I'm right!
Karen-chan...
For now, just tell me what happened.
Weren't you going to have a heroic tale for me?
I'll ask once more, bigger little sister...
Tell me what happened.
Nope!
Araragi-kun?
Araragi-kun, you were really upset when
my father hit me, right?
So why are you about to hit your little sister?
I think physical punishment is
appropriate to some circumstances.
If you can give some reason,
which will satisfy Karen-chan,
even after you've hit her,
then it's all right.
I'm sorry.
Why are you apologizing to me?
I'm very sorry.
I got too emotional.
Hey, Tsubasa-san,
don't be mad at my brother.
This one was my fault.
And if he'd hit me, I would've hit him back.
I see.
Then I guess my help wasn't needed.
That's right, Tsubasa-san.
But I don't think you'd have been able to hit him back.
If not, I'd have bitten him.
You don't know how strong my teeth are.
Onii-chan, don't be mad, okay?
Hanekawa-san is
helping the Fire Sisters with this...
I'm very mad!
Araragi-kun, keep it down.
You'll wake up your parents.
And I didn't realize
you yelled at your sisters that way.
I'm surprised.
They're pretending to be good in front of Hanekawa.
This is really hard!
Hanekawa-san, don't get mad at Onii-chan.
He's just worried that we're
causing trouble for you.
Jeez.
Araragi-kun,
I'm cooperating with Karen-chan and Tsukihi-chan
of my own free will.
So don't blame them.
The Araragi-kun I know wouldn't get
angry with his sisters for no reason, would he?
Okay, okay.
I won't get mad.
I promise.
And you won't tell Mom and Dad?
I won't.
So explain. What was the big deal,
and what happened after that?
Hmm, what happened then, I wonder...
Hanekawa, would you go to my room for a second?
Nii-chan is trying to get Tsubasa-san into his room!
I will kill you someday.
All right. Let's go.
It's okay, Karen-chan... Tsukihi-chan.
You did the right thing.
Once he talks to me, I'm sure he'll understand.
I'll tell him everything, so don't worry.
Tsubasa-san! Hanekawa-san!
I trust your brother.
Hey, big one.
What is it, little one?
You're probably right.
You always are.
I won't deny that.
But that's all you are.
You're never strong.
And if you're not strong, you'll lose.
You do enough martial arts to know that.
The first requirement of being a hero isn't being right.
It's being strong.
That's why the hero always wins.
You need to learn that.
Until you do, what you're doing is just a game.
And you'll only be fakes.
Episode 4: Karen Bee, Part 4
It's kind of different...
The way you worry about your sisters,
or Senjougahara-san,
or Mayoi-chan,
or Kanbaru-san,
or Sengoku-chan, is totally different
than how you worry about me.
I don't know how to explain it.
It feels more desperate.
Desperate?
It's like a totally different personality.
You were pretty hard
on them back there, weren't you?
"You're only right, you aren't strong."
It sounded like
you were telling yourself that, too.
You're saying they bother me because I have the same problem?
I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear.
But I think it's more like
you bother yourself.
Hanekawa, you've only known them for
a month or so, so you might not understand.
But I've lived with Karen-chan for fifteen years,
and Tsukihi-chan for fourteen.
And from that experience, I can tell you...
Hanekawa?
Sorry, sorry.
But you call them "-chan," huh?
B-Big mistake!
Don't worry about it.
I call them that, too.
I-It isn't like that.
I was just, you know, imitating how you talk...
That's right.
It's a type of rhetorical trick,
and normally, I don't...
Th-That aside.
Let's get to the point, Hanekawa.
We might not have much time.
That's true...
But I at least know the beginning, right?
They were looking for the source of the charm
that's circulating among the middle school kids.
Huh? How did you know?
Sengoku told me.
Unfortunately, my little sisters...
Karen-chan and Tsukihi-chan!
My little sis—
Karen-chan and Tsukihi-chan!
Black Scene
Karen-chan and Tsukihi-chan are
famous among middle school kids.
So Sengoku hears about anything they're up to.
I see.
Come to think of it,
wasn't Sengoku-chan one of that charm's victims?
The only victim.
Not the only victim.
But the biggest victim.
"You can sit on the bed." "Araragi-kun, you shouldn't
But the charms are having
just ask a girl to your bed like that." "Why not?"
Sengoku asked me to sit on her bed. She even said I couldn't sit anywhere else.
a lot of negative effects.
I sit in my chair. "By the way, Hanekawa, it's late. Why are you in your uniform?"
Right. I'd been meaning to say something, but hadn't had the chance.
Hanekawa Tsubasa is always in her uniform. "I'm used to you wearing your uniform over break,
Negative effects?
so it's fine, but... Don't you have any other clothes? I've never seen you not wearing your uniform!"
Mostly in terms of relationships.
"You saw me in my PJ's." "Pajamas don't count."
I'd also seen her in her underwear. But that doesn't really count, either. What I want to see
is what Hanekawa picks to wear when she's going out somewhere!
But when we looked into it, we found that
When will I ever see them? "Well, there's no real reason. I met Tsukihi-chan this evening,
and then we came here. Maybe I should start the story there?"
all the charms going around were curses.
"Yeah, thanks."
There was a definite trend.
Their guess, that someone was deliberately spreading them,
probably was just a guess.
But even so, it wasn't completely wrong.
By the way,
how long have you been going around with them?
I haven't been going around with them.
Once in a while, they ask me for help, and I do.
To answer the question of how long it's been...
Hmm,
I suppose since the start of summer vacation.
So you helped them.
In other words, you found out who was behind it.
Basically, it was none other than Hanekawa Tsubasa
who was calling Karen's phone that time.
Black Scene
I'd prefer you didn't try and act like this is my fault...
That's what worried Oshino about you...
That you're too smart,
and you'll always find the answer.
I suppose so.
But that doesn't mean I can not do my best.
Yeah.
Just as I, Karen-chan, or Tsukihi-chan...
Just as I, Karen-chan, or Tsukihi-chan
must accept our weakness,
you must accept your strength.
Black Scene
So then what? Karen-chan went to talk
to whoever was behind this,
and they did something to her?
That's right.
I was busy with something else,
and only arrived later.
So I didn't see the culprit directly.
If only I could have met up with Karen-chan earlier,
I'd have been able to help.
Karen-chan said who it was, right?
Um...
Some weird, ill-omened guy
named Kaiki Deishuu.
Black Scene
I decided to leave my sisters in Hanekawa's care,
and take a bath.
To be honest, I needed time to cool off,
or I was just going to yell at them again.
That's right, Hanekawa...
What were you talking about
over the phone, with Senjougahara?
Oh, that?
Tsukihi-chan sent a message on her cell phone.
But she said it was strange that there was no response.
So I called.
For all they might say, they trust you.
Well, I figured that was what happened.
But how did you manage to persuade Senjougahara?
It was nothing, really.
When I heard her voice,
I guessed most of what was happening.
So I just made a small request.
A small request?
"If you won't be a good girl,
I'll ask Araragi-kun to be my boyfriend."
Scary...
Um...
Since you've seen me naked now,
I guess that means I'll have to marry you, too.
My master.
Shinobu!
Ha ha!
What's wrong with you?
You look like a pigeon that's been hit by a peashooter.
Or maybe a vampire that's been hit by a silver bullet?
Is it that rare for me to talk?
Or maybe you thought I'd forgotten how?
Shinobu, y-you...
Got bored.
I'm normally pretty talkative.
You know that.
I'm not going to keep my mouth shut forever.
You should understand that, my master.
Thank you.
What are you talking about?
Oh...
Um... These! These chains...
Weren't you the one who cut them?
Was I?
Ha ha!
I really don't remember.
But those arms look pretty stupid.
Let's see.
No need to thank me.
I just do what I feel like.
Always have, always will...
And this time, purely by chance,
and I assure you it was just chance,
your wishes and mine coincided,
my master.
Shinobu, hey...
Hair.
My hair.
Wh-What about your hair?
Wash my hair.
I feel like trying this shampoo stuff, for fun.
From your shadow, I've seen you do it,
and I always thought it looked fun.
Can I touch you?
How can you wash my hair without touching me?
Okay, I'll give you some hair treatment, too.
Hey...
Stop.
Don't say a word.
You won't forgive me,
and I'll never forgive you.
And that's fine.
Neither of us forgives the other.
That's fine.
We can't let the past be mere water under the bridge.
Even so, there's no reason that we can't come together.
That's the conclusion I've come to, after thinking
for these past three or four months.
What do you think, my master?
I'm surprised to hear that you were thinking that.
You've been thinking for yourself, haven't you?
I've been in your shadow.
So I know.
I can't be sullen forever.
I'm not so small a person.
And it seems you'll never get this unless I tell you directly.
I do like pon-de-ring.
However...
Golden chocolate is my favorite!
So if you're going to buy two, buy those.
Got it.
A wreathe-fire bee.
A supernatural variant of the Asian giant hornet.
Is that...
It's the monster that's afflicting your colossal sister.
Bigger sister. Not colossal.
Just so we're clear, this isn't my knowledge.
It's that kid's.
Can you understand how I felt?
That sleazy little brat spent
every hour of every day filling my head
with useless stories of ghosts and monsters.
And I had to sit there and listen,
without saying a word!
That's horrible!
Black Scene
And this is one of the stories he told me.
The wreathe-fire bee.
I think
it dates back to around the fourteenth or fifteenth century.
A type of infectious disease with no known cause.
The disease starts with a
fever so high that it renders its victims unable to move,
proceeding until their death.
In the end, hundreds of people did die.
It was a long time before a famous onmyoji stopped it.
Supposedly, this was written in some scroll or another.
"They were stung by a bee that could not be touched,
and their bodies were wreathed in flames," it said.
Karen is the type
who hates to show weakness.
And I'll be honest when I say I didn't notice a thing.
But she was under considerable stress.
She was running a bad fever.
Hanekawa said she felt like,
she was covered in flames.
In other words, she was really sick.
Jeez...
So that's why Hanekawa was covering for her.
I still think it's her own fault.
Her own fault?
You're really tough on your family...
Well, I've been watching for a long time,
so I can't say this surprises me.
But even so,
while I'm not certain I agree
with your former class president,
I really am surprised.
Former class president?
She's still class president, you know.
I don't think I'm being harsh.
But either way, I guess this Kaiki guy
used a supernatural monster to poison my sister.
I don't know if that's possible, but...
It's possible.
Doable, certainly.
But...
If we believe what your tsundere told us,
Kaiki was a fake and a con man.
That's true...
Of course,
there's no reason
a fake can't do what the real thing would.
And it's possible for a fake
to be more real than the real thing.
True...
Certainly,
it's possible for someone to be
unskilled as a specialist, but still a master con artist.
Unskilled as a specialist...
Black Scene
But in that case,
they'd be an even bigger problem than someone who's good at it.
Anyone who would bend the supernatural to their will without the
proper talents isn't acting as a normal person would.
Their lack of skill isn't the issue.
They're not even human.
It would be more accurate to say
that they themselves are a supernatural monster.
Well, I can ask Senjougahara about that.
In fact, I don't have a choice.
The problem is how to get her...
Well, I suppose there's no point in faking this in front of you.
Karen-chan...
How to get her symptoms down.
Black Scene
Shinobu, could you eat her disease?
Unfortunately...
The disease is merely the result.
I could make a tasty snack of the bee,
but I can't eat the result of a bee sting.
That's right.
Hmm...
Then what?
Did Oshino say anything about dealing with a wreathe-fire bee?
Did he?
I think he might have,
but his lectures tended to wander all over the place...
Come to think of it,
it's been a long time since I last had a bath.
Ha ha.
Has it?
Yup.
Maybe four hundred years.
A scale beyond my power to imitate.
What are you staring at?
If you're staring this closely at a young girl's naked body,
does that make you a true pervert?
No, that's not what I...
Your passionate gaze
is stimulating my imagination a little bit.
Nothing exciting...
For example,
what do you think would happen if I started to scream
so loudly that the whole house could hear?
Just stuff like that.
Of course, if you were to offer me
a giant pile of donuts to keep my mouth shut,
I would be willing to negotiate.
Go ahead and try.
You and I are one.
Since you can't leave my shadow,
it'll be bad for you, too.
If nothing else,
you'll never get any more Mister Donuts.
Ha ha.
I see, then.
So that's your answer. I guess you've grown up a little, my master.
Onii-chan, how long will you be taking that bath?
You were going to listen to my story next, right?
Umm...
Huh?
Onii-chan, where's that girl?
Girl?
What are you talking about?
Don't say nonsensical things during an emergency.
Stupid girl...
Maybe I imagined it.
Definitely!
There was no girl with bright golden hair, pale white skin, and a flat chest,
who spoke in a haughty, old-style voice,
but appeared to be around eight years old.
You imagined it.
Really...
Well, whatever.
I'll let it slide.
Anyway, Onii-chan, your bath is taking quite a while.
How long will you be?
I'll be out in a second.
Wait in the living room.
Right...
And learn to knock.
You've never said that before!
Since when did you stop being a kid?
Don't get cocky, just because you have some muscle now!
Black Scene
Ha ha.
That was scary...
You have a very violent sister.
Shut up.
By the way, I'm sure this isn't something the kid mentioned...
In fact, he deliberately kept it secret.
But when do you suppose you're going to die?
What does that mean?
Well, you know...
You're mostly human,
but at the same time, you're still part vampire.
What does that mean for your lifespan?
Your toughness may have reverted to human levels.
But it's possible that your lifespan remains that of a vampire.
You retain some of your healing ability.
It's possible you'll live, not four hundred,
but five hundred years like me.
And your lover,
your friends,
your junior classmate,
your little sisters...
All of them are going to die and disappear.
And in the end, it'll just be you and me.
No matter what bonds you forge with others,
time will tear them apart.
Well?
Doesn't thinking about it make you sick?
So here's a plan...
Why don't you kill me,
and go back to being a human for real?
Don't be silly.
It's just like you said.
I won't forgive you,
and you won't forgive me.
That's all there is to it.
And we're done discussing this.
There's nothing left to say.
We live until we die.
Very well, then.
Pray I don't kill you in your sleep,
my master.
Regardless, my life is well past its prime.
I'll while away some of my
remaining time beside you, as your shadow.
But I've no intention of getting along.
Lower your guard, and I'll kill you, then and there.
And so, little by little,
Shinobu and I came to a reconciliation.