Good Enough
For how relieved he seemed to be when she had agreed to come earlier in the week, it was certainly surprising how quiet and tense Yato had become once they had gotten on the train. Interestingly enough, Yukine had also become more talkative than usual; pointing out familiar landmarks and places they frequented when they had lived in this part of the city. She nodded along, taking note of a few places with the hope that maybe she could take another trip with him later on since he'd been so happy to get out of the apartment the one time they'd went to the mall together.
With a brief lull in their conversation, she focused her attention over to Yato, "Everything okay? You're being really quiet. "
He blinked and shrugged, avoiding her eyes, "Nah, just letting Yukine do his thing since he's so excited to show you all this stuff."
"You were the one who really wanted her to come in the first place." The blonde boy fired back, a flush across his cheeks before he looked over to Hiyori with an apologetic look, "I mean, I wanted you to come too. It's just it was his idea in the first place and now he's making me do all the work."
She glanced between them, a small laugh passing her lips.
Yato leaned back and closed his eyes, waving him off, "I'll show Hiyori around when we get there. I'm fine with not reliving my usual haunts from high school."
"Embarrassed of your past much?" Yukine put his hand on his hip, staring at him intently.
"No." His eyes fluttered open and he slightly sat up, "I mean, I guess. I don't know. You'll understand when you're our age."
"Uh huh." The younger boy answered doubtingly, looking to Hiyori for a confirmation who just shrugged with another smile.
She left home for different reasons, but she supposed she could still understand where Yato was coming from as well.
"Almost to our stop." His voice pulled her out of her thoughts, her and Yukine both twisting their heads to look out the window.
Hiyori hummed, "Wow, that wasn't long at all."
Yato nodded as the train came to a stop and they started to move towards the door, "Yeah, they're pretty close. The only reason we're not there more often is just because of how much I work, really. But I think Daikoku likes me better when he only sees me every few weeks anyway."
"Yeah, probably." Yukine nodded in confirmation, adding in a mumble, "I'm sure I'd like you more too."
Hiyori flashed a smile but Yato stayed quiet until they had moved away from the more crowded area. Once they were in a more open space, he wrapped an arm around Yukine's shoulders and pulled him close, "You're definitely tsundere, but I know you love me Yukine."
The boy let out a high pitched screech as Yato pulled him in towards him and Hiyori quickly moved a few more feet away to avoid being hit by his flailing.
"Let go, let go, let go!" Yukine finally escaped from his grasp and let out a noise of disgust as he continued to shake his arms, tugging on his sleeve where Yato's hand had been resting, "How many times do I have to tell you your hands are disgusting!?"
"They're not that bad!" He fired back immediately, though Hiyori noticed he discreetly raised his hands to glance down at his palms.
Yukine shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk again, leading the way with a mumble, "Keep telling yourself that."
Yato gave a small growl in response until he glanced to his side and caught sight of Hiyori, "Uh, it's about a ten minute walk from here." He looked away and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.
"Okay." She nodded and followed along, the trend from the train continuing as Yato mostly stayed quiet while Yukine pointed out various things to her after he'd gotten over his annoyance towards the older boy.
Eventually they came upon a relatively modest house with a small wooden fence surrounding the front yard. Yukine picked up his pace slightly, rushing to push open the gate and calling out loudly, "We're here!"
By the time she and Yato had made it through the gate, Yukine was already almost done taking off his shoes and continuing to call out, "Kofuku-san? Daikoku-san?"
"They might be in the shop still, Yukine." Yato reminded him as they caught up, starting to remove their shoes as well.
As soon as he said that, Hiyori caught the sound of quickened footsteps before the door slid open and a girl with bright pink hair popped out, immediately latching onto Yukine, "Yukki, Yato-chan! Welcome home!" She moved to Yato who gave a small smile, lightly returning her embrace until she pulled away and looked over Hiyori curiously.
"I'm Iki Hiyori, nice to meet you." She gave a bow and Kofuku was smiling brightly as she looked back up.
"Can I call you Hiyorin?" She tilted her head and Hiyori blinked, surprised.
"Um, s-sure." She gave a nervous smile in return, followed by a squeak as Kofuku wrapped her arms around her tightly as well, nearly knocking her over.
"You can just call me Kofuku, mmkay?" She announced in a bout of giggles before letting a gasp, "Oh wow, your hair is really pretty, Hiyorin!" She reached up to touch it lightly.
Slightly blushing, Hiyori smiled, "T-thank you."
"You're overwhelming her, Kofuku." She heard Yato's voice from above her before she felt Kofuku being pulled away.
Kofuku blinked in surprise, admitting sheepishly, "You're right—sorry!"
"It's okay." Hiyori finished taking off her other shoe before moving up onto the platform with everyone else.
"Come in, come in~" Kofuku waved them in with a sing-song voice and closing the door behind him, "Daikoku's still working in the shop at the moment and I just started on dinner too, so you three can just sit down if you like."
Yato's face immediately soured, "You're working on dinner?" He asked doubtfully and Kofuku puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.
"I've been watching a bunch of videos and Daikoku has been teaching me things too!" Kofuku answered a whine as she continued moving toward what Hiyori assumed to be the kitchen, "Come see if you don't believe me!"
As they made their way into a living room, Yukine nodded towards Hiyori, "I'd wait here." He started to take a seat.
She looked over towards Yato, who didn't seem to disagree, and followed after Yukine. Just as soon as she sat down she heard Yato's voice ring out loudly, "Kofuku, you've got everything set on high! It's gonna burn if you're not careful!"
"It's fiiiiiiineee." She answered back in a uninterested tone before there was a pause in conversation.
Hiyori hadn't even gotten the chance to say anything to Yukine before Kofuku poked her head into the room, "Yukki, it looks like the shop has gotten pretty busy in the past couple of minutes. Can you please go help out Koki?"
"Koki?" Hiyori repeated once Kofuku had ducked back into the kitchen and Yukine had started to stand up.
"Daikoku-san. Kofuku-san has nicknames for pretty much everyone, as you've probably figured out." Yukine gave a small laugh, "I'll see you in a little bit."
"Okay." Hiyori answered, glancing around the living room once Yukine had left the room as well. Unlike Yato and Yukine's apartment, this house was much more cluttered but also homey. It was filled with warm colors, trinkets, as well as quite a few photos.
Feeling a little braver, she stood up and wandered over towards the photos curiously. Most were solely of Kofuku and a large, muscular man with slicked back hair who she assumed to be Daikoku. At first glance, he definitely did seem to be intimidating, but the way he looked at Kofuku in some of the photos was almost enough to make her heart melt; they were clearly very happy together.
Her eyes continuing to move over more photos, she started to catch a few with both Yato and Yukine. The first she noticed was one of Yato and Kofuku's high school graduation, both wearing proud yet mischievous grins. The next one she assumed was from Daikoku and Kofuku's wedding, as they were all dressed in formal wear and Daikoku and Yato both seemed to be extremely emotional which made her let out a small laugh. There were only two with Yukine, one which seemed to be either from some sort of party with everyone gathered around the table in which he wore a wide and excited smile. The other picture was of just him and Yato and was a little more awkward and definitely more posed, but underneath the embarrassment she could tell his smile was just as genuine as Yato's.
"Diving right into the embarrassing photos I see." She jumped from the sound of Yato's voice in the door way, immediately giving a nervous laugh.
"Oh come on, they're not embarrassing. They're really sweet." Hiyori motioned to the wedding one with a grin, "Especially this one."
His face immediately grew red and he looked away, "Y-yeah, we got a little emotional." Taking a breath, he added, "Thankfully those pictures aren't so bad. There's photo albums laying around somewhere that are worse—though I might have to pull them out at some point just to do the stereotypical dad thing and embarrass Yukine."
"So you take a lot of pictures together?" She took a few steps towards him curiously.
Yato shrugged, "Yes and no. Special occasions are the main thing but I guess Kofuku tends to take random pictures on her phone a lot. I do too, I guess, just not as much as her." He rested his hand against his side, "Plus we didn't really force Yukine into being in any at first cuz it was still a little bit awkward, so he probably gets the worst of it now to make up for his lack of pictures."
"So Yukine-kun—" Hiyori started before they both heard a loud wail from the kitchen and they quickly rushed in to find a small portion of food spilled on the floor, the skillet still in Kofuku's hands.
"And this is why we can't leave you alone." Yato sighed before ducking into a pantry to grab a dust pan and a broom.
Kofuku whined, "I only spilled a little bit! Most of it is fine."
"Everything okay?" The same man Hiyori had seen in all of those pictures came in through the back door, stepping into the kitchen.
Kofuku hummed happily, "Yep!"
"Barely." Yato groaned from the floor as he cleaned up Kofuku's mess, standing up again.
Ignoring Yato's comment, Hiyori caught his glance moving over to her, "Oh, you must be Hiyori-chan. I'm Kanda Daikoku, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." She gave a smile and bowed, Daikoku echoing her actions as well.
Scratching the back of his head, he looked at Kofuku and asked, "Hate to do this, but do you think you can come help out in the shop so the night staff can take over without any issues?"
Kofuku blinked and looked off thoughtfully as she placed the skillet back on the stove top before she asked, "Can't Yato-chan do it?"
Daikoku's eyebrows furrowed as he looked over to him, "I…guess so?"
"Wha?" Yato seemed even more confused.
"Me and Hiyorin can finish up dinner." Kofuku linked her arm with hers and pulled her to her side.
With Kofuku smiling up at Hiyori and Daikoku and Yato looking to her for a confirmation, she stuttered, "S-sure."
Yato took a step closer to her and searched her eyes, his eyebrows raised, "You don't have to, Hiyori."
She shook her head and answered more confidently, "It's fine, really. I don't mind."
"You heard her, let's go." Daikoku gave him a slight push towards the back door and Yato began flailing around in a manner similar to what Yukine had done to him earlier.
"My shoes are in the front of the house, I'll be there in a minute." He twisted out of his grasp and walked in the other direction.
Daikoku growled, raising his voice to call out through the house, "Hurry it up! People are waiting!"
"Yeah, alright." He answered back annoyedly, though Hiyori noticed he did slightly pick up his pace.
Lowering his voice again, Daikoku gave another bow, "Sorry about this. We'll be back in twenty minutes or so, hopefully."
"Dinner should be all ready by then!" Kofuku slapped his shoulder playfully, "Good luck to you three!"
"Thanks." He smiled gratefully before slipping out the back door again.
Kofuku pointed upwards towards a cabinet, "Can you get some bowls for me, Hiyorin? They're right up there."
"Okay." She nodded and reached upward and grabbed stack of three before reaching back up for two more, "Is that enough?"
"Mhmm. The side dishes can just go on plates, but we'll get those in a few minutes when we've got more room on the counter." Kofuku stirred the contents of a pot and a skillet before turning back around and locking her eyes with Hiyori, "So you and Yato-chan were friends when you were little kids and you moved away, huh?"
Hiyori nodded sheepishly, "Yeah, my parents made the decision to not tell me until the last minute so I didn't get the chance to tell him…"
"It's pretty crazy you ended up going to the same college so many years later." She gave a small smirk and crossed her arms, "Some might even say something like that is fate."
Feeling her face already start to warm, Hiyori turned away slightly, "Y-yeah, it is pretty unusual. I'm still a bit amazed by it myself."
"Yato-chan was definitely really excited about it too." Kofuku nodded along, her expression softening, "And he was especially blown away after you offered to tutor Yukki too."
"I did a lot of tutoring in high school, so I didn't mind at all. Yukine-kun and I get along really well too, so it's been fun." She turned back towards Kofuku, a small smile making its way across her lips.
Her lips moved upward a bit as well and she turned to stir the food a little more as she commented, "That's great. I'm really glad." Turning back around, she looked at her curiously, "So tell me more about yourself, Hiyorin! Yato-chan has told me a bit, but I wanna get to know you better." Kofuku poked her shoulder playfully, "Especially since I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of you!"
Notes at the bottom this time. Needless to say, Kofuku ships it haha. I'm quite surprised at how fast I managed to pump this chapter out, but there is a lot of dialogue so I suppose that's the main reason. I'm still kind of in the process of changing around my plans for the next few chapters but hopefully I'll get that all figured out soon. Thank you guys!