The title is portmanteau of tsuki, "possess", and monogatari, "story".
Publisher's Summary
"Please!—Do it, and get it over with." Slowly but surely, Koyomi Araragi, who "has been averting his eyes from reality", has no choice but to face it. February comes, and the college entrance exam is approaching. What is this "change" that is happening to his body that cannot be overlooked? The "Monogatari" begins to sprint towards its conclusion. This is Oddity taking place in the modern world! In a story of youth, a word of farewell is inevitable.
Synopsis
After the events of Hitagi End, Araragi is trying to focus on studying for the college entrance exam. One morning, he fights with Araragi Tsukihi about who should take a bath first. In the end, they decide to take a bath together, and they wash each other's hairs. Looking at the mirror in the bathroom, Araragi finds that he can’t see his reflection in the mirror, a phenomenon that only true vampires have. He talks to Shinobu about this problem, and she suggests asking the expert who specializes in immortal Oddity, Kagenui Yozuru and her familiar Ononoki Yotsugi. He uses his phone to mail Gaen Izuko asking for Kagenui’s contact information. As he is preparing to write the mail, he receives a mail from Gaen, who says she has already made arrangements for Araragi to meet Ononoki Yotsugi tonight. Araragi tells Karen and Tsukihi to sleep over at Kanbaru's place tonight, since he is worried that Kagenui will attempt to kill Tsukihi again.
Araragi and Shinobu go to an arcade later that night to meet Ononoki and Kagenui. After Ononoki examines Araragi’s body, Kagenui concludes that he is slowly turning into a vampire. What caused this condition was not because he had been giving Shinobu a small amount of his blood in order for her to live. It was rather because Araragi has constantly been letting Shinobu suck a large amount of his blood to regain his vampire powers. For the past months, Araragi has been repeatedly using this method in order to gain enough strength to fight various Oddity. This was especially the case when Sengoku Nadeko turned into the snake god, and Araragi had been fighting her at the shrine practically every day. Araragi has relied so much on his vampire powers that he is turning into a vampire himself, independent of Shinobu. Currently, his condition is relatively light and the only obvious symptoms are lack of reflection and a relatively fast regeneration ability. Kagenui tells him that it’s impossible to reverse the condition, but he can stop the condition from getting worse by never using his vampire powers again. Currently, Araragi and Shinobu are recognized as harmless within Gaen’s circle of Oddity experts. However, Kagenui warns him that if his condition worsens, then she will have no choice but to kill him.
As they are talking, Kagenui receives a call from Gaen. Gaen reports that Kanbaru and Araragi’s sisters have just been visited by a very dangerous Oddity expert, Teori Tadatsuru. Teori is also an expert in immortal Oddity, which means Tsukihi is in danger. Ononoki immediately takes Araragi to Kanbaru’s residence using her Unlimited Rulebook ability. When they arrive, they find that no one is in the house, and they find a single origami crane in the bedroom. As soon as Araragi touches the paper crane, it multiplies into a thousand paper cranes. Realizing that Kanbaru and the other have been kidnapped by Teori, they go back to meet Kagenui, bringing the cranes as the only clue. Kagenui explains that Teori was a former member of Gaen’s occult club in college along with Kagenui, Kaiki Deishu, and Oshino Meme. Teori along with others in the club created Ononoki Yotsugi using a hundred-year-old corpse. A dispute occurred with who should have possession of Ononoki. Both Kaiki and Oshino backed down as they were not interested in her, but argument ensued between Teori and Kagenui. In the end Kagenui claimed possession of Ononoki, Teori left their circle. Stilling holding the grudge, Teori now works outside of Gaen’s circle of Oddity experts. He is dangerous because of this, and Kagenui warns that he is very unpredictable. Teori’s real target is Araragi, not Tsukihi. He is using Kanbaru, Karen, and Tsukihi as hostages. Because Teori is outside of Gaen’s circle of influence, the fact that Araragi is recognized as harmless is meaningless to Teori. In Teori’s eyes Araragi is a vampire-hybrid that is also harboring Shinobu, and must be eliminated. Kagenui finds a message within one of the thousand cranes, and it indicates the Kitashirahebi Shrine. Kagenui has Ononoki accompany Araragi to the shrine, and tells them she will catch up later. Along the way, Ononoki tells Araragi that Kagenui actually wanted Teori to have possession of Ononoki at first, but Ononoki herself chose Kagenui in the end.
When they reach the shrine, Araragi has Ononoki sneak up to the shrine from the other side to search for the hostages while he faces Teori in order to buy her some time. Araragi sees Teori waiting in front of the shrine. Teori tells Araragi that someone sent him a request to eliminate Araragi and Shinobu. Whoever sent him the request knew Teori is outside of Gaen’s influence. However, he feels like he has been casted for a role in a movie because the timing seemed too perfect. It’s like someone is directing everyone’s actions. Teori claims that the only two people who are not being controlled or being “casted” right now are Kaiki and Meme. Teori asks Araragi to find Meme, as he is the only hope for solving the recent abnormalities. Refusing to be casted as the character that fights Araragi, Teori asks Ononoki, who has been right behind him, to kill him. Ononoki kills Teori with Unlimited Rulebook without any hesitation, obliterating him into dust. Araragi is traumatized as he just witnessed a murder. Ononoki tells him that the reason why she killed Teori is not because she was trying to protect him, but because she is a monster, (“bakemono”).
Aferwards, they find Kanbaru and the others in the shrine. They are still asleep, and they don’t seem to be harmed. Araragi and Ononoki send them back, still asleep, to Kanbaru’s place, and Araragi goes home. He is reminded about what Teori said about casting roles. He thinks that Teori perhaps was “casted” in order for him to witness the seemingly cute and innocent Ononoki kill a man in cold blood. This way, Araragi can never look at Ononoki the same way again.
The next day is Valentine's Day, and Araragi goes to Senjougahara's house, and Senjougahara makes him chocolate. He tells her about his current vampire condition. Senjougahara seems relatively calm about this news. She doesn't think it's too serious if the only obvious symptom is not being able to see his reflection. Araragi and Senjougahara are still hopeful that they can have a normal life together. After Araragi goes home, he is shocked to find Ononoki pretending to be a doll in his sister’s room. Ononoki says if the purpose of last night’s event was to create a distance between her and Araragi, then Gaen and Kagenui suggests Ononoki purposely work against this “casting” by staying close to him. As a result, Ononoki will be staying at Araragi’s house until this town stabilizes.
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