A new story that I'm writing because I honestly don't know what to do with Our Last Hope at the moment. It's one of those stories in which you've planned out multiple blueprints set out for the perfect ending but don't exactly know how to fill in the middle.

I have to fill the middle with the plot provided in the manga but keeping it somewhat irrelevant to set up the ending. It's annoying, and I don't wanna write out a written version of what you see in the manga.

So that's why I'm doing a Monogatari Series fanfic. That series is very versatile, and to add on to that, this fanfic is occurs after Zokuowarimonogatari (Or rather, Hanamonogatori). SPOILER ALERT!

Disclaimer: The entire Monogatori Series belong to Nisio Ishin, so don't sue me.

001

I'd never thought that it'll turn out this way.

I'd thought it had all ended after I'd brought the 'mirror inverse' into reality.

What a lie.

I, Araragi Koyomi, was very much a fool. To think that nothing would happen after I'd changed the very state of the entire world was foolish.

That is, as normal life can be for a half-vampire.

It wasn't even two months since the "Koyomi Reverse" incident (yes, we decided to call it that) when another major issue occurred.

It hadn't really been a big issue at the time, but after being graciously informed by Gaen Izuko of the state of being the Kita-Shirahebi Shrine, we'd all known that this had to be dealt with sometime.

Preferably sometime soon, she'd said.

Speaking of 'we', I mean Kanbaru, Shinobu, and I. Of course Hanekawa-san figured it out, she does know everything. And she says that she only knows what she knows.

Hanekawa-san told Senjougahara— that is, she threatened to kill me if I didn't spill and Hanekawa-san filled her in.

That's not the main point here— let's gets back on track.

Oikura Sodachi has become aware of aberrations for a while now— well, since the events of late month.

Oi-oi-oi-OI… Don't look there, that not a story to tell yet.

Anyhow, Oikura and I went over to the Kita-Shirahebi Shrine the other day to 'officially celebrate her re-establishment.'

I don't know why she chose this location— or rather; it was certainly odd that she'd want to come to a hotpot for aberrations with ill intent.

If I was any other person, I'd assume that she'd want to go there to pray to the god and wish for good luck. Even if I wasn't the aberration known as Araragi Koyomi, I would have thought it was strange. It was common knowledge in this town that the Kita-Shirahebi Shine was run-down and unoccupied by any god of any sort. It had been that way for 15 years now and it was most likely not going to change.

Oh wait. Did I forget again? Hachikuji's the god of that temple now. It's most definitely not run-down anymore.

…

Before we really start, let me recap a bit.

A while back, I fought with myself, Oshino Ougi. She (or he? Oshino is me after all) was an aberration that formed from the inner desires that I'd kept deep inside myself.

Similar to how Gaen Tooe created the Rainy Devil, I created Ougi. I, the half-vampire, useless, 19 year old named Araragi Koyomi, created an aberration. And a strong one at that. An aberration that can mimic human behavior so perfectly that even Hanekawa didn't realize was created by me?

I'd thought it was a lie that Gaen was telling me. I was not someone special, not someone that could shake the entire world. I wasn't Shinobu, or rather, the iron-blooded, cold-blooded, hot-blooded, vampire Kiss-shot Acerola-Orion Heart-under-Blade.

But I was indeed the her second minion, the one formerly acknowledged to be the second most powerful being to grace this land. Even if it was a former status, it would mean that even someone as trivial as I am can do such a thing.

So I fought this 'fake' Darkness that was myself. I revealed the true identity of Ougi. With that, a 'real' Darkness came and swallowed my arm.

Why was it my arm and not Ougi, you ask? It was because I'd shoved her out of the way at the last minute. My arm was taken, but soon after, bone and tissue started shooting out of my stump and reforming the limb I'd lost.

In the end, Oshino-san ended up returning after being trapped by Ougi's barrier and officially claimed her as his niece.

It was a very strange, roundabout way to solve the issue, but it saved my life. Or should I use 'our' instead? I mean, Ougi finally showed emotion of her own. Doesn't that constitute her as 'separate' from me?

Now that I think about it— Gaen was really right. All of this was my fault, and a heavy responsibility weighs me down.

If I'd let Kissshot be, Seishirou would have saved her. Kaiki would save Senjougahara; Oshino would probably save Kanbaru. And so on and so forth. It was like that.

I'd never needed to save them in the first place. Someone else would have saved them in my place, and I would be living a perfectly fine human life right now.

That's not what happened and we all know it. If I were, for say, given the chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't even hesitate to save them all.

I'd fight everyone all over again just so they can be saved. That's the kind of man I am, the lowest of the lowest scum that surprisingly has a heart.

…

Oh well. This is really the most I can do at the moment. However, if I start telling the story now, like a rock rolling downhill, it will soon become increasingly difficult to stop midway. But just for good measure, for the worst case, in case my resolve fell short and I am unable to finish, I want to announce in advance how this story ends.

This story about vampires has a bad end.

It's inevitable that everyone will receive an ending where they became unhappy at least once in their lifetime. Still, precisely because it has a hellish ending, the chain of events that hasn't ended and will likely never end will continue on for the rest of my immortal live.

…

I have this eerie sense of déjà vu. Perhaps I have stated these words sometime before. Not that it matters anymore…

For those who have read the light novels, you know that the first chapter is mostly an introduction to the story that is going to be presented. Therefore, it is very short. It has around 850 words, and the one I wrote here has about a 1,000 so don't complain to be that it's too short.

This story is most definitely not a carbon copy of Nisio Isin's works, as I am clearly not well-versed in Japanese nor am I or Japanese descent (even though Chinese is close but whatever).

Back to the main point—

I'm not Nisio-senpai, so I'm writing this the how I view the story, characters, and that stuff.

Next chapter is going to be around 5,600 words, (because the guy just likes to write that much). Until then, ja ne!