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In the visual novel Rewrite, there is a conversation between 咲夜, ちはや and 瑚太郎 (the MC)

Context: This is 咲夜’s first scene in the game, and so far the only thing we know about him is that he is somehow involved with ちはや. 瑚太郎 tries to ask him what he really is, but doesn’t really get too much information. This is how the conversation goes:

咲夜 -「そうですね…言うなれば私はちはやさんの」
「ナイト」
「といったところでしょうか」
瑚太郎 -「…はあ、そうですか」
詮索する気が失せた…。
暖簾に腕押しってワケではないが、なんかひらひらしたのに構ってても、結局何にも得られないような気がする。

What does “ひらひらしたのに構ってても” mean exactly?

I didn’t find a relevant meaning for ひらひら, and I am also confused why it’s in past tense, nominalised with の, and used with に構う?

Mernn1
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So ひらひらしたの is the same as ひらひら(と)した人 or literally, "a fluttering one". It actually refers to "a noren-like person" in this context. This is a unique description of someone who does not give concrete feedback when you throw words at him. Another example of ひらひらとした物 is a bullfighter's cape, so you may imagine it to grasp the feeling of the sentence.

naruto
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The key to understating this without knowing the personalities is (暖簾{のれん}に腕押｛うでお｝し).

It is a proverb which literally translates to pushing a curtain (that's often at a shop or restaurant entrance in Japan.) It means fighting a light and fluttering thing like a curtain doesn't get you much. It signifies fruitlessness of or disappointment by one's act.

  • ひらひらした　−　that is fluttering
  • 奴と - with a person
  • 構う - deal with

The curtain reference shows a disappointment or fruitless feeling. And the following lines, after he heard the knight reference, by 瑚太郎 reinforces it.

詮索する気が失せた - I lost an appetite to ask 結局何にも得られないような気がする。- I don't think I can gain anything (from this)

In other words, the answer that claimed herself to be someone's knight must have been so disappointing, out of mark, or unexpectedly silly that he felt as if wrestling with a fluttering curtain trying to make it confess something important.

Kentaro
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