The concept of real vs. fake is propagated in the next arc, focusing on Koyomi's other sibling, Tsukihi Araragi. Being the other Fire Sister, she is also a proponent of justice, but not necessarily to the degree that Karen is, and she almost seems to feel obligated to being a Fire Sister as opposed to truly finding herself and her sense of purpose in the overzealous intervention of other people's issues. AGAIN, Spoilers ahead.
At first glance, she certainly is tamer than her sister, and seems to be more generally soft-spoken. That is a facade. Do not believe that; when unsettled she is far more threatening to behold than Karen.
Since Tsukihi is the focus of this arc, she is also the focus of the real/fake conundrum; however, unlike the last arc, it's more of a literal case due to the nature of who and what Tsukihi is rather than an issue of morals or internal struggle; however, this induces an internal struggle in Koyomi that puts him at odds with one of Gaen senpai's students (to put this into context, two of the three have been at least referred to already in previous posts, those being Meme Oshino and Kaiki Deishu.), Kagenui, and her shikigami Ononoki, who by nature has rather strange abilities. Unfortunately, Araragi doesn't know until they show up at his house and one of the worst possible things that could happen to Tsukihi, does.
So at this point, Koyomi is in an unbridled fit of rage that only ceases when he realizes that Tsukihi isn't quite dead. Kagenui explains how she's a phoenix and is more or less immortal; a bird apparition that shoves itself into a pregnant woman's womb, who gives birth to her as her own child, but is actually immortal; at the end of it's life the phoenix dies, but reincarnates itself, renewing the process.
Kagenui hunts immortal apparitions. She hunts them because they disgust her; she views them to be in violation of reality's rules and holds a firm, black and white view of everything. Good is good, evil is evil; what is wrong must be righted and brought to justice. In a manner of speaking she is like a specialist version of the Fire Sisters. This is basically her reasoning behind trying to kill Tsukihi. She's a blight, an issue; she's a fake. A fake that infiltrated Koyomi's family and masqueraded as a human, an unmistakable threat to humanity. This revelation and Kagenui's motivation are what fuels Koyomi's confusion; he is once again greeted with the real vs. fake conundrum but in a different way. His sister that he's grown up with and protected and adored all his life isn't human, but a supernatural apparition. Does this change what she means to him, who she is? Koyomi considers the ramifications and ultimately comes to a realization: what she is doesn't change who she is. She's still her sister, with the same mannerisms, attitudes and personality. She'll still scare the crap out of him when she's angry; even if she's not truly physically human, inside herself, all her life, she has treated herself and emulated humanity, and what makes people human is present within her as much as within anybody else; she doesn't know she's immortal and Koyomi plans to keep it that way.
So he confronts Kagenui
After the initial battle, he reconfronts her in another manner.
And so, Koyomi manages to convince Kagenui to leave them alone, succeeding in his endeavor while simultaneously realizing his own perception of the fake vs. real conundrum as it applies to her sister, in addition to how it applied to Karen, and the lessons he learned guide his decisions in the future as he makes his way through life.
This arc concludes Nisemonogatari, and with it the story about the Fire Sisters, who will later show up and continue to be awesome.
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