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"You wanna dig out my tush-crystal, Yukine?!"
The contents of this article and/or its subpages contain manga spoilers.
That's the thing about pretending to be a family, or friends. It's just a game, so you can stop. I know that's how it works. I'm not just a child. I was only playing along with everyone else. Because I'm a good girl.

—The Stray, Chapter 86

The Stray ( () () Nora?) is a shinki of Father. She was formerly a shinki of Yato, Rabō, Ebisu, and Takemikazuchi.

Appearance[]

The Stray has the appearance of a petite young girl with straight chin-length black hair and deep purple eyes. She also wears a "forehead covering" ( (ひたい) (かくし) , hitaikakushi) typical of Japanese ghosts and pale-colored lipstick.

She is most commonly seen wearing a white kimono (着物 (きもの) ) with a red and gold kimono belt ( (おび) , obi). The robe is worn similarly to a burial gown ( () 装束 (しょぞく) , shinishozoku) - pure white, crossed right over left - indicating that she's not a living person. She wears sandals on her feet along with white split-toed socks (足袋 (たび) , tabi). Additionally, her person is adorned with the kanji representing the names given to her by her many masters.

Personality[]

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She, like Yato, is influenced and controlled by the actions and demands of Father. Although she is initially seen as a villain, she is another puppet in the grand scheme of their father.

As a child who died before she was born, she is said to know neither good nor evil.

Skills & Abilities[]

Names & Vessel Transformations[]

As a stray, she has multiple names given to her from various gods. Her vessel form varies with each name. The Stray is also able to change directly from one vessel form to another, as demonstrated during Yato's fight with Ebisu.[1]

  • As Father's shinki, her name is Mizuchi ( (みずち) , a mythological aquatic monster which resembles a hornless dragon).[3] Her vessel name is Chiki (螭器 (ちき) ) and she takes the form of a six-ring shakujō.[4]
  • As Yato's shinki, her name was Hiiro ( (ひいろ) , meaning "scarlet"). Her vessel name was Hiki ( () () ) and she became a water-transforming tachi with a wooden hilt.[5]
  • As Ebisu's shinki, her name was Tsutsu ( (つつ) , meaning "gun barrel"). Unlike most gods, he referred to her as Tsutsumi (筒弥 (つつみ) ), attaching his shinki clan suffix. Her vessel name was Tōki (筒器 (とうき) ) and she became a pistol.[1]
  • As Takemikazuchi's shinki, her name was Eyami ( (えやみ) , meaning "plague").[2]
  • As Rabō's shinki, her name was Furu ( (ふる) , meaning "zero") and her human name was Furuhime (零姫 (ふるひめ) ). Her vessel name was Reiki (零器 (れいき) ) and she took the form of a katana with a decorative red hilt and sheath. This name only appears in the anime.

Other than the names listed above, kanji marks that can be recognized on her body are 臣 (omi/shin, meaning "retainer"), 規 (nori/ki, meaning "standard"), 介 (yuki/kai, meaning "shellfish"), 合 (ai/gou, meaning "join"), 爯 (haka/shou, meaning "to weigh"), 昭 (shou, meaning "to shine"), 亾 (horo/bou, meaning "flee"), 睪 (eki, meaning "spy on"), 易 (yasa/eki, meaning "divination"), 雁 (kari/gan, meaning "wild goose"), 四 (yon/shi "four"), 邑 (mura/ou, meaning "capital city"), 京 (miyako/kyou, meaning "capital city"), 閭 (sato/ro, meaning "rural area"), 疌 (sou, meaning "fast"), 其 (sore/ki, meaning "that"), 醜 (miniku/shuu, meaning ugly), 埍 (meaning prison), 奈 (ikan/na, meaning "apple tree"), 蔡 (akuta/sai, a tortoise used for divination, 匣 (hako/kou, meaning "box") 吁 (aa/u, meaning, "exclamation"), 任(maka/nin meaning "rely"), 美 (utsuku/mi, meaning "beauty"), 錚 (sou, meaning "gong"), 拈 (hineru/nen, meaning "to twist"), 研 (to/ken, meaning "refine"), 剄 (kubikiru/kei, meaning "to behead"), 兀 (taka/kotsu, meaning "high"), 丣 (tori/yu, meaning "rooster"), 玨 (koku, meaning "two jades"), 爻 (maji/gyou, meaning "to mix") 螎 (to/yu, meaning "to melt") 訟 (shou , "to accuse"), 紹 (shou, "to introduce"), 泉 (izumi/sen, meaning "fountain"), 爾 (nanji/ji, meaning "you"), 伊 (kare/i, meaning "that") 犯 (masakari/etsu, meaning "barbarian") 网 (ami/mou, meaning "net"), 睅 (kan, meaning "big-eyed"), 䛗 ("to accuse"), 豸 (tai/chi, meaning "beast"), 屍 (skikabane/shi, meaning "corpse"), 夂 (shuu/chi, meaning "winter") 桼 (urushi/shin, meaning "varnish"), 灸 (yaito/ku, meaning "cauterize"), 疾 (yamai/jichi, meaning "rapid"), 耳 (mimi/ji, meaning "ear"), 尺 (sashi/shaku, meaning "Shaku"), 臺 (utena/tai, meaning "tower"), 閱 (kemisuru/etsu to inspect), 叉 (mata/sha, meaning "fork"), 而 (shika/ji meaning "nevertheless"), 嵒 (iwa/gen, meaning "cliff"), 庠 (minabiya/shou, meaning "school") 岸 (kishi/gan, meaning "beach"), 睍 (ken/gen, meaning "over cautious"), and 杞 (yagi/kou, meaning "willow").

Vessel-specific Abilities[]

The Stray water shield-29

The Stray creates a protective water shield around Yato.

  • Ayakashi transformation: As a shinki named with the Word, the Stray has an ayakashi-like form that she can assume without stinging her masters. This form resembles an aquatic, serpentine creature with a scaled tail, distended belly, and the face of a fetus.[6]
  • Water manipulation: This is a special ability only attainable as Yato's vessel, Hiki. She is able to transform her blade into water, providing impact absorption as well as defensive and offensive maneuvers.[7][1] In the anime, however, this ability is also used as Rabō's vessel (Reiki) to perform water-based attacks.[citation needed]
  • Liberation ( (かい) (ほう) Kaihou?): Liberation is a technique only attainable as Father's vessel, Chiki. When she comes into contact with another shinki, she is able to crack their name and expose them to the God's Greatest Secret.[8]

Spells & Curses[]

  • Bakufu ( (ばく) () Bakufu?, "Binding Cloth"): In the manga, the Stray is yet to use this skill. In the anime, she uses it to stop Kinki from biting Yato.[9]
  • Name Concealment: The Stray can enact a curse that hides the kanji seal of a name on her body. The curse is udone, however, if the god who calls the hidden name.[10]
  • Ayakashi manipulation: She is one of the few entities that are able to control masked ayakashi. She performs this skill in her human form. She used wolf-like masked ayakashi to attack Hiyori.[11][12] She later used these masked ayakashi to kidnap Yato.[13] She has also manipulated ayakashi to attack Yukine using a song.[14]

Other[]

  • Memory Fragmentation: The Stray is seen to have the ability to take people's memories and morph it into the form of a small jewel-like fragment. She uses this ability in her human form. It is an anime-only ability used to take Hiyori's memories of Yato and Yukine.[12]

Quotes[]

  • To herself: "A bird that won't fly, a fish that won't swim. A child who won't obey... I wonder which child will be abandoned next." (Chapter 55)
  • To herself: "They don't care– they just do whatever they want... What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?! Maybe it's time I do what I want!" (Chapter 85)
  • To Hiyori Iki: "I worked as hard as I could! I got all those names, too... But no one ever liked me best!! It's because I'm not really a little girl, isn't it?! So why do girls like you keep coming into the world?! It's not easy at all!! It's not fair! I... I wanted to be a girl like you, too!!" (Chapter 86)

Trivia[]

  • Yato only called her Hiiro when they were working together, and called her the Stray when they weren't.[citation needed] Rabō also called her Hiiro once at the end of Episode 7.
  • As strays are viewed unfavorably by gods, most of the Stray's names do not include the owner god's family suffixes that are normally given to their shinki. An exception to this is Ebisu, who sees the use of strays as an acceptable practice and keeps quite a few of them;[15][16] as such, the Stray is included in his 弥 Mi clan as Tsutsumi.
  • As Tsutsumi, she transforms into a handgun that appears similar to a Luger, which saw extensive use during the WWI and WWII by the German forces.
  • The character for the name Eyami (疫) can be seen on her left forearm as early as her first appearance in the series.
  • The Stray calls herself a Mizuko (水子 (みずこ) Mizuko?), which is a catch-all term for a baby that dies either before or shortly after birth for any reason, whether it be miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion, or birth defect.
  • The Stray is usually seen wearing her kimono crossed right over left, the way it is seen on corpses. Kimono are always crossed left over right otherwise.
  • In Volume 5 English translation notes, it was incorrectly suggested– based on the vessel name ( () () ) she received from Yato– that the Stray's name as a person would be Akane ( (あか) () ). This was later corrected with the release of Volume 7, in which Yato refers to her as Hiiro.
  • The Stray's human name as Rabō's shinki, Furuhime, is extremely unconventional. The character used, 零, does not have furu as one of its readings. The character normally has the meaning of "zero" or "spill/overflow," but it also had the meaning of "small rainfall" in Middle Chinese. The character also still contains the radical for rain (雨), which does have furu (meaning "fall" in the context of falling rain) as a nanori (name) reading. This may be a play on words referencing the Stray's connection to water. Dragons are also associated with rainfall, and the Stray's true form and the mizuchi she is named after are both dragon-like.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chapter 32: She Who Invites (Vol 9)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Chapter 57: Where Loyalties Lie (Vol 15)
  3. Wikipedia: Mizuchi
  4. Chapter 49: Fight Without Quarter (Vol 13)
  5. Chapter 46: Children at Play (Vol 12)
  6. Chapter 85: Whom I Wish to See (Vol 22)
  7. Chapter 29: The Affairs of Three Realms (Vol 8)
  8. Chapter 52: The Near Shore and the Far Shore (Vol 14)
  9. Episode 6: Scary Person
  10. Chapter 86: Box (Vol 22)
  11. Chapter 9: Abominable Creature (Vol 3)
  12. 12.0 12.1 Episode 10: Regarded With Hate
  13. Chapter 27: Do and Due (Vol 7)
  14. Chapter 44: Cut + Ties (Vol 12)
  15. Chapter 31: Like Parent, Like Child (Vol 8)
  16. Chapter 73: If You Hear a Scream (Vol 19)

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