Watch out, this post isn’t spoiler-free!

I never try to predict Noragami really, mostly because the things I think are going to happen often happen, but only in the weirdest and most roundabout ways that I most certainly did not predict! XD

However, this chapter in particular has so many ways it can go, I’ve really been swept up in thinking about where things could possibly go. I’m sure none of this is how it will actually unfold, but I was excited thinking about it, so I want to share.

Will Yato name Kazuma?

I think there’s three possible paths here:

1) He does, immediately. He takes Kazuma and goes charging in to try to face his father directly, without asking Bishamon if he can make Kazuma a Nora. He undoubtedly will feel guilty for this, especially because there’s no guarantee that Kazuma would even be able to survive Liberation anyway. I could only see him choosing this out of desperation, as this path would likely spell the end of Yato’s friendship with Bishamon. I can’t see any situation in which she would be okay with Yato doing this, especially after we saw how dramatically Arahabaki reacted when Yato requested Nana’s help, even though Nana is no longer Arahabaki’s shinki. That Yato would willingly risk the life of her hafuri without her knowledge feels really bad, man. If Yato takes this course, I can only see the story coming down hard on him for it; one of the things we’ve consistently seen in this series is that the characters are brutally punished for their poor choices, both big and small. Making bad moral decisions always, always has serious consequences in Noragami, and this would be a doozy of a morally bad decision.

2) Yato turns Kazuma down because he’s grown enough as a person to recognize the wrongness of the situation. For one, hafuri shinki are powerful because of their desire to protect their masters, but at this moment, Kazuma has no desire to protect Yato–he actively wants to kill him, which is the DEAD opposite of a normal hafuri and would likely result in some sort of terrible backlash in battle. Second, it’s a massive violation of the trust Yato has built up with Bishamon. Third, it’s a massive violation of the trust Yato has with Yukine, who is still sensitive about Kazuma because of the way Kazuma betrayed him before… So he refuses, despite Kazuma’s protests. However, even after turning Kazuma down, somehow in the course of the coming chapters, Yukine is kidnapped or taken out of the action, and Yato is forced to turn to Kazuma, possibly in the heat of the moment, as he has literally no other shinki. This way, it’s slightly less of a morally bad decision because Yato would have been actively forced into it, and therefore he (mostly) dodges the bad karma bullet.

In either case, it seems very likely to me that we are soon going to see a situation in which Father has possession of Yukine, so if either 1 or 2 end up being true, we will likely get a showdown of Father+Yukine and Yato+Kazuma. However, if that is the case, I do not think Yato and Kazuma are capable of winning on their own, because their motivations will be completely at odds. Yato will be fighting to save Yukine, whereas Kazuma, who has completely gone over the edge, will be willing to go straight through Yukine to get to Father. We’ve seen that sometimes Yato loses control of his own body while fighting with his shinki; it was Yukine who dealt the blow against Bishamon using Yato, not the other way around–if Yato takes Kazuma into battle against Father+Yukine, it is entirely possible that Kazuma might be able to control Yato into doing something terrible, potentially breaking Yukine (again). Then again, this might be an opportunity for the long-awaited second power-up for Yukine…

(There’s also the less likely third potential path: Yato turns Kazuma down and sticks to those guns, ending up never giving him a name. Instead, by some other plot contrivance, Yato manages to rescue Yukine from Father and Nora’s clutches and uses Yukine in a fight against his Father. Yukine will probably experience Liberation due to his cracking name, but will survive because of his willingness to die for Yato, and after viewing his past and deciding that being dead with Yato is still better/more meaningful than his own mortality, Yukine gets a power-up to become Nana-levels of ass-kicking. The heavens tremble before everyone’s favorite snow puff son! This is actually the BEST route… And therefore probably the least likely. XD)

So then the other important question: What’s up with Mizuchi?

There’re a lot of reasons I’m fully convinced that Mizuchi’s names have only been suppressed and are not actually gone (I mean, Fujisaki is standing right there in the last panel of the chapter, lol), but really the number one reason is that, from a narrative sense, it makes no sense for Yato to team up with Kazuma at all if Father no longer has access to Chiki. If Father really released Mizuchi, he would have permanently lost access to–from what we’ve seen so far–his only weapon and his primary means for enacting Liberation. Why would Yato even need a hafuri who can counteract Liberation… if Father couldn’t use Liberation anymore?

And of course there’s the whole thing about how other gods would likely not have released her, especially not Takemikazuchi and Ebisu, etc. etc.

So anyway, this is 100% a trick. (I don’t hate Mizuchi for this and I do believe that at least some of her tears were genuine–I think she really feels the things she said to Yukine, even if she is trying to trick him otherwise.)

Suppressing every single one of her names puts her in an incredibly powerful position actually, because remember: shinki spells do not work without names. Yukine, who is currently isolated from Yato and cannot take his sword form, will have absolutely no defense against her, because she no longer has a name for him to control, while she still has his name and will have access to all her spells against him. He’s literally a sitting duck, while she’s effectively untouchable.

So what’s she going to do? Personally, I don’t think Yukine is in immediate life-threatening danger. It seems unlikely that she would want to kill him, as Father doesn’t gain anything by doing that. The most likely plan to me seems to be kidnapping, with the intention of getting Yukine to Father and making him a Nora so that Father can use him as a tool to control Yato’s behavior. This loops back into the potential paths above–if Father gets a hold of Yukine, it’s almost impossible that we won’t see a Father+Yukine vs. Yato+Kazuma showdown battle, with all the aforementioned possible endings.

The fact that Fujisaki brought the ayakashi wolves to the underpass too tells me that he and Mizuchi are likely in a hurry. I don’t think they’re playing the long con here. I could be totally wrong on that though, but something tells me that Fujisaki is feeling a bit of pressure right now and wants to secure, at the very least, a bargaining chip, as soon as possible.

It seems possible to me that the next chapter or at least some chapter soon will be a Yukine vs. Nora showdown that Yukine loses miserably, and the chapter may end with Yato and his new shinki KazuWhatever-ne plowing dramatically on to the scene… a second too late to stop Fujisaki from naming Yukine and calling him triumphantly to his side. Mm, how epic would it be to just end on a giant one page spread of Father wielding whatever new form Yukine takes on as he grins down at the helpless, horrified Yato??? Even if this doesn’t happen, I had great fun imagining this…

In short, I really don’t have any clue where Noragami is going, but mannnnn is it exciting to think about! Can’t wait for next month!!