Notes: If you're not familiar with Noragami, there might be a couple of concepts that's a bit harder to grasp. I tried to keep it within Noragami realm as close as possible, but I may have taken a couple of liberties (oops), but please try to enjoy! There are longer notes at the end of the piece!
All she ever wanted was to leave some sort of mark in the world. Whether how big or small it is, she just wanted to leave something behind for someone to remember her by. However, due to her parents work, they moved around so often.
She left her phone number and her new contact address with friends that she thought would contact her—but received nothing. After her third move, she eventually learns to just stay quiet and not be a bother.
However, when she is able to finally convince her parents that she could live on her own, her original dream of leaving something behind resurfaced—and she thought she had a fighting chance.
For the first month, before school started, she works at a nearby shrine, cleaning the grounds day in and day out. She is excited for the new school term coming up—hoping that she would be able to finally make some long lasting friends. Perhaps it was this new school that she would finally leave her mark.
And on the first day of school, she is hit by an out of control vehicle and never survives.
Her spirit lingers at a shrine. She knows she is in the afterlife now, but her memory of when she was a human is fuzzy, so all she could do is rely on her feelings and instincts. She takes some time to get use to the afterlife, where spirits of all sizes and animosity is around. However, for a reason she did not know, she is able to hide herself very easily around the shrine.
She gets use to calling this her 'home'.
While cleaning the grounds one day (was it a day? It was hard to tell time in the afterlife), a large shadow flies by. She almost drops the broom in pure fright but looks up in a hurry, catching a glimpse of fluttering blonde hair. Her eyes widen, almost mesmerized by this figure.
However, her instincts tell her to hide, and she dives into the shadows of the temizuya. She hears a soft thud, something lands just past the steps. Slowly heaving herself up, she peers over the basin of water used for purification, spotting a... girl? She blinks a few times, even rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
No it was a girl. Leaping off of a dark red panther.
She lowers herself again, covering her hands over her eyes and holding her breath. If it was like any of the other spirits she has encountered in the afterlife... She hears soft whispers coming from their direction, and looks over the basin again.
"Revert, Hono."
She gasps silently as a sword at the girl's hips lights up in an instance, and in a flash, the sword disappears... or rather turns into another girl. A ginger-haired girl is standing in front of the blonde now, a bright smile on her face. The ginger-haired girl now tilts her head in confusion, realizing that they were on unfamiliar grounds, "Eli-chan?"
"Honoka, can you and Maki check the perimeter for any ayakashi?"
She hears a low growl coming from the panther, and nearly falls over when she hears the panther talk. "Eli, what are you planning?"
The blonde—Eli just smiles and winks, "Listen to your orders." The panther just sighs heavily, before trotting away with an irritated sigh. The ginger-haired girl salutes playfully, before chasing after the panther, "Maki-chan! Let me ride on your back~" "No."
She slowly slinks down from her hiding spot and pivots on her foot, leaning heavily against the wooden boards of the water basin. Her shoulders slump and she breathes. Maybe she'll just give an offering and pass on by... Then everything would resume back to normal and—
"You don't need to hide there anymore."
In the midst of her thoughts, she didn't see someone lean over to where she was hiding. She looks up, emerald meeting cerulean, and she opens her mouth to scream...
But a squeak escapes her mouth instead.
"Come out, I won't hurt you." The blonde holds up a hand to her. She stares at the hand, and then at the blue eyes that stare fondly at her, and then at the hand again. She stands up and takes a hesitant step back, hands gripping tightly on her broom (that she remembers she has). The blonde is confused, and soon laughs.
"W-What?!" She manages to ask while the blonde is laughing. The blonde in front of her waves her hand, "I-I wasn't expecting that." She manages to say, before her hand goes back to her side. "Do you have a name?"
She blinks but slowly shakes her head. Her name was lost with the memories of her past life. The girl slowly nods, "Ah. I see. I'm lucky to have found you then." She offers a grin, "How about I give you one?"
"Give me a name...?" She repeats, brows furrowing a little. The blonde nods again. She closes her eyes now, thinking about the proposition given to her. All this time, she just spent her days keeping her home clean... She had no memories of her previous life, or any purpose in this life... Perhaps it would all change with a name.
She opens her eyes and nods firmly to the blonde.
The next few seconds is somewhat magical for her. A soft glow surrounds the blonde in front of her, and she was mesmerized by how the glow defined her blonde hair and pristine skin. She hears a soft chant coming from the girl.
"I will bestow on you a name. My name is Eli. Take hold of this post-humous name, and bear it in mind. With this name, you will be my servant. When you hear the name and vessel, you will listen to my orders and become my shinki."
She watches in awe as a character is drawn in the air and it flies over to her arm. She gasps at the sudden character drawn on her arm, and feels a magical energy surround her. The light that surrounds the two of them dies down, and all that's left from what happened is the character on her arm.
She stares at her forearm, the character she recognized as 'full moon' etched on her skin. Her eyes move from the character to the girl who stands in front of her, confused emerald meeting with bright, proud cerulean. "Nozomi." The girl says, a smile breaking out onto her face.
"Nozomi?" She repeats, confusion lacing through her tone.
"Your name." The girl laughs now. "That's the name I give you. You are one of my shinki."
"You already have a lot, Eli. Do you really need another one?"
Nozomi hears a growl coming from behind the blonde in front of her, and she peers over her shoulder to see the red panther from earlier prowl up to them. The other girl—who used to be a sword, was missing still.
Eli laughs as she turns around, bringing up a hand and strokes the panther, receiving a soft purr in response. "Its fine, we need another 'Mi' member with Umi leaving recently."
Nozomi is hesitant, but she watches the blonde turn around and hold up a hand to her, "Come on, let's show you your new home."
She stares at the character again, repeating the name 'Nozomi' in her head again. "... Wish." She softly says, before looking at the blonde in front of her, whose smile widens and she nods. Nozomi understands the meaning behind the name she's given, and giggles before she laces her hand through the one that was held up to her.
Her name—Nozomi, has given her purpose, and she is grateful to her new Master.
Nozomi's days is much more frantic than when she cleans all day at the shrine. She learns much about the afterlife and the world that surrounds her. She also learns a lot about her master, Eli.
Eli is one of the strongest Gods in this realm. She hears many things from the other shinki—of how powerful she is, of how beautiful she is, and of kind she is. Nozomi knows from first hand (their first meeting, she notes absentmindedly) of all those characteristics of Eli... But is happy that it is confirmed for her now.
She learns of Eli's strong sense of Justice, which leads to her saving any spirit she comes across and adding them to her growing group of shinki. It makes her grateful that Eli was the God that found her that day. However, something about that seems to trouble her. With so many shinki and so many different shinki that fall under different family names, Eli does not have a lot of time to spend with each of them.
In fact, Nozomi doesn't remember the last time she spoke to Eli other than the small passing by 'hellos' and encouragement to keep on her training. Eli is constantly busy with keeping the realm safe, and is also guarded by her most loyal shinki. This includes the red panther that Nozomi saw that day, who actually is a girl that appears younger than her—Maki.
Maki is a rather... rough girl, Nozomi muses. She doesn't speak a lot to the other shinki, but when she does, she ends up blurting out harsh words. Nozomi learns quickly that Maki is just trying to help them with their training, and means no harm. She takes a liking to Maki (much to the latter's chagrin of being coddled by a 'low-life shinki').
Nozomi also meets the other girl she saw that day, Honoka. Honoka is an energetic girl who likes to talk to the other shinki. She's the only person of the 'ka' family (even Maki's 'ki' family has a couple of members), which hurts Nozomi a little; she felt like she was very familiar with loneliness. However, Honoka doesn't let that slow her down and spends a lot of time talking to the other shinki, telling them exaggerate stories about her "adventures" with Eli.
In fact, Nozomi learns a lot about Eli from Honoka. She feels like she talks to Honoka more than she does so with their Master.
Which troubles Nozomi a little. She loves talking to Honoka, but the fact she learns about Eli from her and not from Eli herself bothers her. When Nozomi brings this up with other shinki, she finds that she's not the only one who feels a distance between them and their Master.
One thing leads to another, and Nozomi is walking through the main household, humming a small tune to herself, while clutching onto a book against her chest. She and the other shinki (who aren't busy with keeping guard of their Master) decide to write some encouraging messages to their Master and take pictures so she knows that everything is okay and learn a bit about themselves. Even Honoka joins in on the fun (when she's not out with Eli and some other shinki).
She takes a turn into another corridor. Even though she very rarely visits Eli, just by intuition, she knows where exactly her quarters are. She blinks, at the end of the corridor were two large corridors, guarded by two girls, both of them with the air of authority around them (even though one was a bit short).
Nozomi recognizes them as part of Eli's most loyal shinki due to their appearance. Eli's most loyal shinki all wore dark military-like uniforms like their Master, so they were distinct, even amongst other Gods and spirits in the afterlife.
The two immediately notice Nozomi's presence. "What do you want? Eli-sama wasn't scheduled to meet you today." The tall one, with dark magenta hair asks, blue eyes narrowing at her.
Nozomi swallows carefully, "I need to give Eli-sama something, from the other shinki." She states, doing her best to stand strong.
The air is still until the door leading to Eli's room is opened and someone very familiar steps out. "At ease, Erena, Tsubasa. It's not like she's going to hurt Eli." A very familiar grumble indeed. Nozomi can't help but grin.
"You're really nice, aren't you Maki-chan?" She asks light heartedly as Maki passes her. She sees a twitch from the red head, and can see the rising blush on her cheeks. "Shut up before I kick you out."
Nozomi laughs softly, thanking the shinki at Eli's door before she steps into the room, closing the door behind her. She realizes she's never been in Eli's room. It was spacious, fit for a god. She giggles to herself, of course, Eli's a god after all—
"Maki? Did something happen?"
She's drawn out of her thoughts, and looks to a couch near the center of the room. She's about to greet Eli, but her voice is caught when emerald and cerulean meet. Eli is sitting on the couch, dressed in a blue, flower-printed yukata that was loose fitting around her form. If she looks further down she could see her pristine, flawless skin and her—
"Nozomi?"
"Eli...sama."
Nozomi finally blurts out, nearly dropping the book against her chest. She blinks a couple of times, before taking in a deep breath and smiling brightly. "My apologies for seeing you on short notice." She bows. She hears the sound of cloth being pulled up and some shifting. Nozomi looks up to see that Eli moved over, and the blonde pats the seat next to her. Silently, Nozomi moves over to where the seat is, excusing herself again before sitting next to her.
"There's no need for apologies. I should be the one who apologize, I don't take the time to see you." Eli rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, and Nozomi takes the time to appreciate a different side to her Master. She blinks when Eli looks at her questioningly now, "Is there something you needed?"
"O-Oh." Nozomi manages to say, before she holds up the book that she was clutching on to. "This is for you. It's from us."
Eli takes the book with a soft thanks, touching the leather covering gingerly, before opening it. She laughs quietly at the first picture, a group picture of several of her shinki, except Honoka could be seen leaping into the group of them from behind.
Eli starts to flip through the book now, smiling at all the pictures and little notes. She laughs after she finishes with the book, placing it on her lap, "This is... wonderful." She looks at Nozomi, whose smiling warmly at her. "We understand how busy Eli-sama is so we wanted to show our support to you and happily await the day you call for us."
Nozomi bows respectively before standing up from her seat. "Thank you for everything, Eli-sama."
"Nozomi, wait."
A hand catches her wrist when the twin-tailed shinki turns to leave. She turns around, emerald blinking with confusion. "Eli-sama?"
"This must have taken a lot of time to organize and plan... So why don't you help me? I... I haven't been the best at organizing my time efficiently since Umi left so..." Eli's hand doesn't let go of her wrist. Nozomi watches her Master scratch her cheek gently with her other hand in embarrassment. This felt like something very... human, not something between a god and her servant.
Nozomi smiles and puts her free hand on top of Eli's. "... If you allow me to, Eli-sama."
"It's a deal then. Except you have to stop calling me that." They both giggle a little and Nozomi laces her fingers through Eli's.
"Elicchi, then."
Being Eli's assistant (or secretary, as Maki calls it) is exhausting yet fulfilling for Nozomi. She handles with scheduling Eli's meetings, whether it be with the core-combat shinki (she's come to calling them that now), her other Shinki, or even other Gods at nearby shrines and jobs that she receives—mostly revolving around killing ayakashi. At this point, she feels like she knows Eli like the back of her hand, and unknowingly to her blonde Master, Nozomi also tasks herself with taking care of Eli.
Eli, she observes, is a workaholic. From the moment she's awake, until she basically collapses from exhaustion, Eli is constantly working (or trying to find work). It also does not help she holds the burden of many, many shinki (which Maki has warned multiple times). Nozomi is worried, and purposely starts to schedule Eli's meetings further apart from each other so that Eli could have a little room to breathe.
Lucky for her, Eli does not notice this—brushing it off as the fact her assistant has better time management skills than her.
Nozomi notices the time and sets aside the documents she just finished organizing. Eli is out for a meeting with another God at a nearby shrine with Maki, and should be coming back any moment now. She would most likely be exhausted; the purple haired shinki smiles to herself. Maybe she'll be easier on Eli today and let her look at the reports after some herbal tea and chocolate cake (because for some reason, Eli just loves chocolate).
Her head lifts up a little as she hears voices and frantic movement coming from outside. Eli must be back. She runs out to meet her in the court yard.
She blinks in surprise when she finds other shinki gathered in the court yard as well. Usually one or two would stop to greet Eli, but it almost seemed like everyone was here... Emerald eyes glance around, observing the panic look and hush whispers. She quickly makes her way through the group and runs into Honoka. "Honoka-chan what's—"
"Nozomi-chan give me a hand with keeping everyone back!" The ginger-haired shinki says quickly before frantically waving her arms and shouting for everyone to give some space. Nozomi is confused but when she peers over Honoka's shoulder her eyes widen.
Eli is still on top of Maki, hunched over and breathing slowly. One hand is holding her side, while the other is pressing down on Maki's back for support. "E-Elicchi?" Nozomi whispers, and slides just past Honoka (ignoring the surprise shout from said girl). Eli looks up when she hears her name being called and she gives a sheepish grin to Nozomi, the motions of 'I'm sorry' being formed on her lips.
Nozomi rushes to take Eli in her arms but before she can even get near, sharp teeth snaps in the air. "Stay away! If you get blighted it'll be more of a hindrance."
The panther snarls at her and Nozomi stops in her tracks. She's almost scared of how serious Maki seemed to be, was Eli's wounds that bad? Will she... Will she be okay? Maki slowly slides Eli off her back and nudges her, most likely indicating her to let her transform back. Eli just nods and mutters the words.
When Maki is back in her human form, she already has signs of blight on her hands, but this doesn't stop her from picking up Eli. "Honoka create a path for me, we need to treat Eli's wounds as soon as possible." She shouts at Honoka who was still flailing her arms around. However, the other shinki all hear Maki's commanding tone and immediately make a path for her to walk back to the main house.
Maki passes by Nozomi quickly, but pauses for a brief second and glances over her shoulder. "What are you waiting for? You're her assistant." She grumbles before rushing into the house.
Nozomi doesn't need to be told twice and follows Maki.
"She's one reckless idiot."
Maki sighs heavily as she finishes explaining to Nozomi what happened during their flight home. The God that Maki and Eli met with gave them a tip about a location of a possible vent opening. Not being armed with any of the other shinki, Maki wanted to head back so they could plan this better, but Eli insisted on taking a look at this location. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared at that location, but heading back, they were ambushed by a rather large looking ayakashi, leading to the wound Eli received.
Nozomi peers over at Eli, who's now asleep in her bed. She fell unconscious when Maki carried her back, the mix of the pain and exhaustion overcoming the God's stamina. She smiles faintly, "It's so like Elicchi though." She says as her eyes linger a bit longer on the sleeping God.
She tears her eyes away as she hears Maki shifting and letting out an irritated sigh. "I can't disagree with that one." She mutters as she's tending to her own wounds, cleansing the blight with the spring water that Nozomi brought in earlier. "I just wished she used her head sometimes."
Nozomi giggles, "You really do care for her, don't you, Maki-chan?"
Maki rolls her eyes, ignoring the teasing tone in Nozomi's voice. When her hands are clear of the blight, she slings the towel over the washing bin, "I've assumed you already freed up Eli's schedule for the next couple of days to let her rest." She states to Nozomi as she's standing up from her seat and slipping the gloves back on her hands. Maki is already grumbling about how 'Honoka better not have slacked off on training' because she had spare time now to watch the other shinki.
Nozomi winks in response, "Of course, Maki-chan."
"Then I have a job for you."
Maki walks over to where Eli's military uniform is, taking it from the chair it is hanging off of and holds up it up Nozomi. "I need you to get this repaired."
"I hope Kotori-chan and Umi-chan like the manjuu I made today!"
Honoka is saying happily, waving around the bag with a box of manjuu. Even though Gods and Shinki didn't have to eat didn't mean that they couldn't (Eli always craved chocolate), and Honoka from time to time always made small little delights. A particular favourite for the place they are going to loves Honoka's manjuu.
Nozomi smiles at the ginger-haired girl next to her. "I'm sure they will, Honoka-chan. Your manjuu is very good." She says with a giggle. She stares at the bag she current holds in her hands. "Why doesn't Elicchi just get a new uniform instead of getting this one repaired all the time?"
"It's because Eli-chan loves that uniform." Honoka stares at Nozomi with a dead panned look. "Believe me, Maki-chan and I tried to get her to get rid of it but..." Honoka trails off and laughs nervously at the thought. She then grins again, "But that's okay, because Kotori-chan is the best God at weaving and all this and that! So she can repair it no problem."
Blue eyes light up as they were approaching a small house just off of the path. "There's Kotori-chan's home! Let's go, Nozomi-chan, I'm sure they'll be delighted to meet you!" She grabs onto Nozomi's wrist and drags the purpled-haired shinki with her to the small home. Without any warning, Honoka slides open the door and shouts, "Kotori-chan! Umi-chan! We're he-hyah!"
Nozomi watches in amusement as Honoka is sent flying back by a ball of yarn. She peers inside, seeing a flushed blue-haired girl, slightly huffing, with an ashen-grey haired sleeping on her lap. "H-H-Honoka! How many times have I told you to at least /knock/ first before even coming in?!" The blue-haired girl notices Nozomi, and her face heats up even more at the embarrassed position she sees them in.
"P-Pardon our intrusion..." Nozomi says with a small laugh, holding up the bag that carries Eli's uniform.
"Umi-chan is still a demon."
Honoka huffs as she rubs the sore spot on her head. After the little... incident, Kotori happily welcomed them into her home. Nozomi thinks that Kotori is very proper and nice that she seemed more like a Princess than an actual God... At least, it was a lot different than how Eli acted as a God.
"I'm sorry for Umi-chan's actions." Kotori apologizes lightly as she sets a tray of tea down next to the manjuu that Honoka brought. "She's so comfy though!" She smiles at Umi, who is glaring at Honoka. Umi is caught off-guard, and her face turns red as she mutters "K-Kotori-sama…"
"Ko-to-ri" She stresses each syllable in her name to Umi as she takes a seat next to her blue-haired shinki with a pout. "All this time we've been together and Umi-chan still can't call me by my name!"
"Yeah, Umi-chan! You called Eli-chan, Eli!"
"I-I did not! I-I might have later on, but that doesn't matter! You should have more respect, Honoka!"
Nozomi laughs quietly to herself as she thanks Kotori when a tea cup is set in front of her. "They're really close aren't they?" She asks Kotori while the two shinki argued. Kotori giggles and nods, "They always have been. Ever since they were Eli-chan's shinki."
As Kotori mentions about Umi being Eli's previous shinki, Nozomi blinks curiously, "If Umi-san used to be Elicchi's previous shinki, how did she become yours, Kotori-sama?"
A small smile crosses Kotori's lips, as she leans over towards Nozomi and her voice hush so the other two shinki couldn't hear. "Umi-chan gets embarrassed easily by this story, but I've been friends with Eli-chan /forever/. From time to time, I ask Eli-chan for help because I never had my own shinki." Her smile widens as she stares over at the two shinki.
"So Eli-chan visited with Umi-chan, Honoka-chan, and Maki-chan, and Umi-chan always stayed with me. She became my protector while Eli-chan was out with a hunting job that comes to my shrine from time to time... She was like a knight." She giggles as she takes a sip of her tea. "Eventually she came to me without a name, and pledged her service to me... And I just couldn't resist."
Nozomi smiles slyly, "So Kotori-sama, you fell for Umi-san?" Kotori blinks in surprise, before she laughs, "Oh, Nozomi-san. It's hard to explain! And what about you and Eli-chan? I think this is the first time I've heard one of Eli-chan's shinki use a nickname."
She's almost taken back by Kotori's comment, but recognizes that she and Kotori share the same look on their face, and giggles. "Elicchi insisted that I stop calling her Eli-sama."
Kotori gasps quietly, and tugs on Umi's sleeve, "Umi-chan did you hear that?! Eli-chan told Nozomi-san to call her by her name, why can't you call me by my name?" She pouts.
Umi blinks as she looks between Kotori and Nozomi. "I-I umm..." She stutters, cheeks slightly burning. "F-Fine... K-Kotori..." Kotori starts to clap happily... And Honoka joins in as well, making Umi grumble before sipping her tea, trying to hide her embarrassed face. Nozomi laughs quietly before she turns to Kotori, "Kotori-sama, here's Eli's uniform. I heard that you're her primarily tailor."
"Oh! Eli-chan wrecked her uniform again? She must be doing lots of work." The ashen-grey hair takes the bag from Nozomi, peering at the uniform. "This will be fixed in no time. Umi-chan if you can?" She looks over at Umi who nods as she places her cup on the ground, and gets up to bring out a small box from one of the cabinets, placing it next to her God.
The shinki spend the rest of the afternoon chatting over tea and manjuu while listening to the God hum happily to herself while sewing the torn uniform.
Honoka is humming a happy tune as her and Nozomi make their way back to their shrine. They were in high spirits after meeting with one of Eli's closest friends; Honoka happy that two close friends were doing good, and Nozomi happy that she was able to learn more about Eli.
"Kotori-sama and Umi-san are good people. I can see why Elicchi trusts them." Nozomi muses as her and Honoka continue down the path. The ginger-haired shinki spins around to face Nozomi with a huge smile.
"Right?! Umi-chan and I have been friends forever and when we met Kotori-chan, everything just felt right." She waves her arms in exaggeration and Nozomi giggles to herself; Honoka's enthusiasm was apparent and contagious.
Honoka spins around to face forward again as they continue back to Eli's shrine with a slight bounce in her step. "I can't help but feel that maybe, maybe we were really close in a previous life or something."
There's something that Nozomi can't read on Honoka's face, but she doesn't miss the longing tone in Honoka's voice. She opens her mouth to say something but something inside of her twitch and Nozomi immediately stops walking. Her hand shoots out quickly, grabbing onto Honoka's wrist and stops her from moving any more.
Honoka whirls around, blue eyes full of confusion—but when Nozomi brings a finger to her tightly pressed lips, Honoka immediately stays quiet.
It's silent, other than their soft, steady breathing.
Nozomi's hand that is tightly around Honoka's wrist is slightly shaking, and the purple-haired shinki is glancing upwards at the sky, narrowing in one of the directions. Honoka has never seen Nozomi with such a look of concentration before. Before she can ask what was wrong, a large screech wails across the sky and Honoka finds herself on the ground with Nozomi on top of her as a rather large shadow flies right above them.
Honoka's breath is lost for a brief moment but she feels Nozomi quickly gathering both of them up into a kneeling position. "N-Nozomi-chan?" Honoka finally croaks as she watches the other shinki watch the sky again—whatever it was with the large shadow was looming around them.
"It's the ayakashi that Elicchi and Maki-chan came across, I'm sure of it."
Nozomi's voice is hush and full of seriousness. She clasps Honoka's shoulder and stares at the ginger-haired shinki. "Honoka-chan, you need to get out of here, get help from a nearby shrine or another God—I'll distract it."
Nozomi moves Honoka behind her and raises her index and middle finger together, drawing an imaginary line in front of her as the large shadow—belonging to a large, bird like demon crashes into the barrier that Nozomi created in an instant. Nozomi winces at the large screech and crack that is heard.
Her barrier wasn't going to last long, not with a large ayakashi like this.
"Honoka!"
Nozomi screams and she watches Honoka scramble to her feet and barrel down the path. Nozomi's attention is back towards the ayakashi as she winces at the sound of glass breaking—the ayakashi shattered her barrier. She is sent clambering to the side, wincing at the stabs of pain coming from her hands as she avoids the beak trying to rip through her.
Emerald eyes watch the large bird fully spread its wings on the ground, its horrific cry filling the air as it turns its head back and forth, hundreds of eyes looking for its prey—looking for her.
Nozomi's body is tense as her mind races on what to do. She can see where she would have to strike to take down the ayakashi but how could she? From her studies so far, she only had the boundary spell to protect herself, and that was already proving to be fruitless.
She bites the bottom of her lip, the only solution she can think of is to buy Honoka some time and hope she will come back.
Standing up, Nozomi finds her gaze drawn to the abandon bag that holds Eli's uniform. Her eyes narrow, she has to live. She has to live, for the sake of her Master. For Elicchi's sake.
She has to give Elicchi the uniform that she holds so precious to her.
With newfound confidence, Nozomi calls the ayakashi's attention over to herself. Hundreds of beady red eyes are staring at her and she hears the numerous murmurs of 'kill', 'feast,' 'eat' and 'prey'. The purple-haired shinki clenches her jaw and holds up her hand again.
She has to live.
When the bird demon dives for her again, beak wide open, Nozomi swipes across herself with a cry of "boundary!" recreating a barrier between her and the demon once more. The demon crashes into a barrier but unlike the first time, it doesn't shatter after one hit.
Nozomi stares hard as the demon repeatedly bashes its head into the invisible barrier. She flinches each time she hears the crack and the hideous cry of the demon, but stands strong.
Her eyes widen though as she spots a crack in her barrier and she throws herself backwards as the demon breaks through once again with a victorious scream. She brings her hands up to block the pieces of the barrier being tossed in her direction and winces once more at the stabs of pain.
She hits the ground and slides back with a hard thud. The air escapes her body and she's breathing heavy to try and bring it back in. Her vision is slightly blurred, but she can make out the huge looming shadow above her.
Was this all she could do?
Didn't she need to fulfill her duty to Eli?
Her... wish.
She shakily raises her hand, and the words start to form, "Boun-"
A single arrow sings through the air, piercing the ayakashi through the joint between its body and its left wing. The ayakashi's painful screams fill the air, as another arrow pierces the same joint but on the opposite side.
Those two points was the critical points in taking down the ayakashi, Nozomi observes silently as she shuffles backwards and into a sitting position. She cranes her head and sees Kotori standing off to the side, holding a beautiful white and blue bow. Honoka is by her side, watching in silence.
Nozomi breathes a sigh of relief.
When Nozomi and Honoka finally got back to Eli's shrine, it was well into the evening. After the ayakashi attack, Nozomi was taken back to Kotori's home to cleanse and bandage her wounds. Honoka apologised profusely to Nozomi, even though it was the latter's idea to save Honoka—but the ginger haired shinki didn't listen very well.
There was a lot of sobbing and comforting, but they knew that that they had to return home—Eli would be worried after all.
At the base of Eli's shrine, Nozomi and Umi stand off to the side, while Kotori and Honoka chat happily to each other. Kotori and Umi insisted that they escort the two home this time-not wanting them to be helpless again if they were to run into another ayakashi.
Umi's eyes look over at the bandages around Nozomi's hands. "It could have been worst. But the boundary you made it was... amazing." She pauses for a moment, recalling what she saw before, "You're a very powerful shinki."
The purple-haired shinki smiles a little, "... I can see why you were Elicchi's right-hand."
Umi flushes a little, but smiles, "And I can see why Eli has brought you to her side. You help her in more ways than I did." She looks over at Honoka and Kotori again, "While I helped Eli organize everything, I was only a blade that could cut."
"But you've become a bow and arrow now. One that supports and protects her Master." Nozomi places a hand on Umi's shoulder, squeezing it gently in comfort. "... Elicchi must have noticed that if she let you go to Kotori-sama."
The blue-haired shinki chuckles quietly, running a hand through her hair. "Eli really is meddlesome sometimes. Please continue to protect her, Nozomi-san. You're the only one who can guide Eli the proper way and protect her from her recklessness." She offers a smile, before she calls for Kotori. They should get back before it gets extremely late.
Kotori and Umi bid Honoka and Nozomi farewell and disappear down the path that they just came from. Nozomi and Honoka climb the steps up to Eli's shrine, greeting the shinki that is around with a tired smile.
"Oi."
When Nozomi places a hand against the door handle to Eli's room, a familiar annoyed voice flies into her ear. Nozomi pauses and glances behind her, smiling at Maki, "Maki-chan." She greets, hiding the exhaustion in her voice.
"You can't lie to Eli, you know." Maki's eyes narrow, violet eyes lingering on the bandages wrapped around Nozomi's hands. "She feels and burdens everything."
The hand around the handle of bag tenses, "... I know." Nozomi whispers quietly, almost mad at herself for getting hurt because she hurt Eli.
"... That's all I wanted to say." Maki is now rubbing the back of her neck with a small grumble. "Take care of her. She's been worried about you and Honoka since the first pang." The red-head shinki slinks away with a relief sigh. A small smile curls at the corner of Nozomi's lips—Eli wasn't the only one worried.
Nozomi turns back to the door, and opens it softly. She steps into the room, "Elicchi, I'm ba—"
Before she can even finish, a pair of arms wrap around her, and all she can see in that moment is fluttering blonde hair. Nozomi blinks in surprise, "E-Elicchi?"
"You're... you're okay right?" She hears a soft whisper in her ear. Nozomi slightly turns her head, and nods. She smiles as she feels Eli bury her head into her shoulder some more. "I'm fine." She slowly brings her hands up and places her hands on Eli's shoulders.
"I should be the one getting mad at you though."
Nozomi watches Eli look up in surprise, and Nozomi narrows her eyes playfully. "Maki-chan told me what happened." Unconsciously, her hands tighten on the God's shoulder, "You're too reckless for your own good."
She draws Eli into her and hugs her tightly. "I'm the one that will protect you. I will guide you." She whispers into Eli's ear.
The God returns her hug again, "... So I guess that means I'll have to kidnap you on our missions and not listen to Maki about how useless you are."
A giggle passes both of them as they both pull away. Nozomi slaps Eli's shoulder playfully,
"It's not kidnapping if I come willingly, right?"
A/N: Phew, I finally finished this.
This started from a conversation with my cousin, who absolutely loves Noragami and Love Live, and would not stop going on about how Nozomi is totally Kazuma and Eli is totally Bishamon if they were in the Noragami realm, and well... It just kinda happened, haha. There might be a couple of inconsistencies or weird plot things because I had a lot of this planned differently when I started writing back in October, but I stopped writing this during the entirety of November and changed some things when I went back to it today.
The ending is probably the biggest change, I had one more part to add, but as I started to write it, it felt like it just kept running on and on and wouldn't end, so I thought where the current ending is at was a good place to stop.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it! It was a lot of fun, especially imagining where the love live! characters would fit in this massive universe.
(I have a 'spiritual sequel' to this piece written out that centers around Maki and another shinki that isn't mentioned here ahaha. Please stick around for that one too!)