"Hey, Daikoku!" Yato called as he traipsed into the kitchen and threw himself down at the table where Hiyori and Yukine were trying to discuss schoolwork over food while Kofuku continuously interrupted them. "Make something for me too!"

Daikoku turned away from the stove with a fearsome scowl. "Why don't you get a job and buy your own food, you lazy leech?"

Hiyori smiled but sighed, sensing the continuation of an eternal argument. Some things just never seemed to change.

Yato leaned back and pouted. "Just you wait until I have a hundred shrines and a million believers. You're going to regret being so mean then!"

Hiyori shook her head in fond exasperation as Yato's eyes went distant and starry again. She could very well imagine the fantasies playing in his head. Evidently so could Yukine, who rolled his eyes and looked like he wanted to smack some sense into the god.

Daikoku just scoffed. "Not going to happen. You can barely even get your own jobs."

"You've been saying that for hundreds of years now, Yato-chan," Kofuku added cheerfully.

"You'll only ever be about as popular as a rotten banana," Yukine grumbled.

Yato clutched at his chest in an exaggerated fashion. "You're all so mean! Just you wait, I'll prove you wrong! Come on, Hiyori! Back me up!"

Hiyori coughed out a sheepish, apologetic laugh and twirled her pencil in her fingers. "I think you can do anything you put your mind to, but… Don't you think you might be setting your goals a little high?"

Yato blinked at her open-mouthed for a long moment and then dissolved back into dramatics. "Hiyoriii, you're so cruel! Just like the rest of them! No wonder you're all such underachievers! Well, you just wait and see! I'll show you all!"

Yukine huffed out an irritated breath and went back to solving math problems. Hiyori couldn't say she was surprised by his low tolerance.

"But Yato-chan," Kofuku said with a knowing smile, "that isn't what you really want, is it?"

"Huh?" Yato was surprised out of his melodramatic whining and blinked at her with startled eyes. "Of course it is!"

"Ohhh? You've worked hard, but why did you get so happy if you're not satisfied, hm? You were so looonely before you met Hiyorin and Yukki and started hanging out here again. Could it be that what you really want is just to have a couple of reliable friends?"

Yato stared at her with his mouth half open and was taken aback enough that his startlingly blue eyes were left unguarded and vulnerable. Kofuku was still as grinning and bubbly as usual, but there was a serious edge to her eyes now.

Hiyori looked back and forth between them and then at Yukine, who had abandoned his math again to watch the exchange curiously. A sudden realization struck her as she watched him, and she turned back to Yato.

"Oh, isn't that what you said to Manabu?" she asked.

"H-huh?" Yato shook his head as if to clear it and turned his puzzled gaze on Hiyori. "Who?"

"The kid you gave a switchblade to because he was being bullied, right before you collapsed and we had Yukine's ablution," Hiyori clarified. Yukine flinched. "You told him that kids these days think everything is a popularity contest, but all they really need to do is find one special, unique friend. You said you wanted one too, right? Wasn't that Yukine?"

Yukine began coughing violently, and Hiyori patted him on the back even though she didn't think he'd had any food in his mouth. Yato made a sound like a strangled cough.

"Aw, Yato-chan and Yukki are so cute!" Kofuku said with a laugh. "But it's true, right? It's a good dream, you know, and we want you to have lots of believers so that you don't have to worry about disappearing, but… You have one good shinki, one good human believer, one good shrine, and a bunch of people who really care about you. Isn't that what your real wish is?"

Hiyori looked at Kofuku with new eyes. It was the rare occasion indeed that broke Kofuku's carefree façade, but then again, just because she was bubbly didn't mean she was stupid.

Yato's mouth thinned as his gaze slid to the side, and something unreadable and conflicted raged behind his eyes. Hiyori wondered if maybe he was actually going to take this seriously, but he never failed to disappoint.

"But I want a miiillion believers!" he wailed, slamming his hands on the table dramatically.

Hiyori smiled fondly even as she sighed. Yukine and Daikoku took the opportunity to jump all over Yato's tantrum, and Hiyori watched them quarrel with soft eyes as she propped her cheek on her fist.

"And here I thought he might actually get it," she said with a quiet laugh.

"Don't worry so much, Hiyorin." Kofuku sat back and watched the boys bicker with a smile. "He does."

"Do you think so?"

"You forget, Hiyorin, he acts like a child, but he's lived for hundreds of years. He's more perceptive and clever than everyone gives him credit for, even if he does sometimes get caught up in his ridiculous schemes." Kofuku's smile softened and she propped both elbows on the table to cradle her chin on her interlaced hands. "He needs a big, crazy dream to keep him going when things get tough. It can't be anything too easily achieved if he wants to have a purpose for hundreds of years, to keep life worth living.

"But I know he really just wanted someone to truly care about him and stand by him so that he didn't have to always be alone, because he really has been much more positive and happy since you and Yukki entered the picture. So I know his real wish was granted." She tilted her head and smiled brightly at Hiyori, eyes closing and crinkling at the corners. "Congratulations on helping fulfill a god's wish, Hiyorin."

"M-me…?" Heat rushed to Hiyori's face.

Her, grant a god's wish? She looked away from Kofuku to watch the boys yelling and whacking each other on the other side of the table. They…really did seem like a little family. Hiyori couldn't say that she truly understood Yato or what he had gone through over hundreds of years—a timeframe that she still couldn't quite even wrap her head around—but she had to believe that she and Yukine and everyone else had brought a little spark of joy to his life…in the same way he had done for them. And if that had gone along with some wish he secretly cradled somewhere deep in his heart, then it was a wish worth granting.

"Hiyori!" Yato sent Daikoku staggering back towards the stove and shoved Yukine back into his seat, and Hiyori started in surprise as he turned wide, sparkling eyes on her. "I know what to do! You have to make me another shrine. But a bigger one! A life-size one! I'm sure that will jumpstart my divine career!"

"Idiot god!" Yukine cried. "Hasn't she already done enough? Do it yourself!"

"But Yuuukine, it doesn't work like that! It's not the same." Yato's eyes widened even further, pleading with Hiyori. It was hard to escape when they shone such a soft, imploring blue like the eyes of a begging kitten. "You'll help, won't you, Hiyori? You're nicer than Yukine. I even know exactly where to put it!"

Hiyori smiled in bemusement. She wasn't sure how to talk him out of this and found no other option than to play along for the moment.

"Where?"

Yato clasped his hands together and went all starry-eyed again. "In Capyper Land!"

Hiyori gaped at him and then turned on Kofuku with pleading eyes of her own. "Please tell me this is one of those times when he isn't serious."

Kofuku just smiled. "Sorry, Hiyorin. This seems like one of his serious schemes."

And Hiyori sighed and kicked up a fuss, but she caught Yukine's eye and they exchanged a smile before working to calm down their favorite god.

Note: Yato's such a dork lol But I thought it was nice to see that a lot of his fantasies became toned down over time as he got closer to Yukine and Hiyori and everyone else. Poor guy just wants someone to love him X) But it's pretty great to see the character development. All these characters grow so much over time and it's so beautifully done :3

Also, new headcanon: Yato is angling to get a shrine built in the middle of Capyper Land XD