Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The cherry blossoms fell so heavily yesterday that the ground still looked dusted with pale snow.
Running had become my daily habit ever since I became a doctor. I needed to stay healthy too. Yet no matter how far I ran, there was always this quiet ache in my chest, the feeling that something precious was missing.
Tonight, the air carried a strange, familiar scent. Like winter nights and something faintly sweet I couldn't quite place. My feet slowed on their own until I stopped in front of the old bench beneath the large cherry blossom tree.
I lay down, still catching my breath. My gaze drifted to the puddle gathered between my shoes. The water reflected the swaying branches above… and something else.
A silhouette.
A person sitting casually on one of the thick branches, legs dangling. Dark hair. Familiar posture.
My heart stuttered.
The night had an aroma.
My mouth moved before my brain could catch up.
"…To…"
The name hovered on my tongue, warm and heavy.
I whispered it.
"…Yato."
The second his name left my lips, something inside me broke open.
Snow-covered streets.
A shrine built with trembling hands.
His voice calling my name.
Warmth beneath a winter sky.
Pain. Laughter. Tears.
Him.
All of it came rushing back so violently my knees nearly gave out.
I jumped up from the bench and whipped around.
There he was, sitting on the branch exactly as the puddle had shown.
"Yato…!"
His azure eyes widened instantly.
Shock flashed across his face so openly it almost looked unreal, like he couldn't believe I was actually seeing him.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then he blinked and jumped down gracefully, landing lightly on the ground. That familiar cocky grin slid onto his face like a mask.
"Yo! Fast, affordable, and reliable! Delivery God Yato at your service~"
I almost laughed.
Even now, he was pretending not to know me.
I ran straight into him, slamming my arms around his waist so tightly I nearly knocked him off balance. Tears spilled down my cheeks before I could stop them.
"You… you idiot god!" I sobbed, my voice muffled against his tracksuit. I punched his back lightly over and over. "How dare you disappear like that…!"
Yato stiffened for half a second, then his arms wrapped around me fiercely. One hand gently cradled the back of my head as if I were something fragile.
"It's been a while… Hiyori," he whispered, his voice low and rough with emotion.
He smelled exactly the same as I remembered.
Yato let out a small, uneven laugh.
"You got stronger," he murmured. "Last time you hugged me like this, you were way lighter."
I buried my face deeper against him.
"You disappeared for years," I muttered. "I'm allowed to crush your ribs a little."
"Hey, I was still around," he said quietly.
The words slipped out so naturally that he seemed to realize too late what he had admitted.
For a second, his expression faltered.
Like he regretted saying it.
I slowly lifted my head to look at him.
"…You were?"
Yato looked away with a small click of his tongue. "You humans are seriously scary. You never notice anything."
For a moment, neither of us spoke again.
The wind stirred softly around us, carrying another wave of that familiar scent with it. Cherry blossoms drifted between us in silence.
Up close, I finally noticed it.
Yato really hadn't changed at all.
The same messy dark hair. The same ridiculous tracksuit. The same bright blue eyes I used to search for without realizing it.
And yet…
There was something different too.
A quiet loneliness lingering around him so faintly I almost missed it.
My chest tightened.
"How long?" I asked softly.
"Hm?"
"How long were you watching over me?"
Yato froze.
It was tiny. Barely noticeable. But after everything we had been through together, I caught it immediately.
His smile weakened just a little.
"…Dunno," he muttered. "Here and there."
"Yato."
"Oi, don't make that face," he complained, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "It's not like I was stalking you or anything. I just happened to pass by sometimes."
"You're a terrible liar."
"Hah?! I am an amazing liar!"
I laughed quietly through the lingering tears still caught in my voice.
For the first time in years, the emptiness inside me no longer felt unbearable.
Yato stared at me again after that.
Really stared.
Like he was making sure I was real.
Then his expression softened into something so unbearably gentle it made my heart ache.
Very quietly, almost like he was afraid the words themselves might disappear, he said:
"…I'm home, Hiyori."
My breath caught.
Slowly, I pulled away from him.
I placed both hands behind my back and leaned forward slightly, smiling up at him through damp eyes.
"Welcome home, Yato."
And for a second, beneath the drifting cherry blossoms, he looked happier than any god I had ever seen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The streets were quieter than I remembered.
Or maybe it only felt that way because Yato was beside me again.
Cherry blossoms drifted lazily through the night air as we walked side by side beneath the dim glow of streetlights. For a while, neither of us spoke much. The silence wasn't uncomfortable.
Just fragile.
"So…" I said at last, glancing at him. "What happened after everything?"
Yato shoved his hands into his pockets. "A lotta stuff, I guess."
"That explains absolutely nothing."
"Hah? Then ask better questions."
I frowned at him. "You're impossible."
"And yet here you are."
I hated how naturally that made me smile.
For a moment, he looked oddly pleased with himself before continuing.
"Things calmed down after Father disappeared. Heaven stopped acting like the world was ending every five minutes. Bishamon's doing fine. Kofuku's still causing disasters."
"On purpose?"
"Honestly? Even she doesn't know anymore."
I laughed softly.
Just hearing their names again felt unreal somehow. Like pieces of my life had finally returned to where they belonged.
"And the gods who died?" I asked more quietly.
Yato's expression softened slightly.
"Most reincarnated."
"…Without their memories."
"Yeah."
The answer settled heavily between us.
A breeze swept past, carrying petals along the empty street.
I watched them scatter across the pavement.
"That sounds lonely," I murmured.
For a second, Yato looked at me strangely.
Like he understood there was another meaning hidden beneath those words.
But he only gave a small shrug.
"That's just how it works."
My fingers tightened slightly around my sleeve.
Then another memory surfaced suddenly.
A hospital room.
Fujisaki smiling awkwardly, talking to me at the hospital like he didn't remember what he did.
My steps slowed.
"What about Fujisaki?" I asked.
Yato blinked. "Oh. The person my Father possessed"
"Yes the one who almost ended the world."
"...well"
I stared at him flatly.
Yato coughed lightly into his fist. "Anyway… he's doing okay now. Plus He just tried asking you out in the Hospital"
The memories returned in scattered fragments as we walked.
The rooftop. The crows. Those empty eyes that never felt fully human.
And yet…
There he was living like He did not tried to end the world and kill me.
"He said it felt like part of him disappeared," I murmured quietly. "But at the same time… he finally felt whole."
Yato's looks shifted toward the night sky.
"Yeah."
Neither of us spoke for a moment after that, t... then another memory surfaced.
Pain spreading slowly through my body beneath the sakura tree while my consciousness is slowly darkening.
Yato's shaking voice.
His hands desperately holding onto me like letting go would destroy him.
I don't know what happened but something did definitely happened that time.
Without thinking, my fingers brushed lightly against my lips.
Yato noticed immediately.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing."
"You're face is red."
"I'm not!"
"You definitely are."
I quickly turned my face away, covering my mouth with one hand.
Why did that memory make my chest feel so strange?
Meanwhile Yato stared at me in complete confusion.
"…Are humans this weird when memories come back?" he muttered suspiciously.
That idiot still had absolutely no idea.
...
Later that night, the apartment was quiet except for the faint sound of pages turning.
The soft yellow glow of my desk lamp spilled across the room as I sat cross-legged on my bed, my hair still slightly wet from my shower.
I opened my diary to a fresh page... For a few seconds, I simply stared at it.
Then I smiled softly and began to write.
April 2
I met Yato again today.
He pretended not to know me.
That made me laugh.
My pen stopped there.
For a moment, I just stared quietly at the words written across the page.
Then I set the pen down quietly beside the open diary and rested my chin against my hand, staring absentmindedly at the words written across the page.
The night had an aroma.
And somehow…
it no longer felt lonely.
~Chapter Ends~