"Yato, what are you doing?" Daikoku growled, looming behind him.

"Don't worry about it," Yato replied quickly, pretending several vital screws from Take's chair weren't hidden behind his back.

"These pranks never go well, Yato, Take never thinks it's funny."

"That's what makes it funny! I'll put them back afterwards I promise!"

Daikoku gave him a disapproving look before shaking his head and walking away. Yato removed the last screw and scampered back to his desk, opened the top drawer and pretended that he was playing with Mickey as he waited for Take to arrive.

"You're going to regret this," Hiyori said disinterestedly, "you always do."

"Oh, come on, this one is harmless, it's going to be so funny!"

"He's going to kill you."

"Yato's right then, it will be funny," Bishamon interjected.

Yato pulled a face at her then turned back to the elevator, perking up when it dinged, and the door opened, revealing Take and Kiun. Take blew gently on a cup of visibly steaming coffee while Kiun told him a story.

"Ho boy," Kazuma said helplessly.

The detective squad watched the following events as one would watch a train wreck, with silently dawning horror and morbid fascination. Take chuckled at the resolution of Kiun's story as he sat down, his chair collapsing backwards and dumping hot coffee all over his chest. Take's cry of alarm stretched into a scream of pain. Yato and Kiun leapt to their feet at the same time wearing matching expressions of horror.

"What the hell?" Kiun shouted.

Take sat up painfully and looked around in confusion his face darkening when his eyes landed on Yato, still on his feet, gaping helplessly.

"Yato! I'm going to kill you!"

Take scrambled to his feet and Yato bolted, darting around several uniformed officers to the sound of Bishamon's delighted laughter. Several people converged on Kofuku's desk with money out.

"See, I told you it was going to be funny, Take is going to kick his ass."

"This is a new level of stupid, even for you, Yato!" Tenjin shouted, pacing back and forth as Yato cowered before him. "Takemikazuchi is in the hospital with second degree burns and a fractured hand."

"To be fair he did the fractured hand on his own," Yato said, indicating his spectacular black eye. Tenjin leveled an unamused look at Yato.

"You deserved that."

"That's fair."

"You want to know what else is fair?"

"Not really."

"I'm taking you off active duty indefinitely, effective immediately."

"You're benching me?" Yato cried.

"Yes. You have been benched."

"What about Hiyori?"

"Hiyori will be partnered up with Kiun until you prove to me that you can act like a grown up. Dismissed."

"But-"

"I said dismissed."

Yato stood and dragged his feet out of the office, plopping down in his chair and collapsing onto his desk.

"That bad huh?" Hiyori asked, not looking up from her computer.

"I'm off active duty indefinitely," Yato groaned.

"What?"

"You're with Kiun until Tenjin decides that I've been good enough."

"Wow, he must have been really mad at you."

"He even said that I deserved this black eye."

"Well that's just true. Take did end up in the hospital."

"I can't believe that you're siding with him!" Yato cried, sitting up just enough to give Hiyori a devastated look.

"I can't believe that you nearly melted Take's flesh off," Bishamon said, not bothering to conceal her delight. "You'll never make it back into the field, from now on you'll be a house mouse, just like your rat!" Kiun snorted with laughter.

"Seriously, you owe Take an apology," Daikoku said. "You're going to go to the hospital personally to apologize and you're going to do his paperwork for a month after he gets back, no over time."

"More punishment? After Tenjin already benched me?"

"That's right! Keep complaining and see what you get."

"Ten bucks says it's more punishment," Bishamon chimed in.

"Why are you still here?" Daikoku snapped at her. "Don't you have cases to be working? As for you, Yato, I have a laundry list of chores for you to do once you finish your paperwork."

Yato groaned and smacked his head on his desk as Bishamon and Kazuma collected their things and left as quickly as they could.

"So, you don't have any real work to be doing?" Yukine asked as he watched Yato wobble dangerously on the worst chair in the precinct, trying not to die for the sake of clean windows in the break room.

"I do but Daikoku yelled at me a bunch and told me to clean the break room, so I'm cleaning the break room." Yato glanced over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Yukine's long sleeved shirt.

"You're doing that wrong," Yukine said, "If you keep using that paper towel you'll get streaks and paper particles."

"I had no idea that you were such an expert on window washing."

"I always get window washing duty on cleaning day at home. I think I saw a clean rag in the supply closet. I'll be right back."

"Thanks," Yato said, watching Yukine leave.

"Alright intern looks like you're going to be helping me out today because I'm lonely and want someone to talk to," Yato said when Yukine returned.

"That sounds like a you problem."

"Now it's a you problem, you're an intern, it's not like you've got anything better to do."

"Alright, fine. What are we doing first?"

"Well I'm finished in here, so I figured we'd start off easy with the kitchen, and then if you think you're brave enough then we're levelling up and doing the men's restroom." Yukine grimaced.

"I don't think I'm brave enough. The floor has an entirely different texture when you look at it! All the way up to the door! How is that even possible?"

"Men are disgusting," Yato said seriously, without irony.

"Oh God, this food must have been here for months," Yukine gagged, peeling back the lid of a Tupperware container with mixed disgust and fascination.

"Yukine don't breathe that in, mold can kill you!" Yato cried. "Put it in a biohazard bag and throw it in a furnace."

"That might not be enough," Yukine replied, holding the bowl as far away from his body as possible.

Yato stood on the same wobbly chair with his fluffy fluff scarf tied around his face as he scrubbed the freezer out with bleach. When Yukine returned from his trip to the furnace he stood and watched Yato work for a few seconds.

"You should quit your police job and be a housekeeper, you're much better at it," Yukine said.

"No way!" Yato said, glancing down at Yukine. "I'm a really great detective!"

"But you're better at cleaning than you are at your real job," Yukine repeated, pulling another disgusting Tupperware from the back of the fridge and placing it into a biohazard bag.

"Cleaning is fun, but detective work is more fun!"

"What made you want to be a cop?"

"Die Hard."

"Seriously?"

"No, I just like shiny things and the badge was calling my name."

"Your parents must be so proud," Yukine said dryly. Yato snorted.

"Can't imagine that my old man likes cops."

"Why's that?"

"He's in jail."

"Same hat," Yukine said, surprised.

"What?" Yato asked, pulling his head out of the freezer to look at Yukine.

"I said 'same hat' it means me too."

"Oh, same hat then." Yukine groaned.

"I shouldn't have taught you that, you're going to be saying it all the time, now aren't you?"

"All the time," Yato affirmed, "what else do the young people say?"

"I've created a monster."

"That doesn't seem like a trendy catchphrase, Frankenstein," Yato climbed halfway back into the freezer wondering how the hell that stain got all the way at the back of the ceiling anyway?

"So, there's something that I kind of want to ask you," Yukine said, sounding unsure.

"What is it?"

"Are you really in love with Hiyori or is that just some sort of running joke?"

"Of course, I'm really in love with her! Why would I ever joke about being in love with Hiyori! She's amazing!"

"See, now I can't tell if you're messing with me." Yato laughed. Am I really so ridiculous?

"It's not a joke, I'm really into her."

"And you just say it, all the time, unrestrainedly?"

"To anyone and everyone who will listen," Yato said brightly.

"That's so weird, what will you do if she gets a boyfriend?"

"I'm legally obligated to go on a blind date with one of her new boyfriend's friends. She made me sign a contract and she hides it so I can't destroy the evidence."

"You're hilarious."

"I'm not joking, ask Hiyori. Oh my God, actually ask her to show it to you, it'd give me another chance to destroy it!"

"Umm…"

"Do yourself a favor and never go on a blind date," Yato said, apparently now on a tangent. "They're terrible, especially ones set up by Kazuma. If he tells you he has a younger cousin or friend about your age run in the other direction."

"What's so bad about dates that Kazuma sets up?"

"He attracts nutcases like moths to a flame! I don't know what it is about him, but everyone he's ever set me up with was crazy! One lady didn't believe in dinosaurs. Dinosaurs."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not! How does he find all of these crazies, and more importantly, why does he always want to set me up with them?"

"I can't imagine why," Yukine grumbled.

"I've snuck out on so many dates."

"Classy."

"What else was I supposed to do?"

Yato pushed himself onto his tiptoes to reach the stain and the wobbly chair slipped out from underneath him. He plummeted to the ground, taking Yukine with him. Both shrieked, and the precinct shook with the force of their fall.

"What the hell happened?" Daikoku cried, running to the scene then rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Will you two idiots get back to work?"

"You could at least ask if we're okay," Yato groaned, climbing off Yukine.

"Yukine, are you alright? Yato, get back to work."

"Seriously?"

"I'm fine, he's too scrawny to cause any serious damage."

"I'm not scrawny!"

"Get back to work, Yato," Daikoku repeated.

"Okay mom."

Yato got to his feet slowly and stretched like a cat before flipping the chair back on its feet.

"Whoa there," Yukine said, taking it away, "Maybe it's time to find a different chair."

"Good idea."

"God, cops are disgusting," Yukine groaned, voice muffled by the scarf Yato had stolen from Hiyori months ago. Even with the scarf covering his face his eyes still burned from the fumes from the very large amount of bleach that Yato had poured into the mop water. Yato opened the door for ventilation and then started pouring bleach directly onto the floor, clutching his fluffy fluff scarf tightly over his face.

"These are the same bathrooms that the civilians and suspects who come into the station use, so I like to blame the mess on the criminals."

"Yeah sure, but who uses the bathroom more consistently?"

"Criminals pee more. It's the guilt."

"And here I thought the bathrooms at my group home were bad. I'm never complaining about them again."

"Which group home is it?"

"The one on tenth."

"Same hat!" Yukine rolled his eyes.

"You lived there too?"

"Yeah! It's a lot nicer than the one on second."

"...There isn't a group home on second street."

"Exactly! It was so bad they shut it down."

"Were you there when they did?"

"I was the reason they did! The cops brought me home after I got in trouble for trying to steal a dog and saw what was going on then called DHR."

"You tried to steal a dog?"

"Try not to step in the bleach, it might burn your feet, and it'll ruin your shoes."

"You tried to steal a dog?"

"I was about to be taken to a kill shelter!"

"Oh, so you were a vigilante?" He asked sardonically.

"You sound like Daikoku when he arrested me."

"Daikoku? Like the Sargent?"

"Yeah, he arrested me a couple of times, worked pretty hard to help me out, though. He didn't file any charges for the dog thing, either."

"That's really cool of him."

"Yeah, scrub the graffiti off the stall walls but don't read it! It's not for young eyes!"

"You know I've used this bathroom before, right?" Yukine replied, grabbing a magic eraser that Yato had had in his jacket pocket and grabbed a spray bottle of bleach. This much bleach in a small room, even with the door open, couldn't be good for the two of them, but Yukine didn't protest. He had to use this bathroom after all.

"I wonder if the ladies' room is this dirty?"

"I don't know I've never been in there."

"Really?"

"Why the tone of surprise?"

"Because I'm surprised. You mean a creepy stalker like you has never followed Hiyori into the bathroom?"

"I'm not an animal! It's the ladies' room!"

"You draw the line in weird places."

"It makes perfect sense to me."

"So, you can break into her apartment and steal her stuff, but you can't follow her into the bathroom?"

"Bathrooms are private!" Yukine gave him an incredulous look, unable to form a response.

"What the hell is that smell?" Tenjin asked, stepping into the bathroom. "Are you two idiots trying to fry your brains?" He snapped.

"We want a clean bathroom, it's awful in here!"

"Well I don't want to call the coroner to come pick up your dead bodies. Clean up this bleach and get out of here."

"Fine!" Yato said, "I can call Hiyori!"

"Are you going to answer it?" Kiun asked, watching Hiyori curiously as she sighed at the name on the screen.

"Of course, if I don't he'll just keep calling anyway." She lifted her phone to her ear. "Hey Yato."

"Hello my love! Tenjin gave me a break from cleaning because I was using so much bleach in the men's bathroom he was worried I would die from the fumes."

"It still probably wasn't enough bleach, that place is disgusting," Kiun commented, and Hiyori moved away from him.

"Well I'm glad to hear you're actually doing something, I thought you'd just be crying to Mickey all day."

"Daikoku is really mad at me, so I had to do something. How are you on this fine morning? Missing me I bet!"

"Well you've been texting non-stop so it's almost like you're still here," she said, forcing a smile.

"I'm always with you in spirit!"

"Right, how could I forget? Did you call because you needed something or because you just wanted to talk?"

"Who says it can't be both?"

"I'm hanging up now."

"Nonononono wait! I have a real reason!"

"Is the reason that you missed me?"

"Not the only one!"

"Goodbye Yato."

"WAIT! What do you know about the intern, Yukine?"

"No."

"No what?"

"No to whatever you're thinking of. Don't scare the intern away, Yato, not again!" She stepped out of the flow of foot traffic and leaned against a wall.

"I'm not thinking of doing anything! He's been helping me clean and now we're friends."

"If you're friends why are you asking me what I know about him?"

"Well… he's a lot like me when I was his age. Too much, I think."

"What makes you say that?"

"Did you know that he lives in a group home? And that his dad is in jail?"

"And he has a record, he really is a young you."

"Well at his age my rap sheet was a lot worse, so that's something."

"He's surpassing you already," Hiyori joked, smiling bemused at Kiun. "Maybe one day he'll be my new partner and you can retire and start an etsy shop of hand knitted sweaters and rat clothes."

"I should make clothes for Mickey!"

Kiun's phone rang and he stepped away to take the call.

"Take, what's up? Are you still high on painkillers?"

"No, they downed my dose so I'm lucid now, but they changed my bandage again, which sucked."

"You're not in pain, are you?"

"Nah, I called because I'm super bored, tell me about your case."

"It's just a standard b and e, we were heading over to the scene when Yato called and Hiyori stopped to talk."

"Yato? Let me talk to that son of a bitch!"

"You can't! He's not here. He's at the station, Tenjin benched him, he's off active duty."

"Good! Put him on! I wanna give him a piece of my mind!"

The next ten minutes were a ludicrous catastrophe. Kiun pulled Hiyori's phone away from her and held it up to his own and rolled his eyes. Yato and Take yelled at each other through two phones while passersby stared, and neither of them actually understood what the other was saying.

"You're such an ass, Yato!"

"There's something you want to ask?"

"Yes! I think that You're an ass!"

"So why don't you just ask! I was talking to Hiyori!"

"I'm not talking to Hiyori I'm talking to you!"

"You're both idiots, I'm hanging up," Kiun said.

"Wait don't hang up!" Yato cried.

"How is that the one thing that you heard perfectly?"

"Take, I'm really sorry about the chair thing, I didn't mean to hurt you! I'll make you a cake!"

"...what kind of cake?"

"How did he hear that perfectly?" Kiun asked.

"Coconut?" Yato suggested.

"...fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Hiyori and Kiun exchanged incredulous looks and hung up before Yato and Take could find something else to argue about.

"Great, because of the fiasco with Take and Yato we missed our appointment and the security guards are on lunch right now," Hiyori said, peering into the darkened store front.

"Well, since we're here why don't we do a little canvassing? The people in the apartments across the street might have seen something."

"Door duty? Without Yato?" Hiyori asked, horrified. "That'd be like cheating!" Kiun gave her a disbelieving look.

The second that the door had opened Kiun had locked eyes with a giant owl that sat calmly atop the head of the civilian man that they were questioning. While Hiyori questioned the man about anything he might have heard or seen last night Kiun was gazing, unblinkingly, into the dark depths of the owl's eyes. He hadn't moved at all, and Hiyori was starting to think he was having an out of body experience.

"What the hell just happened to you?" Hiyori asked when the door closed and Kiun blinked slowly back into reality.

"I think that owl was trying to eat my soul."

"Are there any normal people in the nine-nine?"

"I'm not the one who was unaffected by the demon owl!"

"You're crazier than Yato."

"Okay, time to get back to work. We'll give the floor one more scrub with bleach mixed with water and we'll scrub everything one more time and call it done."

"Are we cleaning the ladies' room?"

"No! The ladies' room is off limits!" Yukine shrugged.

"Alright, less work for me."

"After this is the evidence room. Be sure not to break the seals on any of those boxes."

"Or what?"

"Or a murderer could go free. If that evidence gets contaminated the cases have to be dismissed."

"...I'll be extra careful."

"Okay so this video takes confirms what that man with the demon familiar told you while his minion tried to consume my soul."

"Yes," Hiyori said, giving Kiun a pointed look as the security guards looked at them like they were nuts. "The perps broke in then ran west on forty-ninth street. I called Yato and he's checking other cams in the area to try and track their progress. Also, he drowned the men's bathroom in bleach, cleaned the break room, and organized the evidence room."

"He's had a productive day. We should take him off active duty more often, our cleaning crew doesn't even go in the men's room any more. They said it was hazardous and stopped cleaning it when the department refused to provide hazmats."

"I'll call my CI's and see if they know anything about diamonds for sale. This seems like pretty novice work, I doubt these crooks know how to contact high level fences."

"Wait, wait, wait, is it the same one that accidentally got you and Yato super high that time?"

"We didn't know they were edibles!"

"Maybe don't trust the food that your criminal informants make for you?"

"It wasn't my fault! There was no note, so I assumed they were from Yato! He thought that I had made them and helped himself!"

"He stood on his desk and tried to convince the entire precinct that Robert Wagner was responsible for the death of Natalie Wood."

"Yeah but Yato does stuff like that anyway, he doesn't need to be high. Also, he's right about the Natalie Wood drowning."

"Not you too."

"There's no way she would have tried to get back to shore on her own, she had a lifelong phobia of water!" The security guards jumped at her sudden outburst and Hiyori and Kiun looked at them uncomfortably and lowered their voices.

"You two really are perfect for each other."

"Alright my love, so I managed to track the movements of our perpetrators all along forty ninth street, they turned down fifty second and then disappeared into a parking garage with no security cameras."

"So, we lost them," Hiyori said, exasperated.

"Of course not! Who do you think you're talking too? I'm a master detective! I checked the cams on all the ATMs and traffic cams on every street the garage connected too, and when that turned up nothing I checked all the streets that connected to those streets and found where your diamond thieves unloaded their take. You'll find the stolen ice in that shady pawn shop on fifteenth. They climbed to the top of the parking garage and jumped onto the roof of a nearby building and climbed down the fire escape."

"Yato? You're the best."

"Thank you!" Yato said, humming happily. "Can you believe that I solved your case from the comfort of my own desk while watching Yukine changed out the chips in Mickey's drawer?"

"Yato don't make him take care of your mouse."

"He's a gerbil, and Yukine volunteered. They've really bonded you know!"

"That's good to hear. Thanks, Yato, for the help."

"Anything for you!"

"Good work, Hiyori!" Tenjin said, coming out of his office as Hiyori perp walked two very large, very frightened looking men to the holding cell. Yato thought that he'd never seen anything more beautiful. Two uniformed officers escorted the other two perps into the holding cell as Kiun followed with a sack full of diamonds.

"We couldn't have done it without Yato," Hiyori replied. "He actually did all the work right here from his desk."

"It's true, and he's even going to bake Take an apology cake," Kiun added. Tenjin glanced over at Yato, who was gazing unashamedly at Hiyori as she booked the perps into holding.

"And he was really cool today! He taught me how to catalog evidence and we burned all the moldy food in the refrigerator!" Yato, still transfixed by the love of his life manhandling armed robbers into a jail cell, didn't notice that everyone was jumping onto the 'let Yato back into the field' train.

"Yato was very good today," Kofuku added, smiling sweetly. The spell that Hiyori had placed on Yato with her awesomeness broke when she plopped down unceremoniously across from him and he noticed the analytical expression Tenjin was surveying him with. Yato looked at him with his best puppy dog eyes and folded his hands under his chin.

"I was very good today!" He said. Tenjin paused for a moment.

"Alright, when Take comes back you can go back into the field, until then you're doing housekeeping."

"Yahoo!" Yato said. He turned to Hiyori and grinned happily. "Why don't we go get drinks together and tell each other about our days? I missed you!" Hiyori, about to say no out of habit, paused, then said yes.

"Alright."

"Wait, what?"

"I'm going with you to get drinks, I missed you too," she leaned closer and lowered her voice conspiritally. "Kiun thinks that Natalie Wood's death was an accident."

"How can he even call himself a detective?"

"I don't even know, but let's get out of here, I have so much to tell you."

"What? You cheated on me?" Yato cried, sitting forward in his seat. The movement around them stopped as heads turned in their direction.

"I couldn't help it!" Hiyori hissed. "I didn't want to do door duty without you, but we needed leads! Do you want to hear about the weirdo we met or not?"

"Just one weirdo?"

"Just one, and Kiun reacted really weirdly to it too."

"Okay, tell me everything."

"I can't believe."

"Kiun was even weirder than the owl guy! You need to make Take the magic feel better smoothie to get him back in the field sooner! I want my partner back. You at least can handle door duty."

"HIYORI THAT'S SO SWEET!" Yato wailed. Hiyori rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Whatever," she said. "How was your day, you're getting along well with Yukine?"

"Oh yeah! He's a good kid, he helped me all day, even after I accidentally obliterated him when I fell off a chair."

"Well that was nice..."

"Yeah, I didn't fall far, but Daikoku yelled at me."

"He's still mad about the chair thing, huh?"

"Yeah," Yato said sullenly. "But I'll get to work on that apology cake tomorrow. Maybe if Take isn't mad anymore Daikoku will get off my case."

"Well we can only hope," Hiyori said. "So, hurry up with the smoothie."

"Sorry, Hiyori, the smoothie only works with illnesses, not physical injuries."

"Well that's a bummer, and here I was thinking I'd be getting my partner back soon."

"Well if it isn't Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb," Bishamon said, plopping down between them.

"You're Tweedle Dumb!" Yato and Hiyori cried at the same time. Kazuma laughed as he sat down across from Bishamon.

"Hiyori, congratulations on the high-profile collar. Yato, good work on the men's room," he said.

"I helped with the collar and you know it!" Yato said.

"What about you two?" Hiyori asked, "How was your day?"

"Chased a few leads, nothing panned out," Bishamon replied.

"Bummer."

"They can't all be good days, Hiyori, come with me to get a drink." Yato waited for the girls to get out of earshot before leaning towards Kazuma conspiritally.

"So, drinks after work," he said suggestively. Kazuma sighed. "Have you given any thought to how you're going to ask her out? I have a few boxes of stuff leftover from my last marriage proposal that I haven't donated yet."

"I'm not using props and costumes to ask her out on a date, she'd shoot me."

"You got me there, why don't you shoot it into a wall or burn it into a field of crops, or something? She'd like that."

"You give terrible advice."

"Okay mister 'silently pining for literal decades' what do you have planned? More silent pining?" Yato raised an eyebrow triumphantly at Kazuma's silence. "Okay, so for Bishamon you just gotta go for it, just ask her."

"Right, because that's realistic."

"Just go for it! If you're waiting for her to ask you, that's a little middle school for your age, you're a grown man who gets shot at for a living. How scary can a girl that we grew up with be?"

"Very scary, Yato! Very Scary!"

"You're right," Yato said with a shudder.

"So, sorry to crash your date, I didn't know the two if you were here when I told Kazuma we were coming."

"You told him? Not asked? Also, it's not a date, we're just hanging out."

"And whose fault is that?" Bishamon asked coolly.

"Whose fault is it that Kazuma doesn't know the two of you are on a date tonight?"

"I might tell him later. Maybe we'll try again on a night we don't run into that idiot Yato."

"That idiot would probably be the best man at your wedding."

"Shut up." Hiyori chuckled and glanced back over her shoulder at Yato, who was grinning slyly at Kazuma. He caught Hiyori's eye and winked, she winked back, beaming.

"They're talking about you, you know," Hiyori said when she turned back around.

"How can you tell?" Bishamon asked, lifting her eyes to the mirror over the bar, watching them.

"Yato is wearing the version of his mischief face that he wears when he smells romance in the air."

"Maybe they're talking about you."

"If he wanted to talk about me he wouldn't have waited until I was gone. He wouldn't have wasted the alone time to talk about me."

"You have a point. So why don't we take this opportunity to talk about him?"

"Why don't we talk about Kazuma?"

"I have that situation under control, but you on the other hand-"

"Alright fine. I've been trying to find the right time to ask him out, but I don't know what that looks like."

"So, stop waiting for the perfect moment and just ask him out! It's not like he's going to say no."

"But he's so into grand gestures, I should at least wait for the right atmosphere." Bishamon chuckled.

"Hiyori, that poor man is so in love with you he thinks that you hung the moon and stars, you could jump him in a back alley next to a dumpster and he'd remember it as the best night of his life."

"You might be right, but that doesn't mean that I should. Even if it was upsetting at the time he did put so much effort into those marriage proposals."

"You know what, you're right, you need to ask him on a date before the next time he proposes to you or it will be way more awkward."

"I could say 'no, but I will go on a date with you.'"

"You're right, then he'll only cry a little. But doesn't that feel a little bit like a consolation prize to you?"

"Dammit you're right. So, what about you, are you planning on just ordering Kazuma to date you?"

"Maybe I'll jump him in a back alley next to a dumpster."

"Romantic, make sure to leave room for Yato and I."

"Find your own dumpster."

"Hiyori!" Yato crooned, waving, "hurry up!"

"Right, he's my dumpster. How could I have forgotten?" Bishamon laughed and carried her beer over to the table and sat down, leveling a look at Kazuma that set his ears burning.

Okay, maybe she really does have a better handle on her situation than I do.

Yato observed this interaction and shot Hiyori a delighted look. She smiled back. He colored slightly under his eyes and Hiyori wondered if he saw something else in her smile.

While the two of them shared their moment Kazuma and Bishamon shared a knowing look.