Sadly, I do not own the anime: Noragami.
Based on the anime 'Noragami' and 'Noragami Aragoto.' Does not include the OVAs or the manga.
Time: A few weeks after the second season (Noragami Aragoto).
Hiyori settled back in the hospital bed, sitting comfortable. The head of the her bed was raised as far as it could go, while in front of her, on the small table where her meals were usually served, there rested a math book. She was fine, healthy as horse, or so her father said, but he, as well as her mother, had tired of their daughter's all too often periods of being comatose. With their being people of modern-day reason, their daughter had not even bothered to try to explain to them that at those times she was outside her body, able to travel and act at will as a spirit. That she saw and spoke to gods and regalia, the weapons of gods.
The ofttimes troubled expression on her parents' faces bothered Hiyori, causing her some degree of guilt. Yet ... The girl sighed, and pushed back a lock of plain brown hair as she raised her unusual, magenta-colored eyes toward the ceiling. They focused on things unseen and she raised her right hand with two fingers extended. A less-than-spectacular crescent blade of white energy leapt from her fingertips to slice in two a mouse-sized creature that had had way too many eyes. A week ago she'd had the opportunity to watch Yukine, the regalia of Yato, practice invocations. He'd explained the process to her, and while it shouldn't have worked, it did. She wasn't a regalia, not even truly a devotee of any god or goddess, yet it seemed her puny human spirit could use basic invocations – albeit only at a nearly useless level of power.
Yato had just scratched his head, and shrugged it off, though his expression had remained confused for nearly a whole ten minutes before he'd been called off on a five-yen job. Kofuku, a goddess of poverty, and her regalia, Daikoku, had talked it over and concluded that she shouldn't be able to.
"Hi honey," a man's voice spoke from the doorway.
"Hey dad," Hiyori replied, glancing towards the heavy-set man who boasted a head of short cropped, dark-brown hair. "How were the tests," she needlessly asked.
"Nothing showing up on the CAT scan. Blood work is fine. Fitness test shows you to be a normal, athletic girl of sixteen." His confused, and heavily worried looking eyes peered into hers. "There's no reason you should be having uncontrollable bouts of sleep."
"I assume the drugs tests were negative." Hiyori couldn't help but sigh and rolled her eyes in a very unladylike fashion. Sure, she understood her parent's concern, but that one she felt had gone a bit too far.
The man blushed and averted his eyes, looking sheepish. "We love you, Hiyori, so yes, we're covering all the bases." He raised his hand to momentarily adjust the stethoscope around his neck. "They all came back negative, as we knew they would."
Hiyori smiled. "Good to know. I would never take drugs, and I'm sort of offended, but it feels kind of good to know you care so much about me to insist."
"Your mother and I trust you, Hiyori, but ..." Her father's face darkened and he looked down, showing a weariness that wasn't unusual for him. "Just last week we had three cases. Teens, your age, at a party, ... Opioids."
"Never me," she assured him.
"Instead," a woman's voice spoke from behind her father, "you slump off bus seats with your rump in the air."
Hiyori gulped, recalling the incident that'd led to her latest incarceration at the hospital. She'd been taking the bus, looking out the window, daydreaming. Nothing unusual there. Nor was there anything unusual, at least not for her, to find herself drifting outside of her body, doing a sort of forced astral projection trick. She'd known her body was safe in her seat – except it hadn't been. She'd slumped down with, as her mother had put it, her rump in the air. Whether her skirt had slid above her hips as she'd slid off the seat, or if someone had flipped it, she didn't know. But ... Hiyori clenched her teeth, grinding them, even as the memory caused her to turn beet red. Everyone these days had cell phones, and there'd almost been pictures. Only almost because, even as she'd flipped her skirt back down, she'd used her newfound skill at invocation to slice at least nine of the blasted things into oblivion.
"Okay, weak as it is compared to that of the regalia, the skill isn't totally useless," Hiyori thought, fists clenched. She took a deep breath and relaxed. Her reputation had been saved, almost. But only almost because people still talked.
"What if you fall asleep crossing the road?" her mother asked, coming into view from behind her husband. Her faced was screwed up in worry. "You had an accident once when a bus hit you. That's when all this started. Is that what happened? You fell asleep and fell into the road?" A shaking hand rose to push back her long, light-brown hair, showing features that clearly showed her as Hiyori's mother. Other than Hiyori's magenta-colored eyes and slightly darker brown hair, mother and daughter were nearly identical.
In an effort to distract her parents Hiyori grabbed an apple from a nearby fruit basked. "Since I'm stuck here, want to see a magic trick I've been practicing."
Eyebrows of both mother and father raised as they gave their daughter their undivided attention. "Magic trick?" her father asked, quizzically.
Hiyori nodded. "Got to keep busy, you know."
"Your grades," her mother immediately countered, "could use some work. They've been falling."
Hiyori gulped again, and held up the apple in her left hand. "Unpeeled, see ..." She showed them the large, bright-red apple. 'Eyes closed, see..." She closed her eyes, pointing at them. "Now watch."
She flipped the apple into the air with her left hand while her right hand rose with two fingers extended. One invocation as the apple raised, a second invocation as it reached its peak, and finally a third as the apple fell back into her left palm. She repeated the process several times before she opened her amber eyes to smile at her confused parents. Now it's peeled, see ... She held out the apple on which only trace amount of the red peel remained.
Her father scratched his head, teeth clenched in concentration as he worked to figure out the trick.
"Magic tricks, young lady," her mother intoned, looking just a little cross, "won't boost your grades."
"Um ..." Her father smiled, still eyeing the apple. "Now, dear, her grades are perfectly fine. Sure they've dropped a little. "He cast a stern look at his daughter. "But nothing to worry about yet. And who knows, maybe she'll try out for clown school. I'm sure that trick would help her there."
"How?" her father then asked, turning his attention back to her.
Hiyori smiled again. "Check this out." She placed the apple on the table, then settled back in the bed, arm folded with her eyes closed. The apple rose two feet above the table, and there was a crunch as invisible teeth took a large bite.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Hiyori said, slipping back into the body she'd briefly exited.
"How?" Her father asked again, scratching his head. His eyes were flickering from girl to apple, and back.
"A magician never reveals her secrets," Hiyori answered, still smiling. "When do I get out?"
"About that ..." Her father turned to look at her mother.
"No buts," the woman stated. "Do it." She glanced over at her daughter, eyes filled with concern. "It's just for a while, honey."
"What is?"
"We want to see what happens when you fall comatose," her father explained with a sight. 'So we need to hook you up to a few machines for a while." He motioned to someone Hiyori couldn't see and two nurses entered the room, pulling two machines behind them.
Hiyori groaned.
Ten minutes later her parents and the nurses disappeared out the door, leaving Hiyori with numerous brightly colored wires sprouting from her head and body, looking very much like something from a mad science project.
Closing her eyes, making sure her body was comfortable, Hiyori focused. With practice she could now leave and enter her body almost at will. There was a slight sensation of weight and extreme drowsiness, then she was beside the bed, watching herself sleep. For a few minutes she stood there, thinking.
I know this is putting a strain on me, she mused, reaching out to gently remove some hair that'd fallen in her sleeping-self's eyes. I have two lives, and it taking up way too much time. She moved to look out the window, to gaze across the city. And yet, how many girls could say they've been swept off their feet by a god. Sure it wasn't in a romantic way, but ... She recalled being carried above the city in the arms of Yato, safe and warm, breathing deeply of that ever so sweet scent of his.
She rested a hand against the window, tapping it with her index finger, lost in thought. I've seen gods battle each other and phantoms. I've seen divine punishment delivered by the heavens, I've looked into the underworld and called out the names of gods. And Yukine? He's like a brother.
Turning aside from the window, she grabbed the notebook that her math book had been resting on. Seconds later she was outside, effortlessly racing beneath a bright-blue sky, traveling along the telephone wires that were like a highway to her. In a short time she entered a small shop selling sweet sake and hot oden; it was also a house she knew to be the abode of a dark goddess.
"Hiyori," a girl's voice shrieked. A second later Hiyori went flying, having been tackled by a pink haired, purple-eyed girl – Kofuku, the goddess of poverty.
"Kofuku," Hiyori replied, trying, and failing, to evade the hands of the groping goddess. From what she'd heard and seen, the pink-haired girl had had enough romantic pursuits, all men, so her interest in Hiyori's breasts could only be a way to embarrass the girl. It worked.
A large hand, attached to a large and powerful, and very stern-looking, man, reached down to pull the goddess off the squirming girl. "My Lady, you'll scare the girl away if you keep that up." He looked at Hiyori. "Might that be why we haven't seen you in a while?"
"I had to catch up on school work," Hiyori explained. 'And my parents have been keeping me in the hospital. I didn't want to worry them by going comatose while I was there but ..." She closed her eyes and sighed, "I was warned, but my ties to the far shore are too great now. I can't even imagine going back to normal."
Daikoku nodded in sympathy. "I can see why you wouldn't want to, but ..."
"No," Hiyori yelped, hurrying to cut the man off. "I can't ask Yato to cut my ties to him, or to anyone. Don't you see, it's not just him anymore. I have dozens of links to the far shore; I would be losing a huge chunk of my memories of the past year, and they've changed me. If those ties are cut, I die. Sure there would still be a Hiyori walking around somewhere, but it wouldn't be me. It would be a someone who has different memories, and different views of the world. It would be someone who acted different. It wouldn't be me."
"She can't cut her ties," Kofuku interjected, still firmly held from another assault on Hiyori by Daikoku's firm grip on the collar of her white shirt. "Just how many visitors do we get? If she stops coming here ..." The girl went quiet, frowning. "And if she leaves, then Yukine won't need a place to do homework, so he'll leave too, and then ..." Kofuku stared into space, nervously chewing on her lower lip.
"Yukine loves it here," Hiyori hurried to state, fearful the much feared goddess of poverty might start crying in front of her. "I have no intentions of having my ties cut, but if they do break, Yukine is here to stay? You don't think Yato is going to start caring for him anytime soon, do you?"
"When the underworld freezes over," Daikoku muttered derisively.
"He's been working hard," Kofuku said, defending the absent god. "If he were to raise his rates."
Hiyori gave that some thought. In truth Yato did do quite a few jobs, but at five yen a job it would never add up to much. It would take twenty jobs just to get the hundred yen for a Mars bar. It wasn't slave wages; it was starvation wages.
"Hiyori," Yukine said, greeting the girl as he entered the door. His smile reached his amber eyes, causing a flutter in Hiyori's stomach.
If he wasn't already dead, I would have to beat the girls off him with a stick," Hiyori thought, fondly returning the smile. If she had a younger brother, she knew she'd want him to be just like Yukine. She held up the notebook. "Sorry it took so long," she said, settling down to teach the regalia grade nine math.
The next two hours passed peacefully. Kofuku offered them buns with melted cheese and cinnamon on top. Yukine worked on the assignment Hiyori had just given him, while she ruthlessly marked his previous one, being sure to make liberal use of comments to correct any mistakes he'd made. For the two it was bliss. And if appearances was anything to go by, Kofuku and Daikoku were more than pleased to have the company.
Looking around the room, nibbling on a bun, Hiyori realized just how much like a family they seemed. Yukine would be the son, studiously doing homework, while she was a friend visiting to work on assignments. From idle talk amongst the various gods she'd met, she knew Kofuku had once tried to adopt a boy, and the whole process had failed miserably. But now it seemed that of a son was the role Yukine filled in their lives. With Yato having no place of his own, and nighttime being immensely dangerous for shinki, loose spirits named by a god, it was an ideal setting for the teenage boy. A loving mother, a strong father type, and friends. Yato she saw as an untrustworthy, older brother to the boy.
Impulsively, Hiyori stood and walked over to hug the shocked goddess of poverty. "I love this place, and you guys," she said, tightening the hug. "And thanks for giving Yukine a home."
"Hiyori," Kofuku said, shrieking into the girl's ear. "I love you too." Her own arms closed around the teenager.
"Oh boy," Yato said, having just walked in the door. "Hiyori and Kofuku in girl-on-girl love. I so did not see that coming." He turned away, flipping a five-yen coin into the air and catching it. "But who am I to complain. Another job well done, another five yen. My dreams are coming true." He yawned. "Was a big job, a hundred toilets and a hundred urinals to scrub at the All Saints All Boys School." With a shake of his head he added, "lost count of how many toothbrushes I went through. Hope the kids don't mind; I did return them, after all."
"You have chores here if you want to stay," Daikoku yelled, reaching out to grab Yato by the back of his jumpsuit.
"Sleepy time," Yato insisted.
Peeling herself, with some difficulty, from Kofuku's arms, Hiyori grinned at the disappearing back of Yato. "I have a job for the great Yato," she said, confident she knew how to get the ex-god of calamity to do his chores. She flipped the coin into the air. "Scrub the bathroom and floors," she said.
Yato caught the coin, yawned again, and headed off to sleep. "Be right on it," he lied.
Hiyori pulled out another coin. "Also cook all meals for the next month," she stated, still sure of her plan. She flipped the coin.
"Right on, boss lady," Yato said, snatching the second coin from the air.
Hiyori took out another coin. "My wish is that if you fail to grant the two previous wishes in a timely fashion, you're to give me all the five-yen coins you currently have." She flipped the third coin.
Yato watch the coin as it turned in the air, trying to resist. The attempt was in vain as he found himself throwing his body at the floor, scrambling after the coin.
"Since you took the coin, I'm assuming you took the job," Hiyori said. "Remember, all your five- yen coins if you fail. And you can't get rid them since I stated, all the ones you currently have."
Yato sighed, then put a smile on his face. "All jobs, always done to satisfaction," he said, pocketing the fifteen yen. "Now, what do you want for supper tomorrow?" He took out a notepad and pencil and turned towards Kofuku.
"I'm off," Hiyori said, slipping out the door. "I want to get back to the hospital before the phantoms really come out in storm."
With an effortless leap Hiyori was on the telephone wire again. There was more than a little bounce in her steps as she traveled back to the hospital. In the form a spirit she was naturally light, and felt as if she had boundless energy. Plus she was feeling good. Sure there were problems in her life, but as things went that life could only be described as great. She had a great family. Great friends. Great health. Everything she could ever need.
"From now on I'll be more careful where I leave my body,"Hiyori promised herself, speaking to the darkening sky.
Arriving back at the hospital she found her parents sitting beside her bed. Her father was trying to be stoic, but she saw his eyes twitch, and he was nervously tapping on the rail of her bed. On the other side of her bed her mother was making no attempt to hide her panic.
"There has to be something," the woman insisted. "There has to be."
Her father looked at the machines she'd been hooked to a little over two hours previously. "Nothing. From the looks of it she just slipped into a rather deep sleep." He stopped tapping on the bed long enough to give one of the devices a few taps, still eyeing the readout display. "Brainwaves are normal enough for someone in a deep sleep. Her heart rate and blood pressure are all perfect. If they were any better I'd swear she was faking them."
Her good mood abating just a little, Hiyori slid back into her body. "Hey," she said, greeting her parents. "Wanna see another magic trick?"
"No," her mother almost shrieked. "The only trick I want to see you do, young lady, is to stop sleeping so much."
"Now mom," Hiyori said gently, reaching out to clasp her mother's hand. "I'm okay. All the tests say so."
"Then it's not physically," the woman replied, a crazy light lighting up in her eyes. "It has to be mental. You need to see a psychiatrist. And a psychologist. And a neural surgeon. And ..."
Hiyori dropped the shaking hand and shrank back into her bed. "You know, mom, maybe a few more of these tests dad is running would be okay. Better than okay. A few more would be great."
"I'll make the appointments," her mother replied, heedless of her daughter's panic.