Hiyori Iki (壱岐 ひより?) is the main female protagonist of the Noragami series. After "saving" Yato from an incoming bus, she became a Half-Ayakashi with the ability to leave her human body.
Appearance
Hiyori's Anime Design
Hiyori's appearance is that of a rather attractive yet average teenage girl. She has long dark hair which is colored dark brown and light eyes that are colored magenta in the anime and brown in the manga. Her height is 163.48 cm. (or 5'4".) She is often seen wearing her middle school uniform, which consists of a short lavender sailor shirt and a knee-length skirt. She changes outfits on occasion, donning a grey overcoat over the uniform and wearing a pink scarf during the first season, which took place in winter, and more summer outfits in the second season.
When she turns into a half-Ayakashi, a purple tail-like "cord" that bears a strong resemblance to a cat's tail emerges from her lower back. When she becomes a high school student, she is often seen wearing her high school uniform, both the summer and winter versions, throughout the later chapters of the manga.
Personality
Hiyori is a kind-hearted girl who will go out of her way to help someone in danger. This is shown when she willingly risked her life to keep Yato from being hit by a bus (which resulted in her getting hit instead and ending up in her current condition, as well as turning out to be pointless since it wouldn't have killed Yato anyway), despite the fact that the two were complete strangers at the time. However, she isn't above calling out people when she thinks they're in the wrong, as after saving Yato she immediately called him out for running into the street, calling him an idiot. She also has a strong sense of right and wrong, which is evident when she witnesses Yukine swindling money behind Yato's back which openly troubles her. Eventually, she confronts him to ask what he intends to do with it.
While far from stupid, Hiyori can be a bit air-headed, at times having very strange priorities; when Yato explains that her 'tail' is actually a lifeline that connects her physical and ethereal forms and that she'll die if it's cut off, Hiyori's biggest concern is that she's not 'wireless', as opposed to why Yato waited until then to mention something so important. However, she is also quite perceptive of the feelings of others, such as when she was able to figure out that Yato wants to keep Regalias from seeing people waste their lives, as all of them are people who died while still wanted to live.
Hiyori is also characterized by a deep loyalty to those she trusts and a tendency to express her emotions. While she initially doesn't like Yato much, considering to be very lazy and selfish due to him constantly putting off her request and blowing money on useless trinkets, she gradually warms up to him after seeing his better qualities, and after Yukine's punishment, the three become very close friends and she treats Yato much nicer. Hiyori is also a very brave person who constantly puts her own safety at risk to help others, especially if it is Yato or Yukine; when Yato's body is blighted, she does not hesitate to carry him on her back despite her knowing that the blight is infectious.
Hiyori is heavily implied to have developed feelings for Yato; although Hiyori wishes to return to being completely human, she also has no desire to sever her ties with Yato, having refused several times despite it being her best chance to return to normal and Tenjin believing it's what was best for her, claiming she wants to spend more time with Yato. In the English dub of the anime, she even goes so far as to say there's no way she'd be happy without him and Yukine in her life. She also takes a strong liking to his smell, even calling it her favourite smell on once occasion, and at one point was even able to regain her memories by recognizing it. However, she is shown to be rather embarrassed by how much she likes Yato's scent, to the point of dodging the subject whenever it's brought up.
Despite being raised to be completely lady-like, Hiyori is a huge martial arts fan and has a fixation on a martial artist called Touno, whom she copies her attacks from and will often become inspired and act on his words; when she remembered Touno telling everyone to pave their own destiny with their own hands, she followed his advice and attempted to find Yato a Regalia by herself. However, she keeps this secret from her mother, whom she worries will freak out if she finds out she's into something like that.
She is pure and loves people.
Abilities
- Sensing Creatures From Far Shore: Unlike normal humans, Hiyori can sense, hear and see the creatures from the Far Shore. She and her brother have inherited the ability to see beings of the Far Shore from their maternal family. This is explained by their grandmother in Chapter 54.
- Astral Projection: After she pushed Yato out of the way of an oncoming bus, she gained the ability of astral projection, effectively enabling her to "drop her body"(called her "insta-snooze" trick by Yama) and become a "Half-Phantom" (半妖 lit. hanyou?). Though she attempts to control this ability, she often leaves her body behind without realizing it.
- Physical Combat: Hiyori has no abilities in her human form, however, when in her half-Ayakashi form, she acquires enhanced strength, speed, and agility. She is shown to be able to hold her own in combat against the Frog Ayakashi.
- Smell Recognition: She also gains a very strong sense of smell and is able to pick up a god's scent from a long distance away.
- Looking Into Another's Memory: This ability was shown only once by Hiyori, when she managed to look into Yato's memory of when he was young and met his second Shinki Sakura. However, the reason behind this has not been explained yet.
Relationships
Yato
Hiyori initially had a purely business-like relationship, with Yato promising to grant Hiyori's wish to remove her ability of astral projection. However, this was stalled for a while, due to Yato's other priorities and not actually knowing how to remove her ability at the time. During this, the two have grown to be very close friends.
Hiyori tends to take on either a motherly or sisterly figure like or agitated tone when around him, constantly nagging and lecturing him, occasionally shifting to a tender tone when trying to reach his heart on certain matters.
Even after being told not to go search for Yato in Yomi, Hiyori went along with Yukine anyway just to bring him back to the surface. She is also the one who called out his real name to save him from Izanami.
Yato later discovers that in order for Hiyori to turn back to normal, he would have to sever his ties with her, but he strongly hesitates after having realized her importance to him. When he finally decides to cut the ties, after a series of events where Hiyori has faced danger as a result of associating with him, Yato is surprised to hear her response when she refuses to allow the bonds to be severed because she wanted to be with him.
In the manga, Yato has done various things in an attempt to display his affection for Hiyori, especially after she has refused to cut their ties, and even more so when she saved him from Izanami, promising to make her 'the happiest girl in the world'. After their trip to Capypa Land, Yato carries out ludicrous and suggestive acts such as offering to buy her a souvenir lingerie set (even going as far as to guess her bra size), changing her phone's wallpaper to a picture of him, taking pictures of himself laying next to Hiyori while she was asleep, and asking about the boys she's acquainted with (all the while holding Sekki, claiming that "it's just pest control", demonstrating Yato's slightly jealous nature). Despite these unsettling gestures, Hiyori appreciates them and understands that he means well. Yato's father- disguised as a highschool boy named Fujisaki (shown kissing Hiyori in episode 9 of the anime and chapter 30 in the manga) has also asked Hiyori in a menacing way if she pitied or just loved Yato. Hiyori began to blush intensely as she started to mentally bring up memories of Yato. Hiyori proceeded to blush and bubble over before Fujisaki announced his annoyance because she had been "getting in the way of his Yaboku" and left. At one point, Fujisaki admits to his son that he kissed Hiyori and showed him a picture of the act. Yato's face completley dropped and he became very upset. Kofuku also playfully ties his and Hiyori's plaques together in the matchmaking ceremony - it's possible that this foreshadows further development in their relationship into a more romantic one. However, it's stated that any match Kofuku makes end in misfortune and disaster, so this may be an indication of future hardships between them.
Yukine
Yukine is one of Hiyori's closest friends, and Hiyori thinks of Yukine as a trustworthy younger brother. When she heard about Yato killing a Shinki, she was very worried about Yukine, which was visible when she asked him to accompany her at her house due to believing that Yato was incapable of looking after Yukine. She also cares deeply for him, especially when Yukine told her that he wanted to study, which she encouraged by giving him all of her old school books, and occasionally helping him to study.
Hiyori also played a big role is Yukine's ablution by giving Yukine words of encouragement, which stopped him from turning into a Ayakashi, and Yukine is deeply grateful to her for this. At first, Yukine only saw Hiyori as a person who he could use, but after his ablution, they became very good friends and Yukine started viewing her as a closer and more important person to him. Yukine is shown to worry about Hiyori's well being since she is very important to him and Yato. Also, Yukine sometimes seems worried that someday, Hiyori will forget about him and Yato (which she almost did, once).
Kofuku
Kofuku and Hiyori are on good terms, and Kofuku affectionately calls her "Hiyorin". Hiyori can be a little cautious of her since she is God of Poverty, but Hiyori cares for her. Kofuku (and Daikoku) were the ones who Hiyori went to when Yato was in danger, which means that Hiyori deeply trusts Kofuku.
Yama & Ami
Yama and Ami are Hiyori's closest friends. The three are like a group and they are very supportive of each other. When Hiyori gets her "snooze attacks" (leaving her body), they tend to take care of her and doesn't seem to mind because it's normal for Hiyori. Hiyori also cares for her friends a lot and they are on good terms.
Trivia
- Her character song is Mitai Sekai.
- Her name is homophonous to the term "日和" meaning "fair weather". This forms sort of a theme with Yato and Yukine, the first Kanji of whose names mean "Night" and "Snow" respectively. All three names refer to a kind of "condition" the sky can be in.