Zaregoto

is a Japanese light novel series written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Take. The series was published in Japan between February 2002 and November 2005 by Kodansha Books in nine volumes. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Nisio's debut in 2022, the tenth volume of the series was released on February 8, 2023. The series was followed by a seven-volume spin-off series also published by Kodansha Books, the series, focusing on the Zerozaki clan. A second spin-off series focused on Jun Aikawa titled series was serialized in the Mephisto magazine, and was collected by Kodansha in five volumes. The first two volumes of Zaregoto were initially released in North America by Del Rey Manga, but have since been republished by Vertical, which also released the third volume. An eight-episode original video animation series adaptation of the first volume by Shaft was released between October 2016 and September 2017.

==Plot== The story revolves around a narrator, whose name is never mentioned, and the mysteries he encounters. After the second book, the series starts including more and more fighting and action. The narrator tends to try, in vain, to stay out of the story, but instead of being the bystander he wants to be, he always gets dragged into the center of everything. Even though it seems the narrator does a lot in the story, he always finds out at the end that whatever he accomplished was meaningless.