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yatorihell · 4 months

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Noragami Reread Volume 18-21

We've finally come back to the original wish, and there's a lot of foreshadowing going on... I wish I had Discord emojis

Vol 18

Takemika and Yato still fist fighting in the background as their guides chat

Kiun defending Takemika's actions from Sekiun

This is the first time we've seen Nora get banged up this badly

Nana sees a whole army and is ready to catch hands I love her

Kazuma shows up to stop Bishamon and the whole flashback of him hold her hand

'I will always be by your side' (40 chapters later)

God remember when this chapter dropped and so did Kazuma hhfg

The whole flashback of Kazubisha then going to current situation I hate this manga

Who's that beefcake god Yato took the garment from hello

'You will never save anyone' vs recent chapter

Father neck cut tracker: 1

Baby Yato panel and then he just obliterates Heaven

'I'm not letting dad kill another drinking buddy' then he slashes her

Oh I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad that Kazuma is carried away

Oh I'm so sad Adachitoka I'm going to kill myself in front of you that flashback to choki vs the bloody ear I'll never forgive you

Oh yes we're back to tying up Yato

I PROMISE I WON'T LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU

Hiyori imagining Yato dying like Ebisu then going to be useful find Bishamon

Yato popping off on heaven

Amaterasu reveal followed by immediate death sentence hshdh

BOXKINE ARRIVES @boxkine I miss you <3

God remember when we got that memory page and dissected the hell out of it, thentheories on what container it was

Tenjin coming in clutch with the trial by pledge

Remember the reaction to Tsuyu getting beheaded jsbdbn Tenjin and Yato's faces when it happens

Daikoku volunteering I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad

Yato's reaction to it all I hate this

Yukine memories breaking through nsbdb hell

Yato's dark nature seeping out why couldn't you show it to us king

Oh remember how bad this cliffhanger was with the fact Kofuku is a bad luck charm

Volume 19

Oh Hiyori's hand on Yato's face she's so relieved

Small trio panel jsbd

Kofuku’s guilt over not wanting to risk Daikoku but tbf they all acknowledge they wouldn't risk their own guides

Hiyori waiting for Yukine to fall asleep before leaving him

Yukine's bloody nails not a foreshadowing at all

Kuraha scratching the door, poor thinvs stuck in form until Bishamon wakes up in 5 years

Arahabaki faking Nana's death to bring her home

'I abandoned my little girl' there are several daddy issues in this manga

Yukine trauma getting stuck in the dark it gets worseee

Adachitoka sweetening us up with happy trio panel as if they didn't just traumatise Yukine

Time for a lughthearted chapter of Ebisu getting kidnapped

Kunimi bargaining for vacation time as if Ebisu's life isn't on the line

Kunimi with no sleep is how I feel

Little Nora is so innocent she won't kill you

Ebisu not cared for and he knows he'll be replaced, but at this point it's child neglect

'Death doesn't mean the end of flesh it's the end of memories' running of the most recent chapter live laugh lobotomy

Hiyori being useful finding Ebisu with scent

Remember the superkunimi photoshop trend we did

Oh Hiyori and Yukine height difference grows I'm so sad

Yukine having a scary dream but it was Yato and he felt better

WILL THEY HAVE TO FACE IT EVENTUALLY

I WANT TO BE HERE WATCHING OVER THEM

Adachitoka is really giving the trio content before separating them for like 5 years

Hiyori narcolepsy plot finally returns

SO EVEN AFTER I GROW UP I WANT TO REMEMBER IT

Oh look at all the photos I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad

Hiyori shooting down the flash mob idea and it happens anyway

THOSE COLD DEAD EYES I mean it's accurate

Yato thinking Bishamon can come as if she isn't hanging by a thread

Takemika joining because he thinks it'll teach him how to be like Yato hdhd

Nora fuck off I forgot what you're about to do

Oh they're at the naming place I'm so sad

ALTHOUGH YOU MAY STUMBLE AND LOSE YOUR WAY I'M HERE TO CALL OUT YOUR NAME there is a gun in my mouth

Oh I'm going to end it the blossoms and his real name is spring tree oh I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad

Hiyori's wearing her old uniform and Yato notices she's grown

Nora you fucking slut you ruined the whole chapter (I'm not slut shaming I'm just mad)

Oh Yatori are ao happy it's gunna end so soon

Yato forbidding Yukine's romance ahhg

Takemika just bursting through the roof like it's nothing

God another ablution for Yukine you'd think he'd just come out with it after the last time

Kiun is a whore confirmed

Oh this is the last time the three of them are together I'm so sad it was when Yukine runs off and then jdjdbd

'You think Yaboku's going to come for his daddy's head' yes <3

God what is that face Nora I can't tell if she actually likes Yukine

Nora girl bossing gaslighting herself into Takemika's employ

Oh my god as soon as I saw Hiyori with the bike I realised where I was I hate this

'Maybe you don't even realise when you're in love' what if I died

Yato read her diary NO THATS WHY HE'S DOING IT AAAAAAAA

He's following Bishamons plan I'm so sad

'I KNOW THAT YOU WILL NEVER FORGET ME HIYORI' Oh my god its because he believes he can be reincarnated from Hiyori

'YOU'LL SEE ME AGAIN' YEAH AND YOU'LL BE A CHILD AND HIYORI GETS KILLED

Vol 20

Yato really giving it all up about Father he's finally serious about ending it

'I wanted to be together until the very last second' vs recent chapter

'I still have Hiyori' he's thinking of reincarnation he puts so much belief in her

Arahabaki is basically running an orphanage

Nana hunted a bear for dinner jsbdb

'I don't want anyone taken from me ever again' vs recent chapter

Yato clicking Bishamon is unprotected then flashing to Father killing her oh we were so pressed after this chapter

Oh that intro had us we thought Bishamon reincarnated

Rip Kuguha you duplicitous bitch

Kazuma hatred for himself and everyone else he's microwave meal ready to be your burial vessel

Yato admitting he admired Bishamon and he was jealous as a war god

'I want you to die Yato' isn't that the bloody mood

Iwami not wanting to change history so he lets it repeat over and over watching this child suffer

Kazuma giving Harry Potter vibes with that unbreakable tracking spell on him and Nora

Nora showing up to Yukine saying she's been abandoned and her names are gone this was sus in the first place but we had a few nice chapters from it

Saying it was a lie liking him but Yukine still seems to like her

Oooo Father you're a mean one you're so slimy die

Nora wanted names to fill a void because she's not figured out she wants to live

Yukine wanting to take care of Nora

Yato just name him why do you feel such a way about sharing shinki bsbd

'Sweet innocent girl as a human sacrifice' fucjifbh

Hiyori death forshadowing tracker: 5

'You'll never have Yato' hhdbd probably not

Kazuma projecting his rejection from Bishamon on Hiyori telling her to try confessing to Yato

GODS CANNOT LOVE MORTALS I hate this life

A GOD AND A HUMAN CAN NEVER BE TOGETHER we've just been ignoring the signs <3

I LOVE YATO

Kazuma forcing Yato to name him and kissing his Kazu name I'm unwell

Oh they're both crying same

'So I never forget' girl you're about to forget so hard

'A gentler version of myself would suit him better' fuckifnnf Yukine would be such a good big brother

I'VE ACTUALLY GOT SONEONE I LOVE TOO hellscape

Hiyori's diary must show up in the final chapter it is the catalyst

Tenjin knew she liked Yato all this time jdbd

'They spend countless reincarnations waiting and that something becomes cherished' Oh Yato's going to be waiting for her when she's an old lady like grandpa Iki

'God's love isn't only about giving also taking' vs recent chapter

'Whether you live and forget or die and forget you have to give an answer' I hate this manga

Yukinora hanging out and him treating her like she's alive

'If I'm going to forget it'll be like we never met at all' hate hate hate

Volume 21

Hiyori ignoring the warning from teacher about falling behind and going to look for Yato girl you may as well die

Rekki practice

Father reincarnated into random bodies which is interesting, and he got the powers of a god after returning from yomi?

Yukine daddy issues have been stirred

'Nora died a terrible death'

Oh no Yukine's thinking about his death

Yukine came that close to breaking Daikoku and Kiun

Kofuku knows Yukine's is doomed I hate this, I wonder where they go since they disappear for a while

Yukine starts looking at news articles about people who have died sjd

Nora trying to stop Yukine but it turns out she's not trying she's sowing the seeds for him to seek out Father

'I want to meet my mum and dad' are you sure about that

'I chose to stay on this side, it's fine this way' ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT

'You're smiling and that bothers me' fucking mood

Father's really just a bastard and now Hiyori's cord is damaged

Masaomi forgot Yato but not the shadow or ayakashi which is interesting for Hiyori's future links to Yato

Hiyori death foreshadowing tracker: 6

Masaomi remembers Yato and says was good looking but kind of pathetic djdnnd that's how I like my men

Kazuma doesn't realise Bishamon chose Nana so Kaazuma wouldn't die

Bishamon tear oh she heard it all I'm so sad

Yato in the traffic cone using Takemika as target practice kdnc

I'm not gunna get won over by the Sorcerer' ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT

Oh he's taken the protection charm he believes in it (it doesn't really work <3)

Vomiting is this the last time he sees his home (Kofuku’s)

Poor Ebisu please learn to dress it's not hard

Takemika's messy hair is a look

Daddy Daikoku making a kite with Yukine

Ajshbd coo phone taking a dump on Takemika

Rip Takemika Kofuku is swearing vengeance

So the og plan is the Gods go hunting with Amaterasu without shinki

Yukine you dumb bitch this manga could've ended like 26 chapters early and with significantly less trauma

I'M NOT YUKINE GET THIS OFF ME

I'LL BE TAKING YUKINE

#noragami aragoto #noragami #hiyori #yato #yukine #yatori #goodbyenoragami

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eerna · 3 years

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Look, I am yatori shipper first, but damn Yatoma is such a good flavor. It's the sheer pure drama that it would invoke. It gives me the mental image of Kazuma and Hiyori fighting in a parking lot of a Denny's at 3am with two loaves of bread.

Oh don't worry I totally get it! It's that Takeyato is my Idiot Ship TM, Yatoma makes me too sad vjdmsmsnw

#eernask #eernanon #eernask talk noragami #kazuma: hiyori yato will never love you hes a god go home #hiyori: aw okay: :(#hiyori: .......wait why are you two kissing

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skadventuretime · 3 years

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Golden Hour

Here is my piece for the @noragamibigbang! My artist partner @shinkimiope had such a lovely idea and art to match, so naturally I had to get all sentimental on it. I hope you enjoy!

A midi alarm rang out from a phone on the coffee table. It was perched so delicately on the corner, crowded out as it was by large textbooks and notebook viscera, that it was just a few rings from falling off the table altogether.

Hiyori burst from the bathroom with a toothbrush in one hand and her falling towel in the other. Flecks of toothpaste dotted her lips and her hair was only partly brushed, the half that wasn’t dripping water onto her living room floor. She stuck the toothbrush in her mouth to use that hand to catch her phone as it wobbled off the coffee table.

How is it three already? She turned a frantic eye to the microwave clock as if hoping it would give her a better time, but unfortunately, she was still going to be late.

Helping that study group last night was a bad idea.

Groaning, she hurried to a cabinet placed against the wall in her living room. It was more of a covered shelf, really, made of mismatched driftwood that's been carefully sanded and polished with something that made it glimmer like sunlight on the sea. On the sole high shelf was a shrine, just as carefully made, just as lovingly looked after. Not a speck of dust touched any part of it.

[Read the rest on AO3 or below the cut]

Hiyori clapped her hands together and focused on the shrine's god. Yato, I'm going to be late. Feel free to start setting up without me!

A faint breeze stirred her towel, as if a door had been left open and a summer wind had blown in.

I hear you loud and clear, Yato's voice answered distantly. His scent washed over her, wild and ancient and warm, and she could sense he was smiling through their temporary connection. I can carry things if you've brought too much.

Hiyori exhales around her toothbrush. That’s okay, I’ll be fine. I just lost track of time.

You don’t need to get dressed up on my account.

Yato’s mental voice was teasing, gentle, but it still raised a blush to her face that made her glad he wasn’t there in person. It’s nothing like that, school work just kept me up. See you in twenty?

The wind brushed the back of her neck. See you then.

His presence faded away and so did the breeze. The air around the shrine seemed charged and clean, the space sanctified in the short time of their conversation. It was a testament to how much Yato's power as a god of fortune had grown and how many more people believed in him. She ran her finger over the familiar corner of the shrine one more time before stepping away to finish getting dressed.

She put her hair up in a towel and returned her toothbrush to her bathroom cup before going to the closet. There, she grabbed a simple blouse and skirt and put them on. She added a pair of earrings gifted from Yukine, a bracelet from Daikoku (because he didn’t trust Kofuku to gift her something that wouldn’t cause misfortune), and a purse from Bishamon that was too practical to have been selected without Kazuma’s input. They all glittered in a vague, dreamlike way that anything loved by the gods does, at least to Hiyori’s half-ayakashi eyes. They were holy, and by extension, so was she.

“Late, late, late,” she muttered, scooping up the bento boxes she’d made the night before and heading out the door.

///

The sun felt great upon her skin for the approximately three seconds she was able to feel it before Yato slammed a floppy, wide brimmed hat over her head. "Yato," Hiyori spluttered, raising the brim of the hat so she could see again. "What are you doing?"

"You'll get sunburnt if you don't wear sun protection," he fretted, gesturing to a large parasol set up to shade a blanket laid out on the ground next to Suzuha's tree. "Come on, I'll unpack everything when we get there."

Hiyori hid a smile as she took the hat off. After all this time, Yato still liked to fuss over her. She set her basket down on the blanket and took a moment to listen to the wind sighing through the trees. She never knew Suzuha personally, but she liked to think she knew him a little by the way Yukine would smile when he talked about him, or through the way Yukine took such good care of plants in his stead. Hiyori turned to bring Yato into her thoughts when she caught him staring at her, causing the bottom to drop out of her stomach. Even now, his eyes could make her wonder if this is what it was like to be worshipped.

He spoke first. "Do you want anything to drink?" He pointed to a cooler beaded with condensation. "There's also tea, for later."

"I'm set for now." At his drooping shoulders, she amended, "Fine, I’ll have some tea."

He perked up immediately. "I have it steeping in Tamagahara, I'll be right back!" He blinked out of sight and back within the span of a breath. "Easier to keep hot there," he explained as he gently laid the tray on the blanket.

Fragrant green tea steamed in the cool air. Yato set out small, round mugs and poured her a cup. It was a delicate porcelain, something that sparkled with that same otherworldliness as her other gifts from gods.

Their fingers brushed as he passed it to her, and her heart stuttered. Yato didn’t seem to notice.

“So what’s new with you, Hiyori?” His eyes shone with excitement and curiosity, but there was something else there, too, an over-brightness like when you stub your toe and don’t want your friends to know how much something so small really hurt you.

She took a small sip of tea to gather her thoughts. The last time she’d seen Yato in person was a little over a year and a half ago, although she’d spoken to him more frequently than that. When he’d first talked to her through the shrine, Hiyori had nearly punched a hole in the wall out of surprise, but it did allow them to speak every now and then.

“I already told you about the apartment,” she began, grimacing at the memory of how long it took to convince her family and friends she’d be fine living without a roommate.

“Yeah, it looks great!”

She froze. “You haven’t been in it yet.”

He looked a little abashed. “Well, you see, when we talk through the shrine, I can sort of, you know.” He waved his hand in a nervous flutter. “See through you, a little. Not actual sight, but more like impressions.” He closed his eyes, and his voice got quieter like he was recalling a special memory. “You get good sunlight there, and the air is clean, and you feel safe, right?”

Hiyori took a larger and no less scalding sip of tea. So that divine presence she felt every time she prayed was really..?

“Right, okay, yes. It’s a lovely apartment, Ame helped me move in and Yukine came to set up the furniture.” She smiled at the memory, at how stubbornly Yukine had insisted he could figure out the instructions on his own and how he tried to hide his excitement when she gave him a cheering chibi sticker for his trouble.

“And school’s been going well?”

“As well as it could be. If it isn’t exams I’m studying for, it’s practicals, and I’ve been up late most nights to make time for it all.”

Yato raised a hand as though he wanted to touch her face and then thought better of it. “You have dark circles under your eyes.”

“Staying top of the class won’t happen by getting enough sleep,” Hiyori replied, mostly in jest.

Yato caught her smile and leaned a little closer, close enough that the smell of him wrapped around her like a familiar jacket. “You know what might help? Praying to me for good grades.” His eyes were sparkling with mischief.

“You haven’t told me you’re trying to put Tenjin out of work,” Hiyori laughed.

“Oh yes, I’m cornering his market now.” Yato stood up and did something to his tracksuit to make it flourish like a cape. “Soon even Ebisu will be having to contend with my horde of worshippers.”

An image of Yato in the middle of a swarming crowd of adoring businessmen was enough to make her snort the sip of tea she was sipping right out of her nose, which of course set Yato off, and before she knew it she was wheezing into her empty cup, eyes streaming and hand dripping from the tea that had splashed out.

“All right, so I’m not the best with school or studies,” Yato said when he finally caught his breath. “I have learned something over the last few years, though.”

“Oh?”

“How to help stubborn humans relax.”

Hiyori rolled her eyes. “Does it involve a trip to Capypa Land? Because as much fun as it is to watch you whimper over Capypas, I really need to—“

“No Capypa Land this time,” Yato cut in hastily. “Even though it would be a happypa trip for the whole family,” he muttered. “Yukine made ice cream and demanded that I share some with you. I also have a patented relaxation technique that will have you feeling better in no time!”

“Is that so,” Hiyori said, a smile melting over her lips. “Do I get a refund if it’s not to my liking?”

Yato had begun rummaging through a small cooler during this exchange and looked up to say, grinning, “I’ve never had an unsatisfied customer.”

It was all so easy, the banter, the laughter, the aching muscles in her face. No matter how often Hiyori got to see Yato, each visit felt like coming home.

“So what flavor did Yukine make?” she asked, peering over Yato’s shoulder as he opened up a few containers.

“Salted dark chocolate with optional caramel drizzle.” He put two scoops into a bowl and held up the caramel. “Would you like some?”

“Please,” Hiyori said, delighted. “I didn’t know Yukine took up cooking now, too!”

Yato smiled fondly. “One of Bishamon’s shinki offered to teach him after he was skulking around the kitchens one day. Picked up on it pretty fast, too.” He placed a spoon in the bowl and handed it to her, then put a few scoops in a bowl for himself with a judicious ladle of caramel sauce.

“Ready?” he asked Hiyori, holding up a spoonful of ice cream doused in sauce.

“Ready.” Her own spoon was carefully loaded with just a touch of caramel so she could enjoy the ice cream’s original flavor.

Yato touched their spoons together in a toast before taking his bite, and Hiyori paused to watch his reaction. It had been so long since she had gotten to experience anything new with him; part of her ached to witness every moment.

“It’s good?” she asked, watching his lips curve up around the spoon.

“That kid really goes all the way when he learns something new,” Yato said appreciatively. “Who knew tree care would turn into fixing electronics and now cooking.”

“He applies himself well.”

“You helped him get started,” Yato said around another mouthful of ice cream. “He still talks about how great it was when you tutored him.”

Hiyori hummed. “It was great to teach him. He’s a wonderful soul, he just needed a place to focus his mind.”

Yato popped a spoonful of pure caramel into his mouth. “That reminds me, how was that other wonderful soul of yours doing?”

Hiyori stiffened. “We haven’t seen each other in months. He was so...so...distasteful!”

A dangerous gleam appeared in Yato’s eyes. “How distasteful?”

“Ami just needs to stop setting me up with people she meets at house parties,” Hiyori said. “She means well, but doesn’t have the best taste in men.”

“You’re very lucky I’m here, then, with my patented relaxation technique,” Yato said, putting down his empty bowl and scooting closer.

“Relaxation technique?” she repeated, eyes narrowed. “Wasn’t the ice cream the relaxation?”

“Just sit back and relax! Tell me more about what happened with the worthless scum.” He knelt behind her and swept her hair off her shoulder. Goosebumps peppered her skin where he brushed it.

“So, you were saying?” he prompted, hands resting on her shoulders. The weight of them was reassuring.

“It was nothing,” she began, breath catching when he began to knead the muscles around her neck. “He brought me to a dive bar and tried to make me do shots with him, and then when it was pouring rain when I finally convinced him to leave, he told me to run with him five blocks so the rideshare would be cheaper.”

Yato’s hands paused. “Any chance I can get his name?”

“Yato, no,” Hiyori chided as he continued her massage. “You’ve been so good about not terrorizing people who’ve been minor inconveniences to me, I’d hate to see you ruin your record.” She was distracted; he was working away knots she hadn’t known she’d had. Maybe she really should look into moving her study sessions earlier so she’d stop falling asleep on her desk...

“It sounds like this one would be worth it,” he muttered, digging into her shoulders a little too roughly.

“What about you? How has it been, being a god of fortune?” Hiyori asked after a few minutes of letting him drain the tension from her neck and shoulders.

His hands slipped away. “It’s been different,” he said, standing up and offering her a hand. “I think I’ve been so used to being on my own that being part of a group is strange.”

“Have there been problems with your neighbors again?” Hiyori asked. The last she’d heard, there had been a minor incident involving Takemikazuchi and an entire square kilometer of Tamagahara that had been leveled in his anger.

Yato started walking towards the cherry blossom tree. “No, I think that was his way of welcoming me. I thought that once I got what I wanted, everything would feel right.”

“And it doesn’t?” It had been so long since Yato opened up to her like this, showed up on a windowsill late at night and talked about what was on his mind. A warm feeling crept through her chest.

“No,” he said plainly, passing the wide trunk that showed the marks of Yukine’s care over the years. “Something is missing.”

She joined him under the boughs and inhaled. Fresh, clean, something a little like hope.

“I thought having more worshippers would make me happy,” he began, fingers trailing through some low hanging blossoms. “And they do, but it’s not what I thought it’d be.”

“Oh?”

“It’s lonelier than I imagined. Busier too; you have no idea how many people want to see me just to talk or vent. I always thought— well.”

Yato paused by a string of cherry blossoms, running his fingers through the petals as if they were a lover’s hair. “I always thought it’d be like having more people like you around. People who understood me.” He pinched off a strand and held it close to his chest, hesitant, before offering it to her. “But deep down I knew you were one-of-a-kind.”

Hiyori marveled at the soft translucence of the petals in his hand, the faint otherworldly shine they seemed to have in his divine presence. It was like an ayakashi miasma in reverse, a bubble of light and goodness, and she watched it travel up her arm and float her hair up on an invisible wind when she accepted the flowers.

“How long have you had this effect?” Hiyori said, turning her hand from side to side and admiring the richer colors and heady scent.

“Effect?” Yato murmured, eyes on the blossoms in her hand.

“The way everything sort of glows around you.”

He blinked at this and looked at the ground. “It’s sort of complicated.”

This sharpened her interest. “Complicated how? Did you have to perform some ritual? Does it only happen to gods with hafuri? Is it because you’re more popular these days?”

Yato’s face had sunk lower and lower into his scarf as she spoke. He mumbled something into it, still not looking at her.

Since Hiyori was well-versed in his moods, she simply crouched so that she was directly in his field of view. “Come again?”

“It’s because you’re my most devout believer,” he said, a light blush coloring his cheeks. “It’s like the opposite of a miasma. It can only happen when extreme faith persists.” He finally meets her eyes. “It means our ties are strong.”

Hiyori glimpsed an arc of woven sunlight twisting like infinity around them at his words, like something seen from the corner of your eyes.

“It’s my greatest treasure,” he confessed.

The world spun taffy thick. “So even though others believe in you now, I’m somehow..?”

“None of them are even close to this,” he said. “The shrine in your apartment is more home to me than any of the ones built in major cities.”

It was a lot to take in. Hiyori was used to being the backbone in her friendships, used to providing a solid, trustworthy space in which others could gain their footing. But being exalted to a god?

“I still think about what would’ve happened if I’d listened to Tenjin,” Yato continued, brushing a hand through the ties’ afterimage. “I am who I am because you’ve helped me become it. If our ties had been cut…” His hand fell to his side. “I might not be here right now, or I’d be some monster doing Father’s bidding.”

“I wouldn’t have made it out of plenty of situations without you, either,” Hiyori said slowly. “Isn’t that the nature of knowing someone? Being changed by them?”

Yato thought about this for a moment, the wind soft and gentle as it ruffled his hair. “Ever since I was small, Father had always told me that I was always in the right, always the one in control. That I could do whatever I wanted and others would adjust. I think it was supposed to make me feel powerful, but I didn’t want power. I wanted to belong.” Something like surrender was in his eyes when he said, “You were the first person to make me feel like I belonged in a very long time.”

It was too much. All of her pent up feelings — the fear, the hope, the confusion — from her high school days welled up at once, shattered from the amber in which she’d crystallized it once Yato defeated father and brought Yukine home.

“I’m glad,” she finally said when she was sure her voice wouldn’t shake. “Because you do belong, you and Yukine and Kofuku and Daikoku and —“

“With you?” Yato’s voice was so quiet it was like he hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

“Of course with me,” Hiyori said, feeling brave. “The same way I belong with you. That’s how this works. We’re already tied, right? Let’s just be tied. For however long that lasts.”

“For however long that lasts,” Yato murmured. It sounded like a vow.

The afternoon sun had taken on that tired golden edge that meant it was closer to sunset than noon. Hiyori’s heart was still beating a little too fast, her mind dizzy with implications that felt too raw to look at now.

“Thank you for coming today,” Yato said at last. “I missed you.”

“Now that I know I have the most important shrine in my apartment, I’m sure we can figure out ways to talk more,” Hiyori said, and was rewarded with another blush.

“May I take you home? There are a lot of leftovers to carry and Kofuku threatened to murder me if I came back with any.”

Hiyori laughed and started back towards their blanket. “Of course.”

#noragamireversebang2021 #noragami #yatori #can't believe yatori tenderness is all we needed in the end

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thedeliverygod · 3 years

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Happy Valentines Day! I’m posting this a day early out of both eagerness and the fact that there’s a big ice storm floating overtop of me right now that is threatening to knock my power out.

CULTURAL NOTES FOR THIS FANFIC: Valentines Day in Japan is a day when girls give chocolates to their romantic interests/significant others but also to friends. Obligation chocolate is what you would give to friends—affordable, non-pricey chocolate. Honmei chocolate is either homemade or expensive chocolate and is given with romantic intention.

On White Day (March 14th) the boys get to return the favor. And yes, I plan on writing a white day fic as well.

AO3

FF.net

Just as Sweet

Hiyori was nodding along and smiling as Yama excitedly discussed her plans for Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend as they walked home. Still, as happy as she was for her friend, her thoughts drifted to whether or not she should do anything other than obligation chocolate for Yato as she did for the rest of her friends.

“And you, Hiyori?” Ami’s voice knocked her out of her internal debate.

Blinking in confusion, she questioned back, “What about me?”

“What about that guy on your phone sensei caught you staring at? Are you doing anything for him?” She wiggled her eyebrows, intrigued.

Hiyori felt like her face had caught fire, unable to form words.

“That’s right! Who is that guy, anyway?” Yama immediately jumped in, moving closer as they slowed to a stop.

“H-he’s just a friend!” She managed to finally spit out, though she quickly felt herself growing light headed with embarrassment.

The two other girls looked at each other, clearly not buying it.

“Right.” Yama dragged out, “But! You do have a picture, right? Show us, just for the fun of it.”

“If he’s just a friend, it’s no big deal, right?” Ami echoed her sentiments mischievously.

“You two are…” Hiyori grumbled to herself, reaching into her pocket with a shaking head as she huffed, “Fine.” As they shared their squeals of success, she sighed to herself as she unlocked her phone and moved to photos. ‘Most of the pictures I have are selfies from him stealing my phone when I’m tutoring Yukine-kun…’

Finding one she deemed as relatively acceptable, she held out her phone and turned her head away, “Here.” Her ears were instantly filled with more high-pitched squeals and she flinched.

“Hiyori!”

“He’s gorgeous! Again, who exactly who is this guy!? How did you meet him?”

She took a breath and shoved her phone back into her pocket, not sure how to respond. “I, um. You know the younger boy I mentioned before that I tutor? They live together.”

Ami squinted, “So you mean he’s his older brother?”

Hiyori shook her head, “No, he’s more like, um… his guardian?”

“So older guys are your thing, huh?” Yama snapped her fingers as she came to her realization. She winked and elbowed Hiyori, “Wow, and I thought being a closet wrestling fan was your only rebellious trait.”

She covered her face with both of her hands, pleading, “Stop.”

Yama and Ami shared a laugh before Ami repeated, “So… are you going to make chocolate or anything?”

“I don’t know yet.” Hiyori only slightly moved her hand to answer her friends.

“Why not?” Yama tilted her head, frowning.

Hiyori lowered her hands but turned her head away, her voice soft, “I don’t think he would return my feelings.” Before she knew it, she felt both of her friend’s hands on her shoulders.

“You never know until you try!” Ami gave her a gentle pat, “I think you should go for it.”

“And I think the same!” Yama let go of her to give her a thumbs up with a wide grin, “Besides, wouldn’t it be so fun to go on double dates?”

Hiyori laughed nervously, answering, “Yeah, sure…” Taking another breath, she commented, “Thanks, both of you.”

“Of course.” They both flashed more smiles and continued forward.

She returned as much of a smile as she could muster, but her feelings were bittersweet. ‘It’s so much more complicated than I can tell you. I wish I could. And I wish you could meet everyone, but… even I’m not supposed to be as involved as I am.’

Now that dinner was finished, the time had come to go through with her plan. The only problem was she hadn’t quite figured out how to ask Yato how to come by himself and not bring Yukine. As much as she loved the younger boy, she very much did not want him to be present for what was essentially going to be spilling her heart out to his god.

After going through various scenarios in her head, she decided to keep it plain and simple. Her heartbeat so loud that it was ringing in her ears, she typed out her text on her phone.

Can you come over soon? And by yourself if possible.

She hesitantly hit send and held her breath as she waited. Finally, her phone beeped to signify Yato’s response.

Uhhh sure. Is everything okay?

She took a breath before answering.

Yes everything’s fine

After another brief moment of silence, her phone beeped again.

Just give me a few minutes

Her heart continued to beat erratically within her chest, making the time pass both impossibly slow and fast at the same time. So, when her phone eventually rang, she wasn’t sure if she felt ready or not. In her hesitation, the phone rang several times before she finally hit the answer button.

“I had to sneak away from Yukine.” He announced as he appeared in a flash of bright light, “And it wasn’t easy, so you’d better make it worth it, Hiyori.” He finished with a wide grin.

Her mouth already dry at the sight of his smile, she swallowed and apologized, “S-sorry.”

“You getting sick? Your voice sounds kinda off.” He tilted his head and took a step closer.

Hiyori quickly shook her head, “No, no. I just could probably use some water…”

“On it!” Yato volunteered excitedly, dashing out her bedroom door before she could even get a word in.

Exasperated, she collapsed backward onto her bed and took the opportunity to at least try and calm herself down. Of course, all progress she made vanished as soon as he popped back in the door.

“Here you go,” He kneeled down and held it out.

Sitting back up, she nodded gratefully as she took it into her hands and took a sip. Sitting the glass down carefully on her desk, she looked back up to Yato, “You can’t just wander freely around the house like that, Yato. What if my big brother had been home?”

“I would just say I’m getting a glass of water?” He shrugged, “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Hiyori. He’s kind of a weirdo himself.”

‘You’re completely missing the point.’ She held her palm up to her forehead, “If you say so.”

“So, really,” Yato sat down on the bed, across from her, “What’d you call me over for?”

She met his eyes and let out slowly, “I wanted to… give you something.”

His eyes widened curiously as he repeated, “Give me something?”

Hiyori nodded before looking down to her lap sheepishly.

“Oh—that’s right. It’s Valentine’s Day. I appreciate the thought, but I don’t really need obligation chocolate or anything.” He gave a small, forced laugh, “Of course I’ll take anything to Yukine, Kofuku and Daikoku, though—”

“I-it is chocolate, but it’s not out of obligation…” She still didn’t meet his gaze, reaching to the drawer in her desk to pull out a white box with a red bow, “…I-I made it myself, so it may not be the best, but I think it’s okay.”

There was a brief pause but Yato started to call out her name, “Hiyori—”

“Just let me get this out, okay?” She forced a smile as she looked up and he nodded, clearly looking concerned. “I’m sort of just using Valentine’s Day as an excuse to say all of this because I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, but I didn’t know how to.”

She slid the chocolate box towards him, while getting up from the bed and beginning to pace around her room as she explained, “I realized I was in love with you back when you were gone. Kazuma-san sort of helped me come to that conclusion even if… it wasn’t exactly in the nicest way, to put it lightly.”

“What? What did he do?” Yato asked, his voice sharp and dark.

Hiyori glanced back at him briefly, “Don’t—don’t worry about it right now. He’s apologized since then. Anyway, we’ve obviously had a lot of important things going on that needed your full focus. Especially helping Yukine-kun get settled again. So, I didn’t want to say anything about my feelings, because I don’t really know how you feel. I know you really care about me and sometimes go over the top with that… but I don’t know how you really feel.”

She turned back to him but kept her eyes low, her hands clasped together, “So I held it in, at least until now. I know there’s never really going to be a perfect time, but I also don’t think I can keep lying to myself. Or to you, either. I just hope… no matter what, we can still be friends. Because I can’t imagine my life without you. That’s why I’ve told you over and over that I don’t want to cut our ties and that I don’t want to lose you.”

Yato wordlessly slipped off the bed and stood up.

Just as Hiyori felt the tears start to drip down her face, all of the built-up emotions finally pouring out, she felt him wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace. His face buried against her neck, she soon felt his own tears wetting her skin.

She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or feel worse, “I’ve got you crying now, too?” She reached up over his shoulders to wipe at her own eyes.

“Well, yeah.” He answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, adding a sniffle as he finished. He pulled back from her slightly, his hands lingering at her shoulders, “Hiyori, you… how do I even put this.” He let out a breath, “For so long I’ve been a minor god, no name, no shrine, nothing to hold on to. And then I met you and… you helped me with Yukine. You helped me understand him and become a better god so that I could take care of him like he deserved. You built me my first shrine. You’ve showed me time and time again that all my efforts to change aren’t useless. How could I not love you?”

Hiyori paused and swallowed, “I appreciate you saying that—but I’m not sure if you mean it in quite the same way.”

“Not the same way…?” Yato repeated, looking her over with a confused look.

“When I say I love you, I mean as so much more than just a friend. Kazuma-san and Tenjin-sama told me that gods—” She didn’t get to finish before he reached up to cup her face, leaning forward to press his lips against hers.

He only lingered for a moment before he pulled away, a small smile spreading across his features, “I have no idea what those two said, but I’m pretty sure I know what I mean.” He moved the hand that wasn’t resting against her face to her waist, pulling her ever so slightly closer to him, “But I can prove it to you if you need me to.”

Hiyori’s lips parted in shock and her voice caught in her throat before she managed to answer, “N-no, I believe you.” Her face was so hot she felt like her head was going to explode.

Yato pressed his forehead against hers, letting out, “That’s a relief. Although, I’ll admit I did sort of want to.”

“Of course you did.” She sighed in response before they both let out a round of laughter. “But in all seriousness,” She pressed her lips to his, “I love you.”

He answered her kiss eagerly when given the chance before giving his answer, “I love you too.” With that, he moved his hand to the back of her head and pulled her into a tight embrace again.

#noragami #yatori #noragami fanfiction #my writing

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oneofyatosfollowers · 3 years

Text

Yatori Week 2021- Day 7

@yatoriweek2021

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32090953/chapters/79500055

Fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13905660/1/Yatori-Week-2021

It was a natural law in this world that humans were connected by ties.

Individuals connected to one another through spiritual bonds, their relationship in it’s very essence. Most of these bonds are created as a person goes through life: best friends, bosses, classmates. There were only a handful of relationships that are decided before an individual is born into the world. The most suspenseful and life changing bond a person had no control over was who they fell in love with. Their soulmate. It was someone they were guaranteed to meet and whose existence was the only solid evidence of bonds people had. Unlike every other tie a person develops, an individual is given a hint about the bond before it’s ever really tied. Once the individual turns 16, the first words their soulmate will say to them appear as an unerasable mark on the person’s body. It is the only designation of the tie the two are destined to share. While a soulmate bond can never be broken, if they die, a new soulmate is matched to the individual. The words disappear as new words form elsewhere on the skin.

The entire thing was romanticized by society, especially newly turned-sixteen year olds. Of course Hiyori was no exception. She wasn’t as vociferous as her other female classmates but that didn’t mean Hiyori wasn’t excited the morning after her sixteenth birthday and searched her body. Which is why when she finally found the word, neatly scrawled out on the soft part of her arm, Hiyori’s entire future came crashing down around her.

“Hiyori!” Yama whined, “come on, why can’t you just show us what it says!” Her friend insisted during lunch break. It’s been over a month since Hiyori turned sixteen and since then she has put makeup on her arm every day. Thankfully this was not an uncommon practice, most people covered the words for their future soulmate for various reasons. Unfortunately, Hiyori’s reason was one of the more unsavory ones. Not that she could ever tell anyone that.

“Because Yama! It’s a- it’s a surprise! I want to be the only one who knows when I meet him. It has to stay a secret,” Hiyori answered. As her friends swooned and sighed she subconsciously tucked her arm against her stomach, taking care not to let the make-up rub off.

“Of course, it’s much more romantic that way! Lots of people do it,” Ami agreed. They giggled and turned the conversation to other stories of cute soulmate meetings. What Hiyori told them was common, it was natural for people to want to get to know their soulmate before telling others close to them. Part of Hiyori, on the other hand, would rather not meet her soulmate at all. She frowned at her arm later that day in the bathroom. It was best to re-apply makeup every four hours. There was some leeway with the rules of the universe. It wasn’t just the first ‘word’ that was written on the skin, it was more like the first sentence. For Yama, she had “You like that band too?” scrawled on her back while Ami just had “Excuse me, miss” on her hip. Hiyori only had one word. One word that would not disappear until he said it to her. That wasn’t the thing that bothered her. Despite hearing about the wonders love did for a person, how it felt, Hiyori did not want to fall for someone who’s first word to her is going to be “boobs.”

---

Yato stepped out of the convenience store with a sigh. He could already hear Yukine complaining about microwave food for dinner but pay has been rather tight this month. Since he never graduated highschool, despite self-teaching most subjects, Yato’s job opportunities were far and few in between. As such he could only do odd jobs around town and whatever else he could sweet-talk his way into. The past month was the convenience store during the day and bartending at night and on weekends; while next week he would spend his time window washing and move the convenience store to the night shift. They were lucky they decided to room with Kazuma at college and help split the rent and fees, but taking care of a teenager when you were barely 23 was a handful in various ways. Still, Yato didn’t regret it. He considered himself to be a rather lonely and standoff-ish person- having been raised by a violent, manipulating man- and Yukine was the same. Raising him was the least Yato could do with his sorry life; that way at least Yukine could feel better about meeting whoever he was destined for.

As Yato continued down the street he swerved around giggling couples and happy families. Part of him wanted to gag and roll his eyes, but that part was very old and small compared to the rest of him. The majority of him just glanced at them with blank eyes and a melancholy sigh, still unbelieving of the concept and its power. It wasn’t that he didn’t have one, of course he did. Yato just didn’t believe that- whoever they were- would truly love him as he was and would live happily ever after with him. Yato was aware he wasn’t the type of guy parents wanted their daughter or son to bring home, if his frequent homeless was anything to go by. Bad luck and misfortune followed Yato around like the plague to the point where Yato felt sorry for the person forcibly tied to him.

“I’m home!” Yato called into the house. He would have to pull himself out of his funk before Yukine got concerned. As he took his shoes off, Yato dug around in his pocket for the extra change he collected and let them clink into the glass bottle on the table. Kazuma was still working on his masters, which meant they would be able to live in this nice place for at least another couple years. The money in the bottle was originally for Yato’s proper education which then transferred to Yukine’s college fund. Of course that was still up for argument but they would need a place to live eventually. With another sigh, Yato walked into the kitchen to see Kazuma and Yukine eating a healthier looking meal.

“Welcome back,” Kazuma greeted. The third seat at the table had a plate with larger portions on it, steam coming from the top.

“How was work?” Yukine asked around his food.

“Don’t choke,” Yato immediately switched into mother-hen mode which caused the kid to roll his eyes.

“Rough day?” Kazuma asked as he watched Yato put the instant food away.

“Not really,” Yato shrugged. It was true, nothing particularly happened today but maybe that was the problem.

“Still haven’t talked to your soulmate, huh?” Yukine snickered. From across the table, Kazuma chided him but Yato just rolled up the newest edition of Yukine’s favorite magazine he picked up and whacked him lightly on the head.

“Well we can’t all be like Mr. Asked-Out-My-Soulmate-The-Moment-I-Turned-Sixteen over here,” Yato thumbed over to Kazuma who just stuck his nose in the air.

“I knew it was her before-hand. I could just tell.” He insisted.

“Yeah, well, knowing Yato he’s going to end up as one of those people who don’t meet their soulmate until they’re 80,” Yukine scoffed, “and with first words like that I wouldn’t want to anyway.”

“Yukine!” Kazuma hissed. Yato just waved him off, the kid didn’t mean any harm.

“You better be careful. You know they say it’s bad to make fun of another’s soulmate, especially when you haven’t gotten yours yet,” Yato grinned at the kid who happily took the gift.

“I thought a soulmate was chosen when you were born?” Yukine huffed.

“Hmm that’s up to the gods,” Yato sang, “two more years, two more years.” He held up a peace sign at the fourteen year old who just huffed again and opened the magazine.

“Yato,” Kazuma said as he walked by, though it was unclear what he was going to say. Not in the mood for pity, Yato just winked.

“I’m going to hop in the shower real quick.” He scampered off down the hall just as Kazuma and Yukine got into their bickering match. Yukine didn’t understand why Kazuma was so iffy with soulmates around Yato and that was understandable. There were many reasons as to why that the kid didn’t know. For one, Yato was the one who got Kazuma to his soulmate, introduced them in fact, but that was a story for another day.

Once the shut door cut off their voices, Yato sighed again and started to undress. First he took off his ascot, which revealed the words on the side of his neck, then his shirt which revealed his empty naval. Yes, Yato did have a soulmate, but the one that claimed his neck was different than the one he once had. One glance at his phone, and the date, revealed the reason he had been so down: it was the anniversary of his original soulmate’s death. Regardless of the fact that it had been years, or that Yato had lost track of the date, the loss of a soulmate was something he felt annually whether he acknowledged it or not. That very fact was one of the only reasons Yato still believed in the power of ties.

In the mirror, Yato’s eyes traced the empty skin under his belly button like he had done when he was younger. When he turned 16 he spent the entire night wide awake, waiting for the fabled words to appear. He remembered being so happy when they did, running to the bathroom much like this one to read the words “Aren’t The Cherry Blossoms Beautiful?” He had dreamed about the day he would meet her, spending most of his time hanging around sakura trees and attending festivals. He wondered what she would look like, what she would be like, what his words to her were. With a sentence like that, she sounded kind. The words made him want to be kind too, they were his saving grace that could never go away no matter how much his father tried. But then, just as quietly as they appeared, they disappeared. After six months. He had been frantic, panicked, pulling and tugging at his skin until it turned red, running down stairs with tears rolling down his face. Kazuma was there for him but even he could sense the effect it had on Yato.

“They must have died,” his father had said, “that’s what happens.” The picture of Yato’s mother hung on the wall.

“You’ll get a new one eventually,” he checked his wrist to look at his own second soulmate, “but whether or not you choose to remain loyal to the first is up to you. The gods are fickle that way.”

Shaking his head of the memory, Yato forced his eyes up to his new future. He refused to become miserable like his father, taking out his loss on the children a soulmate’s love produced. Yato would be kind to his soulmate and treat her like the precious blessing she was. At least, that’s what Yato told himself. When the new words appeared one morning on his neck years later- showing how much younger his soulmate was- his sister had laughed. She said that the gods made a mistake with the first and that he was destined to be with a gyaru. What even was a “Jungle Savate” anyway? At the time he had done a quick google search, the words were the name of a wrestling move, and Yukine laughed that he would fall in love with a beefy wrestler. Of course Kazuma said that there were wrestling schools across the country and that a spunky fighter would match Yato perfectly. Either way, Yato may or may not have gone to the supposed wrestling schools once or twice. Even thought about signing up if it weren’t so expensive. But Yato had long since decided to focus on taking care of himself and Yukine, allowing the soulmate to appear naturally.

“Gyarus aren't that bad anyway,” Yato muttered to himself in the shower.

“Just keep telling yourself that!” Yukine hollered from the hall.

“Yukine!” Kazuma gasped loudly. Despite himself, Yato chuckled and decided that whatever makeup skills he learned from his sister would be put to good use.

---

Even though soulmates were the biggest event in a high schoolers’ life, there were other landmarks that were also exciting to experience. The major event coming up for Hiyori was the culture festival. Since she wasn’t in any club, she would be helpling her class put together a cafe. She had been sent to the home-ec room to grab some essentials and was on her way back to the classroom when Ami came running down the hall.

“Hiyori! Hiyori!” She called, arms waving. This was rather odd for the no-nonsense girl to do so Hiyori stopped immediately. Her friend ran up to her with a breathless smile.

“Yama just found her soulmate!” Ami exclaimed.

“Really?” Hiyori gasped. With a nod, Ami ran back to the classroom with Hiyori closely behind. Entering the room, the entire class was still in applause for the new couple, taking turns congratulating them as they gushed over the event. Yama was not so shamefully showing off her now empty back while the young man standing next to her showed off a blank calf. He was tall with short black hair and a kind smile.

“Awe I missed it,” Hiyori sighed good-naturedly. She giggled with Ami regardless.

“His name is Abe! He’s in the grade ahead of us which is why she’s never seen him before! Turns out he was looking for his friend and accidentally walked into the wrong classroom. What a coincidence, huh?” Ami gushed.

“Seriously,” Hiyori gasped with awe, “that’s all it takes huh?” They mused for a moment before approaching their best friend and giving their congratulations. The merriment went on for about ten minutes before the teacher gently nudged the class back to work and Abe back to class. The two made plans for a date that night and Yama waved him goodbye. As Hiyori was directed to where she should put her things, she noticed even the window-wiping guy was applauding her friend. While the class continued to work, Yama went on about the event to Hiyori and Ami non-stop. Behind her the window man swayed back and forth on his elevated bench.

“So yeah, I just bumped into him and he saw my phone key chain and-” Yama’s chattering was cut off by loud laughter. A group of the more rowdy group of boys were slacking on their work in favor of snickering with the window cleaner. The teacher had left some time ago which allowed the man to splash suds on the glass and draw rather inappropriate images.

“Ugh,” Ami scoffed, “honestly some boys never grow up. It’s like they're looking at their future’s reflection.” With another roll of their eyes, Hiyori’s friends went back to their project while Hiyori kept watching. The minor pity and disgust she felt for the man quickly faded when he wiped the drawing away and instead continued on with his work. Instead of the regular rhythmic wiping he had been doing before, the man felt he still had an audience to put on a show for. With a new splash of soap, the man twirled the wiper with his fingers, tossing it in the air before spinning it along the glass. Even Hiyori found herself in awe as he kept it spinning along the window, seemingly on its own, while he pulled out a second one that moved at lightning speed to clean up after it. While he made quick work of the window, keeping the students who watched entranced, Hiyori found herself looking past the theatrics and the barrier at the man.

He was young, like someone who should be in college with her brother not washing windows in the middle of a weekday. He had nondescript black hair, white tee-shirt, scarf, and paint stained jeans with sneakers. His eyes, on the other hand, were something Hiyori had to stare at. From her spot within the classroom, Hiyori could tell how piercing they were. They were blue, bright blue that sharply stood out against the clear sky behind him like day time stars. They were amused, crinked by his slight smirk as he continued his dance, yet Hiyori felt they weren’t as bright as they could be. Even with the tiredness, or lack of happiness, she thought the man felt, his performance devolved into actual dancing with his wipers and water. He didn’t seem to notice most of the students went back to ignoring him but the perfect pigeon he managed to shape with the water had Hiyori sputtering out a laugh.

“Ooo Hiyori! Laughing at the attractive window man with the wet t-shirt? What would your mother say?” Yama suddenly teased, “not that I blame you.” They looked at the man together, Hiyori’s eyes catching onto the ropes holding up the bench.

“Yama, you literally just found your soulmate,” Ami huffed at her. They dissolved into giggles as the window washer did a backflip and landed heavily on the metal seat, the ropes holding him up stretching under the stress.

“Hiyori? Hiyori!” Ami’s called after her as Hiyori sprang to her feet. Hiyori ignored them and rushed to the back of the class, pushing her way through the group of boys to the window. By now the man had noticed her and stopped his dancing, but behind him one of the ropes was starting to unravel, unnoticed by everyone else.

“Oi! Iki!”

“What the hell?” The boys sounded in alarm as Hiyori unlocked the window and threw it open. It slid out of the way with a harsh clatter just as the rope untied itself. For a moment, Hiyori was face to face with the blue-eyed man, expressions a mirror image of intense fear. The connection between their gaze was shattered as he started to fall and Hiyori lurched her hand out to him, not noticing the way her knee was slipping off the edge.

Hiyori shut her eyes as she fell through the air, the fall seemed to take forever yet was over in an instant. As the wind whipped through her hair, roaring against her ears, Hiyori’s outstretched hand accomplished it’s task of grabbing onto his shirt. It was something she failed to notice, just as she didn’t notice the way his arms wrapped protectively around her, latching her against his chest to try and cushion her fall.

In a second, they fell to the ground with a harsh thud, Hiyori’s entire body jolting from the impact. It knocked the wind out of her. Hiyori kept her eyes screwed shut and she tried to breathe in and out, a tear squeezing from her eye. Somewhere she heard people shouting along with the groan of the man she pushed. Eventually she tried to get up, blinking away the spots in her vision as her balled fists pushed against whatever they were holding. She only made it a couple inches forward before the adrenaline and shock caused her arms to give out and she fell back down.

“Hiyori!” Yama cried from above.

“Hiyori, are you alright?” Ami exclaimed. More shouting came from above and Hiyori opted not to try and lift herself up.

“Yeah I’m fine!” She called. Which was surprisingly true. They only fell from the second story window but Hiyori figured something would be broken. It was then that the mass under her groaned and Hiyori realized the reason behind her lack of injuries. With a gasp she looked down, unable to actually see the man she was completely laying on top of. Her mouth opened and closed as Hiyori struggled to ask if he was okay, or apologize, or berrade him for dancing while suspended in the air. The man, however, was quicker to get in control of his limbs and frantically tapped her sides and shoulder. She could feel him fight the same battle as her, taking in a breath so deep, Hiyori felt herself rise.

“Boobs,” he wheezed. Hiyori heard herself squawk as her body temperature boiled from her feet to her head. The window washer batted her shoulder again, a little harder. This time Hiyori felt his mouth move, hot and gasping against her chest.

“Heavy. Can’t breathe,” he gasped. With another noise that sounded between a yelp of embarrassment and a cry of outrage, Hiyori was finally able to scramble off him. She couldn’t go far, just able to sit next to him with her arms wrapped around her top. With knitted brows, Hiyori watched him gasp for air like he just endured CPR. It was then that Hiyori realized three things. One, this man called her heavy; Two, she almost suffocated him with her breasts in front of the school; Three, he was her soulmate. With another gasp he forced himself to a sitting position, his fingers kneading his forehead as he groaned.

“Did someone get a teacher?”

“Are they okay? That girl just jumped out of the window!”

“Did he just say ‘boobs’?” The student chatter from the open windows finally flooded into Hiyori’s senses. Mortified, the arms wrapped around her breasts hugged them tighter against her. In her panic she stood sharply, stumbling for a second before catching herself. The action caught his attention and those bright blue eyes whipped up to her.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, concerned, “what were you thinking jumping out of the window like that?” It was as if he didn’t notice the bench that once suspended him in the air was now lopsided tilting down towards a nasty fall. The absolute nerve of him! The insult, the sexual harassment, the absolute lack of brain cells! Hiyori felt the steam from her fury and embarrassment cause her teeth to grind under the pressure. She seethed as the man before her- her soulmate no less- was just blinking up at her with honest worry, unaware that she was a smoking gun ready to fire. Hiyori didn’t even have time to think about this being the first thing she said to him as she pivoted her back foot.

“Jungle,” Hiyori lashed her leg out, “Savate!” With a twist of her body and an absolutely perfect form, the top of her foot landed squarely along the light blue targets. His eyes only had time to widen before his head was sent harshly back down to the ground. It took a couple of heaving breaths for Hiyori to realize- rather proudly- the man was knocked out cold. Then it took until after the teachers arrived, followed by the paramedics accepting Hiyori’s request to bring them to her parent’s hospital, for her to realize what her first words to her soulmate were.

---

When Yato came to, he could already feel the smile on his face. It was rather confusing at first, his brain couldn’t come up with the answer as to why he was happy. But when a white light blinded his retinas, Yato figured he must be in heaven. Before he could send an honest apology to his soulmate for kicking the bucket so easily, he heard the voice of another- less angelic- little angel.

“If you’re going to wake up just do it already, stop moaning like you’re dying,” sassed Yukine from somewhere at his side.

“Yukine please! He’s concussed with broken ribs and has a cracked rib cage,” Kazuma fretted from the other side. Smile already in place, Yato could only huff a laugh and rub his eyes. The headache had settled in but Yato forced himself to blink away the lights, eying the concerned way his friends were leaning forward. Even with Yukine’s scowl and glare Yato could clearly see the blonde’s red-rimmed eyes. The image was always adorable, the kid tended to be a cry baby, but Yato remembered he was smiling for another reason.

His soulmate. A spunky, feisty, beautiful young woman who was just as kind hearted as he had hoped. It was a bit off-putting that she was still a highschool student- laws covering soulmates would make Yato look a little better- but Yato figured she must have recently turned 16. It made him feel better that she had no problem cracking him across the face with one hell of a kick when he was out of line, not that he did it on purpose. Still, he owed it to her to go talk to her. He wanted to go talk to her! And make sure he was remembering correctly and it wasn’t the concussion talking. Looking around, Yato was in a hospital bed, that was for sure. Under a thin white blanket on a raised mattress. The LED lights showed that they were the only ones in the room, that no other beds were lined up next to him. Come to think of it, the room was ridiculously nice. Far too nice for anything in their budget. Maybe he really was in heaven and these were just fake roommates.

“Where am I?” Yato asked. His question was met with silence as Yukine and Kazuma shared a concerned look from across the bed sheets. Suddenly, Yukine slipped his hand into Yato’s and his big, baby eyes grew shiny with concern.

“Yato?” Yukine asked, “do you remember us?” He said it so honestly, so gently, that Yato’s expression dropped into shock. Biting his lip, Yato realized he had a golden opportunity here but there were more important things to do than making his kid cry.

“I don’t have amnesia, Yukine. I still remember the little munchkin that mooches off of my side gigs,” Yato snorted, squeezing their hands. With a grin, Yato and Kazuma snickered as Yukine hissed and tossed their hands off to the side.

“That was some fall though! I heard you saved a girl that jumped after you?” Kazuma said.

“She did jump!” Yukine gasped, “or did you grab her?” He accused with narrow eyes.

“I did not! She tried to grab me and we both fell,” Yato explained. So his memory wasn’t screwy. The first thing that girl said to him was ‘Jungle Savate’ the same as that famous kick. Even better! The first word he said to her was...was…

“What is it? Are you in pain?” Kazuma fretted when Yato groaned and let his head fall back against the pillow.

“What about her? Did she get hurt?” Yato asked, eyes closed.

“No actually. They put her down the hall and she walked away without any bruises,” Kazuma said, “in fact it was her that insisted on coming to this hospital. Apparently she has family here, which is why they put you up for free.”

“For free really?” Yukine blinked.

“Yeah, I was talking to the doctor. He was really grateful. On behalf of the family I guess.” Kazuma shrugged.

“Well that’s really nice of her,” Yato sighed, a smile growing back on his face. She truly was kind, and seemed to come from a loving, equally kind family. Yato made a vow to worship the ground she walked on. Before Yato could open his mouth to inform his friends about the amazing, life-changing, discovery he made in such an in-characterly unlucky way, they heard a group of girls down the hall.

“Are you sure you should be moving around, Hiyori?” One voice echoed. Yato’s heart leaped in his throat and his mouth clicked shut.

“Yeah Hiyori, and why do you even want to see this pervert anyway?” Another comment sounded even closer and stabbed Yato right through the heart. They were easily heard by the rest of the room and Yukine gave Yato a shoulder pat filled with mock sympathy. There was some harsh sushing from the group of gossiping girls as they approached his room.

“Cause he saved my life and got hurt that’s why,” a familiar voice whispered. It took a couple moments before a trio of highschool girls entered Yato’s hospital room, taking a moment to whisper about his name. They walked in like they owned the place, like they were going to kick Yato out of their lunch table. In the middle, Yato’s soulmate led the other two. She fit his memory perfectly, long brown hair with round brown eyes. Now that she didn’t have a look of absolute fear and panic, Yato noticed her eyes had specks of mahogany within their depths. He could stare at them for hours and happily get lost. Unfortunately, she still had a look of nervous anxiety and Yato was reminded of the elephant between them.

“Um, hello! Are you, um, the guy who was washing our windows?” The girl with the shortest hair asked.

“Yes I am,” Yato smiled, “and you can just call me Yato.” He let his eyes move from her to his soulmate, keeping his smile as tamed as he could.

“Thank you for saving our dear Hiyori!” The girl wailed, the other one with glasses comforting her. Hiyori suddenly seemed to straighten out slightly and Yato caught her pressing the inside of his arm against her side. From what he could see, the skin was empty, and he didn’t have to look to know his neck was just as clear. It seemed the short haired girl wasn’t the only one with bravery, as his soulmate cleared her throat and steeled herself.

“Hello Yato, my name is Hiyori Iki. It’s nice to meet you.” She came to stand next to Yukine, her eyes never releasing Yato from her gaze, and she stuck out her hand. Yato let his eyes flicker to the perfectly manicured hand then back up to her. Amusement curled his lips and sparked his eyes. But he just snorted and took the offered greeting.

“It’s nice to meet you too. I heard you are alright, is that true?” Yato asked. As happy as he was, the thought of his soulmate getting hurt because of him didn’t sit right. His question seemed to surprise her, shock shooting up her arm and spreading a pretty pink across her cheeks.

“Oh, um, yes, I’m alright. Thank you,” she sputtered, pulling her hand back. The room watched as they stared at each other, Yato’s grin only growing, the more red he watched spread across her face. Yato ignored the very intense way Kazuma was staring at his empty neck, watching their interaction with his famous meticulousness.

“What is wrong with you,” Yukine suddenly growled from his chair. This caught Hiyori’s attention and she looked at the blonde like she just noticed he was there. The little shyster was quick to slap on that adorable smile.

“Thank you for helping this guy out with the medical bills. He’s the type to insist he’s fine until he falls over dead!” Yukine tried to joke but Hiyori looked rather concerned.

“Ah!” Yato leaped forward only for his battered ribcage to knock the wind out of him. Yato wheezed as pain shot through his bones but when he saw the pretty Hiyori reach out in concern, he forced another wobbly smile. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he didn’t believe in self care, or worse, that he was dirt poor. Which he was.

“He’s only joking! Of course I go to the doctor! Just not one as nice as this,” Yato quickly said, “but yes, thank you for your generosity and please thank your family for me too. Let me know if they need anything. Anything at all!” His smile was the largest it’s been his entire life and a laughter bubbled up from his throat. Yato could feel the entire room looking at him like the concussion caused serious brain damage but he didn’t care. Hopefully they would write off the stray tears as part of his joy.

“Oh, well, I’m sure my parents don’t need window washing?” Hiyori, the sweet angel, tried. It was clear she was uncomfortable, her friends as well. Thankfully, Kazuma got over himself and became the ever so level headed friend. Standing up, Kazuma cleared his throat.

“My name is Kazuma and this is Yukine, we are Yato’s roommates and very close friends. We also wanted to thank you and your family for all your help,” Kazuma said, “and if I may, what Yato forgot to say is that he’s a man of many trades. A handyman if you will. So if your parents needed any sort of repairs done, he would be more than happy to do them for free.” His words smoothed over the tension in the room and Yato found himself sighing along with everyone else.

“Oh, well, thank you, I’ll let them know.” Hiyori said.

“You’ll need my number!” Yato suddenly gasped. The room’s air suddenly turned sour but this time Hiyori just blinked at him. There were a couple seconds where she said nothing. She didn’t look uncomfortable, just thoughtful, she held his gaze evenly with just as much knowing.

“Sure,” she eventually said. Her friends looked shocked at her, along with Yukine, but Kazuma just pushed his glasses with his finger to hide his smile.

“If you would, Yukine,” Yato pressed. When the kid did nothing but look at Yato like he just squashed a spider with his bare hands on his homework, Yato cleared his throat and pointed his head in the young lady’s direction. The kid scoffed and didn’t even bother trying to hide his eye roll but Yato considered it a win that he pulled his backpack onto his lap and took out one of Yato’s business cards.

“Oh! Thank you!” Hiyori took it a bit too happily. Then, to everyone’s shock, she took out her phone and started typing into it. Yato was eliated, so much so that his grin grew so wide his mouth started to open. Before he realized it, he was doing the one thing he shouldn’t: talking. From his side, Kazuma adopted a look of horror.

“Just don’t put me in your phone as the boob guy, alright?” Yato laughed again. His eyes were shut so he didn’t see the people surrounding him collectively flinch. The card was crumpled in the girl’s fist as she started vibrating with that mortified-fueled fury.

“Jungle Savate!” Her voice shocked his heart and it thudded happily while his head mourned the sudden impact. She really was incredible, for her foot to not only reach his face from that height but to hit the exact same spot as before. At least this time she didn’t knock him out again, but he wasn’t fully conscious when she spun around with a huff and walked away.

“Geez, what's your problem? You’re so creepy,” Yukine said, failing to hide his snickering.

“I’m in love,” Yato swooned, his sigh sounded a little more loopy than it should. The young men at his sides scoffed but for different reasons.

“You’re messed up is what you are. She’s in highschool. You just took too many hits to the head,” Yukine rolled his eyes so hard he didn’t see Kazuma making gestures to his neck and Yato’s neck. So, in his lull, Yato decided to help the kid out.

“She’s my soulmate.”

“Hah. Yeah,” Yukine peaked out the hallway and let his eyes wander up expensive shoes, long legs, swaying hips, a highschool uniform, and smooth hair, “sure she is.”

#noragami #noragami fanfic #noragami fanfiction #yatori #yatori week #yatori week 2021 #yato #noragami yato #yato noragami #hiyori #hiyori iki #iki hiyori #noragami soulmates #au

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kurisus · 4 years

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Chapter 89-2 thoughts

HA HA WOW WHAT A FUN CHAPTER AM I RIGHT

Also, hey, it’s me, the blog formerly known as kurisuumakise. I changed my URL slightly since last month! Anyway, spoilers under the cut~

Kazuma used an incantation against Yukine, and I was under the impression they only worked on ayakashi. I think his ayakashi form is coming out because of his emotions acting up (like how when Nora transformed in front of Hiyori a few chapters ago), but weirdly it doesn’t look like the crow from before. More like a cat.

(also want to throw back to my 89 thoughts where I wondered how stable Yukine’s new powers were. fuck.)

Could it also be the god’s greatest secret? Like, Yukine learned his past without his name breaking, but it still seems like his memories are peeking out from the cracks.

“He’s actually crying, isn’t he” stab me with a rusty fucking knife I hate this an unbelievable amount

Yato’s words “There’s only one thing I can do to save him, even if I have to do it by force” concerns me. What is he referring to? The blow he/Kazuma lands on Yukine at the end of the chapter? Something else?? He already apologized, and he’d never release him, so I’m afraid to speculate on What it could be if it’s not the aforementioned blow.

Speaking of, I have no idea what happened there. But I’ll get to that, I want to talk about Ebisu first

Apparently if they can find the sorcerer’s grave and destroy it, they can kill him. This is eerily similar to Yukine destroying his own grave (the fridge) a couple chapters back. But also, hello, Father backstory? ARE WE FINALLY GETTING AN EXPLANATION?

To recap, here’s what we know: He was a human, heaven/gods did some wrong to him, he died with a grudge, escaped Yomi, gained godlike powers along the way (whether it’s directly because he escaped Yomi or something that happened during/after his time there remains to be seen), and can now name shinki with a brush and hop bodies every lifetime.

If they defeat Father, I wonder what will happen to Fujisaki. Is his soul dead? I kind of hope it’s not so he can apologize for all the shit Father pulled while using his body.

anyway back to Yukine sobbing hours

we KNEW Adachitoka went full pain mode on Yukine seeing Yato as his father. but HOLY SHIT the way he insulted him, and imagined even at the beginning that Yato was being condescending and arrogant, just cut me deep to my core. He’s replaced all the fond memories he has with Yato with the terrible ones he has from his life. After all, one year of good memories can’t override 14 years of abuse...

Yukine, my boy, Yato loves you so much, he’s not the piece of shit you’re imagining, PLEASE,

We saw a bit more of his father’s face now, and I think I’m right in saying he looks rather young. It’s hard to tell, but to be the father of a 14 year old? (And however much older Yuka is?) He’s not exactly...aged.

“If I raise my hand against him, I’m no different from my dad!” and all my homies started crying. No, but really--the verbal confirmation that Yato also sees himself as a father to Yukine, and as such refuses to hurt him. Adachitoka has to stop oneshotting me with these sad quotes. “That boy loved people” “So even now my father is still killing me” “Come home, Yukine” and on and on with this FUCKING MANGA

okay so. The Hurt. Let’s start with the positives--Yukine didn’t lose his hand or any of his fingers. Looks like it got cut pretty badly, but I would have screamed if they pulled a Kugaha with him.

Also, he reverted from that weird catboy form and is now back to being emo. Is that because he got his feelings back under control?

I have a nasty feeling “I did it” referred to Yukine thinking he killed his father finally. ughhhhhh.

“I did it” could also refer to Yato attacking Yukine with the way it’s laid out on the page. I hate it here.

anyway Yato got stabbed through his stomach, looks like, and since Kazuma seems to be taking the same injuries, he probably has that wound too.

WHO WANTS TO BET THAT INSANE AMOUNT OF PAIN WAS WHAT WOKE BISHAMON UP. WHO WANTS TO FUCKIGN BE T. I swear if she comes to them only for Kazuma to die in her arms I will scream so loud Adachitoka will hear it in Japan aND THEY WILL KNOW WHAT THEY DID

As stated, I have no idea what to make of Yato attacking Yukine. I really hope Kazuma was the one who did it, since Yato JUST said he refused to lay a hand against him and Kazuma has insisted fighting is the only way. And god knows we love blaming things on Kazuma. But then Yato’s eyes went blank, just like when he lost control and almost killed Bishamon. Plus he said “That tree is...” and most people have (I think rightfully) speculated that’s where he buried Yukine’s body, so naturally he’d want to protect it. But enough to draw his sword against him?

I don’t know but I assume they’ll explain it next chapter

how many times can I say “they’ll explain it next chapter” and then the manga fucking ends and I still don’t know jack shit I’m putting on my clown makeup as we speak

Either way, Yukine still thinks Yato attacked him. And either way, Yato will blame it on himself. they have a LOT of apologizing and therapy to go through once this arc is over

Yato dying right above Yukine’s final resting place is a horrible fucking turn of events and I really wish literally anything Else had happened

anyway. The question remains, where will Bishamon go? Will she be able to track Yato and Kazuma down based on his pain, and save them? Or will she join Ebisu and the others in their research? Or neither? Maybe she’ll get Nana to have a weapon?

I think Hiyori and Nora are heading to Yato anyway, so with any luck they’ll find him and be able to save him. Hiyori becoming a doctor shoutout? anyone?

Or maybe they’ll meet up with Bishamon there and help Yato and Kazuma while she tracks down the sorcerer. I don’t know that she’s in any condition to fight, but [honks my clown nose] we’ll see next chapter

90 is coming a bit early next month, the 3rd for me, and I can’t tell if that’s better or not. Rip the bandaid off early, but also. idk if I can take it. That remains to be seen.

Another thing that remains to be seen is whether this is the most painful chapter of the manga for me. Right now it feels like it’s on par with 71, but time will tell. Especially since 71 at least had Yato and Yukine being ride or die for each other, and this time it focused on the “die” part.

Father naming Yukine was the midpoint of the Nora arc (this arc) to me, so now I think we’re getting close to the end. I really don’t see what else there is to accomplish now that Yato’s gotten hurt so badly. Maybe he’ll be in better shape than we thought and still able to go after Yukine? He got roughed up pretty badly fighting Takemikazuchi in the last arc, and his neck got sliced open that time too. But it’s really hard to tell the extent of the damage from just one panel. Obviously he couldn’t chase after Yukine. Then again, he did also just get concussed.

Yato can you please go one damn arc without suffering grievous injuries this is bad for my heart.

#Noragami #Noragami spoilers #Noragami manga #gonna go drink now #live update

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mewtwo24 · 4 years

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Noragami Thoughts

After a few years of not looking at this series (which is completely understandable, I very much wish the creator a full recovery) I was blown away upon my first return to the story.

Granted this isn’t the first time I’ve ever felt something so deep for a polished work, but I’d like to say it all the same--returning to Noragami felt like coming home. I’m a completely different person than I was when I first encountered the series, but I was surprised to find that my high regard for it didn’t change at all.

If anything, it only increased.

Thoughts below the cut because this is long, and I just needed to get my ideas down (good old catharsis). Don’t open if you aren’t caught up with the manga! There are spoilers.

I love this manga. Truly, I do, and one of the things that I noticed going back is how expertly Adachitoka handles both Yato’s self-understanding and the perception of the other gods. I think what levels me the most about this manga is that its emotional highs and lows are not only expertly controlled (we experience the weight never quite to the point of devastation, even though things are culminating in that direction) but the way we experience the characters is just...so breathtaking?

I love that the reason we hurt so much when they’re hurting isn’t always because we see the character in question in anguish. It’s because we see everyone that loves them suffer so acutely when they’re not okay.

And how beautiful is that? Something about that choice--that narrative decision to take trauma, to take pain and make it something that is always about love, is astonishing to me. I don’t think I know of another series that does it quite so poignantly as Noragami does. It expertly executes what I like to call “the anime effect”; in which we are so easily taken in by the humor we are utterly blind-sided when the world comes crashing down on the characters with full force.

And if that seems farfetched, just look at a handful of the recent examples. (I’m positive I could find more if I went looking back.) Kazuma is in a state of utter crisis because of what happened to Bishamonten, and the sheer desperation of everything he has done is chilling. His face and his self-deprecating words do little to hide the turmoil, but I feel like sometimes that’s lost in all of his shenanigans with Yato. We feel it in the moment, but we’re so swept away by the plot that it’s almost sidetracked. Almost. Until we get to the absolutely heartwrenching panel of Bishamon crying after he reports what he’s doing--essentially what he’s always done. Being devoted to her to the point of self-destruction; because it’s precisely the outcome she was trying to avoid in using another shinki against Fujisaki.

Take another, Ebisu. We see him painstakingly working despite his adorable youth to bridge the gaps that his predecessors failed to, to right every wrong he possibly can. He’s approaching the future with fresh eyes. But then we see that, even though he’s trying hard to be strong, there’s something more there. The older Ebisu, knowing that his fate was to perish long before any great age, had come to terms with that--as best as any person could possibly come to terms with that--and was already invested in protecting his successor. Gently, earnestly, firmly. We see a younger Ebisu that is enthralled with him, and the reader naturally assumes young Ebisu sees him as a parental figure. But then we get those shocking lines, the ones that mention how scared his predecessor must have been. How hard a lifetime of secrecy must be, how hard it must be for his closest retainer to keep secrets as well. We see an Ebisu that is young, yes, and with plenty of mourning available to him--and he takes it all in stride. Seeks to alleviate a great weight that was never his responsibility to begin with. But he takes it anyway, at the sight of their struggle. He makes it his own, despite the danger, because he loves them; as most young children do, without reserve.

And the surprising one, Nana. We see Yato make an attempt to ask for her help in ending Fujisaki once and for all--and Nana doesn’t seem entirely against the prospect of a fight--but Ara-habaki banishes him at the mere prospect of lending her over for that purpose. The meaning of that gesture? Profound and undeniable. Nana is utterly touched by the implication, is moved that somebody in this shoddy excuse of an afterlife would give a damn about her feelings as compared to her value as a shinki. We see a god that once again rejects the prospect of using shinki like chess pieces, and we even see Yato’s misgivings about using her to begin with--it was an act of desperation, and he moves no further when he’s reminded that it’s wrong. When he’s reminded that this isn’t the sort of thing he should do. After all, how can he look Yukine and Hiyori in the eye with the knowledge that he used a child to protect them? An unrelated party, a person who has never seen life because of her incredible power, and has been used one too many times to win a war that was never her responsibility.

And then, we have Yukine. Good fucking god, I can’t even start on this one without crying. I truly can’t. Granted I don’t know the intention of Adachitoka when first writing this (feels intentional), but the parallels between Yukine and Yato? Absolutely destroy me. There was nothing left in my heart but sorrow for the last few chapters. Here’s why.

We have Yato, or perhaps I should say Yaboku, yes? Who takes on Yukine as his shinki. As we all well know (and probably want to scream) Yaboku was the victim of considerable abuse by Fujisaki. I probably don’t need to go into the finer points, but coercion, blackmail, and outright threats have been exchanged, to say nothing of the way he uses Yato’s emotional suffering for his explicit amusement. Yato is a tool to him, nothing more. Anything Yato wants can and will be used against him for the sake of tightening Fujisaki’s collar around his neck even tighter.

Yato is no stranger to the kind of pain that comes from being the child of a person that does not remotely love you. A guardian who appreciates nothing, recognizes nothing, praises nothing, protects no one unless it is of use to them. Feelings, fairness, humanity--none of those things matter.

Enter Yukine. In milliseconds Yato is charged with the care of a young man who was veritably buried alive by his own father. With nothing and no one to help him, an entire life lost--devastated--by the person that was intended to care for him. That kind of betrayal on its own, is purely horrific. There are no words I can say, nothing I can offer that can speak to the monstrosity of something like that. But I would like to offer that the way Adachitoka brings us to this truth is what makes it so utterly tearjerking. That it is precisely the narrative style of tangentially enclosing on the subject that is so ruinous I can barely see my screen, even now as I write.

It’s because we knew, even when we didn’t know.

From the very first moment, we see Yato accept Yukine and he covers his eyes with his arm. We see tears streak down his face but he makes no further comment to any of it, keeping quiet with his subsequent silly antics.

Strike one.

Throughout the course of manga we see allusions to how Yato encourages Yukine to learn what he didn’t get the chance to in his human life, sifting through workbooks and engaging with schoolwork with Hiyori’s help.

Strike two.

When Yukine is locked inside the box the other gods enforce during the trial in heaven, trying to pressure information out of Yato? We see Yato panic at exponential degrees, begging them to let Yukine out because neither of them can breathe.

Strike three.

Yukine’s pervasive fear of dark, enclosed spaces?

Strike four.

And last, but absolutely not least, we see Yato digging where Yukine was presumably left to die. Nora notes that he was so on edge that he was hyperaware of his surroundings, forcing her to watch from a distance. Let that sink in. Yato was already so taken with his charge, with respecting his dignity and suffering as a person, that he would be damned if he let Fujisaki interfere. Not only that, we visibly see Yato��s absolute horror, the distress in every line of his face as he races to the site of murder and digs like a madman, no thought to his own fear or discomfort.

He takes more responsibility for Yukine’s care than the kid’s own father ever did.

Strike five.

Hiyori begins to outright sob when she too, brings all of the pieces together so quickly; that moment of realization, where every fragment of odd behavior suddenly transfigures itself into a coherent image, the mosaic visible. We experience Yato’s horror twofold when it echoes in Hiyori, and we feel the depth of her sorrow to know that somebody she cares about suffered such an egregious indignity. And to top all that off, we are aligned with her in this moment as one of solidarity. Yukine is rough around the edges sure; but we love him, and his fate is one we would wish on nobody.

Strike six.

And, my dear readers, is that enough for us? Are we feeling enough hurt quite yet, Adachitoka asks? Fuck no.

Because now we know that Yato not only carried the weight of Yukine’s trauma, but we also know how deeply he understood. Granted, their fates were a little different, but he knows. He knows how infuriating helplessness can be, the incapacity to stop the hurt at its source; because their lives were changed irrevocably beyond their control. Neither of them got to choose who they were born to. And even so he still tries to do right by Yukine, even if his attempts at care are awkward or ridiculous or roughly hewn--they’re utterly, heartbreakingly genuine. And he chooses to be better than his father no matter how many times he messes up; never, ever sinks to those lows. Never uses Yukine, never ignores his will, would never risk his life--even if it meant saving his own (Fujisaki sees literally everyone that will not contribute to his aspirations as expendable). And that’s what makes me cry, even more than the refrigerator scene. Because Yato would never put Yukine at risk to save his own life, even though next to no one has ever given a damn about him, even though Yukine pokes fun at him all the time and hurts him when he acts out of line/immorally, even though he had every liberty to treat him like an item or coerce him. He doesn’t. Or perhaps more accurately he can’t; not when he knows how much that hurts.

The other gods assume Yato to be lazy, irresponsible, unfeeling, selfish. Yato could have dropped Yukine like a rock. Could have said lol no thanks, this ain’t it chief, and decided to find another shinki that would cause him less grief.

He doesn’t.

And that’s what’s so awful about their falling out. Because Yato cares, cares beyond his capability to express, cares to the point of unrelenting faith in him. But he’s the certified goofball. The disgrace among the gods. A no-name. And he’s fully internalized that. He struggles with vulnerability, has to be somewhat drunk or flees the scene shortly after any expression of heightened feeling--and we can thank daddy Fujisaki for that. Yato understands his love for others as a purely destructive force; if being around him isn’t enough to ruin their lives, Fujisaki will ensure it. And that conditioning doesn’t go away in mere weeks of renouncing an abuser.

He loves Yukine and Hiyori so much that he no longer cares if he dies if it means that they live freely. He spent an entire god-span lifetime trying to remain in existence by any means possible, was obsessed with surviving at any cost. And yet, the moment his loved ones are at risk, it no longer matters.

Not only is he capable of more altruism than his father was ever capable of, he directs it whole-heartedly to the people devoted to him. When he was given no love, no solace, no semblance of worth of any kind--he still gives their existence meaning and would do everything in his power not to hurt them.

And that’s why I love Noragami. Because it does precisely what so few stories do, imo. It shows us that people grow for the better only when they find love, and that love can come from unlikely places--that you can love even if it was never, ever given to you.

In Noragami, we come to understand that love is a choice. And sometimes it brings us pain, sometimes it brings us joy, but it always brings us to a better place.

I would like to end this all with the words that bring this entire analysis together, in the beauty of knowing that Adachitoka by no means implies this without clarity.

Nana and Fujisaki are two of the strongest characters that we have ever seen in this manga. Fujisaki is motivated, iirc, by the loss of the love of his life. This aching bitterness, the sheer undying rage inspired by her life cut short is what enables him to transcend every barrier that should stand in the way of a human being, presumably. He is our insight into what happens when love is twisted, we see a potential that was utterly lost to selfishness and cruelty--one that reverberates through Yato starkly.

We see the danger of improper mourning, of an incapacity to let go. A truth Yato understands: life must go on, that it must keep flourishing anew no matter how much the growing pains sting.

And here, we see Nana. In her profound compassion, she understands that every single life is a meaningful individual, that they are innumerable points of value and beauty and worth in the world, and as such her death cannot be a source of sorrow. There is a clarity of understanding; she knows she is not alone in her experience, she knows that all human beings encounter trials and tribulations. She knows that she is not the first to die so young, so unfairly. And that’s what grants her strength. Yato calls it self-sacrifice, and while I understand that he assumes it to be a self-martyring conviction, I don’t think that’s quite what she’s getting at. Look at her dialogue, the careful phrasing: “It hurts more when someone you love dies.” She’s not saying she would rather die 1:1, she’s saying that the worst experience a person can have is seeing their cherished one in agony. The worst feeling, the only thing that could ever hurt her beyond sanity, is watching someone dear to her suffer without any means to stop it. Precisely what warped Fujisaki beyond repair.

“He loves Yukine and Hiyori so much that he no longer cares if he dies if it means that they live.” Reread those panels with that understanding. He literally marvels at Nana’s capacity to do that, to love people with so much tenderness and generosity, when he doesn’t even seem to realize that he’s doing it himself. That he too, is noble and strong, even if he can’t believe it.

And that’s the whole point. That’s the entire grounding of this manga. That love is what drives us, that we are made to love, and through love we find peace and self-understanding even in the most turbulent of times. I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if it is to be Hiyori’s devotion to him--ever steady, ever pure in its intentions and belief--that will be what grants Yato the strength to overcome Fujisaki, and heal Yukine.

And having said all that, I know they probably won’t see this but I still feel the need to say it anyway. Thank you, Adachitoka. Works like this are the ones that inspire me to keep trying, that bring me to tears as much as it makes me smile. I can only hope I can create somethings so wonderful someday.

#noragami #noragami aragoto #noragami spoilers #noragami aragoto spoilers #noragami yato #noragami hiyori #noragami yukine #noragami ebisu #noragami kazuma #noragami bishamonten #noragami fujisaki #bro the new chapters had me shaking and crying #deadass still can't fully process what this manga means to me #this was just a shallow attempt at getting to the heart of it #god damn adachitoka have mercy #if any of you managed to get through that you have my sincere thanks and congratulations #analysis

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petri808 · 4 years

Text

The Sting of Heartbreak

@yatoriweek2020 Promise & Reunion combined. Canon divergent drabble, angst

The moment Hagusa sees Hiyori coming, he stops and backs away from Yato. The stray God he had a problem with, but for her, those emotions were still in turmoil. As far as he was concerned Yato didn’t deserve Hiyori, but even if Father commanded him too, he could never attack her on purpose.

She drops to her knees beside the God, staring up at her beloved friend and Shinki with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Y-Yukine what happened to you?!” The girl begs for answers with every fiber of her soul. “Why are you attacking Yato?!”

“I’m not Yukine anymore,” the boy grits his teeth, “my name is Hagusa, and this pathetic excuse of a God is not my master anymore!”

“I-I don’t understand,” she looks between them. “Yato loves you! He was willing to die for you and you for him! Yukine why are you doing this?! I know what happened to you in life... I-I saw the...” Hiyori narrows her eyes at the boy, “and it was he that gave you a proper burial because he only cares about you!!!”

“No, no! That’s a lie,” Hagusa screams back. “Father told me...”

“Father lies to you to control you! He tried to do it to me too! But I didn’t let him. Yukine don’t let him control you, please!! I’m begging you!! He’s only doing this to destroy Yato’s spirit so he’ll go back to work for him.”

“No, No, No!” The Shinki cradles his face in his hands. “You’re wrong about Father, it’s not possible...”

“Search your heart Yukine, please...” her voice strains with unmitigated despair. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

“Ahhh!!” He couldn’t deal with this right now. It was too overwhelming. Yato... Father... Hiyori... who is supposed to trust?! “I can’t! I can’t deal with this right now!”

“Yukine!!” Hiyori screams, reaching out as the broken Shinki takes to the sky. “No...” her hand drops once out of sight. “Yukine...” But he was gone. It felt as if a part of her heart had been torn out.

“This is all your fault!!!” She turns her attention to the man lying before her. “Baka! Baka! Baka! If you hadn’t tried to do this on your own your Father wouldn’t have gotten to Yukine! Why don’t you ever listen Yato!!!”

“She’s right,” Kazuma agrees with the girl.

Yato sits up, holding his head where one of the worst blows had been struck. “Hiyori, I...”

But realizing the other Shinki was also there, Hiyori turns her frustration on him too. “Oh, don’t you try to be on my side either Kazuma,” she spits back laced with venom. “You could have came to get me, Yukine, at any time to intercede, but you didn’t. You’re own pain blinded you into staying quiet and helping Yato... And now look at you two. Hundreds of years old and yet a sixteen year old understands things better than either of you.” She sighs, “I can‘t begin to imagine what you’ve all been through. I can barely grasp what was done to Yukine too. But this fight... this fight is not only about you two or the Gods, or about Father. There will be more casualties if you guys don’t stop being so tunneled vision.”

Unable to argue back, Kazuma bows his head and quietly turns away for she was right. So many missed opportunities to avoid their current predicament and they never once stopped to consider them. They allowed their blind emotions to guide them and this was their consequence. He knew he shouldn’t have listened to only Yato, and now it’s come back to haunt him.

“Hiyori, I’m sorry! I-I was just trying to protect you both and...”

“That’s your problem Yato,” she shakes her lowered head. “After all we’ve been through, why could you never see how much stronger we were as a team? You, me, and Yukine are like a family and nothing is stronger than a family bond.”

The pain of her words stung the stray God worse than any physical blow. It didn’t matter if his intentions were noble if it tore apart the very thing he was trying to protect. He no longer feared dying if it meant protecting them but at this rate, such a death would be in vain. Yato closes his eyes, unsure of what to do. All his planning just to find out his Father was still a step ahead, and now his beloved Hafuri hated him. What to do... what to do...

“We have to get him back Yato!”

Yato’s eyes fly open in surprise when the distraught young woman throws herself onto him, hugging to his body so tightly as if worried he would slip through her fingers again. Her face buries against his chest and tears stain his clothing with all the pain flowing through her. And he could feel it, like waves battering along a shoreline during a storm. She clings to him, her fingers gripped to the fabric as endless muffled cries echo on that silent hill.

“We have to bring Yukine home!”

This young girl had truly stolen his heart. He loved her so much it hurt. She was his reason for living. Yato wraps his arms around her, pressing his head against hers. “I promise you, I’ll find a way Hiyori. I’ll save Yukine‘s soul.”

“No!” She pushes and punches his chest in a sudden fit of anger. “Not you! Don’t you dare Yato. You promise me that we will get Yukine back, We! Ugh did you not hear a word I said!”

He quickly grabs her flailing hands. “Hiyori I did hear you! I worded that wrong I’m sorry, yes, we will get him back. I won’t leave you alone again, I swear!”

Her eyes search the depths of his, demanding the answer she desires. “Promise me Yato! Swear on my life you won’t just dig out on us again!”

“Hey, hey,” he holds her wrists together with one hand and cradles her cheek with the other. “I promise you, Hiyori, I promise...” and this time, he meant it.

#yatori week 2020 #yatoriweek2020 #yato #iki hiyori #yatori #noragami #yatori drabble #yatori fanfiction #yatori fan fic #yatogami #noragami aragoto #ugh these two just make me feel angst lol #i love this series but its killing me i swear lmao

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noragami-ru-manga · 4 years

Text

Magatsukami. On Yato’s attitude towards his job

I might be a little late for the party with this kind of analysis (I mean, magatsukami who? we only know Yatogami-sama, the god of fortune). Still, have fun with this one *throws another lengthy-ass post at you*

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It probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that my favorite character in Noragami is the noragami himself. I mean, what did you expect? Yato is an excellent protagonist who holds the narrative focus really well and whose character development is interesting to observe. A lot of things can be and have been written about him, his relationships with Father / Nora /Hiyori / Yukine / Kazuma / Ebisu / etc. What I want to examine is his attitude towards his calling of a magatsukami, or god of calamity, throughout his known life.

Past

I think it makes sense to start from the beginning, i.e. from Yato’s childhood, when his job was nothing but a game to him. Father created him to “cull the heard” and named him Yaboku. He knew what Father’s wish was from the start, even before he got Hiiro as his instrument. Naturally, there’s nothing to say about Yato’s attitude towards his role as a magatsukami at this point – little Yaboku probably doesn’t even know the term. Here, Father is teaching him how to be a god – in his opinion, anyway.

Rule #1: gods can do whatever they want. Father teaches by example: Yaboku can come and take anything on display in the market without paying for it; since no one can see him, no one will notice anything missing, and if they do, they won’t know who stole from them. A nice little lesson, isn’t it?

Rule #2: gods must fulfill human wishes. Father means his own wish, of course, but divine instincts show through, so Yaboku regards any request as a wish/prayer – like when his victims beg for their lives, for example. Except Father’s wish (or Yaboku’s own wish to make his father happy) is stronger, so those prayers go unanswered.

That’s how Yaboku starts fulfilling his role thinking of it as merely a game. What’s curious is that he seems to have had doubts about Father’s wish before the very first “game”:

But even if he’s had those doubts before, they are completely gone when Father praises him. After that Yaboku hasn’t given much thought to what he’s doing, cause the more ears he brings home, the more Father praises him, and what else can a child dream of? And as a child he also asks his innocent questions that make your skin crawl – e.g., how come there was another human inside the belly of a woman he “played” with?

That’s how it was before a nameless shinki stumbled upon Yaboku – a shinki whom he named Sakura and who started calling him Yato by mistake. Sakura starts teaching Yato right away, probably without even stopping to think where he got those disturbing habits in the first place. It’s understandable though since she hasn’t been a shinki for that long. Sakura doesn’t know much about the Far shore, including things that are crucial to her survival – like how the water from a spring can heal her blight; it’s unlikely that the thought of a god having a parent who’s raised him to be way he was would have crossed her mind. But she has some very strong views of good and evil, and she starts conveying them to Yato as well, and with a nice and clear reasoning at that. Sakura doesn’t tell him that stealing is wrong “because she said so” – she explains that taking others’ belongings and disrupting the established rules of human interactions by doing so will lead to driving other people away and being left all alone. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have time to teach Yato the value of human life before he takes her to “play” with him instead of Hiiro.

Of course, Sakura is shocked that Yato’s used her to just up and kill an unsuspecting man, so she stings him and runs away. However, she comes back after her conversation with Tsuyu regarding the nature of the gods and keeps teaching Yato to love and have sympathy for humans. Nevertheless, the incident with the man who was dragged by his horse shows just how much Father’s lessons are engraved in Yato’s brain. The first thing to come to his mind is to slay the horse; luckily, Sakura is fast enough to tell him that he’s supposed to cut the rope, so the man is saved and Yato gets his first show of gratitude from a living human (Father doesn’t really count). From this point on, Yato is not as keen to go and “play” with Hiiro, but he doesn’t abandon his games completely because he still wants to be praised by Father.

So Yato keeps “playing” with Hiiro while also helping out humans with Sakura. It’s the beginning of recurring future situations when Yato will have other shinki whom he won’t use to fulfill Father’s requests and simply disappear for a while to do his job as a magatsukami instead.

It’s pretty obvious that Yato has never got over Sakura’s death – he prefers the name she’s given him, and he also gives his new shinki a part of her human name. But there’s something else to consider. When Sakura explains to Yato what shrines are for, she asks him to be respectful towards any and every wish, and he remembers that.

It’s the same thing he tells to Rabo in “The clash of the gods of calamity”. It’s hard to pinpoint when exactly this extra takes place, considering the only historical reference here is the Toshima clan, which existed in 8-15th centuries, and there’s no way I can determine the time period by people’s clothes. Knowing that Yato was born in 10th century doesn’t help much cause it means that the events of “The clash of the gods of calamity” could take place anytime between 10th and 15th century.

Anyway, for a small extra like this, quite a lot of things actually happen in “The clash…”. Yato is seemingly working on his own now. For the usual payment of five yen he is asked to avenge a girl who was robbed and killed by a female thug from her own village. He and Hiiro come upon some ayakashi-possessed bandits while looking for that woman. They try to kill Yato but fail cause he kills them first, without hesitation or regret.

By the way, the “clash” of the gods of calamity isn’t that much of a clash, really – Yato and Rabo simultaneously slay the last gang member and that’s how they get to know each other. Well, sometimes that happens.

I find the next scene very interesting though. Rabo is pouring wine to Yato’s cup, not knowing that the latter has never drunk the stuff before since Father thinks he’s too young for that. As soon as Yato hears Rabo saying that if his father forbids then he really shouldn’t be drinking, he chugs down the entire bottle. It shows how Yato is already trying to defy his father, even if it is with small acts like that since he’s unable to do much else. And Hiiro calling him Yato and not Yaboku proves that at this point Yato is refusing to go by the name his father has given him and uses the one Sakura’s made up instead. And as they say, drunkenness reveals what soberness conceals; so when Rabo expresses the thought that Yato’s impressive battle skills could attract the attention of samurai, Yato says the same thing Sakura said before, adding a little more of his (or rather, his father’s) thoughts to it.

And yes, Yato actually finds the woman he was tasked to kill by the victim’s brother, and brought back a kimono. After all, the brother’s wish not so much about killing that thug as. It was about bringing back the kimono that was stolen from his sister’s dead body so that she may rest in peace. The drunken confession and the situation with kimono show that Yato, who was torn between Father and Sakura as a child, has learnt to compromise. He will be doing what his father demands of him and fulfill his role of a magatsukami because Sakura asked him to treat every wish with respect.

We don’t know what Yato had been doing for the next 300-800 years. Chronologically, the next event in his life we know of is the slaughter of the Ma clan, which happened sometime 200 years prior to the events of the manga. By that time, nasty rumors about him have been going around on the Far shore.

How true the rumors of Yato’s avarice were is hard to judge. Apart from the Bubble era, when his customers would pay him in thousands of yens, he is shown to only ever take 5 yen per wish. Granted, he’s had some side jobs as well since saving up for his shrine by granting wishes only is pretty much impossible. He’s tried to become a pop-idol, has sold rhinoceros beetles and Bishamon doujins, but even in those cases his prices, apparently, would always fall to 5 yen in the end (or maybe that’s the price he’s wanted to have and simply used the old marketing ploy of fake discounts).

Or maybe what Kazuma refers to as avarice is Yato taking the money for the prayers in person and for every one of them. After all, renowned gods have a different approach to granting wishes. They can’t possibly respond to every single prayer left at their shrines, so there’s probably no clear proportion to the number of prayers heard and granted in their case. People simply pray to them and hope that one day their wish comes true and the gods try to grant those wishes whenever they can, but unlike Yato, they don’t actually appear in front of their believers.

Anyway, when Kazuma pleads him to slay the Ma clan, who are turning turning into ayakashi en mass, Yato does ask whether he can actually pay for his prayer. But when Kazuma answers that he’d rather return his name to his mistress than become a nora, Yato agrees to grant his wish without down payment.

If you really think about it, Yato didn’t have anything to gain from this particular job. Suppose Kazuma keeps his word and pays later, so what? He’s a shinki, not a living human; is there any point in granting the wish of someone who can’t help Yato spread his name among the living? The way I see it, Yato shouldn’t care whether other gods or their shinki know about him, as for him the only thing that matters is to be remembered by humans. It’s also not a job from his Father that he wouldn’t have the guts to turn down. And yet Yato takes the request anyway without even telling Kazuma how much he’ll have to pay. Maybe he thinks that Kazuma can figure out on his own that the price is 5 yen; or maybe he doesn’t intend to get the money at all.

The thing that caught my eye in the scene where Yato slays the Ma clan is his reaction to their deaths. He starts cutting them as usual but then stops and doesn’t want to continue, so Hiiro has to persuade him to keep going.

This whole situation is probably an unwelcome reminder that he had to mercy kill Sakura, who also turned into an ayakashi. I actually find it curious how Yato seems to make a distinction between shinki and humans. If we go back to his childhood again, he used to kill humans without giving much thought to the fact that dying kind of hurts. But he instantly recognized that Sakura was a shinki and helped her wash away her blight for no apparent reason. In other words, he knew what compassion was (which Tsuyu also noted when Yato came looking for Sakura to Sugawara-no-Michizane’s shrine) but he only felt it for shinki, not humans. Sakura was the one who made him extend that compassion to humans, too (I’m starting to think that this post should be renamed into “1000 and 1 reason why Sakura is awesome and deserves more love”). What I’m saying here is that maybe, apart from being reminded about Sakura’s fate, Yato is unwilling to kill Bishamon’s shinki because he’s started to value human lives less than shinki’s once again. After all, killing people is his job , and he has to do that a lot. Sakura may have taught him compassion towards humans, but at this point she’s been dead for the second time for like 800 years or so. Yato may have relearnt to not feel sympathy towards humans who he had to kill in order to grant other peoples’ wishes. Killing shinki deliberately, on the other hand, is not something he usually does, unless it’s in a fight with another god.

Anyway, Yato does finish the job and slays every shinki of the Ma clan but one, earning himself both a mortal enemy and his first friend.

Four years later Kazuma seeks out Yato to repay his debt, which only increases my suspicions that Yato had no intention of ever taking the money for killing Bishamon’s shinki. He even fails to recall who Kazuma is and needs to be reminded. Naturally, Kazuma has to ask why Yato, who was rumored to delight in murders, decided to help him. Yato’s answer is curt: Kazuma made a wish, he granted it, end of story. Later, when Yukine asks the same question, Yato responds with “because I wanted to”. I think that he says that automatically to protect Kazuma, who also acknowledges at one point that Yato could have admitted that he he’d killed the Ma clan because he was asked to but opted to silently run from Bishamon instead. It’s obvious that Yato doesn’t tell the whole truth on both occasions. It’s possible that he decided to grant Kazuma’s wish because he’d admired Bishamon since he was a kid and even was somewhat jealous of her power, so he wanted to help. But his main reason had to be Kazuma’s loyalty to Bishamon. Even back then Yato couldn’t keep his shinki from leaving him, and Hiiro has never belonged to him fully – not only was she a nora, out of all her masters she served Father first.

The last episode from Yato’s past before the events of the manga worth examining is meeting Daikoku and Kofuku. It happens around 1900’s; Daikoku is turning into an ayakashi because he’s got mad at Kofuku for releasing their surrogate son shinki Daigo, thinking that it would be better that way. Kazuma refers him to Yato saying that the latter can cut anything, even separate memories from their owner. Yato, who happens to have only a regular knife, not a shinki, pretends to do just that. The circumstances of their meeting are interesting to me cause they solidify a certain trend. It’s ironic that Yato’s job as a magatsukami gave him his first healthy relationships – first his unlikely friendship with Kazuma, who then introduced him do Daikoku (and through him with Kofuku) when Daikoku also sought help from the god of calamity.

In short, here’s a picture of Yato’s attitude towards his job as a magatsukami before the main plot of the manga. In his childhood, he was a god of calamity for a specific person and thought of his calling as a game and a way to please his father. Then Sakura made him reevaluate his views of his responsibilities as a god. The time Yato’d spent with her was not enough to change him completely, but the foundation was made. We don’t know for sure if he started granting other people’s wishes on Father’s order or if it was his own decision to do what Sakura told him, that he needed to answer any prayer no matter what it was. But if the story with the kimono is indicative of what sort of work he’s been doing, then it means that, for centuries now, Yato has taken to granting wishes that had to do with punishing criminals. Maybe the reason he didn’t pity his victims was because they weren’t all that innocent themselves.

Present

Yato is introduced as a “delivery god” in the beginning of the manga. The fact that he is actually a magatsukami won’t be revealed until chapter 27, To be fair, Kofuku does mention that he is, in fact, a warrior god, so he’s killed people, but Daikoku corrects her and says that he doesn’t do that anymore. However, in the very first chapter, when Yato learns that his client Mutsumi’s trouble is bullying, he offers to resort to violence.

Judging by Tomone’s reaction, she doesn’t take him seriously even when Yato says that slaying is the only thing he’s good at and proceeds to ask Mutsumi to list the people whose heads he needs to take. As far as she knows, Yato keeps saying things like that but actually slays ayakashi, not people. Would he really have killed students to sort a problem like that? Considering that later chapters show him only going after criminals, I think not. It’s just that old habits die hard, I guess.

Chapters 27-28 show in detail what kind of jobs Yato does as a magatsukami. Both of these he gets from Father through Nora. What’s interesting (especially compared to the anime) is that he agreed on the first one on his own – he wanted it to be his last job with Hiiro before stopping to grant these kinds of wishes completely. It’s a prayer from a woman who thinks that her daughter’s murderer’s punishment is not strict enough. Contract killing is a pricy thing, so the woman offers Yato a wad of cash that he refuses to take and only accepts his usual 5 yen.

Yato could have taken the entire bundle, which would have solved his financial problems for some time at least. Or he could have chosen any sum other than 5 yen to symbolically detach this job from the requests he takes as a delivery god – but he didn’t. He refuses to accept the whole wad because the life of that criminal has no value to him, but he takes his 5 yen because, for him personally, this wish has the same worth as any other.

The second job is a serial killer who supposedly killed four people and buried them in his garden without ever being caught by the police. This time Yato does not speak with the client directly, so he asks Hiiro if the information is 100% accurate. I personally wouldn’t trust her on that, but apparently Yato finds her words – that the one who’s asked to kill the murderer was his own mother – convincing enough. Except this case turns out to be more difficult that the first. The target has a son, whose mother, according to Hiiro, was the guy’s last victim. Yato decides to go through with the task, but first he locks up the boy in the next room. And again, it’s not clear whether he even gets paid for this job since it turns out that the client is long dead and the second part of her wish was for Yato to find a place where her grandson could live in peace. The difference in Yato’s behavior in this situation and “The clash of the gods of calamity” is significant. He felt no remorse in “The clash...” when he was killing those thugs. Here though, he is hesitant at first, just like with Bishamon’s shinki, because he doesn’t want to leave a child fatherless. He only makes his decision when Hiiro implies that the kid is also in danger. And Yato still tries to at least not traumatize the boy by killing his father right in front of him.

And now we’re at the point which was mentioned in the beginning of this post. In Yomi, Ebisu asks Yato why he exists and Yato replies that his job is necessary because the Heavens fail at doing theirs. There’s evidence to that: just before this exchange Ebisu says it himself, that he’s heard Yato’s name in some oral traditions, and Hiiro earlier called the kind of work Yato does “the Yatogami miracle”. So Yato the god of calamity actually has (or at least had) followers other than Father, it’s delivery god Yato that doesn’t. Father and Hiiro also do anything in their power to persuade Yato that people need his job. Of course, he doesn’t like that he has to be kept prisoner to fulfill his functions. He seemingly only agrees to do what he’s told because it’s the best course of action for him at the moment and goes berserk when he realizes that Hiyori might forget him if he doesn’t go back soon. Nevertheless, Father and Hiiro’s manipulations combined with genuine gratitude from those who need “the Yatogami miracle” have an impact on him, which is evident in his answer to Ebisu.

Whether Yato likes it or not, his words about the cracks in Heavenly justice (or more specifically, “the holes in Heaven’s net”, which is supposed to catch all evil-doers) mirror Father’s opinion of the Heavens. Father’s plan to simply kill people and thus diminish the number of those who believe in gods seems to be really flawed to me. So maybe he understood that, too, and chose a different approach. I’ve written earlier that we don’t know if Yato started granting other people’s wishes on Father’s orders or Sakura’s request. But I can imagine that it was part of Father’s plan. Originally Yato was forbidden from even talking to strangers. However, having noticed that he was changing because of Sakura, Father might have started to teach Yato to answer prayers of revenge/restoring justice – to show him how often gods don’t respond to people’s wishes before it’s too late and the only thing that’s left is revenge. Yato may not have given a lot of consideration to that, thinking that he was doing what any god should be doing – answering prayers to continue his existence. But the number of wishes like those only grew, and so the idea that he really was a “necessary evil”, as Father puts it, became more and more ingrained in his mind.

Another important aspect of Yato’s attitude towards his job as a magatsukami is that, in a way, he has an addiction to it. The last time he returned to this field of work he was literally kidnapped and held hostage. But he’s never actively tried leaving Father and Nora before.

There are multiple reasons why Yato wouldn’t leave until he was told he was free to go. Firstly, he simply didn’t have anywhere to go. Sure, we’ve been shown that his previous shinki weren’t completely unconcerned about him – after all, they would come to Kofuku looking for him. However, since no shinki other than Yukine (except Hiiro) stayed with him for longer than a year, he probably wouldn’t have much commitment towards them. (The official translators actually raised an interesting question in their blog; at least, I never thought much about it before. As we know, it’s established that there are lots of gods who are born from small wishes and don’t exist for long but still manage to name a shinki or two. Kunimi’s first master was like that – he was a doll-like god with his own miniature shrine, born from a game. This wasn’t enough when the children who made him up stopped believing in him. When that god disappeared, the name he gave to Kunimi did not, so as long as Kunimi has a master, he will always be a nora. Here’s the question: how many of Yato’s shinki thought that he simply stopped existing and went looking for another master? Kofuku says that sometimes Yato would go missing for years, so the shinki who got the -Ne name not long before he’d return to Father (you know, the ones that would come to Kofuku) were either eaten by ayakashi or found another master and became forever noras).

Secondly, Father and Nora provided him with food and protection from “wild” ayakashi, so Yato didn’t need to think of places to spend the night. After all, he wasn’t always so lucky as to find a large shrine with a roof like Tenjin’s; sometimes he would sleep besides statues of Buddha.

Thirdly, he couldn’t go against his father’s wishes. Even though he’s had other believers (how else his name would appear in those oral traditions Ebisu was talking about?) he is convinced that Father is his lifeline. When Hiyori saw Yato’s reaction to those who commit suicide, she thought he hated them because they throw away the lives that shinki would love to have lived. That is true, but it’s not the only reason. Unlike renowned gods, Yato is in the position of someone who could die any moment. Unlike humans though, he wouldn’t have a second chance as a shinki, or go to the afterworld where he already is – he would simply stop existing and no one would ever remember that he was there. To him there’s no difference between gods who don’t appreciate their immortal lives or suicidal people – from his point of view, they all willingly give up on something that he’s working so hard to gain.

And if he wanted to keep that something, he had to work as a god of calamity.

Fourthly, no matter how different Father’s and Sakura’s lessons and approaches were, the one thing Yato’s learnt from them both is that he needs to grant any wish. Not because someone has to do the dirty work when the Heavens are idle, not because they support his existence as a god – it’s something he has to do because it’s the right thing to do. It’s ingrained in his mind. Even the actual plot of Noragami starts when Yato decides to grant Hiyori’s wish, even though she’s never finished her sentence, and takes her 5 yen on his own initiative.

And we also shouldn’t forget that, even though it doesn’t concern him anymore, up to recently Yato still wanted Father’s praise. Father doesn’t say a single nice thing to him now, but that’s not how it’s been before.

On the other hand, Father keeps newspaper clippings of mysterious deaths caused by “the Yatogami miracle” the same way normal parents have keepsakes made by their children. Except that doesn’t make Yato happy at all.

Finally, Yato reveals one more important reason to Yukine after he’s released Nora and decided to become a god of fortune.

On the surface, Yato seems to be quite full of himself. When he does something impressive or, alternatively, other characters question his competence, he responds with “how long do you think I’ve been a god?” Yet none of the hundreds, maybe even thousands of other jobs he’s done would give him recognition comparable to his work as a god of calamity. Sure, people would sometimes give him beer or food as a tip for his “delivery god” jobs. But Rabo told him that his battle skills could win him glory among samurai. People would offer much larger sums of money for contract killing than for cleaning bathrooms or looking for missing pets, even if Yato wouldn’t take them. The more he killed, the more praise he would get from his Father.

I think this quote from FMA describes his situation perfectly:

Yato keeps saying that the only thing he’s really good at is slaying. No wander he would want to keep doing something he thinks is his strong side. Getting praise and gratitude from others is important, but every person has the need in self-actualization. His job as a magatsukami has been giving him exactly that – not just the chance to know that hi’s good at what he’s doing, but to see it with his own eyes. Kazuma may not have been too far off course when he said that Yato delighted in atrocities: even when he would occasionally have doubts in what he was doing (like killing Bishamon’s shinki or the serial killer who had a son), some part of him must have felt that satisfaction and pride of a job well done.

In short, Yato’s attitude towards his job as a magatsukami is very ambiguous. It would give him protection from his enemies (ayakashi), food and shelter, the absence of which may not be lethal but is still notable. It would also deprive him of the possibility to have autonomy in his actions, to move around freely and decide anything in his life. It would bind him to Father, the man whose magnificent child rearing methods are the reason Yato’s mental state alternates between that of a thousand-year-old god, a bratty child, or a rebelling teen. It’s also led him to Kazuma, Kofuku and Daikoku and later Ebisu, and each of these encounters has brought something good to his uneasy life. It would always remind him that killing is the only thing he’s good at while showing just how good he is.

Future?

Yato found his will to stop doing the job of a god of calamity when Ebisu showed him that making others happy doesn’t always mean granting others’ wishes. He saw that a god can have their own will, like Ebisu having his own wish to decrease the number of disasters in the human world by controlling ayakashi. He released Hiiro after being unable to do that for a thousand years. Whether he knew that a god doesn’t get to name a shinki they have once released is unknown, but what’s done is done – he will never “play” with Hiiro again.

However, “god of calamity” is not a mere description of his previous functions. A god’s “profession” is also their nature. Kofuku can cause a pandemonium by the sheer force of her aura alone. Ebisu, a god of fortune, is tremendously lucky (well, safe for being falsely accused and executed he is a pretty lucky god). The problem Yato currently faces is that when he was working as a magatsukami he didn’t think twice about how his actions would affect other people. But now he can’t get rid of the thought that even if he isn’t a divine assassin anymore, his nature as a god of calamity hasn’t changed, so he is the reason of all the bad things happening to the people closest to him.

Hiyori says to Yato that he’s been her god of fortune for a while. That’s nice and all, but all the problems that Hiyori’s classmates list have been caused by Yato directly or indirectly. The accident? If Hiyori hadn’t tried to save him from the bus, the accident wouldn’t have happened and she wouldn’t have become a half-ayakashi. The call girl accusations? Yato was the one possessing Hiyori’s body and giving his visit cards to anyone he could find. And the fact that he calls himself a “delivery god” even in original Japanese only exacerbates the matter. In Japan, house calling a prostitute is referred to as “health delivery”, so the reaction to his visit cards is understandable. And though the hospital incident has been staged by Father, he’s done that because he got mad at Hiyori for trying to lead Yaboku astray from his true path of a god of calamity. That’s quite the food for thought. Moreover, even though Yukine and Hiyori go out of their way to make Yato a god of fortune, even though he tries his hardest to achieve that, he can’t get away from being reminded of who he used to be.

To make Yato a god of fortune, Yukine suggests that he keeps doing what he’s been doing, only with a different goal in mind – slaying ayakashi, not humans, and do all that without being asked. But if his methods haven’t changeв, is there a chance that we’ll still see magatsukami!Yato again? I’m NOT saying that this is how the story will end, because it would completely undermine the message of this series. However, when Bishamon nearly killed Father, it was Yukine who decided to strike her when he saw Yato passing out; it was his hafuri power that sundered the Heavens. But Yato also felt something in that moment– something he hasn’t felt for a long time.

So… who knows?

P.S. if you have a Yato overdose from this post, please don’t blame me

#noragami #noragami manga #Yato #magatsukami yato #noragami meta

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fridgeine · 4 years

Text

Just a Bad Dream

Noragami | Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Family, PTSD | 1,820 Words

Summary: Yukine’s been plagued by nightmares he can never remember ever since Father cracked his name, and his suffering is hitting too close to home for Yato to deal with. He knows he should quit being selfish and let the kid go, but they’ve got gotten way past the point of no return—because Yukine wasn’t just some kid. He was Yato’s kid. How could he just give that up?

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Nightmares were common for Yukine.

It really put Yato on edge the first couple times he caught his kid jerking out of his slumber. He feared he was about to lose him—that Father had exposed another one of his shinki to God’s greatest secret. He felt helpless (still did) because he knew that it’d be nearly impossible to reel Yukine back in if he remembered too much.

But thankfully, Yukine didn’t seem to remember anything.

Each time Yato caught him waking up from what was an obvious bad dream, he would make sure to ask him if he wanted to talk about it. He hated having to because it felt too risky to encourage Yukine to reminisce, but he needed to know how bad things were getting. Luckily for him though, Yukine always said there was nothing to talk about because he couldn’t remember any part of it. It seemed that the memories burned up as quick as a sheet of paper in a bonfire the second Yukine woke up.

But things were never so easy and you should never count your chickens before they hatch because everything got worse after the box. Yukine began to recall details in his dreams, details that felt like claws slicing down Yato’s back upon hearing them. They didn’t pinch his heart though or anything—to Yukine, they were practically meaningless and he probably just chalked them up to just details from Heaven’s box—not the other one—not the one Yato truly feared.

Regardless, Yato tried his best to comfort and distract his kid. Yet, his efforts only seemed futile because the nightmares just got worse and worse, occurring almost every other night. It was getting difficult to keep up with and it was rare for even just one of them to get a good night of sleep (let alone a full one.)

But Yato would sacrifice a thousand nights if it meant Yukine got to live through one more.

Although, there was one night in particular where Yato felt the ball drop. He wished he could say that he didn’t hesitate to catch it—but once his eyes locked on Yukine’s futon and he saw the small form under the covers thrashing back and forth like a fish suffocating on land, crying and begging into the silent night air—images of Sakura flashed across his vision and he froze.

It felt like the end of the world.

Of course, technically it was because Yukine was his whole world. The light that chased away the darkness in his heart.

Ever since he met Yukine, he felt like he had a chance. The first time he met the kid’s eyes—the kid who’d eventually become his kid—he felt the wind change direction.

In those eyes, existed a brighter, better future without calamity and darkness. And all Yato wanted to do was love, cherish, and nurture it. Make sure the two of them got the future they deserved. As a proper family with Hiyori, Daikoku, and Kofuku—and possibly even Hiiro, Ebisu, Tenjin, Mayu, Kazuma, and the crazy bitch—everybody he owed a better future to.

But there was one thing... a shadow that lurked never too far behind wherever he went... a dark shadow immune to any and all light...

Yaboku.

Who wasn’t created to love. Only to destroy.

To cull.

He should have learned his lesson with Sakura.

Or... maybe he had. Maybe that was why he hesitated. Why he let his kid suffer through his traumatic memories. Why he let him plead for a life he no longer had to a man who never loved him.

It really made the déjà vu kick in. A son, clinging to the robes of a father who felt no sympathy for his creation. Who didn’t dither to allow his child to be suffocated by the darkness he forced upon him.

Perhaps, Yato was wrong for thinking he’d be able to provide Yukine with a better second life. How could he give his kid what he needed when he too, never had it?

He should have learned his lesson with Sakura.

With trembling fingers, Yato raised his hand. He could see it all unraveling underneath the warm glow of Yukine’s desk lamp—the spreading blight, the eldritch all-seeing eyeballs, the emerging deformed bat wings. His kid falling from grace and morphing into a sinful hellion. All of it entirely Yato’s fault.

He should have learned his lesson with Sakura.

Yato’s mouth formed the words his heart would never let him say. It would be the responsible thing to do—Yukine deserved better—but the kanji didn’t rise off the kid’s skin (if it was still even there and not erased by the tainted rotten purple.) He couldn’t say the words, couldn’t let go of Yukine. He had promised the kid forever despite how selfish and stupid it was. Even as a god, Yato could never give anyone forever because

he didn’t have it.

Suddenly, Yukine let out a strangled whimper, shooting out a fist straight into the bedside lamp. It crashed against the hardwood with the bulb shattering on impact. The room was then plunged into darkness. Yato couldn’t see his dying child anymore.

Maybe that was a good thing.

It’s been centuries and Sakura’s karma form was still painted on the back of Yato’s eyelids. He didn’t need Yukine’s there too.

But then—through the pitch-black—Yukine called out a name that broke Yato right out of his stupor. His name. Not only was his kid still in there, but he needed him. Wanted him.

He darted over to Yukine’s futon and immediately gathered the smaller body into his arms. The kid struggled—no doubt still in dreamland—and kicked harshly into Yato’s abdomen. But he didn’t care, didn’t let go, only held on tighter. Anything to keep his kid from breaking apart.

Carefully, as if he was handling glass, Yato crooned words of comfort as he rocked them back and forth. He then noticed a distinct lack of ayakashi features. There was no trace of blighting as well. The karma was gone like a lightning flash. Almost as if he imagined it.

Maybe he did.

Maybe he was losing it.

With a quiet sigh, Yato ran his fingers through Yukine’s messy bed head. “It’s okay, Yukine, I’m here.” The kid was beginning to cease his struggles and Yato felt the barbwire knot in his heart loosen and dull.

“You’re not in there anymore. He can’t hurt you.” Yato leaned down to bury his face into his hair. “You’re safe now. I’m here.”

He planted a kiss. Soft and tender. As if he didn’t deserve to love something so precious. “I’m here so please don’t leave me.”

I need you.

Yato closed his eyes and continued to rock them. There was one hint of distress from Yukine that stubbornly stayed embedded in his chest. It speared through his ribcage and impaled his heart on a steel cold blade. Yato felt winded and exhaustion was yanking on his eyelids. Yukine’s negative emotions always made him feel like he just finished running a marathon. Sometimes he wished the bond worked both ways, so he could soothe his kid with his own warm affection. But then again, it was probably for the best that Yukine’s heart stayed one-sided with his—he didn’t want to be the one to snuff out that flame with his own anguish.

He was already leading them down a path of mutual destruction as it was.

As Yukine fell limper in his arms, he hefted the kid up and onto his lap, guiding his head so his cheek rested against his shoulder. Yukine’s hand remained fisted in Yato’s white t-shirt, and he decided to just leave it. There was a wet circle on his chest where all of his kid’s tears fell, he barely even noticed.

Under the moonlight, Yukine’s face was scrunched up in pain when he should look the most at peace. (He used too... before the clash with Father.) Yato wanted to soothe out all those disgruntled wrinkles, bring back the much-needed tranquility.

He didn’t know what possessed him at that moment, what thought that led to his next action. But as they rocked, as Yato held his kid in his arms, as they calmed down together in the stillness of the night... he let out a humming sound. Eventually, letting it get louder and louder until the hum turned into words and he was softly singing.

The song was old, he was sure of it, but it was the most calming one he could think of. He didn’t even remember what exactly he knew it from. Maybe the radio... or the television... perhaps just someone he passed by one day. There weren’t many places to hear a lullaby... and Father never sang any to him.

Maybe he should learn more songs, this was kind of nice.

After finishing the lyrics he knew and making it halfway through an encore of them, Yukine started to stir.

“...Yato?” He yawned, letting go of Yato’s shirt to rub at his eye.

Yato couldn’t help but smile softly. He was still here. Still Yukine.

That future without darkness was still visible in those amber eyes.

They were still okay.

“Shhh.” Yato smoothed down the back of his hair. He felt confusion pool into his chest as he softly shushed and pet his kid, but Yukine didn’t attempt to wiggle out of his arms just yet. “You were having a nightmare.”

“Oh.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Yukine made a noise of indifference as he nestled into Yato’s chest. He let out a small sigh. “No. I don’t remember what it was about. Sorry, I woke you.” His eyes slid closed once again.

“It’s okay,” Yato whispered.

He let his kid fall into an actual peaceful slumber, milking the tranquil ocean waves that washed over his chest, rocking his heart back and forth while swaddling it in a fuzzy warmth. He let Yukine light up his heart once more.

Yaboku wasn’t created to love, but Yato was able to learn (with the help of Yukine and Hiyori, of course) and that was enough.

Maybe they didn’t have forever, maybe the past was too painful to reminiscent on, and maybe the future was a tad too bleak sometimes, but the present was a work in progress and that was enough.

It was enough because ever since Yato met Yukine, he felt like it was possible to change fate. So long as he followed his guidepost to the future he saw in his eyes.

So long as he stayed away from the darkness.

Perhaps he had learned his lesson with Sakura, not the one Father wanted him to learn but the one Sakura herself taught Yato.

The lesson of what actual love was. Of goodness and care.

Of life and death.

Of family.

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Author’s Note: this is 100% pure self-indulgence. I really just wanted to write a fic where Yato comforts Yukine after a nightmare with a lullaby. The manga has been really painful these latest chapters sooo I needed some father/son sweetness from these two to hold me over. Hope y’all enjoyed it~

#noragami #fanfiction #yato #yukine #papagami #one shot #straight from the fridge #all my wips are crying #noragami fanfiction

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aegon-targaryen · 4 years

Text

After

This is my Noragami secret santa gift to @floweryfandomnerd! Happy Holidays, and I really hope you like it! Read the full thing under the cut.

Hiyori watched the snow fall.

Her body was inside, tucked snugly under the warm kotatsu blanket. She sat with her spirit cord draped over the edge of the porch. The cold barely touched her in this form. She was content to listen to the soft pattering of flakes as they settled over the garden, dusting the bamboo leaves and settling on the frozen surface of the pond.

It was quiet inside the house too, but that was the grim silence that had settled over Hiyori’s family since her grandmother had died. She preferred to sit here in the stillness and think of a different snowfall, over a year ago, when she had first seen that little spirit huddled behind a vending machine—just a tiny spot of light in the winter darkness until Yato gave him a name. And now…now…

Where are you? she begged the grey sky. Where are you?

Of course there was no answer. Now she was thinking of another day in the snow: Kazuma’s green eyes burning bright into hers, every line of his body angled towards her in warning: Gods are incapable of loving humans. This is my curse to you.

But it wasn’t a curse. Kazuma had been wrong. Meeting them, knowing them, loving them—it was never anything but a gift. Even if Hiyori never saw them again.

She took a breath, and under the crisp bite of winter, she smelled something else. Sweet. Achingly familiar. Faint, but growing stronger. Suddenly she was sitting up straight, every part of her alive and electric with foolish hope.

You’re dreaming, she told herself. You miss him so much that even the wind knows it.

But no. Hiyori would know the scent of her god anywhere. She waited for a few helpless moments, her breath coming in frantic clouds, and then she whispered, “Yato.”

It was his real name, the one he had chosen, not the one forced upon him. And as always, when she called for him, he was there.

His tracksuit was dark and bloodstained against the pale garden. He cradled a pair of swords tenderly between his hands. Snowflakes settled into his dark hair. Hiyori was on her feet. Every step seemed to take an hour. She managed to lift her gaze—his eyes were fever-bright in his bruised face, and he watched her approach with a swirling maelstrom of feeling.

And then she stopped a few feet away. There was no sound between them but the drifting snow. She was almost afraid to speak, as if he was an illusion that would shatter at the sound of her voice. His smell. She wanted to breathe it in for the rest of her life.

He pressed a hand to his bloody side, never looking away from her.

“Welcome home, Yato,” Hiyori said softly.

He tumbled into her arms.

With three doctors in the house, it was no real challenge to get Yato’s wound cleaned and stitched and bandaged. The hard part was explaining it to her parents and keeping them from sending him straight to a hospital. Masaomi, with his half-remembered knowledge of Yato, helped win them over. In the end, it didn’t matter; their parents forgot Yato’s presence with a speed that frightened Hiyori.

He drifted in and out of consciousness. After her family had left the room, he reached for the dual swords and croaked out, “Sekki.” And then Yukine was bursting forth in a shower of light and throwing his arms around Hiyori, sobbing and laughing and begging her forgiveness, and she could only cling tight and thank whichever gods had brought them back to her.

“Tell me it’s over,” she pleaded when they had both caught their breath.

“I think,” Yukine said unsteadily, looking down at the sleeping Yato, “I think it really is.”

“And the sorcerer?” Hiyori wondered. She couldn’t bring herself to call him Yato’s father.

“Gone,” Yukine answered with a shudder. There was a story there, but for now, Hiyori just took Yato’s limp hand and drew Yukine back to her. Stories would come later. Now was the time to heal.

Life marched on insistently. Yato slept for days, the way only someone weighed down by years of exhaustion can sleep. Yukine looked after him while Hiyori went to school. Her family was none the wiser. Even Masaomi forgot after the first couple of days.

So they waited patiently for Yato to wake up. They ate the food Hiyori smuggled in from the kitchen. They worked on her homework together. They sat nestled against the side of the bed where Yato slept and read manga or watched movies. They talked—sometimes of everything that transpired since they last saw each other, and sometimes of the unpainful routine happenings of Hiyori’s daily life. Yukine had scars running along his hands and underneath his sleeves now. When Hiyori asked about them, his only reply was, “Yato saved me.”

Finally came the day when Yato pushed the blankets away and sat up to survey the room bewilderedly. He looked at Yukine first, and his voice cracked with disuse when he said, “You okay?”

Yukine swallowed and answered thickly, “Y-yeah.”

Yato nodded, and then his gaze shifted. Hiyori—who knelt breathlessly beside the bed—stared back into his brilliant blue eyes. Her heart thundered painfully with the words she didn’t know how to say: I thought I’d lost you and I’m so glad you’re safe and I love you. Yato’s expression was just as complicated.

His fingers stretched out to brush against her face. She trembled at the feeling. It was never him who reached for her. He was always so afraid that the blood on his hands would ruin her as it had nearly ruined him. But something had changed in his face since that night when he had shoved the little shrine into her hands and left to face his death. There was a look of…relief. Maybe even peace.

“You didn’t forget,” Yato said.

Tears flooded Hiyori’s eyes. She reached up to fold his hand between her palms. “I almost…you could have…”

“I know,” he mumbled guiltily. “I know.”

The fear and the anger that had followed her doggedly since he left began to melt away. He was here and breathing and safe, and so was Yukine. She didn’t need anything else.

Hiyori leaned up to gather Yato into her arms. The smell of him filled her lungs, and when Yukine wedged himself beside her and embraced them both, the three of them fit together like pieces in a puzzle.

Yato slid out into the garden after the others fell asleep. The sky was clear and sparkling with a quilt of stars. Hiyori had told him about what had happened the night her grandmother died. As far as Yato knew, Nora hadn’t been seen since. Snow crunched under his boots as he approached the frozen pond.

He stood there for a long moment, wondering if he was being foolish, if he should go back inside to the warmth and to Yukine and Hiyori. Nora had been born and raised into cruelty just like Yato, but he had turned away from it, and she had not. Even so—Yukine had seen the childish good remaining in her, and Hiyori had seen the pain. If Yato still deserved to be here, if he deserved what his friends had given him, perhaps she did too.

The ice splintered with a crack that pierced straight through his heart. A pale form rose out of the water. She looked very small, and very young, almost like the child he had grown up alongside. A shock went through him when he saw that the dozens of names that used to cover nearly every inch of her were wiped clean from her skin.

“Yaboku,” she greeted very quietly.

“Yato,” he corrected.

“I’ve…been…asleep. Drifting. I don’t…where is Father?”

Yato felt his muscles tensing, his weight shifting to the balls of his feet: he was preparing to run, if that was what she forced him to do. He felt like he’d spent his whole life in flight. Today—with Hiyori and Yukine curled up together in the other room, safe and at peace and together at last—today was the day he began teaching himself to stand still.

“Father is gone.”

He felt nothing when he said it. No triumph or guilt or grief. Nothing at all. Nor did any emotion cross Nora’s face, even though Yato was certain that this news would have broken her apart not so long ago.

Good, he thought. Their father had left enough marks on them in life. At least his death couldn’t hurt them.

Nora lowered her head. “He cast me away.”

“Yeah. Yukine told me.”

“So did you.”

Her words hung suspended in the cold air. There were centuries of pain lying between the two of them. She had forced him to kill Sakura unwittingly. She had hurt Yukine and Ebisu and countless others. But Yato, too, had made more mistakes than he could count.

“I don’t blame you,” she continued. “Everyone else did too. I was always unwanted. I just fooled myself into thinking you and Father were different.”

“Father wanted whatever he could use,” Yato said flatly. “I cared. And that hasn’t changed, even after…after everything.”

She turned towards him, her face barely visible in the night. “Are you saying…?”

He thought of the shine Hiyori had built. He thought of Yukine saying, you will never kill again. “Father is gone. We have a chance. We have a chance to finally be good. But this time…tell me your name.”

“My name?” she repeated, looking down at the water pooled around her. “But I’m…I’m no one.”

“That’s what Father wanted you to think,” Yato said. “But we’re not what he made us to be.”

He felt the light flare into his hands, felt the words of the naming ritual resting on his tongue by sheer instinct, the same way they had all those years ago when the two of them were only children trying to please their father.

“You have a true name. We all do. Even after all Father did, after all the masters you’ve had, some of you is still the girl who used to bandage up my wounds and tell me that tomorrow would be better. Some of you is still my sister. I won’t tell you who you are. That’s what he did to us all our lives. So tell me what you choose.”

It took her a long time to answer. She looked down at her arms, pale and bare of the writing that had directed the course of her entire life. Then she tipped her face up to the stars, and it almost looked like her lips curved into a smile.

She murmured, “Hiiro.”

#i hope this is what you wanted #i haven't written fic in a hot minute and i don't know how it got to be this long fkjgfjgf #floweryfandomnerd #noragamisecretsanta2019 #noragami #noragami fanfiction #fanfiction #yatori #my writing #yato #hiyori #yukine #hiiro #nora

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hellanoragami-blog · 5 years

Text

Chapter 79.2 Thoughts

Heeeey guys. I’m up really early this morning, so I’ve decided to try to dissect the chapter. There is a lot of interesting things to cover, but overall I really liked it. It has a lot of pain and worry tied to it, though. A big thanks to @fast-moon for a speedy translation!

In the continuation of chapter 79, we’ve picked up directly where we left off. Hiyori has begun to read through her journal, only to find that almost all of them relate to Yato in some way or another. (It seamlessly ties into a discussion that Ami and Yama are having behind her, lol.)

But things take a serious turn, because Yama explains that Fujisaki has simply disappeared, and so has his father, apparently. Father is--we know--currently resting and recovering from the toll taken on his body. But what about Fujisaki’s father? Where did he go, and what are his concerns about his son’s injuries? Is that why he’s suddenly disappeared?

I wonder if perhaps we’ll see Father claiming another form, soon. With Bishamon now knowing his face, and the nuisance posed in further involving Fujisaki’s family, I feel as if Father wouldn’t want to gamble the risks of keeping his current body. (It’s confusing, because we’ve never actually seen Fujisaki’s father, nor do we know much about the relationship he has with his son. It makes it hard to pin down what exactly he’d be doing in this situation regarding his child’s injuries.)

Hey, look! Tenjin’s riding an Ox! Oh, wait. It’s just his regalia? Cool! We now know what forms two of his shinki take, as well as their alternate names. I don’t have much to say about that. But his conversation with Hiyori is different. As suspected, literally everyone know about Hiyori’s feelings but her--even Tenjin! She goes on to ask him, the one who would know most out of anyone, whether it’s true or not that Gods can love humans.

I kind of already figured his answer, and I was right in thinking that their way of loving is just different than human love. But it’s not inherently a good thing for a God to love a human. As he said, they get drawn more to the near shore.

The more attached Yato gets to Hiyori, the more he’d be willing to do to ensure her happiness and safety. This includes wreaking havoc upon whatever threat to her that he sees. (Think back to the Bishamon arc, where he was fully prepared to kill a fellow God under the false assumption that she had harmed Hiyori.)

Also- pg. 25, Amaterasu’s watching. ;)

Tenjin does have a valid point, regardless if we agree with it or not. Gods aren’t inherently the same as humans; they simply take the form of man. Just as Amaterasu is the sun, and Tsukuyomi is the moon. “Is pledging (romantic) love to something that isn’t a person a particularly logical act?”

In a non-biased context, the answer is of course, no.

Even with Tenjin urging her to cut ties with Yato, it’s simply out of her hands now. Yato is the only one who could do that, and with their fates tied, they’re stuck together. Maybe it’s inevitable that Hiyori will forget Yato, but it wouldn’t be permanent. That’s hinted in the fact that she’s able to recount this tale to us.

At the end of chapter 1, Hiyori uses the words, “Soon, Yato would meet me.” This implies that everything that is currently being told has already happened. The story already has an ending, and we’re being shown the story through her narrative. Already, this is kind of obvious by the small hints throughout the manga; the most popular one being when she isn’t able to recognize Yukine as a human spirit the way Yato can.

Hiyori’s description:

Yato’s description:

Again, notice Hiyori’s usage of past tense versus Yato’s use of present tense. Although we are also being shown what she’s telling us, we’re also shown things that she personally didn’t see, and this comes from Yato. Could he also be telling the story alongside her? I’m interested to find out. It may mean that they will in fact meet again. It certainly gives me hope!

Now! Onto some (mostly) lighthearted scenes!

We shift attention to Yukine and Nora, who are playing a game of badminton. But things go horribly wrong when Nora runs right into a trash bin, and ends up getting covered in rubbish. Yukine must have had the idea to take her back to Kofuku’s for a bath, conveniently able to do so because the Goddess of poverty is away in takamagahara to strike fear into the heart of Takemikazuchi for repair costs.

Nora is completely in awe of the place, exploring things she’s never seen before. It looks like a child’s wonderland, to her. (Notice she thinks almost everything in Kofuku’s house is a toy. ...To be fair, there are a LOT of toys in Kofuku’s bathroom.)

In fact, most of what we see of her in this chapter reminds me a lot of what we see in Yato: not a lot of experience in the way of doing things age-appropriately, and having a very naive approach to some things. (Seeing her with that shower shield around her face reminded me of a frilled dragon. Cute!) We also see two names on her, one on her hip, and the other on her arm. These were identified by fast-moon to be the names belonging to Ebisu and Take.

Clue One that things are not entirely as they seem. I don’t entirely distrust her just yet, though. She drops her hitaikakushi in the bath, and she gives it a look of what appears to be contempt. Does that mean that she’s growing more and more unhappy with who/what she was before? Or is it regret over her involvement in a possible plan executed by Father? She folds it not-so-neatly in her hands, and the scene changes to show Yukine attempting to cook.

It’s obvious that he’s still struggling with his feelings over the situation. But hopefully, it’s not enough to be hurting Yato. Next, Nora rejoins Yukine for dinner. (In a very cute outfit, nonetheless. Adachitoka, are you trying to kill me with cuteness?? Lol.) Yukine next suggests they study together, and Nora says something that really seems to hit a nerve with Yukine.

“Dead people, studying? It’s pointless.”

Ahh. So it’s hinted that Yukine isn’t entirely accepting of the way things are, after all. Whether he realizes it or not, the fact that those words bothered him to that extent just shows that he knows it’s true, deep down. Trying to emulate a life that a living person would is essentially pointless, and he knows it. But it’s what makes him feel happy and fulfilled with what he has.

That texture, though.

We know by now, that when this texture overlay is used, it either foreshadows a topic resurfacing in a Big, Negative way, or when a character realizes something that could end up leading to a key event of sorts.

In short, this page felt very serious and ominous, and it kind of worries me. The word ‘promise’ is also used quite a bit here, which feels a little suspicious in itself. It’s also kind of scary, because Yukine just unintentionally showed Nora one of his biggest weak points. I hope it’s not going to be used against him later.

Nora, please. I’m beggin u girl. Have a change of heart.

It does look like she’s having a change of heart regarding Yukine learning the God’s Greatest Secret, though. Before, she wanted to destroy him with it. But now she wants to make sure he doesn’t get near it. Which he agrees to... but we know it’s going to happen, eventually. Sad to say, he’s already been inflicted with liberation. So learning about his past is inevitable.

Yukine reveals his worries about stinging Yato, which is important; at least he realizes that it’s bad to be getting his emotions involved like this. But Yato’s not around for him to talk to, and that makes all the difference. And with Yato being hit by both Yukine and Kazuma’s shitty feelings, it’s bringing him great distress and discomfort.

(Also quick note, I’m curious as to why the name plate says Iki. Iki would be Takamasa’s last name, wouldn’t it? Unless he took Sayuri’s name instead. Uncommon, but some people do it here in the US. Do people do that in Japan as well? I’m going to assume it’s the case for now anyway, since it’s Hiyori’s maternal grandmother’s house.)

Alas... Father. What are you doing in front of Hiyori’s grandmother’s house? How did you even find out where it was? (If he followed her home, that’s just creepy.) What I wanna draw attention to, though, are the blank pages of her journal. Blank pages. Blank. I hope it’s just the newest pages that haven’t been written in yet!

But... I feel very certain that Father is influencing something here, just from Hiyori’s mention of her body feeling heavy. (Yes, I think it was Hiyori’s dialogue, despite it showing Yato; particularly with the way it follows up in her POV in the next box.) Part of me is worried that the page is implying that Father is leaving, and he’s already set something into motion. I hope I’m wrong.

Hiyori... please hold on to your memories.

#nana discusses noragami #noragami #this wasn't as long as my previous analyses but I covered what I felt like I needed to #noragami spoilers

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echodrops · 6 years

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Noragami 78 Notes

Okay, I put this off long enough (I was busy grading; life is hard).

Here are just a few brief ha ha almost fooled you into thinking I could be brief for a second there thoughts on Noragami chapter 78 under a cut to avoid spoilers.

95% of what I have to say boils down to:

Calm down.

Hey remember that time Yato went off a life-threatening journey and the only thing that saved him was us NOT sitting around waiting for him to come back?

...Yeah, me either. HE’S EVEN WEARING THE SAME OUTFIT AS BACK THEN.

I don’t want to say that Yukine has whatever is coming coming... But when this is how he responds to threats, he sort of has whatever is coming coming. Yukine knows for a fact that Yato’s life is constantly in danger, that he has dangerous enemies, that he gets into trouble at the damn drop of a hat... And he’s still being lax here. This is a prime example of not learning from past mistakes, and that classic Noragami karma is about to smack him hard as hell for it. The manga is literally sending glaring warning signs: You should be with Yato. WHY aren’t you with Yato? What happens after this is going to absolutely be a product of the failure on both sides--Yato’s failure to stay with those who are important to him, and Yukine’s failure for not fighting harder to stay with Yato. Hiyori got smacked already at the end of this chapter for forgetting Yukine and going off on her own to chase Yato, a selfish decision that she paid for with her happiness.

The manga is setting up a very purposeful parallel here, I think:

Just as Bishamon and Kazuma become lost the moment they are separated from each other, Yato’s sense goes out the window the moment he’s separated from Yukine and Hiyori. Noragami repeats this lesson over and over again: We need each other. We need to rely on others. We need to have guidance, and trust, and support.

And Yukine and Hiyori’s failure to do that over the last couple chapters--as well as Yato’s failure to accept their closeness--is going to send them all straight into another crisis. I’ll eat my own post if things aren’t about to go from bad to downright terrible again, with this issue of failing to rely on each other at the very heart.

How much of Nora’s “emotionlessness” is a result of this line of thinking? If she doesn’t think that she should behave like a living girl, does that allow her to think and act in ways that other shinki, who cling to their human lives, can not? Is her ability to transform potentially linked to her casting aside humanity? I am interested to see how far this dismissal of being alive impacts a shinki’s abilities.

Iwami and Kiun are other shinki who might share this mindset to a certain extent, and we certainly know that Kiun is powerful...

Is it just me, or doesn’t this scenery looks very similar to:

The scenery we saw on the page where Father was holding his dead lover/wife/whoever Freckle Girl was to him?

Is it possible that that’s her body? That he didn’t even bury her but went right on living right next to her corpse? JUST HOW MESSED UP IS FATHER? Veryyyy interesting.

Also, the fact that Mizuchi says there were only three people in the beginning implies that she never met the Freckle Girl and that Freckle Girl was not around at the time that she and Yato existed.

Father was only “playing house”--to replace the real home and happiness he lost?

The concept of “playing house” in Noragami is very interesting. It only comes up in the context of gods and humans; we’ve seen it three now in the context of (what is likely) a god playing house with a human: Kofuku hurt Daikoku by trying to “play house” and raise a child; Bishamon hurt her shinki (and was hurt by her shinki) for trying to foster a motherly relationship with them; and Father pretended at kindness and care for his “children” while they were all aware of the real truth.

You could argue that one of these things is not like the other--both Kofuku and Bishamon did what they did out of love, while Father is evil--but I wonder if the third case is really that much different than the first two. Why did Father raise Mizuchi and Yato like his children? Was this a one-sided endeavor in which he bought their loyalty with occasional moments of kindness? Is that all there is to it? Or is there something else going on here?

How much of Father’s “playing house” was pure cruelty... and how much of it might stem for a desire for the very thing Heaven denied him?

Let’s see where this goes, hmmm!

It might be too early to call it, but I’m going to put this out there right now: Mizuchi is a child who died without ever being named.

She’s not affected by god’s greatest secret because she has no human name to remember. Father never said that she knew her name, only that she knew her own last moments. This is why she acted so surprised when revealing Sakura’s name turned her into an ayakashi--Hiiro did not understand the power of names back then because she had no human name of her own for reference. Her power to inflict Liberation on others stems from the fact that she has nothing to tie herself to the Near Shore. She was an unwanted child in her human life and continues to feel like an unwanted child in her life as a shinki.

Holy shit Adachitoka, COULD YOU NOT??? I mean, I don’t know if this is right but it FEELS right and nnnnnnnnnnnhhhhhh I don’t want this; it hurts.

(By the way, the top two leaves fluttering in the wind appear to be gingko leaves, a powerful symbol of endurance and duality in Japan.)

An innocent symbol of child-like play with three people in the boat to represent the family she longs to have but never will? Just kill me now, okay? Just kill me now.

Although this is interesting because we see her first boat fall apart and the people tumble away as she’s talking about playing house. So either this is a second boat, or she put the first one back together sometime during her talk with Yukine. So perhaps this second boat represents a new bond, such as between she, Yukine, and Yato? Mmmmm, who knows???

I’m glad that I was right and Yato chose not to name Kazuma. It was the right choice, even though I’m sad we didn’t get to see what Kazuma would look like as Yato’s shinki. (Well, then again, there’s still time, isn’t there?) We got trolled hard by Scissors-kun, lol.

The line up there is very interesting, isn’t it--because it’s such a Father way of thinking! This is Father’s exact ideology, that humans have no reason for loving the gods and yet they do anyway, accepting the cruelty and abuse of Heaven without question. Kazuma is tripping over the same issue from a different perspective--instead of having something taken from him by Heaven, he’s suffering because of something Heaven is not capable (or perhaps willing) to give. It’s a dangerous line of thought that leads down a dark path. This is honestly the scariest thing Kazuma did all chapter to me!

Is he thinking of Hiyori when he says “people like me” here? Or is he implying that Yato has hurt him in ways similar to Bishamon? The ambiguity of the references here is worth noting. Also worth noting: Yato has no idea what Kazuma is talking about here. Yato doesn’t share his father’s mindset and he doesn’t share Kazuma’s either. I don’t think that Yato sees a huge divide between the love gods can give and the love humans long to receive. He knows they’re not the same (maybe they’re not the same), but I don’t think he would let the issues that Kazuma is dealing with separate him and Hiyori... Or perhaps I’m just too hopeful. XD

All right, all right, now to the thing everyone is freaking out about...

Why are y’all so anti-Kazuma??? He’s not attacking Hiyori out of cruelty--he’s trying to protect her.

He even says it himself--he recognizes the signs of Hiyori’s infatuation. He sees her inability to avoid getting tangled up in the calamity that surrounds Yato. Who the hell do you think he’s really talking about here? He’s not just talking about Hiyori--he’s talking about himself.

The suffering that he has felt from loving Bishamon and not having that love returned is a pain akin to a curse. It’s enough to drive him to want to die, to fill him with such deep despair that he is willing to forsake all of his morals, his name, his “life”‘s meaning, everything he stands for. Since falling in love with Bishamon, he’s faced catastrophe after catastrophe, seen and dealt with things no human should ever have to face--witnessed friends murdered and murdered a friend, betrayed Heaven, turned his power on literal gods... There is NO DEPTH Kazuma will not sink to out of love for Bishamon, and that’s agonizing. He’s in pain, guys.

And he sees the whole damn cycle about to start again. He sees Hiyori’s feelings. He sees her love... And he sees how much Yato is ruining her life. He sees her forgetting her human family, ignoring their concerns, ignoring day-to-day human activities, being exposed to all the risks that Yato brings along with him, actively suffering at Father’s hand because of her involvement with Yato...

Kazuma sees that Hiyori is going down the exact same path of suffering, of “playing house” that he’s been on for hundreds of years, and so he does the only thing he can do to try and dissuade her: he tells it exactly like he thinks it is. He’s not lying to her here. He genuinely thinks what he’s saying is the truth. He genuinely believes that gods cannot return human feelings in the way that he and Hiyori desire, and that her pursuing Yato will only end in sadness and pain for everyone involved. He’s not wrong to want to stop that by separating them from each other forever.

The problem is, Kazuma STILL thinks that he’s always in the right. He only confessed with “vague words” and yet seems perfectly certain that Bishamon--who has never exactly been a pro at picking up signals from others--totally understood him and rejected his feelings of amorous love.

It hasn’t occurred to him that perhaps his vague words just didn’t reach Bishamon the way he wanted them to, and that she doesn’t understand that he loves her in a way different from just a normal god and shinki loving comradeship. That perhaps all this time she did have more love she could have given, if only she’d known it was needed or wanted. He’s her guidepost, but in this he didn’t guide her.

Maybe Bishamon does know, and maybe she did reject his romantic feelings. Maybe he’s right and gods really can’t love humans. (Kofuku and Daikoku are over here in the corner waving frantically though.) OR... MAYBE Kazuma is being a giant freaking idiot like always and leaping to conclusions he should never have drawn based on incomplete information and “vague words,” and passing his pain and suffering on to others, mistakenly believing he’s doing the right thing while actually just screwing everyone else over hardcore.

One of these two things somehow seems more likely than the other...

Not sure why anyone is freaking out about Hiyori’s tail? He missed (he was only trying to scare her anyway, it seems pretty clear, because if Kazuma can hit lightning in the sky, I think he could hit a target five feet in front of him)--the white stuff around her tail is snow spraying off the roof.

ANDDDDD here we go!!

So Hiyori admits she’s in love with Yato, finally. AT WHAT COST. I hope this didn’t really take anyone by surprise, since it really has been in the works for some time now.

I actually discussed how I felt Hiyori’s feelings were changing and how she was slowly coming to accept her feelings for Yato more than a year ago, in this post: http://echodrops.tumblr.com/post/164900791646/ive-read-different-opinions-on-whether-yatos

Adachitoka did a fabulous job of building up to this moment, very slow, incremental changes in Yato and Hiyori’s relationship. From the moment that Hiyori flashes back to here, where she told Yato she wanted to spend more time with him, to the Capyperland crisis where she envisioned Yato beside her instead of Fujisaki, then actually going to Capyperland and telling Yato that she wanted to be with him longer, to the scene where she allows Yato into her room while she’s undressed, to calling Yato her family to Fujisaki’s face, to seeing her plaque tied to Yato’s--making them soulmates--and NOT rejecting that or demanding Kofuku untie them... I mean, especially that last one.

Like I mentioned last year, Hiyori has spent at least a couple in-series weeks now living under the impression that she and Yato are now soulmates, and the moment she didn’t freak out about that and demand to be set free from that just screamed it to me that, deep down, she was okay with the idea of being in a relationship with Yato, even if she wasn’t quite willing to express her feelings out loud yet.

But now she’s over it. And theoretically, things should get better from here.

EXCEPT LOL JK, IT’S NORAGAMI; NOTHING’S EASY.

Yato and Hiyori are gonna have to WORK for their happy ending.

But you know what? I think it’s coming. Now, more than ever, I think a happy ending is coming.

Calm down. Deep breaths. Have faith.

#Noragami 78 #yatori #Noragami meta #Noragami spoilers #Yato #Hiyori #Kazuma #WHO DID NOTHING WRONG EXCEPT BE AN IDIOT #Mizuchi #Nora #Noragami #I got spoiled like hell on this chapter from the flood of desperate asks #I was laughing pretty hard #I was like What bullshit happened now in Noragami???#I hope some of these theories end up true though #especially that one about Mizuchi

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sayaka19fan · 6 years

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The sin of God appropriation 2/2

Depending on the god you have fallen in love with, the sacrifices you have to do may change. Let's go back to this panel.

Keep in mind that Bishamon is a bellicose goddess. To nournish and pacify her spirit you have no other way but to cherish her sense of protection.

If as a shinki you neglect this, her actions would easily end up spinning out of control. If she can't protect people she will feel useless. If her shinki don't crave her protection she will feel lost.

Kazuma has gradually taken that pride away from her. She couldn't stand being protected anymore and got berserk. It isn't different from when Nora said to Yato that even if everybody hates him she and Father won't abandon him. This is not an answer to his needs, it is an anesthetic to his desires. To Bishamon too these words should have tasted bitter.

But why on earth have Kazuma missed it? I think that he got struck in a gender role issue. As part of a couple he can't accept to be the one being protected. For the sake of making a paragon, he should be like a consort prince, but he acts as the king (Let it be that there isn't anything like a consort prince in japanese culture).

Regarding Tsuguha's death, it was Bishamon's duty to pass judgement on her shinki, not his. He could have merely cut off Tsuguha's hands, but he didn't. Bishamon is the one who can kill without remorse, not him. With his concern for being faultless Kazuma was throwing away his humanity and imitating a god, even if Bishamon has tried to reassure him that it is all right to make mistakes. His desperation is born from the realisation that he can't reach the role he imaged for himself in that couple. Being Kazuma a partner who proudly wears the trousers, Bishamon's nature is in the way.

May also Yato's nature be in the way between him and Hiyori? It is hard to tell because we understand very little of Yato's nature right now. The most problematic trait of Yato is his habit of wandering: by now I am sure that to him it is like an instinct. Would Hiyori demand him to stay at home all the time, well, it isn't going to work.

No matter how much you love a god, you need to respect his purpose/nature.

A funny Christian parallel: when Jesus was telling his disciples that he was going to suffer and die ignominiously and Peter reacted saying he won't never allow that...this was too God appropriation. To Jesus his mission comes first and not their friendship, so he ordered Peter to stay behind him. It could sound cruel but nobody got close to Jesus enough to make him forget the purpose of his life.

#noragami #ノラガミ #野良神 #kazuma #bishamon #characters analysis #god appropriation

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thedeliverygod · 4 years

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Yatori Week 2020: Day 2

this is hot off the press because I like to punish myself like that.

Reunion

“Yato, you’re stupid.” Hiyori had his head cradled in her lap, his body weak and bloodied as she cried over him, “So stupid.”

“I know.” He answered with as much of a grin as he could manage.

They both looked up as they heard footsteps come closer to them. Bishamon looked down at him disdainfully, “Agreed. I can’t believe you would defile Kazuma with any name of yours.”

Yato only managed an eye roll before he burst into a fit of coughing, unable to defend himself.

“It was my fault, Viina.” Kazuma called over from where he leaned against a wall, looking to the side as he admitted, “I was actually the one who forced him into it.”

Her eyes widened and her lips parted in shock, “O-oh…”

“...Anyway, Rekki…” Yato lifted his hand, hovering just above his chest and a kanji appeared before Kazuma, “I hereby release you.”

Everyone watched in awe as the name vanished into a bright display of blue light. Kazuma, stunned, opened the top of his shirt to confirm that the name had been removed from his body.

Collapsing his head back onto Hiyori’s lap, Yato mumbled, “There, it’s like it never happened.”

“Easy for you to say.” Yukine sniffled from the other side of Hiyori.

“I didn’t mean it like—” He quickly tried to sit before he gave a sharp inhale, overwhelmed by pain and fell back onto Hiyori.

“Yato, you can’t move like that right now! You’re too badly wounded.” She immediately scorned him, though brushed her fingers through the top of his hair as a way to keep him in place.

Bishamon turned around, the heels of her shoes scraping against the dirt. “Kazuma, I think it’s best if we head home now. I think we all have a lot to talk about.”

Kazuma looked over to Hiyori who gave a small nod and an appreciative smile. Shakily, he held onto the wall and pulled himself up, answering, “Alright.” He took a step forward and immediately felt his knees give under the pressure of his weight, but felt something catch him before he fell to the ground.

“I’ve got you.” Bishamon wrapped an arm around him to support his weight. Eyeing him carefully, she warned, “And don’t you dare lie to me about how injured you are.”

He sighed but gave a soft smile as they continued forward, “I won’t.”

Yato smirked as he watched Kazuma being rushed off by the war god, “I’m sure that’s practically a dream come true for him, being carried off by the psycho bitch like that.”

“Yato, focus.” Hiyori nodded towards Yukine, who now had his knees pulled up to his chest as he cried silently.

He let out a deep sigh before calling out, “Yukine.”

The younger boy popped his head up, “What?”

Yato let out a small laugh and commented, “I’m so relieved to see your blonde hair again.”

Yukine’s mouth opened in surprise before he buried his face again, “Stop being stupid.”

“I don’t think that’s something I can stop, at least from how you two describe me.”

“Yato.” Hiyori looked down at him, gripping his shoulders a bit tighter in annoyance.

Yukine lifted his head and clarified loudly, “Fine, stop saying stupid stuff and say what you mean. Do you get it now?” With that, he hid his face again.

“When I said everything about leaving you behind to protect you, it wasn’t just because you’re my shinki or hafuri. That stuff is important usually, but it’s not why I was trying to protect you. I didn’t want anything to happen to you because you mean everything to me, Yukine. We could all switch roles; like Hiyori can be the god or we can all three be humans, whatever. The outcome would be the same no matter what.”

Yukine looked up, tears silently flowing down from his eyes but an intent stare on Yato.

The god reached out his hand and the boy took it gently, “I never meant to make you feel you only had a purpose as sekki or that your only role outside of a weapon is being my guidepost. Yukine, I know you can’t… physically grow, and I’m so sorry. I would give anything to change that. But mentally, emotionally; I’ve seen you grow so much over the past year. And I wanted nothing more but to give you the chance to continue doing that.”

“I never wanted you to know what happened to you. I can’t stand to think about it, so I can only imagine how you feel.” Yato wiped at his eyes with his free hand and saw Hiyori doing the same, “I am stupid. And I do things without thinking through all of the consequences. But I swear, I will work my hardest so show you every day how much you are loved in this life. And not just by me, but Hiyori, Daikoku, Kofuku... everybody.”

Yukine grasped his hand harder, smiling as he answered, “Look, you aren’t actually stupid. You just do stupid things.”

“Good to know.” Yato cracked a smile and Hiyori laughed alongside him.

“And I know… how much you guys care about me.” He wiped at his eyes again, sniffling, “I just got so caught up in all of my fears and doubts that it didn’t matter. So I’m sorry, for the way I treated you.” He looked up, “You too, Hiyori. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head and draped an arm over his shoulder, bringing him into a loose hug, “You two are safe and we’re all going home, that’s all that matters to me.”

“Home does sound nice…” Yato mulled out loud.

Sighing, Hiyori admitted, “Unfortunately, I have to take the long way home since I’m in my body.”

“What?” Yato answered automatically while Yukine peeked behind her.

“Oh yeah, no tail.”

“Long story short, it was your father’s wolves, Yato. I kind of got injured while in my half-ayakashi form and kind of haven’t been able to leave my body ever since…” She explained in a rush as she gently got up from underneath Yato, standing up.

His lips parted in disbelief, he eventually answered, “You, we’ll talk later. Be safe. Yukine, let’s go home.”

Once they had vanished into a blinding light, Hiyori called out, “You can come out now.”

The sound of water filled the air before Nora appeared from a nearby pond, muttering, “Thanks. I didn’t really want to be a part of that happy reunion stuff.”

“I figured as much. I still think you should come back with us, though.” Hiyori started walking towards where she had left her bike.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I think I know just the perfect god for you.”

“I really hope Nora is okay down there by herself…” Hiyori looked at the door in the far corner of the room, wondering how it was going with Kofuku and Daikoku. It was relatively quiet which she was thankful for, since Yukine had drifted off to sleep. But because of the lack of noise, she couldn’t tell what was happening.

Yato gave a quiet laugh, “She can take care of herself, you should know that.”

She hummed, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Speaking of holding one’s own in a fight… Hiyori, why did you get tangled up with my dad again?” He slid closer to her, frowning and locking his eyes on hers.

“It’s not like I went looking for him!” She answered back in an annoyed tone before realizing she needed to keep down her volume, “I was walking home from school and I saw him. He was kind of smirking so I got a really bad feeling and I went after him. And he was just… relishing in how he was hurting you and Yukine and I couldn’t take it.”

“He always had a knack for getting under people’s skin,” He reached out to hold on to both of her wrists, “But why would you do something so stupid?”

Hiyori couldn’t help but laugh, “Look who’s talking.”

“Hey, I didn’t try to beat him with just MMA moves and no weapon.” His blue eyes flickered up to hers.

She took a breath and looked at her side, huffing, “Okay, I guess that’s fair.”

“But seriously… why would you be that reckless?” His thumb brushed over her wrist, “Your life is such a precious thing.”

“It’s like what you said to Yukine before. I’ve watched you work so hard to change and be the god of fortune that you’ve always wanted to be. And the fact that your father just… continued to try to tear down everything that you’ve ever built and took so much pleasure in it… I can’t even describe how angry it made me. I’m still angry, even though I know he’s gone.” She clenched her fists and Yato took that as a signal to let go of her.

“Those are my problems, though.” He tried to soothe her, “As amazing of a sight as it would have been for a high school girl to be the one to take out my dad, I never expected you to defend me or anything.”

She shook her head, “I know, and often getting involved just made it worse for you, too. But Yato, you deserve so much better than that. I just wish I could do more.”

He let out a small laugh in disbelief, tilting his head. “Hiyori, you made me my first shrine. You called me your god of fortune. You’ve also saved my ass repeatedly, although I don’t necessarily like that you put yourself in danger when you do that. What else could you possibly do for me?”

“I don’t know…” She gave a sigh in frustration.

Yato reached out to run a hand through her hair, “Don’t worry about it too much.”

Before she realized what she was doing, she leaned into his touch.

Realizing this, he yanked his hand back into his lap sheepishly, “S-sorry, I don’t know what I was doing.”

“I-it’s okay.” She answered back quietly, but he couldn’t help but notice that she looked disappointed.

“Hiyori…” He swallowed, not sure if what he was about to say was a good idea or not.

She perked back up, “Yes?”

“There… maybe is something else, but. I don’t want you to feel pressured to do anything about it. It’s more like… I just want to get this off my chest and be honest with you.”

A flash of worry moved through her eyes but she nodded, “Okay.”

“I… kinda, maybe… might be in love with you?” He squeaked out, wincing once he was finished.

At first, she was quiet, but then asked, “So being in love with you is the other thing I could do, then.”

“Yes, but only if you already—” His words died on his lips as she leaned in closer to him.

“I have for a while now.”

He kissed her eagerly, holding on to her as tightly as he could and repeated her name with every breath he could manage.

Yato’s affections almost too much, she giggled into their kisses. It only came to a stop after she tried to readjust herself and ended up holding on too tightly to Yato’s shoulder which caused him to let out a loud groan.

“Owww…” He whined, letting go of her to rub his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” She apologized frantically before deciding to lean forward and kiss his shoulder as well.

Grinning, he commented, “Now it’ll definitely heal faster. We’ve still got several more spots to go, though…”

“I am not doing that.” Hiyori crossed her arms into an x shape.

Yato pouted, “Why not?”

“For one, Yukine-kun is sleeping right over there.” She nodded towards him.

“If that’s the only thing stopping you, we can go to another room.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Awww, come on!”

#noragami #yatori #yatoriweek2020 #my writing #noragami spoilers

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