Chapter 6 –

Hiyori was confused when Yato suddenly told her that he wasn't going to leave. It just seemed off, like he was hiding something from her. But a part of her reminded herself that he wouldn't lie to her, or at least it hoped that he wouldn't.

She walked up the stairs, making sure that everyone had fallen asleep. The analog clock in her bedroom said it was around 11:30pm and it was probably best for everyone to settle down at this time. She managed to get Kofuku to sleep on one of the spare mattresses downstairs. Kofuku seemed so upset about everything that happened recently, that Hiyori decided to give her a bit of a pep talk before going to her bedroom again.

Whilst laying on her mattress, Hiyori realised how quiet everything was. A part of it felt almost suspiciously quiet to her, considering all of the fiasco that had happened earlier.

Time passed and passed but she still hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. She was mainly thinking about her parents and where they could have gone, which was probably the reason why. But another part of her was worried about Yato and the others as well. Why has he been acting strangely recently? . She understood that everyone was upset with the world at the moment, but Yato was far from the high spirited person she knew him to be.

Eventually, she found herself closing her eyes and slowly falling asleep

"Please, mum! I'm begging you! Just let me go outside this one night, just this one night"

"Hiyori, I already told you about this. You can't just go wondering out on the street at times like this! You could get hurt!"

Hiyori felt helpless. "Mum, there isn't going to be another snowstorm within the 30 minutes of me walking down the street. I'm 17 years old for god's sake!"

Hiyori's mother's face darkened even further, almost frighteningly.

"You will not go outside of that door! Is that clear?"

Hiyori decided to stand up against her mother.

"You're never going to stop me!"

She opened the door and ran down the path, but she suddenly heard a thunderingly loud noise. She turned around, only to see her parents falling down a massive black hole.

"MUM! DAD!"

It was at that moment that Hiyori found herself screaming in her bedroom. Another nightmare.. She tried to calm herself down, hoping nobody heard.

"Hiyori, are you ok!?". It was Yato.

"Oh, yes I'm fine. Was I really that loud? Sorry for waking you up."

"Don't apologise to me, I want to know if you're alright!"

"It was j-just a nightmare, don't worry about it."

Hiyori noticed the fear in Yato's ice blue eyes slowly melting away but he still looked tense.

"Do you.. do you mind if I ask what it was about?"

He came closer to her bed as Hiyori began to open up about her dream. She found herself telling him everything, about the conversation they were having and about the massive hole that sucked them away.

"Sorry, I overreacted. I should've known that it was just a dream from the start. I mean, I'd had that conversation already and there's no way they'd die like that. I'm so stupid…" . She looked away at the wall.

"You're not stupid at all! Anyone would react in that way in a nightmare, there's nothing wrong with you!" he quickly said.

Hiyori turned her head back to him. She took a moment as she looked right into his eyes. She wanted to stare at them for longer and longer because to her they looked stunning. She then noticed Yato's cheeks getting pinker as he looked away.

"A-Anyway, is there anything I can do.." he stuttered.

She thought about his request but she couldn't come up with a suitable answer, so she told herself to let whatever she truly wanted to spill out of her mouth

"Uhm, Yato..?"

"Yes?"

Hiyori became nervous suddenly. "Is it ok if you maybe stayed here, just for a few minutes?"

'What am I saying!?' she thought as she immediately regretted her decision and began to feel embarrassed.

"Okay, if it helps I guess.", Yato said as he blushed at the thought of it.

"Really?" Hiyori asked in confusion and embarrassment.

"Of course.. if it helps you I'd do anything", Yato said as he sat down about a metre away from the bed.

Those words shook Hiyori's heart like an earthquake. Why did she suddenly feel so nervous? Why did she suddenly panic? This was just normal so there didn't seem to be any reason for her to do such a thing. Even so, she felt so happy that he was staying with her despite all of this. Along with her anxiousness, she also felt so warm and joyful that he was around. His scent filled the entire room, making her more and more relaxed.

"Yato?" she whispered

"Yes?"

"Please don't ever leave me."

He smiled. "Of course"

Hiyori couldn't tell, but Yato felt so much pain when she said that.