OWARIMONOGATARI SODACHI LOST
OIKURA'S OBJECTIVE.
WHAT IN THE WORLD—
DID SHE WANT TO KNOW?
Let's go over all the questions that have come up concerning her mother's disappearance.
In the end, I think that will be the key to all of this.
In other words, why was the door to that room locked?
I have no idea.
Yeah, me neither.
You haven't figured it out?
That's something of a disappointment.
Not to be able to see through a locked room mystery of this degree.
I've known that you're a fool, Araragi-senpai,
but to think that even you, Hanekawa-senpai, are a fool.
No, it's been on my mind.
So, despite knowing it's uncalled for, I came to see how you were doing.
That perhaps Hanekawa-senpai wasn't able to be of any help to Araragi-senpai...
And it's just as I thought.
Maybe you really are past your prime?
And yet, even being at such a degree, you snatched Araragi-senpai away from me.
That makes me laugh. Dear me.
Despite enticing Araragi-senpai with those lumps of meat on your chest, right?
She's totally holding a grudge...
Oh, embarrassing, so embarrassing.
If it was me, I'd be so embarrassed, I couldn't go on living.
Using my sexual charm to make Araragi-senpai choose me,
but only causing him more trouble in the end.
Come to think of it, I believe I myself am pathetic.
If I had tagged along,
Araragi-senpai wouldn't have had to feel such an emotion.
Because I so easily allowed him to be taken by Hanekawa-senpai's boobs,
all of this happened.
For making Araragi-senpai go through such a feeling of helplessness, I'm truly sorry.
I really wonder how it would've been if Araragi-senpai had chosen me back then.
But I won't blame you! I won't blame you, Araragi-senpai. Of course I won't blame you.
Everyone makes mistakes after all...
Right, Hanekawa-senpai?
Hanekawa-senpai, you'll forgive him as well, right?
For Araragi-senpai making the huge mistake of choosing you.
If anything, how about you put it into words and tell him?
Tell him, "My foolishness isn't your responsibility, Araragi"...
Hey, Ougi...
As for me...
As for me, I've already solved it.
That locked room.
And where the mother has gone, too.
Well, just a general idea.
In a way.
OWARIMONOGATARI
SODACHI LOST, PART THREE
Well, for me, it was an extremely simple practice problem.
Hanekawa-senpai, if you absolutely don't understand it,
I'd love to be a good underclassman.
If you apologize for having big boobs, I'll be the bigger person and forgive you.
"I routed all of my nutrition toward my boobs.
Ougi, younger than me, my underclassman,
I just can't solve this simple problem, so please tell me the answer.
I'll never take Araragi away from you ever again."
If you asked me like that, I might be compelled to show you the model solution.
Ougi!
I'll be the one to beg you. That should be fine, right?
If you already know, please tell me
what happened to Oikura and her mother three years ago.
This troubles me.
I'm really angry at Hanekawa-senpai right now.
But I can't refuse if you're the one asking me, Araragi-senpai.
So quiet... It's so boring.
In the end... Maybe you actually weren't all that great in your prime, either?
Fine.
Then, Araragi-senpai...
"It was a mistake for me to choose someone as insignificant as Hanekawa.
Ougi, you're the only partner for me.
I love you, Ougi, more than Hanekawa."
If you say that, I'll tell you.
The truth about all of this.
Wha—
What's the matter?
There's no need to hesitate, right?
Because, if you can figure that out, Oikura-senpai is sure to be...
...elated by all of this.
Now's the time for you to repay Oikura-senpai for everything, isn't it?
Or in the end, despite what you may say...
Do you prioritize Hanekawa-senpai's breasts?
HANEKAWA MAY ACCEPT HER DEFEAT BY OUGI
AND BE FORCED TO ADMIT IT.
I DON'T WANT HANEKAWA TO ADMIT DEFEAT.
Stop that. Araragi, don't say anything of that sort.
Even if it's a lie, even if it's for me,
I don't want you to say anything like that, Araragi.
B-But, Hanekawa...
Of course, I won't say that, either.
No matter how many times it takes, I'll keep stealing you away, Araragi.
Ougi. Give me ten seconds. I'll prove it...
That Araragi, by choosing me...
...made the correct choice.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
HANEKAWA THINKS.
Two.
HANEKAWA THINKS.
One.
HANEKAWA THINKS.
- Ze— - You don't have to say zero.
I win.
OWARIMONOGATARI SODACHI LOST
I win.
But this...
You...
Was something like this really your first thought?
Without careful review?
Just by listening to bits and pieces of our stories?
And the very first thought you had was of such a truth?
Yes.
That's how the idea began...
I had a gut feeling and adjusted the reasoning to fit the situation from there.
What kind of thought process do you have?
That's not sane. To think that was your first thought...
But in the end, you came to the same conclusion, didn't you?
Then I don't see how you can say that to me.
Besides, the one furthest from being sane...
...is Oikura-senpai.
She is first and foremost the one acting out of her mind.
—WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Araragi... It's no good.
We absolutely cannot tell this to Oikura.
Araragi... Earlier, you seemed determined to tell her the truth, no matter what it was.
But after hearing this, I think you'll change your mind.
Change my mind?
You shouldn't do that, Hanekawa-senpai.
Don't go easy on the fool.
You need to make him think for himself, even for a little bit.
Otherwise, Araragi-senpai will forever remain the fool.
NO MATTER HOW MUCH TIME PASSED
You have to make Araragi-senpai reach this conclusion, too...
To come up with the truth behind it that makes you nauseous just thinking about it.
The worst truth I can think of would be...
Hint 1:
Oikura-senpai's mother is already deceased.
She's dead. That means...
Let's see. Oikura's mother was killed by Oikura's father...
And the strange disappearance that resembles being spirited away
happened as a result of that...
That's not it at all.
You're a kind person, Araragi-senpai.
The worst truth you can possibly imagine is something that lukewarm?
Then, Hanekawa-senpai, please give him the second hint.
M-Me?
Hint 2:
Araragi, back when you were in middle school,
you mistook Oikura's house to be ruined.
Oikura made a similar mistake about her mother,
and still does to this day.
So her mother was murdered, Oikura was the murderer,
and she isn't aware of any of it, or something?
Hint 3:
Disappearing from a locked room isn't necessarily escaping from that room.
In other words, Oikura unlocked the door and went in,
but her mother, who was still in the room, snuck out behind Oikura's back and left the house?
What reason would there be to do that?
Hint 4:
Araragi, if her mother is already deceased, why can't we find her corpse?
Why is Oikura's mother still treated as a missing person?
MISSING PERSON REPORT
Hint 5:
This time, I only heard everything secondhand...
But Araragi-senpai, even if you had chosen me as your partner,
based on Oikura-senpai's stories,
I wouldn't have been able to determine the exact details for "that."
Now what is...
..."that"?
Hint 6:
Oikura's previous house couldn't be cleaned, as it was filled with garbage.
Hint 7:
Her mother suddenly disappeared one day.
Suddenly. One day.
Suddenly. On that day.
Then, what about the day before that?
Hint 8:
Because of the family's breakup, Oikura's mother had a very weak heart.
To the point where she cooped herself up in her room and lost the will to live.
Hint 9:
Oikura-senpai had been taking care of her mother,
but, over time, the mother supposedly stopped eating completely.
Now, the word "completely" here...
COMPLETELY
Araragi-senpai, you probably thought, "You say that, but she must've eaten a little, right?"
or some milder interpretation of your own, didn't you?
Hint 10:
Oikura also said that her mother,
from a certain day, wouldn't reply even when she talked to her, right?
Hint 11:
And that she stopped moving from the corner of her room.
Hint 12:
NOT EATING,
Not eating.
NOT LISTENING,
Not listening.
NOT SPEAKING,
Not speaking.
NOT MOVING.
And not moving.
Do you think someone is even alive at that point?
Hint 13:
Can a middle schooler really take care of a parent
who's cooped up in their room for years on end?
I mean, aside from taking care of a corpse.
Hint 14:
How long will a human corpse keep its shape?
Hint 15:
Hint 16:
Hint 17:
Hint 18:
Hint 19:
Hint 20:
Hint 21:
Hint 22:
Hint 23:
Hint 24:
Hint 25:
Hint 26:
Hint 27:
Hint 28:
Hint 29:
I get it already!
Basically, Oikura, for almost two whole years, took care of her mother's corpse, right?
Until the corpse fully deteriorated and disappeared without a trace,
she didn't even notice!
Yeah... That's right.
In the class assembly two years ago, I overlooked the truth.
ABOUT OIKURA'S TRAGEDY/INSANITY
I also overlooked it at the ruined house five years ago.
I
I still can't remember anything about the childhood friend from six years ago.
Since that's the case, I can't run from this here.
MUST CONFRONT IT FACE ON.
I can't just avoid things here.
Good answer.
It wasn't the fact that Oikura-senpai's mother suddenly disappeared.
She slowly starved herself to death by choosing to not eat.
And, after that, she slowly decomposed.
When her original form decomposed and melted away to where it was unrecognizable,
Oikura-senpai must've had the thought, "My mother has gone somewhere."
It was just like water evaporating.
"I despise water that thinks it boiled itself on its own," was it?
Yes, but her mother, if I may say so, boiled herself on her own.
Water...
In other words, Oikura-senpai's mother essentially evaporated.
Her mother never left the room.
She didn't disappear in a puff of smoke. She disappeared like water.
But humans don't consist only of water. What happened to the rest?
It must've been that when they took the garbage from the house, she was taken along with it.
So... In other words, this means it was suicide by starvation?
Now, we don't know that.
Even though she lost the will to live, I think it's different from suicide.
Losing the will to live and wishing to die are different things to the human heart.
What do you think, Hanekawa-senpai?
I only wish for Oikura to not find out about this,
and to never find out for as long as she lives.
But, well, I'm sure she feels a bit strange about all of this.
Something is off, she feels like she's avoiding something...
She has the feeling that she's pretending not to notice something.
I'm sure she's been feeling that way for the past three years.
And she will for the rest of her life.
No, that ends today.
I'll tell her. I'll be the one to tell her.
I'm going back to Oikura's room right now to tell her everything.
It's about time for the guy from town hall to be leaving her place, right?
I'll go by myself.
It'd be great if you two could wait here.
A-Araragi... Are you serious?
I'm serious. I said so earlier, right?
That until now, I've always looked at Oikura and pretended not to see.
This has gone on for over six years.
Just like how she couldn't look straight at her mother's death,
I couldn't look straight at her.
That's why I can no longer overlook Oikura.
I don't know what will happen as a result, Araragi-senpai.
Oikura-senpai might hate you more than ever.
She can't hate me more than she does now, so it's all right.
Even if she did, if she can love herself as a result of her hating me,
well, I guess that'd be a bit better.
As her senior on this path, even though I'm only slightly ahead of her,
I'm going to teach her how to become happy.
That said, the student is Oikura, who is the epitome of a distinguished student.
Even concerning happiness, after learning some tips,
she's sure to pass me in no time.
But happiness isn't a race.
If she passes me, I just need to learn from her in return.
That's how we learn, teach, and take each other to a higher place.
Let's hold a study session.
Even though our foolishness is endless...
We can become wiser together.
We should become happy properly.
Araragi-senpai...
Are you going to repay kindness with ingratitude?
Even if it's ingratitude, I'm really glad I have something I can repay Oikura with.
OWARIMONOGATARI SODACHI LOST
What you'd call an epilogue... Or the punchline for this episode.
The next day, my two little sisters, Karen and Tsukihi, woke me up, and I headed to school.
At that time, I asked my two little sisters if they remember a child
that was under protective custody in this house back in grade school.
Neither of them remembered such a thing.
In the end, Oikura won't be coming to school...
Even if I went to school today, I'd never be able to see Oikura.
The promise we made ended up being discarded,
but that was something that was completely unavoidable.
The guy from town hall just told me that my aid will be roughly half of what it is now.
So, apparently, I can't live here anymore.
That said, I'll be all right.
He said they already found a slightly smaller municipal condo for me.
So, I'll end up having to move again.
I'll be transferring out of Naoetsu High School as well.
She was surprisingly calm about all of this.
When I see her alone, when I talk to her alone, Oikura is like this.
Just like the summer break back in 7th grade.
Oikura accepted the theory about her mother so easily it threw me off.
I see... That must be how it is.
I knew that I'd have to leave this town pretty soon...
But you know, that was when I found out Tetsujo would be taking time off.
So, that's why I went to school.
I felt like something might be there, that something might change.
And then...
After that, I spoke a bit with Oikura, then headed back home.
I didn't end up doing anything else.
And so, I'm not worried about bumping into Oikura in my classroom today
and am heading to school...
Hi, Araragi-senpai.
Don't you "Hi" me...
Hey, Ougi, why did you head home yesterday?
I told you to wait for me.
Hanekawa-senpai said we should go home.
Why would Hanekawa say that?
She was saying it in a positive way.
Kind of like, "Let's leave them alone."
No, don't say it was "in a positive way."
How surprised do you think I was when I saw you guys weren't in that courtyard?
About yesterday... That was a loss for me.
I'm terribly sorry. I had underestimated you, to be honest.
I was completely under the impression that you'd turn tail and run...
At the very end, you showed me some unexpected gusto.
Somehow, it all feels a bit strange.
As soon as you transfer to this school, Tetsujo went on maternity leave...
Oikura comes to school...
And as I was processing that, she transfers away.
Things that were at a standstill, things that were avoided,
as if they were suddenly remembered, felt as though they suddenly started moving along.
Oh, so Oikura-senpai is transferring to another school?
I didn't know that.
She was well cast, too.
But really, I hope she can do well wherever she transfers to.
I'm sure she'll succeed if she's in a new place where nobody knows her.
Because of Araragi-senpai.
Thanks to you.
Ougi, what are you doing in a place like this?
Is your home nearby?
I've been looking for a lost child.
That was my original starting point.
I'll chalk this one up as my loss...
But, at the least, if I was allowed to be a sore loser...
The first move was just something to watch how things unfolded.
The objective of seeing how you behave with your childhood friends has been met.
So, as far as balance goes, I think it was perfect for me to lose here.
Please be careful, Araragi-senpai.
It might not go this well next time.
No one knows what the future holds,
because it's as dark as the streets at night.
I see... That's a shame.
I thought I'd be able to get along with Oikura.
But I guess we should celebrate Oikura's new start in life for now.
That's true. Ougi said something like that as well.
Araragi, I have to go request a leave of absence,
so can you head to the classroom without me?
Oh, sure...
Wait, request for a leave of absence?
What? You're going to quit Naoetsu High as well?
No, time off. A leave of absence.
You know how I'm planning to take a trip and wander around after we graduate, right?
I thought I'd go scout locations first,
so I'm going to take a quick trip around the world.
I'll be gone about a month, so I'll leave things to you.
If I see Oshino somewhere during this trip, I'll reach out to him for you.
Then, if you see Oshino somewhere, tell him I've met his niece.
Yeah. Well, I'll be sure to tell him that.
NO SUBJECT / *MARK AS UNREAD TO KOYOKOYO, I REALLY HAD BROKEN A BONE ON MY FINGER SO I'LL HEAD TO SCHOOL TODAY AFTER GOING TO THE HOSPITAL.
Why does this look like an old telegraph?
TO YOKOYOKO
Side-side (yoko-yoko)?
TO YOKOYOKO OIKURA CAME TO APOLOGIZE THIS MORNING. I FORGAVE HER. I'M ALL RIGHT NOW (THOUGH I HAVE A BROKEN BONE)
Apparently Oikura had kept her promise to make up with Senjyogahara.
I'm glad.
I should show Hanekawa this text before she leaves for her trip.
KOYOKOYO, I'M SORRY TO MAKE YOU WORRY SO MUCH. I'LL GIVE YOU LOTS OF FRENCH KISSES ON OUR NEXT DATE, SO FORGIVE ME I'M ADDICTED TO YOUR FRENCH KISSES
These texts are turning into something I can't show anyone!
A MESSAGE FROM OIKURA. SHE SAID "UNDER THE DESK." FROM YOUR LEFT
"From your left"? What kind of a greeting is that?
Back in the day, during summer break five years ago.
Hadn't I had found a similar envelope underneath a tea table in a ruined house?
However, that envelope was empty.
From how it felt, I could tell that this time around, there was paper inside.
The envelope didn't have a sender or a recipient on either the front or the back.
However, it was obvious who had taped this to my desk.
Sodachi Oikura. She'd kept all of her promises.
Suddenly disappearing without warning...
Oikura, for now, has become a girl who wouldn't do that.
It was a small change, but it was still a change for her.
That made me happy,
but I felt like she'd gone ahead of me, which left me feeling a bit lonely.
Here, I felt I should show that I've grown up as well,
so I didn't rip and tear into it like I did five years ago.
I opened the envelope as carefully as possible
and pulled out multiple sheets of paper from within.
Now, are the contents of the letter a mathematics quiz?
A letter of thanks she's unlikely to write?
Or will it be a message insulting me?
It's possible it'll be all of the above...
Now, let's see.
I couldn't help but smile.
Hey, what do you think was written?