#i'll take a uuuuuhhhhhh healthy shinki plz

[hellanoragami-blog]

Chapter 80 Thoughts

The next month is here. Honestly, reviewing this chapter kind of leaves my thoughts all over the place, particularly about both Father and Yukine. I’ll try to get this somewhat organized, though.

Starting from the first part, Yukine is woken up by Kofuku, who he temporarily confuses for Nora. Once the situation becomes apparent, however, Yukine is up almost immediately to check on Nora who has mysteriously vanished from the futon she’d made up.

Giving her the benefit of the doubt, it’s very likely that she woke up early and fled upon seeing Take and his crew there. Yukine did tell her before that the man would probably have her killed, so she’d know it’s unsafe.

At the worst, she is still playing Father’s game and went to meet him for a status report.

The scene changes over to Hiyori, who is still pretty troubled about where she left off with Yato. I believe she’s having doubts about her involvement with Yato, if only subtly. Life has her distracted and unable to go to him, and the confrontation with Kazuma before is obviously leaving her hesitant towards further confrontation.

Honestly not much to comment on here, save for my own worry over whether or not her belief will soon wane. Given the troubled and almost vacant expression she’s wearing for the cover of volume 20, it seems likely that we’ll see her attempt to hold onto Yato’s memory become increasingly difficult.

In fact, if we really want to stretch the possibility, we could say that this is Father’s intention, for Hiyori to forget. He knows very well that Yato’s busy, and with Yukine preoccupied with Nora, that means that there is a big chance that Yukine isn’t currently talking to Hiyori at all, or spending any time with her.

With no interaction between either of them, Hiyori’s memory really will rely on her willpower alone. Given that, it would make sense for this to be a part of Father’s plan, since he could use that against Yato. With Hiyori out of the picture, Yato won’t have anyone else to rely on besides his supposed lifeline. Making Hiyori forget obviously isn’t the Biggest Plan™, obviously, but it does seem to be a stepping stone in it. (I’m guessing he had to change plans when Nora became a sort of tracking device to hunt him down, lol.)

 We’re next given a look at Yato and Kazuma’s situation, if only briefly. Their teamwork seems to be getting better, but it’s still wildly out of sync and messy. To be efficient, a shinki and their master practically need to be one body, one mind to know exactly what to do in battle.

It’s clear that Yato and Yukine both know each other’s mannerisms and are able to predict each other’s actions, and that’s what makes them an almost unshakable force. Yato and Kazuma simply don’t have this type of bond, but that isn’t to say that they wouldn’t be able to come close if they continue working on it.

I’m happy to see that Kazuma seems to be calming down and getting his head back on his shoulders, as well. He’s not making any wild, spontaneously solo actions, so Yato’s influence may actually be the medicine he needs to become stabilized, haha. His worry for Bishamon doesn’t seem to be getting in the way of his actual ability to perform, at least. With this, I believe that he and Yato have the potential to become a good team, even if it wouldn’t amount to what Yato has with Yukine.

Boy, speaking of Yukine! The scene is brought back to him, and it’s clear he’s gone looking for Nora. While overlooking the river, he notices a little girl stop to look at him. Upon asking her what’s wrong, she tells him that she’s looking for her uncle. Assuming she’s lost, Yukine follows her in attempts to help her find who she’s looking for. The girl soon gets sidetracked by a cat, and dashes into a tunnel after it. Although uneasy about entering it, Yukine bravely pushes past his fear to go make sure that she’s safe.

I’d kill for a light to see how exactly this tunnel is laid out, but that’s not really important for me to know, I guess. It goes from Yukine peering into another part of the tunnel, to suddenly seeing the bits of memory that was shown back in chapter 70. Yukine suddenly finds it incredibly hard to breathe, and is suddenly seeing more bits and pieces of the moments leading up to his death. The space he was in made it difficult to move, but the last thing he saw before that darkness was his father.

Saying... something to him.

I don’t know exactly what it was, but fast-moon did think it to be parting words like, ‘See ya’. I can’t decide if Adachitoka were trying to put emphasis on the mouth movements for pronunciation purposes, or if they were trying to convey some hot, hot anger. Personally, I think it could be both. They’ve done the pronunciation thing before back in chapter 36, when Nora was saying ‘Yaboku’. 

Could he actually be saying part of Yukine’s name, then? It’s difficult to say, since the next piece of dialogue is silenced. But it’s inferred that two things are said, so ultimately it isn’t likely. (I did entertain the thought of his first and last name being said, but that’s a theoretical story for a different post all on it’s own.)

Anyway, Yukine is broken out of the spell by hearing Yato call his name. Most likely an illusion, since Yato isn’t actually there. It works well enough to pull him out of it though, and he manages to destroy the ayakashi on his own--and even collapses part of the tunnel in the process! It tends to happen when his nerves run high. Glorious light! Unfortunately, there’s a not-so-nice surprise waiting up top.

Papa! :D

Pffft, anyway, it’s confirmed that the girl is one of Fujisaki’s three nieces. Father is then sectioned off by one of Yukine’s border lines, and a question showdown happens that lead to more questions than answers.

He claims to be a human--one that chose not to live as a normal person. (Or, lead a normal life like the heavens intended.) That he ‘returned from the underworld, and because he was resurrected, he was called all sorts of things’. He goes on to say that heaven can’t categorize him.

He mentions that he lives and dies as someone outside of his control. The most interesting bit about this is that he possesses the soul; not the body. Characteristically, we have been shown that for a God to possess a person, they either need permission or a strong bond. But it’s implied that only the body is possessed. So what could it mean for a soul to be possessed? Does that mean that Father and Fujisaki’s souls combined into one? Or did Father simply become Fujisaki’s soul? Does he spend his whole life as someone else, or does he end up possessing someone who is already alive?

Perhaps he’s inferring reincarnation; I don’t know if Japan follows a different principle, but typically, when a person is reincarnated, the soul forgets their past lives. Could it be that Father simply is, and has always been Fujisaki Kouto in this life? Perhaps he’s simply carried an awareness of who he is and what he’s done with him, through various lives that he’s lived. For this to even be a thing, it would mean that Fujisaki never was a normal person from the moment he returned from the underworld. It would also mean that Father really is something that can’t be classified as ‘human’, or even ‘God’. To remember everything is possibly much worse than to remember nothing... Jeez. It’d be no wonder he’s so bitter.

He implies that he escaped from the underworld via a soul call, but says Amaterasu wouldn’t permit a human to return like that. Could it be that his punishment was for the heavens to take the life of the girl that he loved? I don’t doubt his information, but I do think he’s withholding a lot. Why, I don’t know.

And we won’t know! Because Yukine is angry and doesn’t want to hear it. :) His emotions ramp up again, causing his borderline to become stronger. He basically goes off on Father for not... being a good father? But then something just snaps inside of him, and he says something that he doesn’t seem to have full control over--or, at least he isn’t thinking before he speaks. In fact, that level of anger literally came out of nowhere. He even vocalizes this. Father seems pretty shocked by it, as well. Then Yukine calms down, and says that he doesn’t want to fight.

And Father, in the coy, evasive way that he does, says that he won’t do anything anymore. Yeah, he won’t. But who will? He still has a plan. You can see it on his face. He then thanks Yukine for being worried about Nora, and that it was probably the right call to let her go. But then he sets the ball into motion, so to speak, by telling Yukine that he’d rather not get her involved; that she died a terrible death. And what a sly expression he’s wearing. Even if he seems to wave him off cheerfully, he clearly has less-than-pure intentions.

It cuts to Yato, who’s being effected by the sudden feelings that Yukine is undergoing. Was it because of when he snapped? Or is it because of what Father told him? He makes the silent vow to be back soon.

Back to Yukine, the kids’ mom comes to get them, and Yukine wonders how Father knows how Nora died. Then, he begins to think: How did he die? Since it was just a choice of words, there’s no way to know how quickly things will progress from here. Will he be in and out like Tsuguha was? Or will it be immediately desperate to know, like how Sakura was? Either way, it seems as though this is the turning point for Yukine’s development.

Perhaps Nora will be the one who ends up having to deal with it. I’m partial to think it’ll happen a bit quickly, due to the fact that he’s already been seeing the same bits of his death. I think when it actually happens, it will be all kinds of messy and devastating--but he’ll survive it. He’s a tough kid. I just wish--or at least hope--that Yato would be there to help him when it happens.