"Iki-san, may I have a word?"
Hiyori gave a start, dropping her school bag on the ground. The contents spilled out onto the courtyard, scattering pens and loose sheaves of paper across the flagstones. A young man with short brown hair and glasses knelt down to help her pick them up.
"Kazuma-san, I'm sorry, you caught me off gu- WAIT, no!' she cried as a sudden gust of wind sent her homework flying. Before she knew it she was leaping after it with inhuman speed, but Kazuma was one step faster and managed to snatch it in mid-air.
"Iki-san, your body, your body!" he hissed as though he could be overheard. She whipped around and saw herself slumped over in the middle of the courtyard, her underwear clearly visible under her short skirt.
"NO!" she shrieked in mortification as one of her friends, seeing her state of undress, hurried forward to throw her PE jacket over Hiyori's sleeping form.
"Safe!" Yama said, just as class let out and half the school emptied into the courtyard. "Oy, Yoshida, help me carry Hiyori, she's passed out again!" she called at one of their male classmates, who, used to Hiyori's apparent narcolepsy, didn't hesitate to hoist her up.
"Bless you, Yama-chan," Hiyori wept with relief into her sleeve. "I almost became a flasher... again. And just when I'd finally gotten people to forget all that stuff from first year..."
"I don't think I want to know," Kazuma said, holding out her homework. "I apologize, I never meant to startle you, Iki-san."
"It's fine," Hiyori said, sighing as she double-checked that she had everything. "What are you doing at my school, Kazuma-san?"
He adjusted his glasses slowly, clearly gathering his words.
"Well, I needed to speak with you. In private."
"Private?"
"Without Yato or Yukine around," he clarified, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
"Did something happen to Bishamon-sama?!"
"No, thankfully, Veena is perfectly well. But I know she's also worried about this matter, for your own safety."
Hiyori's unease grew.
"What are you talking about, Kazuma-san?"
"Well... let's find somewhere quieter to talk first," he said, glancing around at the bustling courtyard. "Even if we're invisible to most people, I'd rather not take any chances."
"O-okay," she agreed. "The area behind the sciences building is usually deserted at this hour. Will that work?"
Kazuma nodded. "Yes, that would be for the best."
Yasumi felt distinctly tired when she woke up the next morning. Her memories of the midnight visitor were much harder to recall clearly now, and though she was certain that the boy had given her his name, she couldn't remember it no matter how hard she tried.
Something snow, she thought as she glanced at the strange card still sitting on her desk. Nothing about the boy had been particularly snow-like, now that she thought about it. He looked more like a punk-kid with bleached hair and a tattoo to boot.
Not that I'm one to talk, what with the name my parents gave me, she scoffed inwardly as she pulled a light sweater over her head. Hana and her husband had taken the phrase for 'good night' and rewritten it with the kanji for 'night' and 'finished'. It could be read in a couple of different ways, with the best interpretation meaning 'End of the Night' and the worst one being 'End of Good Nights'. When he was alive, her father sometimes joked that she was such a terrible sleeper as an infant that they'd given her the name out of their sleep-deprivation.
"Don't tell her that!" Hana had scolded. "That's not what it means at all. We wrote your name to mean the same thing as 'dawn', the ending of the long night. Don't ever forget that, Yasumi." Later, after her father had died, Yasumi found out that her mother had had several miscarriages before finally giving birth to her. In that sense, she really had been the end of her parents' long suffering nightmare. It was supposed to be a bright, meaningful name, but sometimes Yasumi felt a little weighed down by it, as though she should be living up to it better.
Well, it's just a name, she told herself as she finished getting dressed. Can't help what our parents name us, right, Snow Boy?
Satisfied with her appearance in the mirror, she picked up the strange card again and turned it over in her hand.
"I guess I'd better ask Mom about it," she mused, taking it with her.
Hana was already having breakfast by the time Yasumi came down to join her. She looked up from the newspaper and waved at her daughter.
"Morning," she greeted. "You had a rough night, by the look of it," she commented.
Yasumi ran a hand over her messy hair. "That obvious?"
"Well, even if you didn't have the panda eyes or bedhead, you were pretty loud even after I came in to check on you," Hana said coolly. "I was just about to come in and tell you to get off the phone when you finally fell asleep."
"I wasn't on the phone!"
"I literally caught you at it, don't tell lies," her mother said, frowning. "I told you to keep it down, remember?"
"You did, but that was 'cause of the kid in my room!"
"Yasumi, what on earth are you going on about? I saw you on the phone. You even told me it was Kaori-chan. There was nobody in the room with you."
Yasumi stared at her mother, completely thrown. She was already struggling to come to terms that she might be able to see something Hana couldn't, but this was far beyond that. It was as though her mother's memories had been rewritten, somehow.
"I... I was on the phone?" she asked slowly.
"Yes, you were, and you're lucky it was your birthday or you'd be in big trouble," Hana sighed. "You know I work on Saturdays."
"R-right, s...sorry," she said, falling into her seat at the table. She felt oddly drained. Could it have been a dream for real? she wondered, dazed. She began to serve herself from the rice bowl when she noticed the card still tucked into her sleeve.
It was definitely not a dream!
"Hey mom, you know all the names of the gods, don't you?" she asked suddenly.
Hana raised an eyebrow.
"No one knows all the names of the gods, Yasumi. There's hundreds, no, thousands, of them, with new ones coming into existence every year."
"What? How?!"
"People get deified sometimes, after they die," Hana explained as she poured herself some tea. "If they've done something worth being prayed to for. Nowadays that's a bit rare, but not that long ago, it happened often. Then you also have personal gods, figures that families or individuals take up as their guardians."
The word triggered loose another scrap of memory.
"Are those guardian spirits?"
"Guardian spirits? Well, I guess you could call them that, but it's not really proper.A more accurate term would be Guardian Deities. A god is a god as long as someone prays to them. Even if no one else has ever heard of them, those gods are real to their believers."
"Doesn't that mean there's a bunch of unknown gods then?" Yasumi asked.
"Sure are," Hana noted thoughtfully. "We have one too, you know. A personal god."
"What?!" Yasumi exclaimed, taken by surprise.
Hana gave her an exasperated look.
"Really, Yasumi, haven't I told you about this a million times? She's on the altar in the parlor even!" Yasumi frowned, trying to remember.
"Uh... you mean the god at the shrine? The... uhhhhhhmmm... water..."
"We call her Ame-no-Mikoto. She's a rain god."
"Err, wait isn't that the goddess of dawn?"
"No," Hana said, lightly smacking her over the head with her newspaper. "That's Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto."
"Then who's Ame-no-Mikoto?"
"Like I said, she's a personal god. She's the guardian deity of our family. We've prayed to her for generations, though she's not officially a god in Shintoism. There's a few stories as to how she became our family's guardian, but you'd have to ask Grandpa for most of them. The version I'm most familiar with is that she kept our ancestors safe from some catastrophe, probably famine, since she's a rain goddess."
"Oh, so not a god of fortune, then," Yasumi said, deep in thought.
"Not as far as I know," Hana shrugged. "But labels for the gods are kind of arbitrary, and sometimes they have more than one title. Why do you ask?"
"Uh, well i found this," she said, placing the card on the table. Hana picked it up and turned it over.
"What about it?"
"Well, I thought you might know who that was."
"Who whom is?"
"The name on the paper, Yato or whatever!"
Her mother gave her a long, worried glance.
"Yasumi... this paper is totally blank," she said, concerned.
"Wh-what?!" she cried, yanking it back from her. Just as she remembered, there was the name and the phone number, and on the other side was Snow Boy's message. "It's right there, can't you see it, Mom?!"
Her mother got up and pressed a hand to Yasumi's forehead worriedly.
"Are you alright? You don't seem to have a fever..."
Yasumi opened her mouth to angrily tell her mother she wasn't sick or crazy, but was suddenly reminded of something Snow Boy had said before he'd left.
What's your excuse?
She gritted her teeth. I'm not crazy, but... I may as well be. I'm the normal one in this family, the 'Lucky One'. I'm not supposed to be able to see things Mom can't. Of course I sound insane.
"Actually, now that you mention it, I'm not feeling so great," she lied. "Maybe I'm catching something, it's making my head hurt." She gave her mother her best forlorn smile. "Sorry, must have been a weird fever dream or something. I got confused."
"Maybe I should ask for the day off," Hana said, fretting slightly. "You don't get sick very often."
"Nah, it's okay, Mom. We've got medicine, right? I'll just take some and rest up. Don't worry about me."
"Of course I worry, you're my kid," her mother snapped. "But if you think you can handle it..."
"You know me, I can take care of myself," Yasumi assured her.
"Well, alright. I'll call to check up on you whenever I get a break. Keep your phone charged, got it? If you feel worse, call me right away."
"I know, it's fine, Mom."
As Hana begrudgingly prepared to leave, Yasumi carefully tucked the card back into her sleeve.
You've got more explaining to do, Snow Boy, she thought grumpily.
As she'd expected, there was no one behind the science building at that hour, though Hiyori knew it was a favorite hangout of students trying to ditch class later in the day. For now though, the area was deserted, and Kazuma nodded grimly as he gave the spot a quick glance over.
"This should be fine," he said. "I apologize again for bothering you at school, Iki-san. And again for dragging you out to a sketchy spot like this one. What I'm about to tell you isn't secret, exactly, but it's best that it's kept to yourself."
"Is it about Yato and Yukine-kun?" she asked, a faint suspicion forming in her mind.
"In a way," Kazuma nodded. "But more to do with you, as a human. Lately, we've heard some whispers in Takamagahara, rumors that the Yato god is causing trouble in the mortal world again. You might not be aware of this, but after everything that happened with Yato's Father and Yukine, Heaven has been keeping an eye on Yato. He's become a bit of a legend, really; he might be a minor god in the human world, but everyone knows him as the 'Renderer of Heaven' in Takamagahara."
"Is... Is that a bad thing?"
"Not necessarily," Kazuma said, giving her a small smile. "It certainly doesn't hurt for a god to get some recognition, even if it's not from humans. But Yato is sort of... infamous, if you get what I mean. He calls himself a god of fortune but many remember him as a magatsukami, and he certainly has the resume to back it up."
"But... that was a long time ago! Yato is a benevolent god!" Hiyori insisted. "Ever since Yukine-kun became his Regalia, he's changed! Besides, Yato has always loved people, no matter what anyone says. He's not a god of calamity!"
"I know, Iki-san, don't worry. I've been his Regalia too, after all," Kazuma said, not unkindly. "He's a little unscrupulous, but he tries not to hurt others. Still, in the eyes of Heaven, he's considered... dangerous. He swore loyalty to Amaterasu-Omikami and all, but he also breaks rules that most gods never would. The fact that he's gotten himself out of several dangerous situations and not been forced to reincarnate in the process, even when up against Heaven itself, is practically unheard of. And Yukine, hafuri or not, is also a point of concern for many gods. He's needed three absolution rituals in four years, and his young age means that as a guidepost, he can become unstable and violent without warning- I know," he said, raising a hand as Hiyori began to argue. "He's a good kid at heart, and he works harder than anyone else to be a benevolent guide for Yato. Most of the gods who actually know Yato are fully aware that Yukine is fiercely protective of his master, and that his occasional instability can't be helped for a Regalia so young. The problem is that the gods that don't know him worry he'll be led astray by a volatile Regalia. And Yato's power is no joke, he rivals bona fide gods of war. Do you understand why that might make Heaven nervous?"
Hiyori bit her lip but nodded. "I suppose so, yes..."
"Still, you've said it yourself; Yato today is no god of calamity, and he's proven himself despite his murky past and iffy reputation. Amaterasu-Omikami does not act against her subjects without a pressing reason. That's why I'm here," he said, bowing suddenly. "Iki-san, I know you care for Yatogami and Yukine, but I to urge you, as both your friend and as Yato's past Regalia, not to give her that reason!"
"Me?!"
"Your relationship, your ties with them... you must stop now before it gets out of hand!"
Hiyori felt like she'd been slapped.
"You... you're telling me to cut ties with them?" she whispered. "You, of all people, Kazuma-san?!"
He looked pained as he straightened up before her.
"I... I've told you, before," he said slowly. "That gods can't love the way humans do. No matter how we feel toward them, they can't truly understand. That's true for Veena, and it's true for Yato, too."
"That... that's not true! Bishamonten-sama loves you, Kazuma-san! I've seen it, she really cherishes you! And... And Yato l-lo-loves me!" she exclaimed, her whole body burning up from the embarrassment of saying it out loud.
Kazuma shook his head sadly. "No, they don't, Hiyori," he said, dropping the honorifics. "They try their best to mimic our affections because they want to be loved and remembered, it's their instinct. It isn't real."
"That's a lie!"
"It's not! Even you must have noticed, Iki-san, the distance that exists between you. It's something you can never overcome."
Hiyori's heart gave a painful twinge. It was true, that while Yato was very affectionate, there were times when a strange look came into his eyes, a hesitation when he would touch her. Even now, they'd never kissed; every time it seemed they would, it was Yato who would pull away at the last second, and hurriedly focus on something else.
"W-Why are you saying such cruel things?!" she asked, shaken.
"Because I have no choice," he said, unable to look her in the eye. "It's one thing for a Regalia to have feelings for a god, and another entirely for a human to pursue a physical relationship with one. It's one of the most dangerous taboos in Takamagahara. Gods and humans must not love one another, no matter what. Forming an attachment to a living human can cause a god to do terrible things. You've seen it yourself, the lengths to which Yato and Yukine will go to when you're in danger, Iki-san. What happens when that desire to protect you becomes a threat to Heaven? You can't be certain that it won't, and neither can Yato. Heaven will not wait around until it does. If you won't cut ties with him, Heaven will do it for you, one way or another. Please, do not allow it to get to that point."
A sharp crack echoed across the courtyard and Kazuma stumbled backwards from the force of Hiyori's slap.
"Y-you're unfair, Kazuma-san," she said, her voice trembling as tears started rolling down her cheeks. "If you knew... If you knew this all along, why didn't you tell me? You should have told me before... before I grew to care for him this much! How... How am I supposed to leave him now?"
"Hiyori, wait-"
But she was already running, not back toward her body, where it was lying in the infirmary, but in the direction of the scent where the two people she loved most in the world were waiting for her.