Deishuu Kaiki

Deishuu Kaiki
Japanese	貝木 泥舟
Romaji	Kaiki Deishuu
Character Information
Age	Around 30
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Purple
First Appearance	Nisemonogatari
First Chronologic Appearance	Nisemonogatari
Opening Theme	Kogarashi Sentiment
Personal Status
Classification	Human
Occupation	Conman
Production
Voice Actor	Shinichirō Miki

Deishuu Kaiki (貝木 泥舟, Kaiki Deishū) is a conman specializing in imposter oddities and charms. He is known as the first of five con men who swindled the Senjougahara family, as well as selling charms to middle school students.

On one occasion he has used the alias Suzuki. He is the narrator of Koimonogatari.

Appearance

Kaiki is a middle aged and pale man with a very gloomy and dark appearance. He is often seen wearing a funeral suit with a club over the knot of his rather loose necktie. He has an unsmiling face with eyes that either appear indifferent or piercing. His hair is worn back with two bangs hanging down and trying to reach the bridge of his nose. In Koimonogatari he is shown having a cold shower to make his skin deathly blue-pale.

In most of Koimonogatari, he wears a typical trench coat with his hair down short and shaggy.

In Hanamonogatari, he goes back to his typical hair, but this time with a neatly trimmed goatee-beard combo and glasses.

Designs for Nisemonogatari

Designs for Koimonogatari

Designs for Hanamonogatari

Personality

Kaiki has a very gloomy personality and subscribes to the view that there is nothing in the world that is inherently true. The only absolute in life for him is money, as it is replaceable and can replace any thing. A schemer at heart, Kaiki has an opaque mind to outsiders. He is fluent in the arts of lying and subterfuge, so his reasoning behind what he says is constantly blurred. He explains his name as "Kai" like a mound of clam shells, and "Ki" like a dead tree.

Kaiki is an individual who prides himself in having no pride. He openly admits to being a conman and an impostor amongst other things. But this is to his advantage as someone who deceives with wordplay extremely well. His interactions with others are very fluid, and he is willing to give and take in order to maximize the outcome, or cut his losses, in his favor.

In Koimonogatari, much more of his character is revealed, especially his own thought process. He keeps his promises despite his lying nature, and has an unexpected system of morals that he adheres to - but only if motivated to do so because he must personally benefit from the situation. Kaiki seems to takes warnings or "pieces of advice" as challenges, such as when Gaen and an unknown messenger (later revealed to be Senjougahara) had told him to "pull out" of his current job. Senjougahara explained to him afterwards that she had purposefully did it to motivate him.

Despite the fact that he is very scheming, he seems to miss obvious conclusions. When he found the letter in his hotel room, he assumed that some third party (That wasn't Gaen or Senjougahara) had found a way to get in, but it was pointed out by Senjougahara that it could be as simple as throwing the envelope under the door. When trying to deceive Nadeko, he came up with the simple scheme of earning her trust so he can tell her that Araragi and co. were in a traffic accident so that she wouldn't kill them. It is worth mentioning that Kaiki already knew Araragi is almost immortal, and Nadeko had beaten him within an inch of his life many times within a short period, so she would have some idea of how much punishment his body can actually take, making something like a traffic accident seem less than lethal. During a discussion with Hanekawa, she described Nadeko as "snubbing everyone out", never letting others get close to her. Kaiki didn't change his plan despite knowing that she had never trusted others, and subsequently failed at deceiving her.

Background

Kaiki is a fake specialist who knows about paranormal creatures, but does not believe in them, so he prefers working as a conman by manipulating those who believe in oddities or just using his knowledge to make money by fooling people. He went to the same college as Meme Oshino, Yozuru Kagenui, Tadatsuru Teori and Izuko Gaen where he learned about paranormal activity in the Occult Research Club.

Kaiki was the first of five conmen that Hitagi Senjougahara consulted to treat her weightlessness problem prior to Oshino and Koyomi Araragi helping her with it, but he tricked her father, took all their money and left without any help. It is later revealed that the reason he tricked Hitagi's family to the point where her parents were forced to divorce was because he thought that Hitagi had no future as long as her mother was still in that family. Basically, he did all of it for Hitagi's sake.

He also appears to have a friendly relationship with the Gaen household. When considering whether or not to help Koyomi and Senjougahara, his only motivation was that he was helping Suruga Kanbaru, Izuko Gaen's niece indirectly. It is revealed that in the past, he had feelings for Tooe Gaen (Suruga's mother) and made a promise to keep her daughter safe before she died. 

Plot

Hitagi Crab

This section contains content from Bakemonogatari.
Hitagi Senjougahara shows initial distrust in Meme Oshino on account of having 5 con men swindle her before. Though not mentioned directly, Kaiki was the first, and his influence is what tore her family apart.

Nadeko Snake

Making no direct appearance, he's the one who spread charms at Nanahyakuichi Public Middle School, indirectly causing the Jagirinawa curse to be placed on Nadeko Sengoku.

Karen Bee

This section contains content from Nisemonogatari.
Deishuu is introduced as a shady character Koyomi sees in front of the Kanbaru Residence. Kaiki was trying to figure if "there's any business he could do", pertaining to Suruga and her hand, but since Koyomi already helped her, he doesn't find it interesting or profitable, so he leaves. Koyomi thinks that Kaiki reminds him of Meme Oshino, but is more like Guillotine Cutter than the familiar oddity specialist.

Later, Koyomi finds that that his sister Karen Araragi met Kaiki while searching for someone who sold charms around nearby middle schools. Karen later found him with the help of Tsubasa Hanekawa and faced him by herself, but because of his strong personality she lost her courage. Kaiki poisoned her with a Flame-Wreathe Bee and left after taking her money.

Kaiki later agrees to meet with Hitagi, even knowing that the one calling him was one of his previous victims. Kaiki very easily agrees with everything that Hitagi demanded of him, when she said that she doesn't trust that he would so easily do everything she said, Kaiki answered that he's "just an old man and not a villain as she imagined", Hitagi insulted that "it's not true because he is just a fake" which he's also proudly agrees. After that Deishuu reveals that Wreathe-fire Bee, the oddity that "stung" Karen, is nothing more than a fake that everyone believes is true, so his sister would be fine soon, and agreed to leave city as soon as possible, admitting that Hitagi had become a very normal and boring girl than he had known before and suggests that Hitagi had a crush on him, before finally leaving.

Tsukihi Phoenix

Contrary to his promise, Kaiki remained within the town even after the meeting with Hitagi and is found by Koyomi at Mister Donut. His reason for staying is to finish some business and again promises to leave after. Koyomi asks Kaiki about Yozuru Kagenui and Yotsugi Ononoki, who he had met earlier and he tells him about their occupation as specialists in killing immortal creatures.

When Koyomi finds that those two were hunting for his sister Tsukihi Araragi, he also learns that the one who gave them the information about his sister was Kaiki himself.

Koyomi Wind

This section contains content from Koyomimonogatari.
During the same scene at Mister Donut, Kaiki explains how he spread rumors around town when he swindled middle schoolers.

Hitagi End

This section contains content from Koimonogatari.
Kaiki claims to have spent New Year's Eve for the fun of observing people throw away their money and to observe their ecology. During his visit, he received a call from Senjougahara trying to give him a job request to deceive someone. While he initially feigned ignorance, a string of lies followed with Senjougahara playing along with his lies end up having him having to fly to Okinawa to meet her.

Upon his arrival at the airport, they decided to meet up in a cafe in the airport. Kaiki arrived at the cafe, and upon seeing Senjougahara with a pair of Groucho glasses, he felt a sense of defeat. Feeling indignant, he bought and wore a hawaiian shirt and sunglasses to wear during his rendezvous with Senjougahara. After Senjougahara resulted laugh caused her to spit out her drink upon seeing him, he silently proclaimed his victory before they started conversing.

Senjougahara then proceeds to repeat her request for him to deceive someone, saying that it's his atonement and threatening him in the process. She then explains the details of her request, telling him about the target that she wants deceived: the now current Snake-god, Sengoku Nadeko. She then tells him that Araragi, Shinobu, and herself were going to be killed by Nadeko after her graduation if nothing was done. While Kaiki asserts that he can successfuly deceive Sengoku Nadeko, he does not immediately accept the job as he realizes that deceiving Sengoku Nadeko would not bring in any money at all. When Senjougahara offers 100,000 Yen upfront, he says it's not enough, and he later further asserts that no matter the amount Senjougahara can provide, it wouldn't be enough. He then goes to the toilet to contemplate if he has any reasons to possibly aid Senjougahara and Araragi.

His train of thought brings him toward many possible moral (and not so moral) reasons for him to help, such as atoning for his past or helping an innocent girl. However, for each reason he comes up with, he concludes that it's not an acceptable reason for him to accept the job. His conclusion was that there's nothing in it for him, and he would only stand to lose by accepting the job. He then remembers certain details about Kanbaru Suruga and comes to a conclusion that she is somehow connected to Senjougahara and Araragi. He then decides that he is willing to save his bitter enemies and deceive Sengoku Nadeko "for the sake of Kanbaru Suruga." He then accepts the 100,000 Yen from Senjougahara only to have to pay for her return flight. 

After the meeting, Kaiki starts investigating and interacting with Snake-god Nadeko for a month. During his interactions and investigations, Kaiki is visited by Yotsugi Ononoki on behalf of Izuko Gaen to keep out of the case concerning the snake-god Nadeko. In the last visit by Ononoki, she confronts Kaiki about how his actions of dissolving the cult that manipulated Hitagi's mother and other acts of his were actually part of his inner side and that he would fail, because he was doing that again for Nadeko's case all which were acts that were not like his usual self. At the time close to the death date, Kaiki then successfully "tricks" Nadeko into becoming a human again. As he was leaving the temple grounds, Kaiki was attacked by a middleschool boy who possibly had originally placed the Jagirinawa curse on Nadeko in Nadeko Snake. Before Kaiki lost conciousness, he heard the boy mention that he had gained information from Ougi about Kaiki's whereabouts and wondered about the person who had stalked him during his investigation on Nadeko and why the name mentioned sounded familiar. The boy attacked Kaiki's limp body again before Kaiki was left to bleed in the snow. Kaiki's fate is left unknown.

Suruga Devil

This section contains content from Hanamonogatari.
It was later revealed that Kaiki did survive as he was able to meet Kanbaru when she was a Third year in High school. Kaiki was also sporting a beard.

Catchphrases / Running Gags

• "The lesson to learn here is to________"
• Referring to Suruga Kanbaru as "Legacy of Gaen."
• "Don't trust. Doubt."

Trivia

• He is the only male character of the series so far who has sung an opening theme (albeit along with a female).

Appears In

• Nisemonogatari
• Hanamonogatari
• Koimonogatari
• Koyomimonogatari

Gallery

Kaiki in his ominous first appearance in Nisemonogatari.

Kaiki as he appears in most of Koimonogatari with his hair down.

Kaiki as he appears in Hanamonogatari

Cameo in Koyomimonogatari with bandages to his head.