I wanted to post this for Yato's day SO BADLY but I was too late and missed it by almost an HOUR! .・゚゚・(/ω\)・゚゚・. Yato, I'm so sorry! I haven't forgotten you, I promise (。•́︿•̀。)
I wish you a happy birthday, my god. May you live for another thousand years. And here, take some self-love on this special day.
"Wow! Did you do all this yourself, Yukine-kun? It looks wonderful!"
The boy only needed to take one glance at his friend's amazed face for his cheeks to start burning, and for his heart to start beating harder in his small body. He would make everything fall, if it continued. "No need to look at them like that, Hiyori...! I-I mean, they're not even decorated. And Daikoku-san helped me too, so it's not like I did all of it alone..."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short, kid. You did most of it alone." Daikoku looked away from whatever he was reading to smile at the cupcakes between Yukine's oven mitts. "And Hiyori-chan's right. You did a great job."
A rough yet affectionate ruffle of hair later, the older shinki had already shuffled out of the kitchen. Yukine had no doubt he was very busy; there were many things to prepare for the party they intended to have later tonight, after all. Preparations that Yato wasn't going to help with, of course.
No, he was too busy laughing his head off at whatever Kofuku was telling him. And he was so noisy; so loud that he couldn't even hear what the goddess was saying. Which would be a good thing normally - a lively, happy Yato - but now it was just annoying and he wanted him to shut up.
...What a pain his god could be, at times.
The models of the decorations they had to imitate had miraculously not been reached by the batter and stray flour of Yukine's first attempts at cooking, but Hiyori still had a hard time making sense of some of them. Of most of them, actually. There were oval, orange things with mischievous smiles - she supposed they were pumpkins - and green things with warts, and black circles with... legs.
She didn't mean to criticize Kofuku's drawing talents, because Daikoku would never let that slide, but she was almost sure spiders had eight legs. Not six. And why were the legs as large as the body itself...?
"Kofuku-san drew them for me earlier!" piped up Yukine, his hair tickling her right elbow as he spoke. "She said she wanted the cakes to look like that, and that we had to use all the cream in the fridge. Say, which ones are you going to do, Hiyori? The ghosts? The spiders? I really wanna do the cats!"
"...It's true that they're cute," she said quietly. "They have really pretty eyes."
"Yeah!"
Though some were steadily dripping on the table due to the kitchen not having cooled down yet and others were... far - far, far, far - from looking anything like Kofuku's drawings, the children could see nothing but perfection in their work. They had made the most beautiful cupcakes to have ever graced the Near Shore, and nothing could convince them of the contrary.
Who cared if some cats didn't have whiskers, or if the witches had only half of their faces?
It was perfect for Halloween.
"Yukki! Children are there!" Kofuku cheered as she irrupted in the kitchen, waving her witch wand. Hiyori smiled at the sight of her costume. She was adorable. "I'll put the cakes away with Hiyorin, so could you take care of them? Oh, but don't give them all our candy, alright?"
"Mah, don't worry about that, Kofuku!" Yato slang an arm around Kofuku's shoulders to bring her closer and grinned. He was absolutely radiant; Hiyori didn't know if it was because he was finally having fun or because he had already drank all the alcohol in the fridge. "It will be fine! As the adult here, I will make sure Yukine doesn't eat everything!"
"What the hell?! I'm not like you, Yato!" an absolutely outraged Yukine couldn't help but say, and Yato took his cue to vanish with the candy. But Yukine followed almost immediately because he wasn't done with his bakagami; what point was there in even pretending he was the most mature of the two? He wasn't fooling anyone. Who was the one who poked holes in Kofuku's doors, huh? Or who had taken two desserts on purpose so that Bishamon wouldn't have any, when they were on holidays with Hiyori?
The bickering – and colorful threats and punches that Yato dodged with ridiculous ease - continued until the duo reached the doorstep. Yukine sent his smug god the nastiest glare he had in reserve and, not for the first time, wished he was a little taller. If he had been taller, then he could have strangled him.
But Yato either didn't care or enjoyed this, because he threw the bag of candy at him with that stupid smile of his and opened the door wide. Yukine made sure not to touch him at all when he caught it, because then his body would move on its own and the children in front of them were far too young to witness a murder.
He'd strangle him one day, though. Definitely.
"Wow, would you look at that!" the artist in Yato blurted out, completely taken by surprise by this sight. He was quick to crouch in front of them and, after having studied the disguises a little more, smiled widely. "Your disguises are really beautiful, you three!"
"Thank you!" Big smiles blossomed on the three small faces at Yato's compliment; a bright light in this dark night of October. Yukine quickly knelt to their level and plunged a clumsy hand in the bag. Yato - the very mature adult - had already opened this bag, and he knew his master wasn't above eating the best candies and leaving the rest. He prayed he hadn't done that this time. "The choice of the fabric and all the details; it's really well made! Who made you these?"
"It's Uzume-sama!" one of the girls exclaimed. Loose white bandages swayed under her arms as she spoke, way too happy to be able to stand still. "Our goddess is kind, isn't she? She asked each of us what we wanted for Halloween and made all of our costumes by hand! She loves us so much, sometimes it amazes me!"
"What amazes me is the poor quality of the costumes we've ordered last year," sighed the boy behind her, dressed rather plainly compared to his comrades. "They said that the delivery would be fast, but we received it three months later! Not to mention we didn't even know what it was at first, given the poor state it was in. No wonder our goddess was traumatized and wanted to do it herself."
True, true, but to be honest... None of that wouldn't have happened if she had chosen him. Didn't she know of the delivery god, the great Yatogami? A few clicks of a button and bam, the costumes would have been right in front of her door, perfectly folded in their box. Maybe he should go send her his card-
"Stop that," Yukine reprimanded, barely fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Two things were annoying him at the moment: what his stupid god was thinking, and the fact that he knew what his stupid god was thinking. Spending so much time together wasn't doing him any good.
"Alright, let's see..." Yato leant a little closer, his posture faintly reminiscent of a curious cat. "You're dressed as... a mummy, right? Yeah, I knew it! And then we have a dinosaur with- Aah! What scary teeth you have! Please don't eat me, dinosaur!"
And to emphasize how absolutely terrified he was, he moved to hide behind his shinki and his almost empty bag, mumbling something about gods not being good for dinosaurs' health. Seeing him like that made the youngest child laugh, then the others followed suit, and finally Yukine did too. It was nothing more than a chuckle, a small sound like a cough, but Yato loved hearing his kid laugh every time. He would never get enough of that sound.
"Oh, don't worry mister!" the little girl shook her head. "I'm not going to eat you!"
"...Really? Well, if you say so." But despite his words, the god didn't come out immediately from behind his impenetrable defense. When he did though, his eyes lit up - a bright, ravishing blue hue that would put a clear sky to shame - as the costumes presented to him charmed him once again. Well, except by the third one. The boy's.
Yato tilted his head to the side. "What are you dressed up as?"
He regretted almost immediately having asked; the boy looked really disappointed that he couldn't guess his disguise like he had with the others. But he had to ask, because there was nothing striking about this costume. A greyish kimono that was ragged around the ankles and a cold, steely sword strapped at his hip.
"Man, I can't believe it!" the little boy moaned. "No matter at what shrine we went, no god managed to find the answer. Maybe I've been too subtle... It can't be helped, then. I'll tell you. This year, I have chosen to dress up as..."
He struck a dramatic pose as he pointed his sword to the white moon. "The god of calamity, Yaboku!"
Yato's smile disappeared.
"It was a very long time ago. It is said that each time Yaboku appeared in the villages of the Near Shore, everyone mysteriously disappeared. There were only echoes of children's laughter left, and a long trail, like a blade had been dragged. And on the few corpses left, there were no ears! Believe that?!"
Yukine froze at these words, a handful of cold chocolates hovering above the youngest child's already too full basket. He slowly faced his god, hesitation pooling in his stomach and darkening his eyes like a veil. "...Yato?"
"Have you lost your mind?!" the mummy exploded. "Stop saying such disgusting things in front of younger shinki! She's going to have nightmares again!"
"There is so much mystery surrounding him! I think that's why I love him so much," the boy continued dreamily, way too excited to notice the weird mood that had started to settle. "Most legends say that he was a minor god, but there are some that say he wasn't even a god. That he was just a mindless creature who killed everyone on instinct."
"...He killed everyone?" repeated the youngest child, aghast. Her big teeth and hard green scales didn't make her feel strong at all anymore; it made her feel helpless and in danger. "Does that mean that... that he could kill us too?"
Yato's breath hitched in his throat.
"...Nii-san, d-do you think he is here to kill us?"
"No, don't worry. He... I-I'm sure he won't harm us..." This boy was doing such a terrible job at putting on a brave face, Yaboku almost wanted to laugh. If he really believed he wasn't there to harm him, then why was he trembling like that? Crying like that? He must have known in his heart that it would be the end. For him, of course, but also for the little boy he was trying to hide behind him. Why try to reassure him with empty lies?
"Nii-san," the younger boy sobbed in the deadly silence, "d-do you think Mother and Father are coming to s-save us soon?"
These fools. One of the first lessons Father had taught him was to never let survivors behind him.
Of course he had murdered their parents already.
It was truly exhilarating. This tension, this silence confined in this small hut. Hearing these two children whimper when he did as little as take a step forwards. Fear was making their two faces paler than ever; wouldn't that change the color of their ears too? Wouldn't Father be proud, if he brought paper-white ears home?
Hiiro whispered something at the back of his mind, like a ripple caressing the surface of still water. Yaboku listened closely to what she said, and nodded with bright eyes.
The youngest brother first, then.
"-mean, he kills without even thinking, you know! You're just standing there innocently, and boom! Next thing you know, you can't breathe because there's a blade sticking out of you and-"
The boy didn't look like a boy anymore when he was done. Not even a human. Just something red and wet and shapeless in the shadows of the house.
"Why... W-Why did you..."
What a silly question. The answer behind his actions was always, always the same: he had done this because Father had said so. Because he refused to see anything other than a smile on his father's face, and that he was enjoying this too, the more and more he did it. This feeling of... of fulfilling his purpose.
Seeing him take to his heels with a scream startled a genuine laugh out of the child-god. He needn't Hiiro telling him to go after him.
"-to! Yato, Yato!"
Both of Yukine's hands were clamped around his arm, and his face was as white as the mummy's bandages. He had let go of the candy to hold him. "You... You almost fell, are you alright?"
...No. No, he wasn't alright at all. His ghosts had come to haunt him again, and-
"And you know, sir," Yato reluctantly casted his gaze back on the little boy, and the way his eyes shone made Yato as sick as it made him curious, curious of what else he had to add, "there are even rumors of Yaboku being an ayakashi. At first I thought it was ridiculous, but I guess it makes sense. Gods are good, after all. They can't do things like this. Dont'cha think so?"
At that, Yato smiled, and Yukine knew his idiot god well enough to know that the smile on his lips wasn't a happy one. It was a sad one, so, so sad. A façade he had put on so that no one would worry about him while he was lost in his horrific past and his too old head.
"...Yeah, you're right." Yato's voice was barely above a whisper now, an exhausted reflection of what it had been a few minutes ago. "Good thing it's just a scary legend, right? That... that terrible and disgusting Yaboku is never going to bother anyone."
"Totally!" the boy cheered. "He's just a scary legend, so he's never going to hurt us! But even if he was real, I would fight him! He'll definitely be no match for me."
"...Yes, I'm sure of it." The god let out a long sigh that seemed to empty him before getting to his feet. This movement was slow, devoid of any grace; it was as if Yato had aged a millennia in an instant and each bone of his body suddenly ached. "Don't stay outside too long, though. It's late."
Yukine didn't think it was that late, even for children as young as them, but he didn't feel like arguing now. It was true the boy had said more than enough. As he waved the three of them goodbye, he wasn't sure if he wanted to ever see them again.
"...Ah! I completely forgot!" Although Yato did look he was genuinely surprised, his eyebrows high on his forehead and his eyes wide and clear, his hafuri knew better. "Yukine, there is something I forgot to do outside!"
"You... Are you stupid?" Yukine asked after getting to his feet as well. "We have a lot of things prepared tonight. You can't just leave."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but I really have to do this-"
"Yato," Yukine cut with a huff, his eyes narrowing a little bit, "just because some kid said that-"
"-and I promise I won't take long! Behave during that time, alright?"
And then, Yato disappeared without a single sound. Like a lie, like a ghost, like he had never been there in the first place.
...What a baby.
Honestly, that was all Yukine could think about right now. His god was a very old baby who let just about everything he heard upset him. Was a little kid's stupid comment a reason to go missing for two days and make Hiyori freak out? Um, no. No, it wasn't.
The sound of Yato's number being punched in was a familiar melody now. It was the fifth time in a row, didn't her fingers hurt? "It's useless to call him, Hiyori. He switches it off when he doesn't want us to find him."
"But..." Yukine's silence made the young girl reluctantly close her phone and lips.
"He's such an idiot," the shinki groaned with his cheek squished against the table. He could see nothing but grey, grey, and more grey. "Ridiculous. People wonder why I call him Bakagami; I don't do that for fun."
"When do you think he's going to come back, Yukine-kun? I mean, he's already been missing for two days, and... A-And what if something had happened? What if he was hurt, Yukine-kun?"
"...I don't think so." Oddly enough, this answer sounded wrong in his mouth. "But there is nothing we can do but wait. It's raining, anyway. He's going to come back when he'll have enough of being cold and wet, so don't worry so much."
But she did not stop worrying so much, because rain wouldn't bring him home any sooner if he was really upset. And anyway, after he'd left his father and Nora and Yaboku behind, how many days - how many nights - had he spent under such bad weather? Outside, there were only raindrops pattering against the windows and cloudy skies. There had been worse storms before, and...
And he never returned home.
And Hiyori couldn't help but bite her lip, because she knew her god would rather stay alone and forgotten under the rain forever rather than coming home and face them. She couldn't understand all he had been through, what he was thinking or fearing, but she wanted him to understand that they would stay by his side for as long as they could and that he was an amazing person who-
...Wait a second.
"Yukine-kun?" Yukine lifted one eyelid with an indiscernible sound before jerking backwards when Hiyori's face came a few centimeters away from his own. "Yukine-kun, I've just had a great idea!"
"...I'm home."
This.
This right there.
Yukine didn't lift his head from his arms, folded on the table he was dozing off on, because this had to be some kind of... of test. A trial to test his patience, his limits to Yato's stupidity, because after disappearing for days, this idiot just... waltzed inside of the shrine, as if nothing was wrong? In the middle of the night? Did he think no one would comment on him appearing like that, like a ghost?
Well, he wasn't no one.
"You sure took your sweet time, idiot. Hiyori was worried sick about you."
The god coughed twice before letting out a small reply.
"...Oh."
After that, Yato might as well have been a disembodied voice, because his body completely stopped making any sound. No raindrops falling from his hair, no breaths raising and lowering his chest. Yukine had to open his eyes to reassure himself he hadn't left again. "...That's right. She wanted us to watch something together."
"Yes she did. She really wanted to, and now you've ruined everything and she was even late at school today because of you."
"I've caused her a lot of trouble," Yato said absently. He'd never heard him so silent. "Thanks for telling me; I'll talk to her tomorrow. I'll take a shower before going to sleep though. I feel gross."
"...Do what you want, I don't care." He honestly was in no hurry to join him upstairs. Partly because the little nap he had inadvertently taken had made his limbs horribly sore, but mostly because he knew he didn't have it in him to confront this idiot again today. It would just lead to an argument that wouldn't get them anywhere and that his aching head would not take today.
Waiting tomorrow was a wiser idea. When the sound of showering finally stopped upstairs, he got to his feet with a groan and trudged upstairs, unable to suppress a wince.
What an horrible table. He would never nap on it again.
And to his dismay, his god was there, still awake – him who usually fell asleep so quickly after long days of work. Laying on his belly, he was looking up at his shrine like he was... His eyes were dark like a starless, hopeless night, and Yukine felt a very physical pang in his chest, almost sucking the breath out of him. "If you're really thinking you don't deserve this shrine I'm going to kick you."
"...Do you need me to switch off the light?"
"I need you to stop being an idiot and go to sleep."
"...I'm not going to sleep right now."
When you've spent a few nights in the streets, without any comfort or protection? He wasn't sure if he was more pissed at Yato or worried for him now, but either way, enough was enough.
A violent hand snatched his shrine where it was standing and slammed it on the study table, so hard the wood actually cracked in protest. Yato became pale as a ghost and looked up at him with panicked eyes, like his Yukine had been possessed at some point. "Yukine! Have you gone mad?! What's gotten into-"
"You shut up," Yukine growled, jabbing a furious finger at his god. Hearing him at the end of his patience made the god reluctantly close his lips. "And don't even think about moving from there. I'll be right back."
He then disappeared downstairs.
Oh, he would have loved avoiding himself this embarrassment... He didn't want to go through this, really, but... But Yato was being ridiculous and thinking weird things and he didn't have a choice. When he returned upstairs, he was holding something in his right hand that he presented as if it was the last piece of evidence of a trial.
"Can you read?"
"Huh?"
"Do you or do you not have enough brain cells to read a stupid book right now?"
"...I believe I do." He arched an eyebrow when Yukine marched towards him – what was up with him today? – and dropped some kind of... book on his lap. A light blue one, with the back facing up.
Slowly, hesitantly, he took it in his own two hands and flipped it over. "So, can you read the title or not? It's in big letters. Even a blind idiot like you should be able to read it."
"Hey, I'm not blind! It says..." He gulped thickly. "It says, 'The legend of the Yatogami.'"
"...Wow. Congratulations, you've read, like, five words." Yukine got away from him to plop down on his own bed and gave his sore legs a small shake; he had really underestimated this table's wickedness. Even wrapped in his blankets, exhausted and small and young, Yukine continued to glare at him. "Maybe you're not illiterate after all."
The pages of this book were thinner than expected; Yato had some trouble getting to the first one. Who had written the words, he didn't know, but the drawings were definitely Yukine's; who, other than a child, drew hands like that? And also, did they have that shade of blue? He didn't think so. Perhaps Yukine had bought new pencils for him.
The wind whistled outside, and when he closed the book, the shinki's eyes grew wider. His lamp was making them shine weirdly. "...I think I'll see that tomorrow."
"Oh no no you won't," he snapped. "Yato. If you do not read this stupid, ridiculous waste of my time right now I am going to beat you up so badly no one will recognize what will be left of your body. Read before I strangle you!"
"Okay, okay! No need to threaten me... Geez." That was his life, really. Do weird things because his grumpy teenager resorted to death threats whenever things didn't go as he wanted. He leafed through it fully and returned on the first page, then pasted a big smile on his face.
A fake one. Yukine saw it clearly.
"Okay, so that's all I have to read? Easy! 'Once upon a time, there was a tiny, cute god named Ya~bo~ku!"
"Stop singing, Yato, or I swear-"
"'Yaboku was a kind god, always smiling and ready to help those in need," Yato read, more quietly this time. "'But his father didn't like that. His father was an awful man who just wanted him to destroy the world, regardless of what Yaboku wanted.'"
On the next page, Yato was drawn with a sad face and a long sword covered in blood. Around him were corpses, everywhere, drained of their blood, and Nora and Father were laughing. "'So he had no choice but to obey him. Yaboku was forced to kill and to cut off the ears of the corpses and to bring them to his father. This went on and on and on, and the god was unhappier as the days went by. But Father didn't care, and he made him kill. Always.
"'Yaboku was the magatsukami Father created. Yaboku was the name to call to force people to do as they wanted in fear of being murdered. Yaboku was a threat and something scary and would be unhappy forever, and the god realized that... That this wasn't how he wanted to live. He wanted to listen to himself, to be someone else-'"
Uh-oh, that hit a little too close from home-
"'But doing so meant going against that his creator's wishes.'"
Now, the small Yato had a small interrogation point floating above his head, wondering which path he should follow. The one on the left page – Yaboku's path – led to Father and Nora in front of a comfy house, both smiling and extending their hand towards him. And the one on the right – Yato's path – led to... to absolutely nothing, to absolutely no one.
One page later, he was walking on the right one.
"I want to precise this might not be historically accurate," Yukine grumbled, absently scratching a spot on his left knee. "Since the main character of the book refuses to talk about his past, we had to fill the some of the gaps ourselves."
"...It's actually not so bad, Yukine. You're... You're pretty close."
Yato fell silent after that, but it wasn't the uncomfortable silence from earlier that made him doubt whether he was there or not. No, it was rather like he was... admiring this page, and Yukine couldn't explain what impulse led to this, but he quickly stood up and padded next to his god to sit down cross-legged at his sides. He was warm, solid and breathing, and Yato felt a little more alive when he started to lean against him sleepily.
The child's hands were almost covered in vivid felt streaks. Red, purple, blue, green, yellow; all the colors he'd seen on the previous pages.
"Why'd you stop? Continue."
"'After taking his decision, this god changed. He stopped being what he was and became Yatogami. A strong, independent god who found the courage to do what was best for him, despite knowing fully that changing his life overnight would hurt. He knew it would hurt, however he could never have imagined how terrible it would be.'"
On the next page, it was snowing. Hard. Yato was almost buried in the snow, like a snowman, his nose bright red and his teary eyes almost taking up half of his face. He was watching a family celebrating something together through a window. "'Leaving his family meant that he would never get to celebrate anything with anyone.'"
He had thought about it, sometimes. About celebrating Hiiro's birthday like he had with Yukine.
"'And he was very hungry too, all the time," Yukine read on the right page. Ah... So these long, yellow waves coming from his stomach represented hunger. "The five yen he received for his work were never enough to eat well, and he didn't want to steal because he knew it was wrong.'"
Next page.
"'Little by little, all the negativity got to our unlucky god who ran off to the forest and cried as hard as he could. He cried because he had tried so hard all this time, yet none of his efforts were paying. He cried because he was hungry and no one even knew it, because he had enough of being invisible, because he had enough of being so lonely. But then, instead of letting himself succumb to sadness like most would, he took a decision.
"'He would work even harder.'"
And everyone was there, on the ultimate page, although their faces and bodies were squished so that they would all fit in the big background. For example, Takemikazuchi. He was there, a little bit small, but there, his smirk contrasting with the calm on his quiet Kiun's face. And Kazuma, too. With his big glasses, always looking so serious. Bishamon with the cap that came with Tsuguha's transformation, her lips down to form a pout. Kofuku and Daikoku, the former beaming with the strength of a thousand suns while the latter had his usual annoyed scowl on his face. Tenjin, surrounded by plums, looking at him with a gentle smile. Tomone, next to him, her left hand near her shoulder, greeting the god.
He and Hiyori were both hugging him in the first plan, under a sakura.
"'And it took a very long time, but Yatogami finally found his own family. A family who would love him and respect him for who he was, who would never force him do anything he didn't want. Thanks to his hard work, Yato stopped being just a name and became a real god with his own, precious shrine.
"'...Thanks to his efforts," Yato finished quietly. "Yatogami found happiness. This is the legend of a god who began with nothing but a dream and ended up making it true thanks to his perseverance. The legend of an unhappy magatsukami who became one of the best gods of fortune. The end.'"
...The end.
Pronouncing these words felt a little like waking up from a dream or a miracle. He didn't know what he was feeling, where he was now or exactly what had happened. Only himself, this blessed book, and his half asleep shinki existed in this night, and Yato wouldn't have minded if things stayed like this forever.
They didn't, sadly.
"So, um..." Yukine's cheeks darkened as he pushed himself off his god and looked down, having found a sudden fascination for his nails. "What did you think about it?"
"What I thought about it?" Despite the fact that curiosity was killing him, he forced himself not to look up at his god. He didn't look up when he heard the sound of pages being gently flipped, didn't look up when Yato made a deep 'Hmmmm...' that could mean a thousand things. He had to take care of this nail, right now, absolutely. It was his priority. If it continued to grow like this, if would unquestionably get caught in something and then it would hurt his hand, and it wasn't good, right, he knew it but could Yato please answer his damn question?
After an instant of silence, Yato laughed, bright and happy and finally sounding a little like himself, and hearing that, Yukine felt like he had done something right in the world today. "Well, I don't have much to say. Oh, except the hands! To be honest, they were a little weird at time!"
"The hands were weird?" he repeated, unable to believe his ears. His small hands clenched into fists, hard as steel, as he glared at his god. "Seriously, Yato? We've all spent literally hours making this so that you would feel better and I wasted at least half of my money on new pencils and tried my best so that it wouldn't look too ugly and all you have to say is that my hands are-"
"Yukine," the god cut softly.
Yato's smile became a little fonder, a little warmer, light finally creeping back in his eyes and keeping the darkness away. Then he leant forwards, and a hot flush spread under Yukine's skin because what had he done now? Why was Yato looking at him like that? "Thank you."
"...Oh. I mean... Y-Yeah. I... You're welcome, I guess." The little shinki cleared his throat and held his blankets a little tighter in his sweaty hands, but then a thought struck him and he scowled again. "But put it in a good place, Yato! I don't want to see it on the floor!"
"Yup, don't worry! I already know where I'll put it~" The god jumped to his feet with an energy he didn't possess yesterday and carefully, as if it was made of glass and not paper, he put his book down next to his shrine. "There. It's all Yato's hard-earned stuff!"
...Well, he sounded like he was doing better. Yukine took a moment to try to decipher Yato's expression and see if there was something negative or bad lurking underneath, but found nothing. Maybe he had succeeded in making him feel better, even if it was just for a night.
Mission accomplished, then.
On his way to bed, he posed Yato's shrine next to his pillow - maybe he had been too hard on it earlier, he should ask Hiyori to check it up tomorrow - and flipped the table too, so that the light he needed to sleep wouldn't bother his god.
"You know," he yawned and closed his eyes, bringing his lamp a little closer with a limp and clumsy hand, "you can't get like that each time someone makes a remark to you, though. You have to learn how to ignore them.
"You've done some scary things in the past, sure, but... But you're not Yaboku anymore. That magatsukami's legend is terrifying, but Yato's is an inspiring one, and I'm sure that these shinki would say that if they knew the truth. Trust your guidepost on this one, won't you?"
"Yeah, you're right," he murmured. He wanted to be Yato. The main character of this inspiring legend, someone who could change; a fighter. Not this living nightmare he was forced to be. He couldn't really explain it, wasn't even sure if it was true, but hearing these words out loud made them feel even more powerful to him. "...Thank you, Yukine."
"...Mhm. Good night, Yato."
"...Good night."
