My Friend the Delivery god (A Noragami fanfic) REWRITE

[8]Things left unfinished

Man and beast.

In this world, where human curiosity drove us continuously to innovate, it was only inevitable that we would be driven to understand our fellow living beings. The things we have in common. The things we don't have in common. How to defeat them. How to befriend them. More and more we try and try to connect to these creatures that live alongside us, and little by little we close that gap. For the sake of human conceit, or for the sake of connecting out of a desire for companionship? Who could really tell.

"Come on! Come to me Dawn!!"

"Woof!!"

Trifling human matters. Centuries upon centuries (I think) of research and innovation seemed to be spit on as I beheld a bond so natural that I could scarcely believe these two had been out of each other's lives till this morning. It was like I was watching two lovers in a pastoral- they frolicked through the park like they were the only ones in this world. When I watched them run dude by side in perfect sync, embrace each other more times than I could count, and lie on the grass while looking into each other's eyes with what seemed like perfect clarity on one another's thoughts and feelings, I couldn't push away the yearning in my heart to have what they had.

Even though Dawn was my own damn dog.

"Wow...it's like he met his soulmate." Yukine vocalised and summarised my thoughts from beside me as he also beheld this remarkable display, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that his perfect mental equal is a dog."

He paused as if realising what he said and turned to me.

"No offense to your dog."

No, I don't think that's the problem here…

I opened my mouth to clarify I hadn't taken offense at all. But, just then, a sudden gust of wind passed and blew against me. I shivered strongly in response and rubbed my bare arms in order to regain some warmth. Yukine simply watches me all the while.

"...I've been meaning to ask, how come you're not wearing a sweater today?"

I froze. Oh no.

"...I left it in my room."

"Yeah, I can see that. Even though the weather is pretty warm, you're still super sensitive to the cold, that's why you're always wearing it right?"

I grabbed the sides of my simple blue short sleeved flared dress while staring intently at the dirt on my shoes.

"I am yeah, but...when I was dressing up I remembered when Kofuku-sama mentioned that Yato-sama thinks my wearing a sweater during this season is odd...and since the forecast said it would be warm I decided to go with something different…"

I peeked up at him, he returned my look with one of apologetic pity.

"That counts as self depreciation doesn't it?"

"Yup." He confirmed, bringing a sheet of paper out of his pocket and crossing out a box. It had been the fourth crossed in the past 30 minutes.

But I've gotten ahead of myself, rewinding the clock to those 30 minutes ago. After I had resolved to abandon my sweater. After I had told Toma to focus on his homework while I walked Dawn. After I had witnessed my dog who was usually between indifferent to hostile to strangers become instantly enamoured with Yato-sama for some inexplicable reason. Yato-sama had shown me a sheet of paper made with rows and columns hand drawn into neat little boxes all with a drawn weeping face that seemed to vaguely resemble me in them and said:

"We're fixing your self flagellation first and foremost. Whenever you put yourself down, we cross out a face. If you get this whole thing filled out before the end of the day, you're getting penalised."