What a volume!!!
There's so much happening!!
Including romance-wise??
Hiyori finally admitted to loving Yato (and several people know!) and Yato basically admitted to crushing on Hiyori (it was so sweet?!). There is such pining going on!! And then Hiyori speaks to Tenjin-sama who says that gods can actually bring mortals they love over to their side, and it's a big deal, but mainly it's a huge deal to ME because that means Hiyori can be immortalized?? Holy shit holy shit holy shit this changes everything. I thought it was a doomed romance from the start but there's hope?? If we get a confession or even a KISS I will personally find the author and shake their hand-- nay, I will kiss them full on the mouth.
And then there's also Kazuma finally admitting his real love for Bishamonten. I'm not sure if this was clarified before, but either way, I knew it. Unfortunately, he said that he tried to tell her once and basically got shinki-zoned. So... that's rough, buddy.
Meanwhile, Yukine got kissed by Nora and has had very conflicting feelings about the whole thing, but basically, he has a crush, and everyone knows since he had to have an ablution. And they're kinda cute!! Nora may have come over to their side?? (There was a super-cute scene of her exploring their house and saying it's like a toybox with all its fascinating things.) She says her father left her behind, and she's even gone around getting rid of all her shinki marks, so she's no longer a stray basically? Buttt I don't fully trust her. But it's cute to see Yukine taking care of her!
Also Yato totally plans on dying, which is freaking me out. He even envisioned Yukine raising his little reincarnated child self, and while this was an EXTEMELY cute panel and I squealed (as I have been doing a LOT of, combined with the occasional guttural roar of pure excitement), I must say that this cannot possibly happen. Yato will not die and he will not lose his memories.
Speaking of which, there was a very sneaky moment where we see Kazuma find Bishamonten, except she's reincarnated and child-ified. I was kinda excited for a second but then it turned out to be a dream. Which I guess is good.
Lastly, I just want to scream about Kazuma becoming Yato's shinki. He was so sad about being a stray and betraying Veena, but I'm just screaming because this is so significant and also BOW AND ARROW.
(And then the extra panels at the end of this volume between the newly acquainted master and shinki were absolutely hilarious. Yato is forever a fool and Kazuma is, at times, savage.)
With Kazuma's shinkification, there were some additional interesting revelations about his past; we learned he was engaged, then murdered by his brother, and also apparently he's 19. Which was funny 'cause Yato realized he wasn't 20, the legal drinking age, when Kazuma was drowning his woes in beer. Me too, Kazuma.
So as you can see, this was one hell of a ride. I'm so glad I waited for the next few volumes to come out instead of waiting chapter by chapter.
21, here I come!