Strays On a Stormy Night (
Short Summary[]
Yukine continues to act out, dissatisfied with his current life as Yato's shinki, but Yato resolves to temper him. However, The Stray tries to convince Yato that Yukine isn't suited to be his partner.
Extended Summary[]
The Stray notes how Yato never calls her and that his current Shinki Yukine is insufficient. She goes onto suggest using her and dumping Yukine.
In her private bathing area, Bishamonten recalls her failure to kill Yato. She asks Kazuma to describe the extent of the storm; Kazuma replies that during the three days since Kofuku and Kokki had opened the vent, he had requested that Bishamon's branch shrines set up protective barriers to prevent the storm's growth. He adds that the onyl way to permanently stop the storm would be to exterminate the ayakashi that are escaping from the vent. When she gets out of the pool, she's attended to by two of her young shinki. She and a group of her shinki follow her as she sets off to the mortal realm.
At school, Hiyori, Akira, and Aimi read the news about the rise in bad news around the city recently. Hiyori believes the main cause of it to be Kofuku opening the vent. She wishes that Yato and Yukine were around to help get rid of the storm, but they've been staying away from her since Yato remarked that there are too many temptations for Yukine at Hiyori's house. She wonders to herself whether shinki, including Yukine, are nothing but tools to their gods.
Meanwhile, Yato has taken on a job as a convenience store clerk, much to Yukine's annoyance. Soon, Kofuku and Daikoku arrive at the store under Hiyori's guidance. As for why they're there, Daikoku reveals that a misdirected request fell into their hands and they've decided to delegate it to Yato. Yato readily accepts the request, but he's curious as to how they found him. Hiyori was able to find them by following his scent, but is too embarrassed to admit it aloud. The conversation is interrupted when Yato is suddenly stung; he immediately looks over to Yukine, who is standing by the counter. Yato checks the register to see if Yukine had stolen money from it, but finds no evidence of that. Irritated at the suspicion, Yukine brushes it off and leaves the store. Yato reiterates his acceptance of the job and follows after him, leaving Kofuku and Daikoku to watch the store.
On the way to Yukine's location, Yato reads over the written request, which is to exterminate a butterfly ayakashi. Once Yato and Hiyori catch up to Yukine, he trips and falls, dropping the box of donations from the corner store. Yato looks displeased, but before he can say anything, the Stray appears in front of the three of them and compliments Yukine's eyes. Yukine and Hiyori are shocked to see that she has various names imprinted on all of her exposed skin. Yato immediately transforms Yukine to his vessel form and demands to know why she's here. The Stray ignores his question and asks him to call her by the name that he gave her rather than just "stray". She encourages Yato to use her instead of Yukine, as she could protect him better, referencing how well she did in the past slaying Bishamon's shinki. Yato then swings Sekki at her neck, much to Yukine's horror, but stops before cutting her down.
They eventually part ways. They eventually encounter the butterfly ayakashi from the request, and initially have trouble defeating it since Yukine has become rather dull and Yato is experiencing secondhand effects from Yukine's emotional state, tiring him out. Yato then pours a bottle of purification water onto the blade, claiming that he found Yukine, named him, and will temper him. They then cut down the ayakashi.
Hiyori later pushes Yato into a basin of purification water to cleanse his blight from the ayakashi encounter. They also return to the corner store to find that Kofuku and Daikoku were fired.
After some time has passed, Hiyori remembers Yato's words about tempering Sekki, wondering to herself whether that means Yato isn't going to abandon Yukine. Snapping out of her thoughts, she spots Bishamonten at a distance riding on Kuraha. The moment she tries to run away, Kazuma stops her with a hand on her shoulder, noting aloud that she is able see them.