Half a year has passed since the god Yato vanished without a trace.
Iki Hiyori, now nineteen, lives an ordinary life as a university student in Tokyo—attending lectures, making friends, studying psychology. She gave up her powers as a half-ayakashi to walk the Near Shore as a normal human being. It was her choice. It should have been enough.
But the hole he left behind refuses to close.
Between lectures on grief and loss, Hiyori finds herself searching for answers she can't find in any textbo
Dawn Without Yato -Noragami After Story- - Cold Water Prison — Bonds Torn Apart
The smell of blood still clung deep inside her nose.
Yukine's blood.
His body slammed against the university concrete. His left arm bent at an impossible angle. The spreading pool of blood. Kugaha's cold smile.
"Next time you get in my way, I'll kill you."
In the emergency hospital waiting room, Hiyori stared fixedly at her own blood-stained hands.
A nurse had already wiped them clean, yet she still felt as though Yukine's warm blood remained caked between her fingers.
(*It's my fault.*)
She had let Kugaha's words shake her heart. She had projected Yato's shadow onto him. When that man had appeared, she had felt—just a little—genuinely happy.
All of that had put Yukine through such an ordeal.
Hiyori clenched her trembling hands.
Her nails bit into her palms. They were already covered in wounds, with no unbroken skin left to bleed from.
(*What should I do?*)
"Iki-san."
She raised her head. A nurse stood before her, wearing an apologetic expression.
"Regarding your companion, Yukine-san... his family came to pick him up a short while ago."
"Family...?"
Yukine had no family. He was a dead human. His family from before he became a shinki had long since—
Hiyori stood up.
"That person—what did they—"
Mid-sentence, the air changed.
From deep within the hospital corridor, a cold wind blew. The scent of disinfectant was overwritten by the fragrance of sandalwood.
A woman appeared.
Jet-black hair that reached her waist. Not a single strand out of place, it gleamed dully beneath the hospital fluorescent lights. Her crimson eyes, devoid of emotion, fixed directly on Hiyori. Clad in miko vestments, her very presence seemed to lower the surrounding temperature.
On her left wrist, an old scar.
A contract mark.
The indelible wound left when a bond with a shinki is forcibly severed.
(*This person is—*)
"We meet for the first time, Iki Hiyori."
Her voice was as clear as ice tumbling.
"I am Kagura Shin. Yukine's current master. There is no need to apologize for this recent failure. The failure to properly manage one's shinki is entirely the master's responsibility. It is not something for you to trouble yourself over."
Hiyori was at a loss for words.
This goddess had come to retrieve Yukine. But in her eyes, there was not the slightest trace of concern. Rather—
There was only a procedural, businesslike coldness.
"Um, Yukine... is Yukine going to be okay? His arm... it was so badly broken..."
She desperately fought back the tears threatening to spill over. Kagura Shin looked down at Hiyori as if observing something filthy.
"A shinki's wounds are healed by their master's divine energy. The bone has already been mended. There is no problem."
"I-is that so... that's goo—"
"However."
Kagura Shin's voice grew a degree colder.
"The problem is that he engaged in unauthorized combat in the Near Shore and exposed a shinki's power to a human. This is a violation of the Heavenly Edicts. An act that disturbs the order of the gods. Punishment is unavoidable."
"Punishment...?"
"When a shinki commits a sin, the defilement extends to the master. Due to this incident, defilement has already surfaced on my left arm. Purification is necessary."
Kagura Shin slightly rolled up the sleeve of her left arm.
On her white skin, black stains spread like blood vessels. Defilement—the black corruption that accumulates in a god's body from contact with ayakashi or from a shinki's sins.
Hiyori's breath stopped.
"That... because of Yukine..."
"It is also because of you."
For the first time, emotion dwelled in those crimson eyes.
It wasn't even hatred.
Something colder, something deeper—jealousy.
"Yukine caused that battle to protect you. Because a human like you exists, he remains bound by the past and cannot serve his new master. Because you exist, he suffers."
Something deep in Hiyori's chest creaked audibly.
(*I'm making Yukine suffer.*)
Words Kugaha had also spoken. But this time, they were thrust before her from a goddess's lips as an undeniable fact.
"I will now take Yukine back to my shrine and perform the purification rite. For three days, he will be confined in the shrine's underground well of cold water, his shinki powers stripped away as the defilement is cleansed."
"Three days... in freezing water...? That would—Yukine would—"
"He will not die. Shinki do not die. However, it will be accompanied by commensurate pain. That is how that child atones for his sin."
Atonement.
That word pierced Hiyori's chest.
Yukine had done nothing wrong. He had only tried to protect her from Kugaha. So why did Yukine alone have to suffer?
"This is wrong... this is wrong! Yukine was only trying to protect me—"
"Silence."
The air trembled.
The pressure of a god. Not something a human like Hiyori could defy. Every bone in her body creaked, and she desperately fought the urge to collapse to her knees on the floor.
"You are no longer a person of the Far Shore. A human of the Near Shore has no right to interfere in a god's decisions. If you involve yourself, he will only suffer more. You will destroy him."
Kagura Shin turned her back.
Her jet-black hair billowed, and the scent of sandalwood filled the corridor.
"Farewell, Iki Hiyori. It is my wish that you never appear before Yukine again."
Kagura Shin's form vanished, as if dissolving into the air.
Hiyori stood rooted to the spot.
Her legs wouldn't move.
Her fingertips, her lips, her eyelids—all trembling.
(*I will—I will destroy Yukine.*)
Kagura Shin's words echoed inside her head.
The emotion that had dwelled in those crimson eyes.
A desperate protectiveness, like a mother trying to shield her child.
But it wasn't just that.
(*That person is—*)
That gaze, which would never be directed at her.
(*Obsessed with Yukine.*)
Unconsciously, Hiyori pressed a hand to her own chest.
A throbbing pain pulsed there.
The fear of possibly losing Yukine.
The guilt of being the cause of his suffering.
And—directed at Kagura Shin—a thick, murky emotion she couldn't even understand herself.
(*Am I... jealous?*)
No. This wasn't jealousy.
Something darker, more painful, more selfish—possessiveness.
Even though Yukine is someone precious to me.
I don't want anyone to take him away.
The only one left to me after losing Yato—
"...No."
Hiyori shook her head.
"No... I'm just using Yukine. I'm just making him a substitute for Yato... It's pathological identification, like we learned in psychology class... I'm... projecting Yato onto Yukine..."
Tears spilled over.
They wouldn't stop.
Alone in the hospital waiting room, Hiyori collapsed in tears.
---
In the mountains of Okutama.
Beneath Kagura Shrine, a coldness not of this world filled the underground space.
With every step down the stone stairs, the temperature dropped. Water droplets trickled down the walls, and the smell of moss stung the nose. Each time the torchlight flickered, the shadows writhed like living creatures.
The bottom of the well was darkness.
The water, reaching his knees, was cold enough to freeze even in the height of summer. No—this was not mere cold water. It was sacred water, imbued with divine energy, meant to strip a shinki's power and purify defilement.
Yukine leaned his back against the well wall and stared vacantly up at the ceiling.
The well cover, visible far, far above.
The light filtering through it no longer reached him.
"...Cold."
His lips trembled.
His teeth chattered uncontrollably.
His body heat was being stolen away moment by moment. Simultaneously, his power as a shinki—the power that had smoldered deep within him—vanished, as if dissolving into the water.
A Vessel of Blessing.
The highest rank of shinki, which he had once reached alongside Yato.
That power was now crumbling away audibly.
(*I'm... getting weaker.*)
Yukine stared at the back of his right hand.
The pattern of light was fading. What should have surfaced when his emotions ran high now only flickered faintly, like a dying firefly.
"Yato..."
Before he knew it, he was calling his master's name.
He wanted to see him.
That god who was so irresponsible, so money-grubbing, yet kinder than anyone.
Why did you leave me behind?
Why didn't you take me with you?
Why—
His vision wavered.
The reflected light of the cold water distorted, and the darkness changed shape.
It was a hallucination.
Yato stood before him.
Deep bluish-black hair. Blue eyes narrowed mischievously. In his usual jersey, arms crossed brusquely.
"Hey, Yukine. Don't go slackin' off."
"Yato...! Yato!!"
Yukine tried to crawl through the water toward him.
But his body wouldn't move. The cold bound his muscles; he couldn't even freely move his fingertips.
"Why... why did you leave me behind...?"
The hallucination of Yato smiled, troubled.
A face he had often shown long ago, when Yukine was still a rebellious, twisted brat.
"You'll be fine. Even without me, you're already a full-fledged shinki."
"No... that's not it..."
Tears overflowed, streaming down his cheeks. They immediately mixed with the cold water and vanished.
"I still... I still have so many things I want you to teach me... And besides, Hiyori too... Hiyori wants to see you too..."
The hallucination wavered.
Yato's smile distorted.
As if a wax figure were melting, his expression crumbled.
"Hiyori?"
The voice changed.
Not Yato's—a colder, sweeter voice.
"Ah, that woman. The one you tried to protect, and ultimately couldn't—"
"Stop it...!"
The figure in the hallucination was no longer Yato.
Kugaha's face, with the blue bruise on his left cheek.
"It's your fault. Because you're weak, Hiyori will become mine. Because you're powerless, Yato disappeared. Because you're incomplete as a shinki—"
"STOOOOP!!!"
Yukine screamed.
A scream so loud it felt like his throat would tear.
But the hallucination didn't disappear.
This time—he saw Hiyori's form.
Hiyori collapsed, covered in blood.
A pool of blood spreading across the university concrete.
The sight he had seen when he himself had fallen.
(*No. Hiyori should be safe. At that time, Kugaha had—*)
"I'm sorry... I couldn't protect you..."
Still, the hallucination continued to condemn him.
"It's your fault."
"Because you're weak."
"Because you can't take Yato's place."
"AAAAAAAHHH!!!"
Yukine clutched his head and submerged his face in the ice water.
Cold. Painful. Unable to breathe.
But that was fine.
This suffering was his punishment.
For being weak, for being unable to protect—
"Hiyori... Hiyori..."
Under the water, he continued to cry.
His tears dissolved into the well water, mixed with the defilement, and stagnated, going nowhere.
His face reflected on the water's surface was not the face of the boy he once was.
It was the face of a stranger, twisted by hatred and powerlessness.
---
Two hours swaying on a train from Musashino Central Station bound for Okutama.
Hiyori was climbing the mountain path leading to Kagura Shrine.
She had skipped university.
Yesterday's events wouldn't leave her mind.
Kagura Shin's cold voice. That feeling of powerlessness when Yukine was taken away.
(*The purification rite—three days in a freezing well.*)
Hiyori couldn't even imagine how much pain that entailed.
But she wanted to save Yukine.
She wanted to apologize.
To say she was sorry that things had turned out this way because of her.
She planted her feet firmly on each stone step of the steep mountain path. Her breath grew ragged. Sweat trickled down her forehead. Though it was spring, the mountain air was still cold, and her exhaled breath turned white.
The shrine she finally reached was wrapped in silence.
The precincts were surrounded by a cedar forest. Giant trees, hundreds of years old, covered the sky, making it dim even in the daytime.
Standing before the worship hall, Hiyori took a deep breath.
"...Excuse me. Is anyone here?"
Her voice was swallowed by the stillness.
There was no reply.
Just as she was about to call out again—
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