Bakemonogatari, Part 3: Monster Tale (Bakemonogatari, #1, Part 3)

A class president among class presidents, a bespectacled model student who soars to the top of honors lists without fail, Tsubasa Hanekawa also happens to be a decent human being. True, she does have a habit of making single-minded assumptions, but they come from a good place and turn out to be fortuitous as often as not. Loser extraordinaire Koyomi Araragi owes her his post of class vice president and a more significant debt of gratitude for her unstinting support during the darkest spring break of his life. All of it has blinded him to the possibility that his saintly classmate’s family situation might be no less adverse than that of his other lady friends. Thus, at last, we face Hanekawa’s unlikely aberration in “Tsubasa Cat”—the concluding part of the legendary novel that captured the sensibilities of a new generation in the aught years and spawned an animated series that has won international popularity and acclaim—before the story continues with a Fake Tale... There's A Girl At Their School Who Is Always Ill. She Routinely Arrives Late, Leaves Early, Or Doesn't Show Up At All, And Skips Gym As A Matter Of Course. She's Pretty, And The Boys Take To Whispering That She's A Cloistered Princess. As The Self-described Worst Loser In Her Class Soon Finds Out, They Just Don't Know What A Monster She Is. So Begins A Tale Of Mysterious Maladies That Are Supernatural In Origin Yet Deeply Revealing Of The Human Psyche, A Set Of Case Files As Given To Unexpected Feeling As It Is To Irreverent Humor. So Begins The Legendary Novel That Kicked Off The Monogatari Series, Whose Anime Adaptations Have Enjoyed International Popularity And Critical Acclaim. This First Of Three Parts Introduces Senjogahara And Hachikuji, And Fans Of The Blockbuster Prequel Kizumonogatari Will Be Delighted To Meet Their Favorite Crazies Again: The Weirdly Reliable Narrator Araragi, Class President Among Class Presidents Hanekawa, Shady Problem-solver Oshino, And A Certain Pale, Blonde Former Vampire.