We can still make it if we act now
It'd be better if we retreated
Before we get into more misunderstandings.
The staples of my words that bound you
Somewhere along the way
Began to stab into my heart
It hurts
You're to blame
Don’t come near
to someone…to someone like me…
Don’t look
at such…at such a place…
Don't talk
with that, the kind of smile
you make to just anybody.
We'll continue on anywhere.
Just like the sky,
promise me it will be
an eternity without end.
You're cruel and gentle,
just like the ocean,
if I jump into your heart,
accept me completely.
These heavy feelings
that cannot be weighed,
I convey them now,
only to you.
Koyomi
Flower
Calendar
Story
S
w
a
m
p
M
o
n
t
h
M
a
y
9
th
It was Tuesday evening.
Alongside Senjougahara, I was on the way home from the abandoned cram school.
She had suffered,
She had lived her life fighting against illness,
and then yesterday
the time of fighting that illness had come to an end.
Comparing this with being ill,
I can understand the value of good health,
but as someone who has been ill for such a long period of time
'just walking’ like this
feels like something new to me.
Is that so?
So then, what should I do about this?
About what?
Because of this case, I was charged a fee from Oshino, right?
Do you have any savings or anything?
I do not. I do have debts, though.
Senjougahara. Do you happen to know any oddities?
Oshino, as a specialist, is a collector of oddity stories, you see.
If you happen to know of
a weird oddity story,
or a rare urban legend,
or something, then it’s possible he might lower your debt, I thought.
But unfortunately, I don’t happen to know any stories
about oddities above the one I experienced personally.
Hold on.
What is it?
Eh?
Don’t just touch me so casually.
Ah, sorry.
It’s just that, you suddenly seemed like you were about to jump out onto the road.
I wasn't trying to jump out.
I just thought I’d try to get a closer look at that.
Huh?
It seems a traffic accident occurred around here.
Looks like it.
I wonder if it was recent?
But if you got into an accident because the flowers caught your attention
then the person they were meant for wouldn't be able to rest.
Be careful.
I’ve just remembered.
What do you mean when you say you’ve remembered?
A 'scary story', Araragi.
What?
Black
This is an order from your princess. Do as you see fit.
What kind of princess has that tone of voice?
M
a
y
10
th
In accordance with Princess Senjougahara’s decree,
I went to the rooftop of one of Naoetsu High’s buildings.
It’s true.
It’s just as Senjougahara said.
Near the fence on the rooftop,
was a bouquet of flowers wrapped in a vinyl sheet.
How did you get onto the rooftop anyway?
I may not be Hanekawa, but I happen to be an honors student as well.
I’m capable of borrowing the key by going to the teacher with an excuse.
So why did you go up onto the rooftop?
When I entered Naoetsu High, I had to look into safe places.
Her wariness towards other people was strong.
In a different way from how Hanekawa looked into Naoetsu High when she took the exams,
she must have investigated to see what was dangerous and what was safe,
who was a friend and who was an enemy.
And there was a bouquet of flowers on the restricted-access rooftop.
It’s different from oddity stories or even ghost stories.
but,
if you think about it,
it’s still a mysterious story, right?
Black
Yes. It was a mysterious story indeed.
In the eighteen years of Naoetsu High history that held
there wasn’t even one incident in which a student had died.
... well, at any rate
How am I going to get back inside the building…
So, how about it? Oshino
The story I brought just now,
is it worth a hundred thousand yen?
What is it?
Araragi, do you happen to know the young lady’s phone number or email address?
No, I don’t.
Well, I wanted to tell her this;
‘It didn’t meet my expectations, so please take out a loan for the fee.'
Could you at least to tell me why it isn't even worth a single yen?
First of all, in terms of that traffic accident location that you guys saw;
last month, an accident did happen.
Is that so?
It seems that place has a road structure in which accidents occur rather easily.
Well, even Senjougahara looked like she was about to jump out into the road.
But in Senjougahara’s case it was because she had noticed a flower offering, I guess.
So it’s not really a problem of road structure.
So the problem is,
'There are no cases of anybody jumping off the school building to commit suicide,
or even cases of falling by accident.
So why is there a bouquet of flowers left on every roof of your school?' Is that right?
Yeah, that’s right.
Well, whether or not it was an accident,
the rooftop is certainly a place where it’s easy to fall from.
That’s why entry was prohibited.
Well, schools with accessible rooftops usually
have them surrounded by tall fences or something.
Right
Well, whether they're on a road or in a school,
there are places where accidents and incidents are likely to occur.
To put it simply, they're like the opposite of power spots, I guess?
So, places that are bad spiritually?
I guess there are things like that.
Like how the northeast direction is the unlucky 'demon's gate’
No, that's a different sort of thing.
In terms of places where it’s easy for accidents to occur,
there’s one in every part of the country.
Also for those wishing to commit suicide, there are places that people are likely to choose.
Although ultimately those are problems with the geography of the environment,
and there’s no spiritual component to it.
Even Senjougahara almost jumping out wasn't caused
by an oddity or a spirit or anything
and was just a problem with the angle of the bouquet, wasn’t it?
That’s right. That’s why I planned on changing the placement of the bouquet.
Araragi, the bouquet of flowers offered could be asking for accidents to happen.
But don’t you think the reverse could be true?
And now for the epilogue, or rather, the punch line.
Though I say 'now', the punch line occurred quite a while later.
That is because I came to an ‘understanding’ with Oshino’s story
and didn't report back to Senjougahara in the end.
When I finally remembered, it was near the end of May.
Black
I've just remembered.
Long story short, they're like a piece of the puzzle
in the school's rooftop control,
those bouquets.
Rooftop control?
Yeah, like setting locks, or putting up fences.
Well, if you compare them,
the bouquets are more of a consolation, or a good-luck charm,
or maybe something like a jinx.
What kind of control do you get from putting bouquets on rooftops?
Like some sort of tasteless conspiracy.
But by placing a bouquet that makes it seem like it’s saying 'somebody died here’,
it’s paradoxically acting as a warning that says 'this place is dangerous’.
Acting as a warning?
Something like, 'frequent accidents ahead’?
There must’ve been someone who thought just saying
it was 'dangerous' would be too commonplace and wouldn’t have enough effect.
But if there was a stronger message, like 'someone died here in the past’
But, could there be any effect other than a jinx?
Well, rather than a consolation, Oshino said it was more a playful thing,
since the locked door and the fences would normally be enough.
It’s just that it’s not completely perfect,
After all, there are actually students like you that lie in order to get onto the rooftop.
Wait a second, Araragi. Could you not talk about people as if they were liars?
Black
I just happen to be honey-mouthed.
Poison-mouthed, more like!
Tasty poison is the worst kind, right?
So, knowing that the control wasn’t perfect,
the school placed that good-luck charm, that consolation there.
I see.
But how was Oshino,
from your story alone,
able to come to that conclusion?
It’s not really a conclusion he came to.
You see, both of us were misunderstanding in the same way.
Whether it’s suicide or an accident,
if someone had fallen from the rooftop
then you wouldn’t normally put flowers on the roof, right?
You’d put them on the ground where they fell.
I see. That was a misunderstanding, wasn’t it?
But it’s a mistake anyone could make, isn’t it?
You’re quick to cover for yourself.
Well, if the other party was aware of that discrepancy
they’d know that the flowers have no extra meaning to them.
However,
there won't be any need to place flowers anymore.
Yes. The fact that improvements on the rooftop had started
was what caused me to remember this case.
The reason why such improvements on the rooftop became necessary was because
rumors like, “The other day there was a student
who got to the roof from the outside.”
began to spread.
The school probably hadn’t imagined the existence of someone
stupid enough to climb the rooftop from the outside.
With the cost of the new fence.
And if it was revealed that the true identity of that trespasser was me,
I wouldn’t be excused by just dropping out of school.
Of course, Senjougahara, who had suggested it,
would also be in danger.
Araragi.
Understood. This’ll be a secret between the two of us.
No. Becoming a secret is not enough, I think.
What do you want me to do if it’s not enough?
Carry on as before, of course.
As before?
Black
Let’s forget about it.
I kick a stone away to get rid of my worries,
I'm downplaying the flutter I feel this April.
We were happy children full of curiosity,
I was the one who pushed you forward,
from that day onward.
Let's escape our confines
and take our time along the way
Let's ride our bikes to far away
carrying our hopes and dreams in the basket
Is the future we heard so many rumors about,
A nice place to be?
Even if we ask our extending shadows about it,
we'll still be none the wiser