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You don't have to glare like that.
It ruins your beautiful face.
Come on, give me a smile.
That's what suits you best.
You could at least act like you appreciate it.
Huh?
Er...
30th April
This can't be happening.
Sure, she might be a dried up remnant, a mere shadow of her former self,
but this is still a proud vampire we're talking about here.
And there's absolutely no way she'd find donuts irresistible.
Don't go destroying my hopes and dreams!
A-Are you okay?
Oh, right.
Donuts
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Golden chocolate
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A bite
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Two bites
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Three bites
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Ate it in three bites
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Not so fast!
Stay!
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French twister
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Napkin
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Put down
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Paw.
Good. Now eat.
Wait, I got these for Oshino.
I get the feeling I'm being pressured here.
Time passes
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Though, well, it could be my guilt that's threatening to crush me under its weight right now.
Because I'm the reason this little vampire's been forced into a lifestyle like this.
Ever since spring break, she hasn't said a thing.
She frequently had a smile on her face back then, but all she wears now is a sour, sullen expression.
I'm fully aware that I shouldn't feel any compassion for her, not even the bare minimum,
considering what she did and what she's done all her life, but...
All right, fine.
I'll let you have them all.
You'll have to do a 1080 and bark like a dog, though.
So she still won't talk, huh?
Eat.
Wonderful. These circular snacks are seriously scrumptious!
This is truly a jewelry box of sweet, sweet rings.
Did you just speak?!
So I was just hearing things...
The heck are you doing, Araragi?
You shouldn't bully Ms. Vampire too much.
You might come to regret it.
I'm not bullying her.
More importantly, this has been bothering me ever since spring break.
Hasn't she become a lot more childish mentally as well?
Yeah. That was bound to happen, Araragi.
And not just because she's a vampire, either.
Oddities are creatures built from the ground up by human beliefs.
Human beliefs?
Right. They exist because humans believe they do.
That's what an Oddity is.
They're shaped by their environment's awareness of them,
and their behavior matches its expectations.
That's how it works.
Now then, as for Ms. Vampire here...
At the moment, you're the only entity aware of her existence.
Strictly speaking, I suppose both Ms. Class Rep and I are also aware.
Nevertheless, the one that exerts the most influence on her
is you, Araragi.
I have to admit that there might be a part of me that sees her as an eight year old.
Still,
you can't possibly tell me that this scene mirrors my expectations.
It's not like every kid grows up the way their parents would like them to.
However, the hopes of their parents affect them at least a little.
This is somewhat similar to that.
A parent's hopes...
The household effect...
I'm not gonna preach to you about how you should become a better human being,
but screw around too much and your influence could end up becoming negative.
Considering...
Considering I've already brought that proud vampire down to this innocent child-like state,
the least I could do is not make things worse for her.
That's what it boils down to.
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That aside, Araragi.
I brought her up earlier, so I guess I might as well ask. How's Ms. Class Rep doing?
What do you mean? She's fine.
Really?
I see. You can't say.
Which means
something happened to her that you can't talk to me about.
That worries me.
It's not something to concern yourself with.
It's Hanekawa's problem to deal with, so I can't be too meddlesome.
Even if something did happen, she'd have to save herself.
If not, she'd be beyond help. Right?
Hmm, I see. I won't press you any further, then.
Let's look at it the other way around.
Tell me what you can.
It's not like you're forbidden from ever speaking about her, right?
Flashback
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I told him about today's events while cleverly... Or maybe not. Omitting the things I was forbidden from saying.
Araragi Tsukihi
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Starting from this morning, when I was woken up by my little sister,
Hanekawa Tsubasa
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up to my chance encounter with Hanekawa.
And lastly, what happened afterwards.
Time passes
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Help
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End of flashback
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Araragi, please don't tell me
that it was a silver cat without a tail.
That's what he said.
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You endured well until now.
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Thank you.
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Now on to the main topic.
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The Curse Cat.
Curse cat
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Order Carnivora. Family Felidae. Mammal.
It's one of the Oddities I'm collecting in this town.
Hold on a second, Oshino.
The cat Hanekawa and I buried wasn't an Oddity.
It actually existed.
Yeah, there's no way.
That's what I'd think too...
Under normal circumstances.
However, Araragi. Ms. Class Rep is anything but normal.
She's seriously dangerous.
Burying a cat that was run over is a trivial, commonplace occurrence.
You could even call it heartwarming.
Even something that simple could become an earth-shattering incident just because she's involved.
The fact that it was a cat in particular makes things even worse.
Hmm?
The Curse Cat is way too perfect a fit for Ms. Class Rep.
What should I do then, Oshino?
The fastest way to do things here would be to split up.
I'll go exhume the white cat you buried.
So all I need to do is tell you where we buried it?
In return, I'll have you shoulder a different, more important responsibility.
Huh?
Like I said, we'll split up.
I'll have you contact Ms. Class Rep directly.
D-Directly?
You're going to visit her place, and confirm that she's safe by actually seeing her.
Talk to her,
and pay close attention to her eyes when you do.
A lone home call
Good grief. This has spiraled out of control.
Actually, how am I even supposed to meet Hanekawa at this hour?
Child's Play
Underage Privilege
3
2
Out of bounds
1
Hanekawa?
Huh? But wait...
Is that Hanekawa?
Meow!
Meow.
Ha-Hanekawa...
Who're you? A friend of my master's, purrhaps?
Come to think of it, I do get the impurrsion I've seen you before.
You're the guy who was with her when she purried me, aren't you?
This is a pawsitive sign.
I'm not sure I furry understand it, but friends are supposed to help each other out, right?
So clean this mess up fur her, yeah?
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Err, what would you call it meow?
Oh, right.
Those are appurrently my master's parents,
I think.
Feel free to dispose of them using any method you purrfer.
You could even kill them,
fur all I care.
Hey! Wait a second, Hanekawa!
Wait for what?
Don't think my master will listen to every pussible request of yours, fool!
She's in this state beclaws you're all like that!
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Ow!
Don't cry over spilled milk.
Compared to the agony my master's endured fur such a long time,
the amount of pain you're in now is nothing!
By master...
Does she mean Hanekawa?
Yeah. That's right, human.
She has me meow, so she doesn't need you anymore.
She doesn't need parents, friends,
or even herself.
What?
I'll set my master free. Grant her lipurrty far surpassing anyone else.
The lot of you couldn't do that fur her.
All you could do was chain her down and cause problems fur her.
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Furst things furst,
I'll release her from the enormous stress she's under.
Hanekawa...
Hanekawa Tsubasa
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A girl with otherworldly wings
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Switch on
The first thing I did after the Curse Cat left was sort out the chaotic state of affairs.
911
I called for an ambulance.
As for that residential area street I covered in a pool of my own blood,
I'd normally need a deck brush and a whole lot of water to clean up that mess.
However, all signs of my blood had evaporated without me having to do a thing.
Of course, I didn't find that strange at all...
It was something I'd grown tired of seeing during spring break.
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What I should have found strange though, was that my blood took much longer than usual to evaporate.
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W-Woah!
You awake, Araragi?
Quite the sleepyhead, aren't we?
I got tired of waiting.
Look, it's almost sunset.
I was asleep for more than twelve hours?
I thought you were gonna die.
Hey, Oshino! Hanekawa's—
Yeah, I know.
I heard about it already.
Ms. Class Rep turned into a cat, right?
Looks like our worst fears came true.
You can go now, Ms. Vampire.
What was that all about?
Why was she even awake at this hour?
Well, your injuries were much too severe,
so I had her help out a little.
Take a look.
The two of you have a really strong link,
and the same goes for your healing abilities as well.
They're more effective the closer you are to each other.
Make sure you thank her later.
I was really surprised though.
I thought I'd heal much more quickly given that she drank my blood not long before it happened.
Nah. Your immortality should currently be able to take care of most serious injuries.
Everything but a fatal wound should heal in an instant.
In this case, though,
you just picked the wrong opponent.
Well, it has less to do with your opponent and more with the match up.
It was a bad matchup.
The Curse Cat is bad news.
B-Bad news?
There's more to the wounds inflicted by its curse,
Curse
its caress, than the damage it causes you.
Touch
As they say, it's best to let sleeping cats lie. Don't touch them.
Araragi, are you familiar with the concept of an Energy Drain?
Energy Drain?
Wait, isn't that supposed to be a vampire's specialty?
That's exactly right.
However, that doesn't mean it's exclusive to vampires.
So what you're trying to say, basically, is that my immortality got torn off along with my left arm?
You're done for if you let the Curse Cat touch you.
That's why it's named the Curse Cat, huh?
Either way, an Energy Drain that overpowers a vampire's immortality is quite the threat.
Not really, no.
Maybe I worded it wrong, Araragi.
When I said matchup, I meant how it matched up with you personally,
not that the Curse Cat and a vampire had equivalent power.
Huh?
Vampires are the Kings of Oddities.
Emperors. Monarchs.
The Curse Cat might have the ability to use Energy Drain, but not one nearly as powerful.
To a vampire, the Curse Cat is just a weakling.
Weakling?
Not much time had passed since you let Ms. Vampire drink your blood,
so you probably were, to some degree, a vampire at the time.
But at the end of the day? You're human.
You don't stand a chance against a real Oddity.
A real Oddity...
I tried digging up that grave you told me about, but I didn't find anything buried.
The situation has absolutely taken a turn for the worse.
I see.
That said, your wound appears to be healing well.
Doesn't look like it's been fully attached on the inside, but you should be fine by tomorrow at this rate.
Ms. Vampire is probably asleep by now, so you better thank her next time.
Well, it's quite obvious that she'd gladly attend to you for one afternoon,
considering it'd cause her huge problems if you died.
That's something I'm happy to hear, though.
That she needs me as a source of nutrition proves that she is,
at the very least, trying to stay alive.
That's not really what I meant, though.
You thickheaded idiot.
Huh?
Anyway, Araragi. Go home before your family starts to worry...
Huh?
The cellphone in your pocket seemed to be shaking like crazy.
What's the word, vibrating?
calls
mails
They're probably all from Karen and Tsukihi.
Unlike Ms. Class Rep, you have a family that'd worry about you,
so you'd better go home now, Araragi.
Enough, Oshino.
This injury doesn't change anything.
I can't just run home knowing Hanekawa's going through such a thing.
It's far too late for that.
Time to leave it to the pros.
Not to an amateur, and definitely not to a minor.
It might not be obvious due to my frivolous nature,
but I really am sorry I got you so badly injured.
I'm a failure as a Balancer.
I disregarded the textbook course of action and did something that went against my policy.
My lapse in judgment was the main reason you got put in harm's way.
I can't apologize enough to your family.
You've done more than enough, Araragi.
Araragi Koyomi,
there isn't a single thing you can do from here on out.
You can't help Ms. Class Rep in any way whatsoever.
You might want to, but you can't.
It's not a matter of how you feel about it,
but one of skill and ability.
Let me make it absolutely clear.
It's your responsibility, and your job,
to make sure you don't get in my way.