.

Resound

There was another gathering under the cherry tree. It was, as Kofuku called it, a "yay, we're all alive and back together!" party. That seemed like something worth celebrating, especially since Yato had been sure he would be dead and Bishamon would be reincarnated and Yukine would be locked away in a tiny stone coffin for eternity, so they had gathered under the tree again and brought along food and fun in honor of their previous picnic here.

Yukine and Hiyori were helping Daikoku unpack the food, while Kofuku and a small swarm of Bishamon's shinki hovered over them in anticipation. Tenjin, Tsuyu, and Tomone—Mayu, whatever—wandered around the grass while the old geezer composed more dumb poetry about falling flowers or some crap. Tsuyu looked slightly put out that the cherry blossoms were the new object of his attention rather than plum blossoms.

Yato considered throwing himself into the fray, but everything was mostly still setup right now and he didn't enjoy actual work. For now, the best option seemed to be the invalid corner. He was sitting cross-legged in the grass with his back to the tree's trunk, and Bishamon sat slumped over beside him.

She was up and moving again after a long stretch of unconsciousness and confinement to bed, but she was still wrapped head to toe in bandages. Yukine had apologized profusely for panicking and nearly killing her when she got too close to Father, but she had brushed it off. Yato had apologized for not hitting her a little harder and finishing the job, but apparently her shinki and certain others had already told her that he'd flat-out told the heavens that he wouldn't let them kill her and had nearly gotten killed himself for his trouble. He'd still garnered a pretty collection of bruises and nasty comments from Bishamon and Yukine and Hiyori, but that was the extent of it.

Kazuma stood beside his master, hovering awkwardly and looking supremely uncomfortable. Tracking him down and slapping some sense into him was the first thing Bishamon had done once she'd been able to drag herself out of bed. She had somehow convinced him to come back, but he was still oddly subdued and withdrawn. Yato thought he was overreacting, and had told him so. So what if he'd stung the psycho bitch once? Yukine, Yato pointed out helpfully, had nearly stung him to death and things had worked out fine in the end. Strangely enough, Yukine had not appreciated the comparison and Yato had another bruise to show for it.

"It's too bad Ebisu couldn't make it," Bishamon said as she watched everyone chatting and setting things up.

"You've got some nerve showing your face to Ebisu if you're contacting the sorcerer behind his back."

Yato winced and let his gaze wander aimlessly over the gathering of his friends. Baby Ebisu had done so much for him, even putting up Kunimi for the covenant, and… He had told Yato his relationship with the sorcerer was okay and he was sure his previous incarnation would have forgiven him too, but Bishamon had also been right. What Father had done to Ebisu was unforgivable, and Yato was deeply ashamed of his part in it.

"The kid's always busy," he muttered, even though he wasn't sure if Bishamon had been talking to him or Kazuma. "Even his shinki almost never get a break. He's probably got some new project going."

"Hm?" Bishamon glanced over, and a faint flush crept up her cheeks as she took in his grim expression. "Look, about what I said at the hospital–"

"You were right," Yato conceded grudgingly. "I just hadn't thought of it like that."

"I was just taking out my frustration on you, really…" She looked away with a frown. "You did get him out of the underworld. I was the one who couldn't… Well, I think it's pretty clear that you aren't on the sorcerer's side, anyway."

Yato wondered if that mattered. Did it matter whether he was on Father's side if he was still Father's tool? Yato might not like the things Father did, but he had still followed orders and played a big part in his schemes.

He still felt bad about it, but at least baby Ebisu had given him his blessing. And now even Bishamon, apparently, weird as that was.

But he didn't want to dwell on such bitter thoughts during a celebration, so he just reached back to retrieve the two beers he'd wedged between his leg and the trunk.

"Here you go, drinking buddy," he said, offering the crazy chick one of them. "Bottoms up."

She rolled her eyes and huffed out an exasperated breath as she accepted the can and popped it open. "As usual, you suck at talking about anything serious."

He shrugged and took a sip. "And you're too serious."

"Am not!"

"You hold grudges for centuries and waste years and years trying to kill people that cross you. Just saying."

Bishamon's eye twitched. "What, you've never held a grudge for centuries?"

Yato narrowed his eyes at the ground, and a steady procession of different faces flickered through his mind—centuries of faces all belonging to the same man. He took a deeper swig of his beer and it burned all the way down his throat.

"Only one. Now hush and drink your beer. It's all you're good for."

Kazuma sighed but didn't comment, either because he was too used to the bickering or because he was still moping around about the whole stinging thing.

"Dumb bastard," Bishamon muttered, downing her drink. The bitch was so psycho that she even made drinking look aggressive. "If you're going to get wasted again, you'd better not try any more funny business."

Yato actually wasn't planning on getting wasted today, considering that last time it had ended with full-body injuries and he actually wanted to enjoy the party rather than drink himself into a stupor, but she didn't need to know that.

"What do you mean, 'funny business'?" he asked suspiciously. "I'm always funny."

"I think you're missing the point," Kazuma muttered.

Bishamon's scowl deepened. "If you try to kiss me again, you're not going to have any teeth left."

Yato stared at her blankly. "Huh? Why would I ever want to kiss you? Gross."

She ground her teeth together so hard he could almost hear them cracking. "You did, you fool. Sort of. Why did you think I kicked your ass?"

"I did not!"

"Actually," Kazuma said in a strained voice, "you did. Or, you sort of did as a joke."

Huh. In that case, Yato was probably lucky that Kazuma was too polite to strangle him.

"If I don't remember it," Yato decreed, "it didn't happen."

"…I don't think it works like that."

"Why not?" A crooked grin spread over his face and his eyes gleamed in a predatory fashion as they locked on Tenjin spouting melodramatic poetry with only a pause to accept food from Tsuyu. "I do remember that old geezer getting riled up. Hey, wanna piss him off again? It'll be fun!"

"I'll pass," Bishamon grumbled. "He kicked both our asses. I'd rather wait until after all my bones are in one piece again."

"Spoilsport."

His eyes followed Yukine as he approached to offer a plate of food to Bishamon, who accepted graciously. The kid hesitated and then offered Kazuma a plate as well.

"Thanks, Yukine," Kazuma said quietly.

The two hafuri stared at each other for a moment, standing over the remains of their broken trust and slowly puzzling out how to rebuild it. Yato merely watched, looking for any sign that they were going to be okay. Yukine still felt betrayed by Kazuma using spells to force him to divulge information about Yato's father and Kazuma was just a mess all around, but they were both tough. They'd work it out.

When Yukine looked his way, Yato pasted on a goofy grin and shot him a thumbs up. The kid flushed and scowled.

"Shut up!"

"But I didn't say anything! Hey, where are you going? Where's my food?"

"Go get it yourself, you lazy, good-for-nothing god!"

Yato pouted as Yukine stalked off, and Bishamon snorted. Yukine stomped back to the others and began talking to Mayu, and Yato straightened up.

"You can do it, Yukine!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Make sure you win! You can beat that old hag Tomone!"

Yukine whipped back around with a fearsome glower. "It's not a competition, idiot god!"

"Then what's the point?"

"My name is Mayu!" Tomone screeched. "And what do you mean, old hag? You worthless excuse for a god!"

"Ow!" Yato screeched right back, his hands flying to his face as something small and sharp and hard slammed into his forehead. "Are you throwing rocks at me? Crazy bitch, stop it! Yukineee, make her stop throwing rocks at me! Ow!"

"You brought it on yourself!" Yukine hollered back.

Yato swatted uselessly at the barrage of pebbles until Mayu gave up with a huff and flounced off. He could feel a headache coming on from the rain of pebbles that had been playing his head like a drum. His fingers came away from his forehead sticky with a dribble of blood, and he scowled. Why had he always ended up with the crazy shinki that took great enjoyment in hurting him?

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Bishamon asked dryly.

Yato stuck his tongue out at her, and her face was priceless.

"Really, Yato?" Hiyori asked, hurrying over. She shook her head as she dropped to a crouch beside him and pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket to dab at the blood welling from the cut above his eye. "You don't always have to rile everyone up, you know."

"But it's fun," he whined.

"So fun that it always ends with you bleeding." Her eyes narrowed as she spotted the half-empty beer can in the grass next to him. "Are you getting drunk again? This is what I mean. Didn't Bishamon already knock you around enough last time? If you try kissing her again, I'm not going to help you."

"I didn't try to kiss her," he complained. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

Hiyori's nostrils flared. "Oh, you did. It was horrifying."

"Oh?" Yato leaned in with a wicked smirk, his breath tickling Hiyori's cheek as he whispered into her ear. "You aren't jealous, are you? Don't worry, Hiyori! I can kiss you too…if you give me five yen."

His smirk widened as he watched her eyes widen and her face turn tomato red. Her mouth worked soundlessly, and then she slapped him across the face and jumped to her feet.

"It's not like that, you pervert!"

"Ow," he moaned, rubbing at his throbbing cheek as she stormed off.

"You really aren't any good at flirting, are you?" Kazuma asked with an exasperated shake of his head.

"Flirting?" Yato blinked at him in confusion. "I don't consider that flirting. I consider that 'annoying'. I do it to everyone."

"And you're very good at it," Bishamon muttered. "Sometimes I think you're a closet masochist."

"No way! Everyone's just so violent these days!"

Yato leaned his head back against the tree's trunk and smiled a little despite himself as a gentle breeze tugged at his hair. Violence aside, it was a beautiful day and there was something heartwarming about having everyone together and having a good time. The babble of voices soothed the ache in his soul, and he let himself relax and release all his tension. It was good to be alive and have friends gathered all around, and these were the fleeting, beautiful moments that he held close to his heart to keep the blood-drenched centuries of the past at bay.

"Yabokuuu!"

Yato's eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, his hand clutching for his chest a split second before it exploded with sharp pangs of fear and anger.

"Hey!" Yukine cried. "Let me go!"

"No," Yato breathed. His eyes widened as the air fled his lungs all at once.

"What is it?" Bishamon asked in alarm as she twisted around to get a look at what was causing all the commotion.

Everyone was craning their necks and drifting over to see what was happening, but Yato hardly noticed. He scrambled to his feet in a panic, kicking over the half-full beer can in his haste, and rounded the wide trunk of the tree. Sure enough, Father was standing several yards out with one arm looped tightly around Yukine and the other hand holding Chiki loosely. Yukine struggled like a spitting-mad cat and tried to free his hands, probably to attempt a borderline, but Father merely smiled that stupid smile of his and his eyes shone with delight as Yato came into view.

"Yukine!" Yato lunged forward, panic tightening his chest. "Let him go!"

"Don't be like that, Yaboku." Father flipped Chiki about in an almost leisurely motion until the point was hovering just above the name printed on Yukine's collarbone. Yato came to an abrupt stop, freezing in place as if someone had slapped a restraint on him, and hardly dared to even breathe as he stared at that sharp tip a centimeter away from sending his world crashing down. Father tsked, amusement sparkling in his eyes. "What kind of greeting is that? You could at least say hello first!"

"Yukine, stay still," Yato breathed, wincing as his kid's struggling brought his name too close to the tip of the staff. He wanted to call for Sekki, but he knew Father was watching carefully and would bring Chiki down the second the first syllable formed on his lips.

"But–!"

"Yukine, please! Just…stop struggling." Yato let out a shaky breath as Yukine reluctantly subsided, and only then did he fix a glare on his father. "What do you think you're doing? Let him go."

"That's the sorcerer!" Bishamon said in disbelief.

Apparently she had followed behind Yato and now lunged forward despite her injuries, eyes narrowing in a way that said she was about to summon every shinki she had to blitz her enemy. Yato threw out an arm to bring her up short.

"Stop!" he snapped. "He'll kill Yukine before you can do anything."

She bit her lip, torn between the desire to keep Yukine alive and the need to destroy the sorcerer that had killed Tsuguha and Ebisu and nearly driven her to receiving divine punishment from the heavens.

"But–"

Yato twisted about to glare at her and let his gaze dart between Kofuku and Tenjin. "If he liberates Yukine, it'll spread and could kill every shinki here. Back off and have your shinki stand down. Let me handle this."

Bleak understanding dawned in the other gods' eyes. Yato had already warned them about Chiki, and no one wanted their shinki to die, especially not in such a horrible way. Even if they could stand to sacrifice their shinki, it would ultimately do no good. If they attacked Father and he liberated Yukine and the contagion infected the other shinki, it would interrupt their ability to attack and defend. Even without that, Bishamon was still heavily injured, Tenjin wasn't much of a fighter, and Kofuku would just open a vent and bring more phantoms down on them.

"Oh, Bishamon!" Father said brightly. "How nice to see you up and about again! I'm afraid I'm just here for Yaboku today, though."

She glared, practically radiating impotent fury.

It was unusual for Father to make such a bold move in front of so many people—he preferred to work in the shadows and use proxies like Yato and his masked ayakashi to do the dirty work for him—but he had effectively tied everyone's hands. That he was being so brazen now did not bode well and set Yato on edge.

"What are you talking about?" Kazuma asked.

Yukine was just as confused. "Liberate?"

Yato ground his teeth together. It wasn't like he could tell the shinki anything. That was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

It was a little surreal. One second they were celebrating and having a good time, and the next Father was appearing out of nowhere to hit them while their guard was down. He had always had a sixth sense for when things were going too well for Yato, when he was starting to get a little too happy or hopeful, and that was always when he struck.

"What do we do?" Hiyori asked in a whisper as she crept up beside Yato.

He couldn't tear his gaze away from Yukine's fear-twisted features to look at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked harshly.

"Well, I heard you were having a fun little get-together, and you didn't even invite me!" Father shook his head with an exaggerated sigh and winked at Yato, who was not amused by the display. "Really, that stings, Yaboku. You shouldn't leave Daddy out like that."

"So sorry," Yato growled through gritted teeth. "I didn't realize you'd want to leave the shadows and hang out with everyone."

"Fair enough!" Father chuckled good-naturedly. Yukine bit down on his lip and watched Yato with wide, pleading eyes. Yato's hands clenched into fists at his sides helplessly. "Usually I wouldn't make such a grand entrance, but I've finally perfected the finale so it seemed about time to make my debut to high society."

"What?" Yato's gaze jumped to meet his father's, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you–?"

"Also," the sorcerer continued blithely, "I thought it would be fun to meet under your sakura tree. Really brings back memories, doesn't it?"

White-hot pain seared through Yato's chest and constricted his lungs until it felt like his entire torso was being clamped in a vise. "You're such a bastard," he rasped, his voice raw and grating against his throat.

"Aw, don't be like that! You shouldn't talk to your father that way. Anyway, I thought I was doing you a favor. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it and all that."

The bastard was smiling and his voice was light, but Yato heard the threat underneath.

"Stop killing my shinki!"

"Me?" Father's eyes widened in practiced innocence and a thoughtful wrinkle appeared on his forehead. "Funny, I thought you were the one who killed your precious Sakura. Or am I misremembering?"

Yato staggered back a half-step as if physically hit and his shoulders hunched protectively. His breath hitched in his throat as all the old guilt and grief crowded in again.

"Are you alright?" Bishamon asked in alarm. Anything to do with killing shinki put her up in arms immediately.

Hiyori touched his arm. "Yato–"

"I keep telling you, his name is Yaboku," Father said sharply. Genuine irritation colored his voice for the first time. "'Yato' is just some silly thing he picked up later. You got that name from your Sakura, didn't you?" Yato said nothing, and Father shook his head. "It's disgraceful to let your shinki name you, especially such a troublesome shinki."

"Shut up," Yato hissed.

"How rude." Father raised an eyebrow. "Hit a sore spot, did I? Does it really still hurt that much?"

"Let Yukine go."

"See, this is exactly why I had to get rid of her in the first place. I kept warning you not to talk to other people, and you went and got attached and she started filling your head with all sorts of silly ideas. I thought you learned your lesson, but here you are doing the same thing again."

"Leave them alone."

"Oh, stop glaring at me like that. I'm honestly wounded that you've been holding such a grudge for all these centuries! Don't you think you should have forgiven Daddy by now? Let's let bygones be bygones, yeah?"

Yato's lips peeled back in contemptuous wrath. "You say as you threaten to do the same thing to my hafuri."

"Huh." Father laughed lightly and pasted on a sheepish expression that did not fool Yato. "I guess I see your point. But really, nothing bad has to happen. I just needed to get your attention since you've been so cruelly avoiding me. I'm sure we can work something out. It would be a shame if you had to kill your Yukine too."

The collar around Yato's neck cut deeper into his skin as his leash was steadily reeled in. He had tried so hard, but the truth was that he was never going to be able to escape because Father knew exactly how to force him back.

"Why?" Yato rasped, his voice a mere breath. "Why can't you just let me be happy for once?"

He'd had to fight for every scrap of meaning and happiness and hope in the centuries shackled in hopelessness and drenched in bloody desperation, and Father always knew how to not only take each one away but turn it into a new means of hurting him. This was the first time he'd been truly happy in forever, and it was going to crash down around his ears just like that.

"Aw, of course I want you to be happy," Father cooed with a sickly-sweet smile. "I just want you to be happy doing what you're supposed to be doing. Time to come home, Yaboku. I've got a job for you."

Yato closed his eyes. He already knew that he would do whatever Father wanted, even if it went against everything Yukine and Hiyori wanted him to be. It was all he was good for, and he would be a god of calamity if it saved their lives.

"Leave him alone!" Yukine cried, and the ache in Yato's chest intensified. "He doesn't want to kill for you anymore! He's not like that anymore, so let him go!"

"You think you're so special, don't you?" Father huffed out a scornful laugh and looked down at Yukine with eyes bright with contempt. "That you wandered into Yaboku's life and singlehandedly convinced him that he should change? Please. He's been trying to escape me for centuries now, running off and throwing himself into his little rebellions. But he always comes crawling back eventually."

Pained amber eyes locked on Yato's face, welling with something like pity and horror. Yato looked away.

Father wasn't finished. "We have a system, see. I keep Yaboku alive, and in exchange he does what I ask him to. It works really well, until someone like you comes in to jam the gears and fill his head with silly ideas. But you aren't his savior, kiddo. You think you're changing him, but this is exactly the same as it's always been. It's his own rebellion—he just lets you think that you're masterminding it. So really, you don't have much of a purpose at all, do you?"

Hiyori sucked in a breath beside Yato, and Yukine flinched back as his mouth twisted into a funny expression. Fury exploded in Yato's chest.

"Except that I would have come crawling back already if it weren't for him, isn't that right?" he said coldly. His eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't you dare talk to my kid like that."

Yukine bit his lip, but Father just chuckled and his contempt disappeared again.

"Really, it's adorable watching you try to be a father to him, although I have to admit that I'm deeply wounded you're being so careful not to be anything like me. Maybe you should take a page out of your old man's book, huh? You don't seem to be doing a very good job on your own."

"Better than you," Yukine muttered.

Yato could feel the heat creeping into his cheeks, but he kept his gaze focused on Father. He sensed a coming blow, confirmed by the quick flicker of irritation in Father's eyes.

"Poor Yaboku," the sorcerer said with a smile that's sympathy was as flaky as old paint. "It's just like the box again, huh?"

"Box…?"

"Really, watching you roll around on the ground and beg for the kid's life was truly heartbreaking. Could you hear him calling for help? Feel his suffering? And yet you did…nothing." Father's smile widened. A shudder rippled through Yato's body, and his hand fisted over his heart as he curled into himself. He could still hear Yukine's cries in his memories, feel his kid's fear and the helplessness of knowing that he couldn't do anything about it. It hurt. "You try so hard, but you can't actually protect anyone. Really, you should thank me. At least I'm giving you the opportunity to save him this time. Are you really going to abandon him again?"

"That's not fair!" Kofuku cried from somewhere behind him. "Yato-chan did everything he could!"

"Yukine wouldn't have been saved if Yato hadn't fought so hard for everyone else," Hiyori added coldly.

She pressed closer against his side as if to offer comfort, but Yato was left cold and bereft. He knew exactly why Father was taking this line of attack, and he hated that it would work. All the talking, the drawing out of this ordeal, was all to break him down and he knew it.

"He never abandoned me!" Yukine snarled. He kicked his heel backwards into Father's leg, and the sorcerer bit out a curse. "He always protected me! Stop always making him feel so worthless! He's better than you!"

"Yukine, stop!" Panic seized Yato as he watched his kid struggling. He could read the irritation on his father's face and the wavering of his resolve to keep his bargaining chip alive. Chiki dipped in his hand, trembling with anticipation, and Yato was stepping forward before he could stop himself, hand outstretched and face a mask of fear. "Don't do it! Father, stop! Please!"

Yukine froze, watching Yato with eyes brimming with pain and fear. Yato wanted to apologize for yelling at him, but he didn't think that was why Yukine looked so heartbroken.

Father smiled. "Anything for you, Yaboku. Now, I have one last job for you. If you're a good boy and cooperate with me, I'll leave your hafuri alone. If not… Well, you already know how that goes."

One last job? Why did that sound so ominous?

"What do you want from me?"

"Oh, are you going to cooperate?" Father asked, his face brightening with delight.

Yato caught one last glimpse of his kid's pained eyes before bowing his head and letting his hair curtain his face. For all Yukine and Hiyori had tried to make him into a good god, he would throw it all aside and turn back to calamity to protect them. Maybe that was why he could never be a god of fortune, but he would do anything to save Yukine. He couldn't do anything about the box—and it haunted him still—but he would absolutely not let that happen again.

"…Yes," he said to the ground, his voice tight through his gritted teeth. His hands clenched into trembling fists at his sides and his nails bit painfully into his palms. "I'll do anything. Just let him go."

"Wonderful, I knew you'd see reason! Although…you've still got too much fight left in you. You really do get worked up about your shinki, don't you? You know, I used to think you went through so many shinki because they couldn't stand to be around you for long, but I've been wondering if sometimes you deliberately chase them off to protect them from me." Father's smile widened as Yato mashed his lips together and glared at the ground. "I knew it! How cute.

"Which begs the question of why you've kept your hafuri around for so long. If you really love him and Hiyori so much, why haven't you let them go? You know as well as I do that you bring misfortune to whoever you keep too close. But still you keep them. Seems a little selfish, doesn't it?"

Yato flinched. It was nothing he hadn't thought before, it was a question that had kept him up at night debating, but it stung to hear it straight from his father's mouth. Especially because he knew the bastard was twisting the knife in his gut for a reason.

"How dare you?" Hiyori seethed. He hadn't heard her so angry in ages. "You can't force him into isolation and then make him feel bad when he tries to escape it."

"Don't antagonize him," Yato muttered.

"I'll do as I please!"

"Stop blaming Yato for the things you do," Yukine said. "He offered to cut ties with us, but we wanted to stay."

"Calm down, kid," Father said with great amusement. "I'm just messing with him. He's my kid, and it's great fun to tease our kids. Doesn't he tease you?"

Yukine's lip curled in derision. "Not like that."

Father only chuckled good-naturedly and turned on Yato again. "You know I'm only trying to help you out, right? You've still got a little too much fire in you, and it's going to get you hurt. Your shinki seem to bring out the worst in you. Speaking of which, wasn't she your shinki too?"

"What?" Yato twisted around to follow Father's finger and found himself staring at a taken-aback Mayu. He whipped back around, the threat winding about his neck like a noose. "She's not my shinki!"

"Oh? Tomone, wasn't it?"

"Her name is Mayu, and she has nothing to do with me!"

"Interesting… Mizuchi says you weren't together for long and it didn't seem like you particularly liked each other, but you're still awfully protective. It's kind of cute." Father's smile was bright, but his eyes were cold. "I didn't think you much cared for her new master either, but you've worked together before and he did propose the covenant to save you, so maybe you care more than you let on. Oh, and is that Kazuma? Mizuchi says he's the one you've been meeting up with for centuries, although I let that one slide since he wasn't interfering too much. And Bishamon, who you defied the heavens for even after she hunted you for centuries. And Kofuku and Daikoku, who you've been meeting with for ages and are now living with. And, of course, dear Hiyori–"

"Stop."

"Do you understand?"

"…Yes." All the fight drained out of Yato, leaving him cold and hollow as he stared straight through Father with glassy eyes. He could feel the named ayakashi closing in on the outskirts, waiting to pounce. He was sure Father had brought an unholy number of them with him to help persuade everyone.

"Good. What's your name?" Father waited patiently for a moment while Yato fought to unclog his throat. "Spit it out."

"…Yaboku," Yato said, the name scraping painfully along his throat as it was dragged out of him forcibly. It felt like a little piece of himself died with it.

"And what's your purpose?"

"Cull the herd," he said, going on autopilot as he regurgitated the answers he'd been fed for centuries. "Obey your orders."

"Why?"

"Because I exist only to grant your wishes."

"So you do remember." Father smiled. "You belong to me, isn't that right, Yaboku?"

"Yes, Father," Yato said dully.

"That's enough," Bishamon said sharply. "We can–"

"Stop," he said, holding his arm out again even though he didn't look over at her.

"But–"

"You can't win this one, not now. He's already cut off all the exits."

Even as he said it, some distant corner of his mind wondered if that was true. Was it true there was no way to win, or was it just that he had been so conditioned to accept defeat that he wouldn't be able to find a way out even if there was one right in front of him? Maybe it didn't matter, since the end result would be the same either way.

Bishamon and the others might think him silly or weak or a coward for giving in so easily, but it wasn't even the spear at Yukine's throat that had drawn him up short. All Father needed now was the words. Like any good dog, Yato had been trained to respond to and obey spoken commands. To outsiders it might look like 'just' words, but Yato had lived with the consequences and hard truths of those words for a millennium. Each one echoed as it bounced around the inside of his skull, resounding with promises and threats that were far more dangerous than such simple words suggested.

"Smart kid." Father chuckled and shook his head. "You never change, Yaboku. I always know exactly how to make you come crawling back. Here, a gesture of goodwill while we talk."

He pulled Chiki away from Yukine and let the staff's butt rest against the ground. Yato relaxed marginally, but refused to be lulled into a false sense of security.

"Yato!" Yukine hissed. "Just call me!"

One corner of Father's mouth quirked upward into an amused half-smile. Yato regarded Yukine with dull eyes.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Smart kid," Father said again with a laugh. "Actually, I've finally figured everything out and centuries of plans are about to come to fruition. The early masks were useful for experimenting with naming and controlling ayakashi, but this new brush Ebisu brought me from Yomi is working wonders. Good job with that, by the way. Really, I was actually quite impressed with you for getting rid of him for me. I was worried it was a mistake when you threw that huge tantrum afterwards, but now you're back in the fold so it all worked out."

"…Get on with it."

"Right, right." Father chuckled sheepishly, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Mizuchi is always telling me that I get sidetracked too much and–"

"Get on with it."

"Okay, okay. Well, this brush makes more reliable ayakashi, and even lets me possess people with them so that I can control humans. Pretty nifty, huh? It took a bit more work to find a way to use it on a god. You know, the blight and all would kill you under normal circumstances. Actually, I kept tabs on Ebisu's reincarnations too. It was useful to see how he dealt with it."

"Gods?" Hiyori asked, her voice rising in pitch.

Bleak understanding was already washing over Yato before he saw the sorcerer's smile.

"Yup!" Father's eyes shone bright as stars as they bore into Yato. "I'm going to stick an ayakashi in you, Yaboku! Isn't that exciting?"

Note: Man, that's a lot of dialogue lol Well, I actually find it interesting how Yato's father mostly controls him through words, so it was sort of intentional. Like, we see some physical abuse too, but most of it was verbal abuse and emotional manipulation and Yato always seems to react strongly to what his father says as well as does. I imagine that living with something like that for centuries would really ingrain such things in you and make it even harder to escape. Conditioning, you know. At this point, Yato's dad barely needs salient physical threats as long as he says the words to back them up because Yato has already seen the consequences.

Of course, Yato has been getting more rebellious and started standing up against those threats, so there did need to be a real and immediate threat here, and targeting Yukine after everything that's been going on seemed like the most logical way to go. Him or Hiyori, but targeting Yukine would tie the other gods' hands too if they were worried about losing their own shinki. Plus, everything with the chipped name and box and the connection to Sakura made it seem like a better option. More weak points to hit Yato from. And from there...putting the words directly into Yato's mouth and forcing him to accept them is the easiest way to manipulate him back into a tool again. Poor guy.

That was my convoluted logic, anyway lol