YYYYYOOOOOOOO! NEW CHAPTER! Yes, we're back again! And guess what I've been doing while I was gone? OUTLINING. Yes, outlining. I've got a significant amount of this story plotted out in depth, so I'm optimistic that we'll be able to get this potato running properly this time (barring any further real-life complications, of which there have been many).

All of the existing chapters have been revised as of July 5 2019, so if you're a continuing reader, go back and check 'em out! The prologue has been edited, and the existing chapters have been substantially rewritten, and now we'll be moving on to brand new material. If you're a returning reader, you'll recognize Hiyori's part of this chapter, but this time it comes with brand new content! Yay!

One quick note for returning readers: I've opted to replace "god" with "kami" in this story. I debated over this for a while, because I don't wanna be That Weeb adding unnecessary Japanese words into an English-language fanfic. I have a policy of only retaining Japanese words when I think it's useful; specifically, when there's a lack of a direct English equivalent that carries the same connotations and cultural significance.

Example: "senpai" is a concept that really doesn't exist in Western schools, so if a character would use the word "senpai" in a fic, I would opt to keep the Japanese word instead of trying to use "upperclassman" or "senior" as an English equivalent, since those don't carry the same connotation of respect and deference.

After doing some reading on Shinto beliefs, I got the impression that "god" and "kami" really aren't the same, thus it falls under my policy. Granted, the official English translations use "god", but hey, they're the official translations, they've gotta use something easily marketable.

One more quick note on the phrase chuunibyou, which you'll see in this chapter, from TVTropes:

"Chuunibyou (中二病 / 厨二病), often shortened to chuuni or chuu2, is an often-derisive Japanese slang term for the embarrassing behavior of 13-to-14-year-olds. The term literally means "Middle [School] 2[nd Year] Syndrome" (often translated as "Eighth-Grader Syndrome" in US media). Despite the name, it can manifest in people of all ages.

As a colloquial term, the exact "symptoms" of chuunibyou aren't entirely set in stone, but in general, a chuuni acts like a Know-Nothing Know-It-All who thinks of themselves as more awesome than everyone else because of experiences, abilities, and even special powers that they clearly don't have. Imagine a kid trying to convince you (in the most obnoxious way possible) that they're an accomplished Ninja who could kick your ass, and you kind of have the idea."

OK, no more notes! Here we go!


5: FEAR NOT

Hiyori was a little concerned as she walked towards Kofuku's shop the next day. The previous day's incident with Rabou had been… strange, to say the least. And Yato's behavior had been so odd. First, he'd dragged Rabou out of the shop, claiming that they needed to talk about something— whatever it was, it had something to do with Rabou's apparent reincarnation. And then Yato had come back alone. He'd seemed pretty confident that Rabou wouldn't be a threat anymore; for now, all she could do was hope that he was right.

Despite her worries, she smiled as the familiar sight of the shop came into view. She'd gotten so used to this place; hardly a day went by when she wasn't there. Especially with Yukine's studies, she'd visited so often that it had already become a comfortable routine.

"Good afternoon!" she called out as she passed through the shop to the house behind it.

"Hiii, Hiyorin!" Kofuku chirped. She stuck her head in from the backyard, where she'd been watering her flowers, and waved at her with the watering can— sloshing water all over the floor, of course. "Yato-chan and Yukki aren't here right now, they're on a job!"

"Oh, that's good to hear," Hiyori said; and it was a relief to hear it, but she couldn't help feeling a twinge of disappointment whenever she arrived while they were out. She'd brought her materials for Yukine's lesson, so she decided she might as well wait for them to return.

Humming quietly to herself, she headed into the living room— and immediately froze in her tracks. A man in a sweatshirt and cargo pants sat at the kotatsu… a man with familiar white hair. Hiyori's satchel slipped from her shoulder and hit the floor with a smack, spilling schoolbooks at her feet. Rabou glanced up at the sound and spotted her. She stood frozen, locked in place, suddenly feeling clammy. Her heart was hammering so hard that it almost hurt. Why is he here?! she thought.

"Hiyori-san?" Rabou asked, breaking the silence.

"Y-yes?!" she yelped, startled. She felt her face turn red at her fearful reaction.

"Yato isn't here, if it's he that you seek," Rabou said.

"U-um, yes, Kofuku-san already told me," she said hesitantly. Her head was spinning— what was Rabou doing, sitting there so calmly? Kofuku had greeted her like nothing was amiss— surely she would know if a vengeful, murderous kami was lurking in her own home, right? Clearly, something was going on here. Yato had come back without Rabou after their conversation, but here he was again, and with different clothes, no less. What, exactly, had she missed last night after she'd gone home?

Don't lose your composure! she told herself. What would Tono-sama do? Surely, he'd stay strong in the face of potential danger. Tono-sama would stare death itself in the face. She would be like her idol and show no fear... no matter the danger! Admonishing herself, she gathered up the books, squared her shoulders, and strode over to the kotatsu, seating herself across from Rabou.

"I'm here for Yukine-kun's lesson; I'm going to wait for them," she proclaimed as she arranged the books on the tabletop. Her hands, she noticed with a hint of pride, were barely shaking as she laid out the workbooks.

"Very well," Rabou said. He turned his attention to something in his hands— an old iPhone, Hiyori realized. Why did he have a phone? What in the world had happened yesterday? Noticing her line of sight, Rabou sighed and held up the phone. "Yato gave this to me. He says that I will need it, if I am to survive in this modern era."

"Oh?" Hiyori said carefully. Her voice was remarkably steady, given the circumstances; she was proud of herself.

"I have much to learn, it seems," Rabou murmured, studying the phone. "Kofuku guided me to this Wikipedia. There is so much history that I have missed."

"…Oh?" Hiyori said again. She'd wanted to be brave and clever like her idol, but she was completely at a loss for words. Her heart was still pounding, and a cold sweat had broken out over her.

"Kofuku has informed me of these… bizarre, nonsensical things known as 'memes'. Apparently they're meant to be humorous," he said. "For instance, this 'PPAP', the strangely-dressed man who sings of something which does not exist. He claims to have all these things, yet his hands are empty. He then claims to combine these things for reasons that I cannot fathom. Why must he put a pineapple and a pen together? Are you familiar with this?"

"Y-yeah, I've, um, seen that one," she said, trying to muster a smile.

"Do you grasp its meaning?" Rabou asked, looking up at her. His yellow eyes sent a cold chill through her— all she could see was the rage in those eyes when he'd tried to sacrifice her to the Storm he'd absorbed.

"I'm not really sure," she said faintly.

"Perhaps I will come to understand the humor of these things in time," he mused. "There's another she showed me- ah yes, Maru, that was the creature's name. Kofuku told me how to read the text. It's the image of a dog, and the dog's innermost thoughts surround it. Now, where did I… Ah, here it is— 'So scare. Concern. What r you doing. Wow'." He sounded out the words with careful enunciation.

Hiyori couldn't even fake a response anymore. Oddly, she felt a sudden, almost desperate urge to laugh bubbling up inside her, a rising edge of hysteria. The ancient, dead kami who had tried to kill her less than a week ago was talking politely to her about memes. He'd just read off that stupid 'doge' meme with the type of solemn grandiosity that was normally reserved for recitals of historical epic poetry. The surreality of it overwhelmed her and she stood up abruptly.

"Ah, um, I just remembered that I have to make a call. Excuse me!" she said hastily. She turned and bolted out of the shop, then skidded to a stop and collapsed onto one of the patio's benches. She was shaking, and breathing hard like she'd just run a mile. A sharp, shrill giggle choked itself out of her throat and she clapped her hands over her mouth, shoulders quaking, as reality set in.

Hiyori had quite a few questions, spinning in an endless frantic loop in her mind, and top among them were the matters of why Rabou was at Kofuku's place, why Yato had given him a phone, and why Kofuku had been teaching him about memes. Hadn't his past incarnation tried to kill them just a few days ago? Hadn't Yato sent him away the night before? What could possibly have changed so dramatically in one night?

She frantically dug her phone from her coat pocket, wondering if she ought to call Yato, but then she spotted a notification on the screen— a text she'd missed earlier. Yato had a tendency to spam her on Twitter (and in texts, and in phone calls) so she'd taken to putting her phone in 'do not disturb' mode during school; she'd been busy that afternoon, making plans with her friends and organizing Yukine's lesson for the day, and apparently she'd forgotten to switch it back.

It was a text from Yato: It seems there's plenty of ayakashi today, we'll be busy~ If you get to Kofuku's before us: we have a guest, don't panic! She stared at her phone, no less confused… but the quivering of her hands began to subside. Given that Yato, Kofuku, and Daikoku all knew about this, and Yato had texted to reassure her, then there had to be a reason for it.

Hiyori stood up and took a deep, shaky breath. She could do this. There was definitely an explanation for this, definitely, and whatever it was, Yato would tell her about it when he came back. If no one else was worried, then there had to be a reason for this. Drawing herself up and smoothing the pleats of her skirt, she strode back inside and went right back to the kotatsu, seating herself as calmly as she could. Rabou's eyes flickered up to her as she sat, but he stayed quiet.

After a moment, he asked, "Did my presence here startle you?"

Hiyori hesitated; part of her wanted to deny it, to be like her idol and show no fear. But he'd clearly noticed her agitation, and she'd look foolish now if she pretended otherwise. So she settled for nodding warily.

"I- my past self- harmed you before," Rabou reflected. "I know not whether it is right for me to apologize for the violence of my past incarnation- I hardly remember those acts or their motivation now. However, please know that I have no desire to take up arms against you or Yato ever again, nor anyone else that Yato cares for. That fight died with my past self. Whether it is right or wrong to ask forgiveness, I hope you'll believe that I mean you no harm now."

"O-okay," Hiyori said cautiously. She wasn't sure what else she could say; he wasn't outright asking for forgiveness and she wasn't sure that she was ready to grant it.

Clearing her throat, she dug through the schoolbooks on the tabletop and continued organizing them. Rabou opened his mouth as if to say something else, but then he seemed to think better of it and went back to his outdated iPhone. The heavy silence between them lasted until Kofuku bounced into the room, her arms loaded with snacks.

"Oh, good! You met Rabou-chan, Hiyorin!" she trilled. Skipping over to the kotatsu, she spilled the snacks onto the table and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Rabou-chan?" Hiyori echoed, doing her best to keep her confusion restrained under a polite tone.

"Uh huh! He's Yato-chan's apprentice now!" Kofuku told her excitedly. "Are you two getting along, hmm?"

Hiyori glanced dubiously at Rabou; he looked up from his phone to meet her gaze. She decided it was probably going to be a while before that golden-eyed stare stopping bringing a cold, clammy sweat to her skin. However, the situation seemed to be under control, so…

"Sure, I guess so," Hiyori said, mustering a faint smile.

"Yay!" Kofuku cheered. "Don't worry, Hiyorin, Yato-chan told Rabou-chan to be on his best behavior! Right, Rabou-chan?" Kofuku practically slid across the kotatsu to pinch Rabou's cheek in a way that somehow looked as menacing as it did playful.

"Yesh," Rabou agreed, muffled by his uncomfortably stretched cheek. The look on his face put Hiyori in mind of a put-upon, long-suffering family cat.

"Ah, did he?" Hiyori remarked, smiling slightly. Well, that explained the respectful form of address Rabou had been using. Neither Yato nor Kofuku had ever addressed her as -san, after all. Despite her lingering unease, Hiyori couldn't help but smile a little wider at the mental picture of Yato scolding Rabou to be polite to her. She imagined him waggling a finger, fist on hip, while Rabou stood before him with his head hanging low in shame.

Kofuku plopped down next to Rabou and grabbed a bag of shrimp chips, chattering away at him as if they were old friends. Every so often she'd pause to feed Rabou a chip, and he accepted each one patiently. Hiyori watched with faint amusement; it was almost enough to make her forget her terror of a few minutes ago, and that itself was bizarre too. It was like watching someone hand-feed a wild fox— it was funny and a little bit cute, but with the nagging worry that the feeder could lose a finger at any moment.

At last, a pair of familiar voices drifted in from the front of the shop— bickering, as usual, from the sounds of it. Thinking fast, Hiyori excused herself and hurried outside to catch them; she made it to the patio just as Yato and Yukine ambled into view. Yato paused at the sight of her, and for a moment, he studied her with a solemn frown.

"I'm gonna go get started on my chores," Yukine said after an uncomfortably quiet pause. Yato made an assenting noise, nodding slightly. Yukine sidled away and hurried into the house, while Yato's serious expression stayed right where it was.

His contemplative expression and silence lasted for only a second longer, though; then he broke into his customary grin, winking and flashing a peace sign.

"Good afternoon, Hiyori!" Yato singsonged. "Have you been getting reacquainted with my apprentice?"

"Um, yeah," Hiyori agreed, mustering a smile. "Did you have much trouble with the ayakashi today?"

Yato sighed dramatically. "There were some nasty ones out there, I admit it. Nothing that my bad-ass shinki and I couldn't handle though!"

"That's good," Hiyori said. Yato's electric blue eyes searched her face again and she could feel her cheeks redden a little. Sometimes, when he got serious like that-

"Did I make you worry?" Yato asked. "Sorry about that. I was going to call and explain everything last night, but—" He paused, poked his tongue out and tapped the heel of his hand against his temple, "—it totally slipped my mind!"

"That's the kind of thing you should really try harder to remember! I wasn't expecting to see him here, it was a pretty bad shock!" Hiyori chided in exasperation. To her surprise, Yato's expression grew solemn again.

"Has he been minding his manners? I told him to be on his best behavior when you got here," Yato said.

"Huh? O-oh, yeah. He's even been calling me '-san'," Hiyori said. "It— it really was a shock, though… what happened yesterday?"

"Rabou found his way back to the shop after you left," Yato said. "He asked for my help— although it was really more like pleading, actually. He wants to follow in my footsteps as a delivery kami, you could say."

She hesitated, then asked, "Do you think he's… safe?"

"He's not the same as he was before. That's all I can say for now," Yato said, shoving his hands into his pockets and shrugging.

"He told me he didn't want to fight you anymore," Hiyori said quietly. "I wonder… maybe he really meant it?"

"Yeah, I wonder," Yato murmured. But then he roused his usual reckless grin and assured her, "Don't worry! If he starts acting up, he'll get a taste of Sekki's steel again!"

He really is taking this seriously, Hiyori realized. She smiled and nodded, reassured. Yato headed into the shop and Hiyori followed, ready to face this unexpected turn of events.

For now, at least, they were safe; unless that changed, she'd have faith in Yato's decision.


"Goooood afternoon, apprentice! It's shinki time!" Yato crowed, bursting into the living room. Rabou jolted in surprise, looking up from his phone.

"Shinki time?" he echoed. Was Yato finally going to give him some answers?

"That's right! We're gonna head out into the city and see if you can remember anything about how to find a shinki!" Yato proclaimed, pointing dramatically towards the ceiling. Well, that answered that question, at least. "You've gotta find one anyway, and the sooner the better, so let's get going and jog those memories!"

Rabou put his phone down and sat up straighter.

"May I begin taking on wishes myself once I have a shinki?" he asked, leaning forward slightly. Yato had left him behind on this last job, claiming that it was too risky for him without a shinki, and the frustration of sitting idly had been gnawing at him. He needed to take action to find followers, and soon; that much, at least, he did know.

"One step at a time, my dear padawan!" Yato said loftily.

"I've no idea what that means," Rabou told him, frowning. Yato sighed, shaking his head.

"You'll learn these things, foolish novice. You'll learn," Yato replied, and Rabou could barely restrain an aggrieved sigh at his overly solemn tone. Turning to the others, Yato chimed, "Let's roll, Yukine! Let's go find you a new kouhai!"

"Kouhai?!" Yukine echoed, mortified, clutching the handle of his mop.

"Of course! If Rabou here is my apprentice, then I'm like his senpai, right? So, then that'd make his shinki like an underclassmen to you!" Yato said with a wink.

Yukine scoffed, but his cheeks colored. "Guess I have to tag along, you're totally useless without me if an ayakashi shows up," he grumbled.

Yato cheered and turned eagerly to Hiyori. "Hiyoriiii! Wanna come along? It'll be nostalgic! We can reminisce about the day I named my own amazing, darling, genius shinki!"

Rabou shot a curious, sidelong glance at Hiyori; after her frightened reaction, not even two hours previously, he did wonder what she'd do.

She grasped her pink scarf uneasily, then smiled faintly and said, "Actually, if we're not doing Yukine-kun's lesson right now, I should probably go. My parents are both home early today and since I told them I was just tutoring a friend, they'll start to wonder if I'm out too late..."

Yato looked let down for a second, and then he grinned and flashed a peace sign at her. "Okay, Hiyori! You go home and spend some quality time with the ol' parents, and we'll tell you all the thrilling details later!"

"If there are any," Yukine added grouchily.


The towering buildings surrounded them once more; this time, they walked along the street instead of standing on the rooftops. People in sleek, dark-colored clothes hurried along and flitted past the three of them as if they weren't even there.

And yet, not one of these rushing people bumped into them- or even so much as brushed past them. The flow of busy footsteps parted around the three of them, as effortlessly as water flowing around a rock in a stream.

As the humans bustled past them, Rabou heard faint whispers on the breeze- not the chatter of people talking to each other, or into their phones. It was something deeper than that...

Curious, Rabou extended a hand; a woman walking towards it abruptly paused mid-step, just short of bumping into his arm, and ducked off to the side. She pulled her ringing phone from her pocket and answered a call.

"They do not see us, do they?" he asked, turning to Yato.

"It's a little more than that. We're not invisible, just very hard to notice," Yato said. Yukine looked away, just for a moment, but Rabou spotted the slight gesture all the same.

"Then how are we to gain followers if they see us not?" Rabou asked, frowning. "That man who called upon us to clean his home last night, how did he come to know of your existence?"

Yato winced. "First of all, you gotta stop talking like that," he said. "And secondly... that's what the phone is for!"

Rabou fished it from his pocket and examined it. Considering his options, he looked around and held the phone out in front of him. Once again, the nearest human walking towards him altered their path to avoid him, seemingly without even realizing it.

Yato stared at him. "Did you reincarnate as an idiot?" he asked flatly. Sighing heavily, he took a scrap of paper from his jersey pocket. Presenting it with a flourish, he proclaimed, "This, apprentice, is my business card! That's my phone number. Humans call my phone with their phone using this number, and that's how I get customers."

Taking it gingerly, Rabou studied it intently. The string of numbers and symbols on the card made no more sense than the phone did.

"Have I a phone number?" he asked.

"'Do I have a phone number'," Yato corrected him, waggling his finger. "If you keep talking like it's still 500 years ago, no one's gonna take you seriously. They'll think you're some kind of chuunibyou. As for your phone number: don't worry, dear apprentice! Yato-senpai took care of everything already!" Yato produced another slip of paper and presented it to Rabou.

The scrap of paper read "090-ZZZZ-**3*". Rabou tilted his head, studying it in bewilderment. "And humans will understand this?" he asked.

Yato chortled smugly, as if he held a grand secret in his grasp. He proclaimed, "They don't need to! Watch this." Walking over to a lamppost, Yato produced a red-capped tube from somewhere within his jersey. He uncapped the end of it and scrawled his phone number right onto the lamppost at eye level. Above it, he added his name and a little crown emblem.

Patting it proudly, Yato said, "There we go. Most humans will walk right past this without ever spotting it. This number's hard to notice, just like we are."

"Then what is the purpose of this?" Rabou asked, scowling. He was getting tired of being led around in circles.

"Ohoho, my impatient apprentice! How hasty you are!" Yato chided jovially. "It's hard to notice... for most humans. For the ones that need it, well, they'll hardly be able to take their eyes off it."

"Do I place my number beside yours?" Rabou asked.

"No way! I'm just teaching you till you're ready to do this yourself. We're gonna be competitors soon, you know?!" Yato whined. "And anyway, you're not ready to start marketing yourself as a solo act just yet. Just watch and learn!"

"And what am I to learn from this?" Rabou asked.

"You tell me, dumbass," Yato retorted. "I just told you that this phone number is how people find me. What does that mean for us?"

Rabou stared at the phone number scrawled on the lamppost. Those who needed the number would see it, and through it they'd find Yato. Yato would answer their wishes, and their remembrance would keep him alive. It reminded him of something... of the silent place in the mountains.

"I think I understand now," Rabou murmured. "This is... like a shrine, in some way."

"Yeah," Yato agreed. "A shrine is just a physical reminder of a kami's presence. Loyal followers go there to leave offerings and say prayers and make wishes. You and me, we don't have shrines, though. Our followers can't come to us, so we go to them and remind them that we're here."

"I do have a shrine," Rabou pointed out. Yato gaped at him, then clasped his hands to his face and reeled back with a pitiful wail.

"Damn it, that's right! Shit, you've got all the luck! You reincarnated, you have a shrine, why are you so lucky?!" Yato whined. "Anyway, th-that creepy place in the mountains doesn't count! It doesn't count if no one goes there!"

Rabou leaned forward intently. "Then, if I can persuade visitors to return to the shrine, will I succeed as a kami of delivery?" he asked urgently.

"No one's gonna go all the way out there, people want convenient urban shrines these days," Yato grumbled, shoulders hunched, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.

"He's jealous because he doesn't have a shrine at all," Yukine pointed out.

"Yukine! How could you rat on me?!" Yato gasped, clutching the front of Yukine's jacket.

"Oh?" Rabou thought back to the silent shrine. "Is a shrine so important?"

Yato let go of Yukine, his mouth pressing into a thin line, and he glanced away. After a pause, he murmured, "It's more than just a tether to the Near Shore. It's more than just a reminder for humans, too. When people build a shrine for you, it's... a reminder for us, too. It's a reminder that we're needed."

Rabou studied Yato's melancholy stare, the tense set of his shoulders. "You longed for a shrine in the days past, as well, did you not? I remember those downcast eyes from back then, too. Even after all these centuries, you still have no shrine..."

As he said it, another double-vision overwhelmed his senses; his ears rang distantly. He could see the loneliness in past-Yato's eyes, the desperation, even as blood splattered his face- yes, there had been desperation, but also resignation... Rabou came back to his senses, realizing that Yato was in the midst of yelling.

"-So don't rub it in!" Yato was saying, fists balled up.

"My apologies," Rabou said absently. If a shrine was so important, then how had Yato survived without one? And for that matter, did Rabou's own shrine provide some clue to the secret of his reincarnation? If a shrine was a tether to the Near Shore...

"Anyway, let's just move on," Yato said, hands shoved into his pockets. "Keep your eyes open, you never know when you'll find... the one!" Yato accompanied that last bit with a wink and a jovial nudge to Rabou's ribs.

"The what?" Rabou asked, frowning. "Yato, please, just tell me instead of-"

"Oi, oi, oi, oi!" Yato chided. "Any kami worth their name knows the value of presentation!"

"Presentation," Rabou echoed flatly. He really wasn't sure what any of this had to do with finding a shinki.

Yato grinned. He crouched and leaped, backflipping through the air and landing atop a street sign on one foot, arms outstretched. "Presentation, of course!" he announced. All Rabou could do was stare blankly, and Yato noticed. He sighed and dropped his arms, shaking his head. "Man, your new self is really boring. The old you was melodramatic all day, every day. I guess you're still recovering from reincarnation."

"I do apologize for boring you so terribly," Rabou told him dryly, crossing his arms.

Yato scoffed. "Yeah, that's more like it," he said, rolling his eyes. "Look, if you're gonna make it as a kami, you gotta learn to sell it! Why do you think shrines look the way they do? Why do you think those guys in Takamagahara still wear the same old traditional garments? People expect kami to be, you know, kami-ish! You gotta sell that persona!"

"Oh?" Rabou considered it. The clothes his old self had worn- the ones he'd taken from the shrine- did seem considerably uncommon in this era. "Then why do we wear clothes such as these?"

Yato tsked. "You and I aren't like the other kami! We need to stand out and sell our special, unique persona. We're delivery kami, after all, we need to sell our image as rugged, reliable kami that are willing to roll up our sleeves and work hard!"

"Hm. I see," Rabou mused. He looked down at the sweatshirt Yato had given him, and at his sandal-clad feet. Looking up again, he asked, "And, does it work?"

Yato sputtered. "Enough questions! Just... shut up and think hard about shinki, all right? Think shinki thoughts!"

Rabou huffed, annoyed, and turned his attention to the task at hand. This modern Yato truly was different from the sullen kami he faintly remembered from the past. Still... perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. He could recall how resigned the young kami had been back then.

He remembered... yes, he could almost hear the past Yato's words now. He'd condemned himself as nothing but a killer, as good for nothing but slicing people up. He and the dark-eyed girl had often mentioned a "Father"-

The thought of it made his ears ring, the fog closing in again, his breath catching in his throat. Father... the girl, the Stray, with her eerie, black eyes... masked ayakashi, and a mask for himself as well, a pointed mask, like the beak of some terrible bird; he could see a small hand lowering it over his face, covering his left eye-

Rabou gasped, reeling back. He distantly felt a hand sharply grabbing his arm to steady him. His vision cleared and he turned to Yato, who was scowling darkly at him. Yukine hovered at Yato's elbow, glancing furtively back and forth between them.

Yato's eyes narrowed thinly. "That keeps happening," he remarked.

"What did that Stray do to me?" Rabou asked warily. His hand reached for his left eye again.

"So you remember her now, huh?" Yato said grimly. When he continued, there was something careful in his tone. "You're remembering more and more from your past incarnation. That's really not supposed to happen."

"Yato, what did the Stray do to me?" Rabou repeated, his right fist clenching.

Yato tsked, frowning. "Like I said, you were dead for five hundred years and then, just a couple weeks ago, someone woke you up again. That was the Stray. It was some stupid plan to push me to my limit. It worked, but not like they wanted it to," he said.

In spite of Yato's offhanded tone, he wasn't quite looking Rabou in the eye. Yukine was scowling at his feet, but he shot a sidelong glance at Yato. Rabou wondered what, exactly, was going on here. Surely there was more to it than what Yato said. However...

"Hmm. Very well, then," Rabou said. "Let us continue our search."

Yato arched an eyebrow. "What, that's it?"

"Quite so," Rabou agreed, turning away. Whatever the truth was, he clearly wasn't going to get it here- not yet. They had a task at hand, and Rabou dearly wanted to find a shinki. He kept walking, and Yato followed after a moment's hesitation.

"Have you remembered how to bind a shinki yet? Or even how to find one?" Yato asked.

"I have not. Perhaps, in the moment, the answers will come to me," Rabou murmured, glancing around.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good strategy," Yato scoffed.

"Why should it not be? When Bishamon spoke my name, I knew it at once to be mine," Rabou pointed out. "And so, when the time comes, perhaps I will know at once how to bind a shinki."

Yato opened his mouth to protest, paused, then grumbled reluctantly.

Unfortunately for Rabou, the answers did not in fact come to him. An hour passed, and then another, and another. The sun was sinking below the horizon, and he was no closer to finding a shinki.

"Oi! The later we stay out, the more ayakashi we're gonna run into!" Yato called warningly, straggling a few paces behind him. Although, with Yato's grumbling tone, it came across less like a warning and more like whining.

"Wait a bit more," Rabou muttered. "Just... a bit more..."

Yato's cell phone rang, and Yato's good mood returned as quickly as if someone had struck a match. "Fast, reliable, and affordable! Delivery Kami Yato, at your service!" he chirped. He listened to the caller on the other end, then singsonged, "Mmhm! I'll be there right away!"

Before Rabou could ask about it, Yato had vanished the three of them; rather than someplace new, however, they were right back in Kofuku's shop.

Rabou blinked, surprised. "Are we to meet the human here?" he asked.

"There's no 'we' this time, apprentice. Sorry," Yato said. "You wait here, me and Yukine are gonna go handle this one."

"But am I not to assist you?" Rabou asked, frowning.

"Not on this one," Yato said firmly. "We got another ayakashi on our hands."

"I could watch what you do, that I may learn by observation," Rabou suggested hastily.

"Nah. Like I said before, a kami without a shinki is easy pickings for an ayakashi," Yato told him. Shuddering, he added, "You do not wanna find out what happens when an ayakashi starts snacking on you, I can tell you that much. Stay here and think shinki thoughts, okay? Concentrate!"

With that, Yato nodded to Yukine and the two of them vanished. Rabou gaped at the empty space they'd vacated; he'd been left behind for the second time that day.

Kofuku hugged his arm. "Don't worry, Rabou-chan! We can look at memes again while we wait for Yato-chan and Yukki to come back!" she trilled.

"Mm," Rabou murmured distantly. Kofuku cooed and pulled on his arm, yanking him down at an uncomfortable angle so she could prod his cheek with her fingertip.

"Aww, whassa matter? I thought you liked those memes!" she pouted.

"The memes are... quite all right, and I thank you for sharing them with me," Rabou assured her, although half-heartedly. "However, as a kami with no believers, and only Yato's presence to guide me forward in this new era... the sands of time have already begun to slip through my fingers..."

Silence weighed heavily over the two of them. Kofuku still had him wrenched down at an uncomfortable angle.

Kofuku patted his arm. "That was, like, super poetic. Good one."