How far can you go in the desire to help a lost child? In Araragi’s case—now returned to his role as a storyteller—the answer lies far beyond the veil of time. Obediently (though unconsciously) following Hachikuji’s bold omen, he takes care of his young friend and her fate in this part of the cult cycle, heroically unable to find his own way home. Thus, this story is about the journey itself: a dark honeymoon, a trip into the past he made together with the inhabitant of his shadow, Shinobu. Even though she’s an actor who doesn’t respect chronology, giving her meta-comments, she takes the cake—or the doughnut—by rewinding the hours to kick off this twisted road movie that, in a spatial sense, really leads nowhere. It’s Kabuki, but not the theater—rather a story with a distinct “deviation,” like in a distorted vision of the world, like in the image of bohemia. Or maybe it’s about the legendary vampire who once sought death, and a high school boy who once fell out of life, doing everything possible to care for the discouraging wealth of deviations in a provincial town. (c)