The front door swung open, and the two entered the silent apartment. Hiyori kicked off her shoes and dropped her keys on the kitchen table. Yukine closed the door and followed behind her.

"Seriously? C'mon, what happened?" Yukine complained.

Hiyori groaned, rolling her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it right now, Yukine-kun. I'm going to take a bath."

The half-Phantom reached for the bathroom door, but Yukine interrupted her just as she did so.

"You've been taking a lot of baths lately," the blonde boy pointed out, sounding suspicious.

Hiyori stopped in the bathroom doorway, turning to look at him over her shoulder. She didn't seem entirely pleased by the boy's comment.

"Well, it's the only room in the apartment you and my brother can't walk into while I'm there," Hiyori snapped.

The Regalia crossed his arms. "Your brother's right. You really haven't been acting like yourself lately."

Hiyori pulled away from the door, one hand coming to rest on her stomach. "What do you mean? I'm fine," she mumbled, but her shifty eyes told him she was lying.

Yukine scoffed, the doubt clear on his face. "That's your only defense?" He raised his eyebrow, questioning her. "Seriously! The whole world knows you're not 'fine.' You've been acting like-"

"Like who?" Hiyori interrupted, crossing her arms.

The impatience in her tone was enough to warn the blonde Regalia to choose his words wisely. His arms dropped back down to his sides. A somewhat sympathetic aura surrounded him.

"Like me…" he replied. "Oversleeping, running away, avoiding everyone, arguing with people, lying-"

"I haven't lied to anyone!" She quickly defended herself.

"Maybe not," Yukine shrugged his shoulders a bit, "but you haven't told your brother the whole truth about Yato - have you?"

Hiyori bit her bottom lip. She wanted to deny it, but she knew her excuses were all lame ones. Her expression softened into sadness.

"I mean, you haven't told him that Yato's a homeless street bum - that he's a God of Calamity-"

"He is not!" Hiyori interrupted again, leaning her upper body in his direction, withdrawing her arms from her chest to tighten her fists. "He's a God of Fortune!"

"That's what you say he is, but he wasn't actually recognized as a god until you made that shrine for him. Before then, the only people who knew his name were his friends he snagged money from, and the god who swore vengeance on him for killing all her Regalia."

Hiyori felt her throat close, and her eyes began to sting. She didn't want to listen anymore.

"Now, Yukine-kun. Yato treats you with a lot of care and respect-"

"Respect my ass!" Yukine interrupted. "Do you see him here anywhere?" He gestured around the apartment.

Hiyori's expression slipped into a mix of shock and denial as she scanned the area before looking back at her friend.

"You sure none of this actually has anything to do with the fact that Yato is gone? Maybe you wouldn't be so bummed out all the time if you just accepted that he got you into this mess-"

The brunette stepped toward him, placing her hands on his shoulders to get his attention. Yukine stiffened, immediately becoming quiet.

"Yukine-kun," she began, determination burning in her eyes. "Do not mistake Yato for a bad person. You promised me back in the hospital that you wouldn't. So please, don't. If you were by his side instead of mine right now, you would defend him - you know you would."

Yukine swallowed hard. His cheeks turned a light shade of pink. He wasn't sure what suddenly silenced him, but he lost any ability to argue back. Maybe it was the broken sound hidden in her voice, or the teary red eyes she was staring down at him with.

"The fact you have an opinion on any of this," she continued, "just tells me that you've been too involved with this whole thing. And I'm sorry," she choked out.

Before long, the tears that had been forming in her pink eyes spilled out. Her limbs weakened, and her lip trembled with pain.

"This is my and Yato's battle - not yours. We will handle it ourselves. Okay?" Hiyori told him.

Unsure of what to do, Yukine remained still in shock. He stood there, watching helplessly as she cried. But no longer than she had started, Hiyori's tears slowed. She cleared her throat softly.

"I think it's best if you go stay with Kofuku-san and Daikoku-san again, Yukine-kun," she told him, wiping her wet face on the back of her hand.

Yukine's eyes widened in shock. "What?! No way-!"

Before he could refuse - before she could let him change her mind, Hiyori used the hold she already had on the boy to push him forward. She flung the front door open and knelt down to grab up his sneakers by the doorstep. She handed them to the Regalia, shoving him out of the apartment without giving him time to put his shoes on.

He blinked at her in shocked confusion, unable to comprehend how quickly this was all happening.

"H-Hiyori-?"

"I'm sorry…" the girl mumbled, averting her gaze from his. "I can't afford to let your relationship with Yato change just because my relationship with him is failing."

"H-hang on-!" Panic rose in Yukine's voice.

Hiyori just shook her head, giving him a weak smile. "I'll be alright. My brother will be home soon." She slowly lowered her head to stare at the boy's shoeless feet.

"But I didn't-!"

"Goodbye, Yukine-kun. Thank you. For looking after me."

Hiyori wasted no time closing the door in his face and locking it to prevent him from getting back inside.

She stood frozen for a moment as she struggled to absorb everything that had occurred in the past few months.

The moment she and Yato confessed they loved each other, their first kiss, their first intimate moment together. When she realized she was pregnant, when her parents kicked her out, their first date, when she finally told him, when he left her, when he came back, and when he left again. Then, it was when she lost sleep, when she stopped eating, when she cried almost every day, when she blamed herself for his absence, when she fought with her brother, when she ran away, when everyone started telling her it wasn't worth it to keep chasing him anymore. When she started believing it, and when she realized he might not come back this time. Now, it was when her heart broke, when she felt alone, when her innocence diminished, when she missed him, when she sobbed fiercely to herself on the floor of her brother's empty apartment. When he destroyed her...

That was how the God of Calamity she cherished so much destroyed her. Without so much as touching her.

. . . .

Masaomi stretched his arms, closing the front door behind him. He kicked his shoes off at the doorstep. He pulled off his coat as he rounded the corner. That was when he found his younger sister staring back at him from the couch in the living room with luggage surrounding her.

"H-Hiyori?" Masaomi stopped immediately in his tracks. He looked around the bags resting by her.

"W-what's going on?" He looked around the apartment cluelessly. "And where's your friend?"

Her brother noticed her depressing aura. He noticed the corners of her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying for a while. She didn't try to hide it. She slowly stood up from the couch and looked into her brother's sympathetic eyes.

"Onii-chan. I want to go home now," Hiyori finally told him softly.

Masaomi seemed surprised. He hesitated for a moment, but then he settled his coat over the armrest of the couch and approached his younger sister.

"Of course. I understand," he replied gently. "But first-" he reached out and took her delicate hands, "you have to tell me if you'll be okay if I let you go. Promise me you'll take care of yourself."

Hiyori's eyes began to fill with tears once more. She bit her lip, fighting her tears.

"I promise…"

Masaomi pulled Hiyori into his arms, holding her close. There was nothing but the sound of the young girl crying softly against her brother's shoulder. He placed his hand on her head and smoothed out her hair to comfort her.

"I miss him so much…!" She choked out.

"I know, I know…" her brother sighed, sorrow in his voice.

"I don't know if he's coming back - I don't know anything anymore…!" Hiyori sobbed.

Masaomi continued to console her, hushing her as she cried into his shirt. There was a few minutes of the siblings standing and hugging before they spoke again.

"I know you're hurting, Hiyori, but I still need to know who this Yato guy is. There's a lot you haven't told me," Masaomi told her, placing his hands on her shoulders and pulling away to look at her.

"Y-you're... asking about Yato's past," she mumbled, finally regaining enough composure to speak without tears in her eyes. Her gaze fell as she nervously played with her thumbs. "I'm sorry, Onii-chan. Now really isn't the time. If I tell you right now - while everything else is going on - it would just create more problems. And besides, Yato can explain it better than I can."

Hiyori knew if she told her family everything about who Yato was and what he was like, it wouldn't look good on his part. She couldn't care less if her brother and parents looked at her the wrong way for being with a homeless God of War. More than anything, she wanted her family to get along with him and appreciate him just as much as she did. It would be incredibly more difficult either given the circumstances, but if the situation was resolved, maybe everyone would be more open-minded about her lover. Her God of Fortune deserved to be understood and accepted.

Masaomi appeared frustrated at first, but the tension in his face eased. He sighed heavily.

"I understand," he replied. "Let me walk you home…"