─that I was born in order to finish. I have a firm purpose, and a firm sense of purpose.”

Surprising as that may be, Ogi said.

I listened in silence.

To her purpose. To her sense of purpose.

“I’m prepared to die to accomplish it─do you have a goal you’d be willing to die for? I do. Just one more. Which is why I have to accomplish it, whatever it takes─but that’s why Izuko Gaen, the boss of all the experts, would pick this one place to lay a trap. Yes, I know. I know, and yet my only option is to set off this trap─I just have to suck it up and accept the counterattack.”

“…”

“In other words, I’m about to go face-to-face and fight the lady who knows everything, no tricks involved─Araragi-senpai. Could you side with me when I do?”

Please save me, Ogi Oshino said with an innocuous smile.