.
.
"Hey, Bishamon."
"What is it, Yatogami?"
"Is it true that you and Kazuma were like me and Hiyori?"
Bishamon set down her papers. "It is," she said. Yato paced and fidgeted, playing with his sleeves.
"Was it...weird? Naming him as a shinki?"
"It was, at first," Bishamon said. "At first I had to keep my distance. But eventually I started seeing him as 'Kazuma,' instead of Ryuunosuke."
"If Hiyori...I mean. If she were to die...none of us can name her, right?" Yato's blue eyes flicked upward, searching hers. "Because what if Yukine called her by her real name? Or what if we had to explain to them why we couldn't talk about her past? I mean, how do you get around that? Telling them you can't call Hiyori by her human name, or she'll turn into a phantom... And Hiyori is human. Someday she's going to die-"
"Yatogami," Bishamon said, and Yato glanced upwards. She smiled kindly.
"If I could do it over again, I would rather that my Kazuma lived a long life, instead of becoming my shinki," Bishamon said. Yato sat on the couch in front of her.
"Even if you never saw him again?"
Bishamon considered.
"My old guide, the old cleric of the Ma clan, told me once that the humans we love deserve a happy life, and that gods who meddle only cause pain and calamity."
"Did she know who Kazuma was when you named him?" Yato asked. Bishamon shook her head.
"No," Bishamon said. "Fortunately for me, the old cleric never met him."
"Lucky," Yato said. Bishamon spread her hands.