There's no reason to have such an uneasy look on your face, second one.
I'm a specialist.
Though times have changed, as a warrior,
I don't ignore signatures left by those in the trade.
"This is my prey, so hands off."
A sign used among specialists to mean something along those lines.
As long as that's there, I can't raise a hand against you.
If you didn't have that...
There's no way I'd let a vampire live, even for a moment.
IT WAS WORTH GETTING STOMPED ON BY A LITTLE GIRL.
Here should be fine.
We can take our time to chat here.
I believe your name was Koyomi Araragi?
I guess I should call you Sir Araragi.
I'll be straightforward, Sir Araragi.
I want you to break up with Kiss-shot.
OWARIMONOGATARI
SHINOBU MAIL, PART FIVE
My objective is...
Kiss-Shot.
To make amends with the one you call Shinobu Oshino.
M-Make—
Amends.
I ended things with Kiss-shot with an argument.
A momentary delusion caused me to hurl some inconsiderate words at Kiss-shot.
I'd like to apologize for that and seek her forgiveness.
And like we did in the past...
I'd like to fight apparitions together with her.
As beautiful as a goddess... so beautiful that your spine freezes...
I'd like to protect her back, and be the sword that fights for her.
You may not understand, but...
I can't help but think you're only saying that to get close to Shinobu to get revenge.
Revenge? What revenge is this revenge you speak of?
Are you saying I have a reason to hold a grudge against her?
A reason to hold a grudge...
There is.
Don't fool yourself by saying something like "a momentary delusion."
You said some really harsh words to Shinobu.
Yes, I won't deny that part. That's why I want to apologize.
I want to see her in person and apologize.
She only needs to have one minion.
She brought me back from near death.
I was upset at the time, but nowadays, I truly appreciate it.
Is what I'm saying all that strange?
The fact he's saying it feels strange. But I can't deny the statement itself...
Because I've basically done the same thing.
I guess you wouldn't want to break up.
However, anyone can be your replacement, but nobody can replace me.
Because I'm special. I'm the chosen one.
I idolize lines like that. I'd like to say something like that for once...
It's way too presumptuous, though, so I'd never be able to say it.
Sparks flying between us will benefit no one.
In the end, this is just like two men fighting over one woman.
A fight between two minions is something not even apparitions would gobble up.
Then what should we do?
Are we going to praise each other from now on?
That would be such a hideous sight.
Therefore, I shall propose something of merit for you.
Sir Araragi, I'll let you know what benefits you'll see if you break up with Kiss-shot.
Meanwhile, you can think about what benefits I'll see if you don't break up with Kiss-shot.
M-Merit? Benefits?
If you break up with Kiss-shot for me, you'll be liberated from Kiss-shot.
In other words, all the responsibility that you feel for Kiss-shot right now
can be placed on none other than my shoulders instead.
I did relay your message.
She didn't seem to have any intention of seeing you, though.
I see. Well, I guess that's how it would be.
But well, no matter what Kiss-shot's intention is, I need her to return what I lent her.
My sword, and my position.
I want to flourish once again.
After these 400 years, I want to sparkle one more time.
I don't find this to be disgraceful.
Don't you want to flourish again, not as Shinobu's minion, but as a human?
The fact that you want to see Shinobu, even if revenge wasn't the objective,
perhaps you want to be human.
I can no longer return to being human.
It's been 400 years after all. Too much time has passed.
Looking at things from that perspective, I'm different from you.
Well, I no longer see it as something sad.
Because I can't make it in time, that's why I can, for half an eternity,
spend my time with Kiss-shot.
You may be thinking that's something similar to pure love...
But in modern society, people like you are called "stalkers."
As I said, let us stop insulting each other.
Besides, have you thought of anything?
If you don't break up with Kiss-shot, what benefit will there be for me?
You shouldn't drink something given to you by the enemy without doubting it first.
If you were tricked into drinking holy water,
even though your pairing is severed for now, you'd be a goner.
Totally makes me laugh.
Looks like we've been interrupted, Sir Araragi.
The story would've progressed much faster
if you had drank the goblet of poison, or rather, the chalice.
It wouldn't have been ignoring the signature on you, either,
if you were purified by your own will.
Don't get upset, minion of Heart-under-blade.
When it comes to defeating apparitions, anything goes.
Foul play and ambushes are among the proper methodologies.
Looks like we made it in time. Good.
Nice to meet you, first one.
I'm Izuko Gaen.
A big sister that knows everything. I came here to negotiate with you.
Sir Araragi, it seems our conversation has come to an end.
I shall excuse myself now.
We couldn't find a point of compromise between us.
In this case, our relationship must move to the next phase.
Conversation?
It's time to duel.
Tonight, we fight to the death.
I'll leave the logistics to those specialists over there.
Until then, I'll try to recover to as close to maximum potential as possible.
Sir Araragi, you should get the signature removed from your face.
I won't run, nor will I hide.
Ru—
WHY AREN'T EPISODE AND GAEN GOING AFTER HIM?
Th-That's not what it looks like!
BRA DONUTS BOOK BOOK
Devil boy, shh.
O-Ononoki...
By the time I got here, things were already like that.
They were already like that?
Hey.
I'll admit you've got some nerve.
The courage you show by not taking even one step back while facing me
makes me think satisfactorily of you as my master's underclassman.
So I won't be emotional, and as an adult that has lived for 500 years,
I'll be very tolerant of a brat.
If you're willing to take back what you said earlier,
I can forget the various exchanges that have gone on here.
If you apologize, I'll forgive you.
I won't take it back. I won't apologize.
I'll say it again and again.
Shinobu. You should meet him.
You should go meet that first apparition killer!
To end things without seeing your previous partner, who's revived after 400 years of trying...
That's not a good thing.
That's a terrible thing.
That isn't the right thing to do.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
If, as a human, you want to lecture me, speak with at least a smidgeon of logic.
Like I know anything about logic!
You should stop making excuses and go see him!
This man spent 400 years reviving himself just so he could see you!
Why won't you meet with him?
I've been telling you, you've misunderstood.
He didn't revive due to that sort of silly emotional reason.
The dispersed ashes gathered and became excited, as if they were magnets.
It's a natural phenomenon.
The feeling of falling in love with someone is natural, too!
Don't deny someone's feelings of love for you!
I'm telling you...
You really don't get it at all! It really is nothing like that.
A vampire's minion...
The vampire master/servant relationship
isn't something you speak of in terms of love or hate, you romance-brain!
"The master/servant relationship isn't about love or hate."
Can you say that in front of Araragi-senpai as well?
It's just like what I told my master back then.
For me as I am now, the only partner I can call my minion is your upperclassman.
For my current self...
Shinobu, you say you don't understand what I'm saying.
But that's what I don't understand.
What I don't like about all of this is that right there.
You make it sound as if you're only allowed to have one minion.
For instance, isn't it possible for you, Araragi-senpai and that first apparition killer
to get along amiably as a trio?
As a trio?
What, are you being cheeky and saying we should make amends?
I don't care if you make amends or not.
If you're saying you'd choose Araragi-senpai over the first apparition killer, that's fine.
But you have to be the one that tells him that.
You shouldn't rely on Izuko or Araragi-senpai to convey the message to him for you.
You don't know anything about the situation.
You don't know about my relationship with him.
No, you probably don't even know anything about my relationship with my current master, do you?
It's true that I don't. But I can tell.
About the feelings of being the first one, and of being the second one.
In Kanbaru's mind, the first apparition killer's feelings resonate more with her.
The feeling of paranoia... as if it was pure love.
Even if I were to see him now, there's nothing I can say to him.
Look at reality, monkey-girl.
Now that he's basically the tale of apparitions that fill this town nowadays,
he has no choice but to become prey for the specialists.
I know that. That's why—
That's why?
That's all the more reason for me to go see him, you say?
That man harbors a grudge against me.
If I see him, I may be killed.
Apparently he's asking for me to return the demon blade.
The ones to get slain by that blade may not only be us.
With all that in mind—
With all that in mind, I'm telling you that you should go see him.
That's why logic doesn't matter at all!
Why do people refuse to see others like that?
It's complete nonsense!
Everything's complete nonsense unless someone goes and meets someone else!
You can't make any stories that way!
You should just be blunt and say it, Shinobu.
That you're scared. That you're scared of seeing him.
That you don't want your emotions swayed by meeting with and talking to him.
You feel that seeing him is like betraying Araragi-senpai,
so you don't intend to see him ever again.
But that's not true.
The only one you're betraying is yourself.
You should just tell him
that a love that takes 400 years to return is too heavy for you.
That you're troubled to see him return to life now that you're doing well with Araragi-senpai.
That his feelings are nothing but a nuisance.
That he should've just stayed dead.
Just say it. If you can't say that...
Don't speak about masters and lords and stuff.
That's not being aloof, nor is it noble.
You're simply being bashful.
What's with a master and servant relationship?
You don't have the right to own a slave, nor the right to serve under a master.
Ka...
You have no right to form a relationship.
Ka ka.
Why interlock the fingers?
Whoa, made a mistake. Thought you were Senjyogahara.
You're the worst.
Hold on just a bit longer, Ononoki.
Why? The situation is already pretty bad.
Even so.
Ka ka ka.
Do you want those to be your dying words?
I feel like crushing your head right now, even if it makes everything for naught.
Do it, then.
I'm not going to apologize.
Do it, and then you can start to feel awkward with Araragi-senpai.
Just like how you're avoiding the first apparition killer right now,
you're going to start avoiding Araragi-senpai.
Just like how you made him a story of your past,
you can turn Araragi-senpai into a story of the past, in the future.
Like how you dismissed the first one, you'll someday dismiss the second one.
You can't face the first one directly, so there's no way you can with the second one.
Or the third one, the fourth one, the fifth one. You can keep saying goodbye to people forever.
Forever...
You're immortal, right? Araragi-senpai said that at some point.
"If Shinobu is going to die tomorrow, I'm fine with my life ending tomorrow."
But I'm sure you wouldn't say something like that.
Even if you did... You'd say the same thing to the third one.
And the fourth one. And the fifth one.
You'll continue to say it forever, and continue to live on forever.
Don't think that being sociable like you is a trait everyone has.
Earlier, you stated I was simply being bashful...
But isn't the feeling that you don't want to see anyone also natural?
That's unnatural.
It's possible that someone won't get along with others,
but it's never that they don't see anyone.
I'm not human.
That might be, based on how you're acting.
Even if I were to see him, you realize there's nothing I can say to him right now?
We parted harboring hatred, and we parted by death harboring hatred. That's our relationship.
I have no intention of getting back together, and I have no intention of making a friendly trio.
I've no intention of lining the first one and second one up to talk about them.
I feel that the act of comparison in of itself is rude to my master.
What meaning is there in showing how amiable I am with my master right now?
By showing that man I have no feelings for him now whatsoever...
What meaning is there? You wish for me to do something so cruel?
Yeah. I'm telling you to do something cruel.
It's your job to hurt the man from your past.
You want to be liked, and on top of it, stay a good person?
You want to end everything being loved?
What you're saying...
That's like saying if something is going to erode or be worn down, it's better to just destroy it.
That's what I've been saying!
If he holds a grudge against me and is trying to kill me,
that means I'll kill him in return.
You're still fine with that?
That's still fine.
If that's the case, then you can respond to his feeling of hatred.
You can sever him from those feelings.
But, if you apologize and he forgives you, in that case...
It's the same thing even then.
The moment he forgives me, he'll be exterminated by a specialist.
You're still fine with that?
That's still fine.
That's still fine!
If your silly assumptions are correct and he revived himself thinking of me...
I'd be able to respond to his feelings.
What I can do by meeting him is to harshly and roughly dump him.
You're still fine with that?
That's still fine.
If I met him, and felt like I wanted to respond to his feelings, then what?
What would you do if I chose the first apparition killer instead of your upperclassman?
You're still fine with that?
That's still fine.
If that's the case...
If that's the case, make a clean break with Araragi-senpai,
and you can live happily ever after with that guy.
I have, for the first time, seen Shinobu Oshino lose a one on one battle.
Ononoki.
I have a favor to ask you.
Can you take this stamp off of me?
If I take that off, I won't be able to ensure your safety anymore, you know?
I want to try out this "duel" thing.
Are you done with all the formalities or whatever?
Yeah, of course.
She definitely knows her business in that respect.
After all that, she tracked down the first apparition killer and properly negotiated.
Where's the location for this duel that you guys set up for us?
Where do I need to go tonight?
Oh, that's...
A place that's very familiar to you.
And it's a place deeply connected to me, too.
Deeply connected?
The courtyard of Naoetsu Private High School.
After that fierce encouragement from Kanbaru, Shinobu's next action...
was to pout and take a nap.
She withdrew deep into the shrine building.
The fact that a high school girl refuted her seems to have gotten to her more than expected.
Huh? Kanbaru, what's wrong? What are you doing lying there?
Your head's bleeding. Are you okay?
Araragi-senpai, you were watching until a few minutes ago, so you know everything, right?
You found me out!
It's fine. Shinobu didn't notice.
So, Araragi-senpai, did you buy the book I asked you to get me?
BRUTAL GARÇON HUFF-HUFFS A HALF-BLOOD BOY!
You're too obsessed with that book.
Just how important is this book you wanted?
At least show me the wound on your head.
Well, I guess it'll be all right.
Now, let's eat lunch, Kanbaru.
Then, I'll just read my book here like this, so Araragi-senpai, please feed me.
Aah!
Don't "aah'" me. No upperclassman would spoil someone that much.
What about Shinobu?
So, Araragi-senpai, what about the bra?
I bought one for you. Here you go.
BRA
Then, I'll just read my book here like this, so Araragi-senpai, you can put it on for me.
Aah!
You totally changed the meaning of "aah" there!
Kanbaru.
By any chance, do you have something for me?
Like, some advice you'd risk your life to give me.
If anything, DIY.
"DIY"?
"Do your best." So yeah, do your best!
Abbreviating that would be DYB.
DIY = SUNDAY CARPENTERS
I thought DIY was "Do it yourself," like a weekend carpenter.
But I didn't press the issue.
Because, "Do it yourself"...
...being told I should do it myself was, in this case, very fitting advice for me.