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Few months ago, before the events of The God, The Teacher and the Moon...
It was a beautiful evening in the beautiful adobe of Takamagahara, the place where respected gods reside and live. Stars were twinkling so bright, illuminating the night skies, even for a moonless night. A indigo-haired blue-eyed stray god had ever wondered if the round moon will ever show up in this place, as its pale light sometimes comforted him whenever he needed him the most.
Yatogami had been employed by the Queen of Heavens herself, which was weird because he was an unknown stray god, until Hiyori had made him a little shrine so he could visit the land of the gods. Yes, he may be known by everyone as one of the few gods who got a blessed vessel, but he was still a stray.
Why does she knew about him? Of all gods, why him?
"Maybe because you are actually willing to do any sorts of jobs for only five yen," Yukine, his blessed vessel remarked, as Yato would asked him why.
Apparently, he was tasked to clean the abandoned mansion of Amaterasu-omikami's younger brother and former consort, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the legendary god of the moon, for the incoming Tsukimi Festival.
Every year, on 15th day of the 8th lunar month, gods all over Japan would gather on the moon god's adobe for the annual moon-viewing festival. On the evening of the full moon, it is tradition for the gods who want to see the beautiful moon rise to gather in a place where the moon can be seen clearly, and what is a better place to view the moon clearly than the abode of the moon god himself?
Even though it was abandoned for centuries, for the legendary moon god is nowhere to be seen for a millennia, the mansion was still well-kept and clean, although a little bit old.
When Tsukimi festival came to pass, the palace was decorated with Japanese pampas grass, and white rice dumplings, known as Tsukimi dango, taro, edamame, chestnuts and other seasonal foods, even the ever delicious sake, were served to the gods who attended the event.
What makes this year's Tsukimi Festival special is the rare attendance of the Amaterasu-oomikami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto themselves. It was a talk of the town, as it was very rare to see the two divine siblings personally, especially on an event, such as the Tsukimi Festival, ever since their brother vanished without a trace.
It was rumored among the gods that Mirai-no-kami, the goddess of the future, had told them about their missing brother's fate, after everyone observed the strange things happening involving the moon for years. For the past few years, the ever dim moon seems to glow brighter and lively as ever, as the Ayakashi seem to lessen in numbers.
It was also rumored that the missing moon god will be back this year's Tsukimi festival and reclaim his birthright once again.
But as they say, it was just a rumor.
Yato sighed, as he sweeped the floor of the old mansion. He and Yukine came early to start the job as soon as possible. Before, Yato can't enter Takamagahara before because he never had a shrine, a key to teleport to the gods' adobes in Takamagahara, but because of his only beloved follower, Iki Hiyori, he now has a shrine and a place in Takamagahara.
But he feels something missing.
When he first entered the missing moon god's mansion, his heart throbbed in familarity.
He looked around the hallways of the mansion. Yukine decided for them to separate, to make the job easier. Of course, Yato chose the great hall and the hallways, while Yukine chose the gardens.
He proceeded to continue his sweeping when he noticed a huge broken painting on the wall. Normally, Yato would ignore it, since it was slightly old and worn-out, but he felt a bit of nostalgia when he saw it.
He carefully approached the painting and scrutinized it, his hand brushed the surface of the painting. The painting shows three people on it, a woman in the top, with golden rays shining in her blonde head, holding the sun, and two men beside her, the man on the left has long blue hair, like rolling waves in the ocean, holding a fancy staff, ocean waves and lightning was on the background. The man on the right though, was unrecognizable, as it was torn at where the man's face should be. The man's long hair was dark indigo, like the starlit night skies, and on his right hand was the moon. To normal humans, they looked they were in mid-30s, but Yato knew they were gods. In fact, they were the divine siblings of Japan.
He recognized the woman as Amaterasu-omikami, the goddess of the sun, and the Queen of Heavens, although she was older in the painting than she is personally. The man on the left was Susanoo-no-Mikoto, as Yato had first saw him on the colliquy he had once attended, although Susanoo-no-Mikoto left immediately after being drunk after the colliquy.
He never seem to recognize the other man, for he had never seen the indigo-haired deity in all his life. He had assumed that the man was Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the missing moon god, the owner of the mansion he was tasked to clean. Yato stared at Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto's torn portrait with fascination, as he pondered what happened to the moon god.
The gods who had lived the olden times had said the moon god had died after Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto was subjugated due his betrayal of Amaterasu-ookami and the killing of Uke Mochi, but he should have reincarnated, for he has tons of shrines and followers to begin with. It was still a mystery why the moon god still never shown up.
"That is weird, he was a major god, if he had really died like he was supposed to be, he should be reincarnated into a young god afterwards, for he still has many followers and shrines named under him. But why did he disappear without a trace?" Yato asked to himself, as his eyes still staring at the torn portait of the ancient moon god.
But still, Yato couldn't shake the feeling that there is something familiar about this place, and the painting... even though he could swear he never had been in this place and see this wonderful painting all his life.
He touched the torn portrait of the moon god, closing his ocean-blue eyes, as he had heard the sounds of peaceful silence that surrounds the mansion. He could also hear the sweeping outside, and Yato knew it was Yukine doing his job in the gardens.
He opened his ocean blue eyes, as he had hummed a melody that he just heard before, sweeping the floors while humming the melody, but he never remembered how he knew about the haunting melody.
He smiled faintly as his eyes roamed to the huge windows, as the faint moonlight illuminated the hallways. He had lowered the broom he was holding as he had walked to the hallways and to the door where the Great Hall was leading to. He opened the door and it revealed a beautiful large ball room. The ball room was beautifully designed, intricate designs that depicted the moonlit skies were painted around the ball room. The floor around the room was also beautifully painted too, shining stars and planets were decorated on the shiny floor.
What makes the room more amazing is the ceiling. There was a round opening, covered in crystal glass. The glass ceiling was supported by intricately designed golden beams, as the phases of the moon were carved on the metal, casting a shadow on the floor below, whenever the moon shone directly on the ceiling.
It was a beautiful sight, but for Yato, it was haunting and familiar.
As if he never had control on his body, he had waltzed towards the center of the room.
Suddenly, as if by magic, tons of people wearing fancy kimono and hakama suddenly appeared around the empty Grand Hall, dancing and smiling, but Yato knew they were not real people. In fact, they were glowing and see through. The beautiful melody became clearer as it resonates around the place.
Yato walked through the middle of the room, his ocean-blue orbs watching people looking at him in wonder and bowed in respect, while other people still dance around him. Yato felt a little self-conscious, as all of them wear formal clothes, while he wore his usual tracksuit and fluffy-fluff scarf of his. He also felt a little confused as why they were bowing to him, as he was just a stray god, with a little shrine in his name.
A bunch of people quickly approached him, bowing in respect to him, as he smiled in return. He had deduced that they were probably shinki, as some of them have names tattooed in some areas. He also wondered whose master they were serving, as their clothes were too fancy, with beautiful moon patterns adorning in their traditional clothes.
Then one of them pointed behind him, as all people bowed in respect. He turned around and saw two people standing in the far corner of the room.
The woman has long golden hair that reaches the floor, wearing a very fancy kimono, beautiful golden eyes twinkling with authority and softness at the same time. Beside her was a blue-haired man, wearing a loose dark blue kimono-style robe with a cord-style belt, and a pair of white hakama-style pants, dark blue eyes glinting with mischief. Both of them have fancy headdresses on their heads adorning their heads like a crown, and they were slightly older than Yato. Like all the people in the room, they were also see through.
Yato had recognized them as the two divine siblings, confusion slightly covered his features. He wondered why they were looking older than they were currently be, but deep inside, he could swear that he wanted to hug them and never let go. Which is weird because Yato only met them once.
He walked towards the siblings, as the full moon starts to rise, its moonlight hits the glass ceiling. The reflected moonlight hits Yato as he passed through it, and something magical happened.
As the pale moonlight shone on him, his battered clothes glittered and transformed, as his usual tracksuit and fluffy scarf ensemble was replaced by a fancy white kimono-style robe with a cord-style belt with intricate designs of the moon, a pair of white hakama-style pants underneath the robes, and a fancy headdress adorned with exquisite jewels was fastened in his head. Unfortunately, he was too caught up walking towards the two, he had never noticed on what happened to his clothes.
He stood infront of the divine siblings when he reached and grace their presence, and bowed awkwardly. He expected that the Queen would just ignore him, since he was nobody, but the sun goddess had approached him and suddenly hugged him, tears on her golden eyes. Susanoo-no-Mikoto smiled and patted Yato's shoulder in a friendly matter.
The older Amaterasu-omikami broke the hug, smiled, and lovingly held Yato's chin, tears of joy still glistening in her wistful golden eyes. Susanoo-no-Mikoto stared at Yato with a joyful smirk, as he held his twin sister's left hand.
Yato smiled, as he had hummed the last part of the melody, holding the goddess' right hand and squeezed it, before letting go of her hand and kneeled in front of them, every person in the room looking at them with respect.
Yato then closed his ocean-blue eyes, as the pale and magical moonlight still shone above him, bathing him in its ethereal light.
"What are you kneeling around like a crazy person, you lazy moocher?!"
Yato suddenly snapped his eyes open as the vision disappears, his fancy clothes reverted back into his signature tracksuit and fluffy scarf ensemble. Amaterasu-ookami and Susanoo-no-Mikoto's ghostly figures disappeared before his eyes, he was kneeling in the middle of room, confusion graced his features.
He looked at the source of the voice and saw the glares shot by his blessed regalia, Yukine. He suddenly stood up, dusting the dust off of his tracksuit.
"I am finished cleaning, you ungrateful hafuri, so shut up!" Yato screamed.
Yato glared at the teenager, who was still scolding him for leaving his job behind and found the god kneeling on someone in thin air, leaving the blond-haired teen cleaning the hallways that Yato was supposed to clean.
What they did had not noticed is a young girl hiding on the shadows, staring at the bickering duo with a longing look in her golden eyes, holding the white blanket around her covered blonde hair tightly.
She smiled softly as she spoke in a gentle haunting voice, staring at Yato with a longing look in her goldern eyes, "Welcome back, dear Tsukuyomi-kun."
As she spoke the words, she had disappeared in a blink of an eye, like she was not there in the first place, as the pale moonlight shone brightly as it ever been.