Season 2 Episode 12 of "Noragami Aragoto" saw the Yato rescue mission, in which Hiyori saved the nearly forgotten God and Bishamon from the underworld. However, Ebisu's fate remains a mystery as the Heavens decide he needs to be punished. Whether he has been obliterated was not revealed in "Your Voice Calls Out" and has been formulated as a cliffhanger which will be resolved in Season 2 Episode 13, "The God of Fortune's Message".

As we know, Ebisu is one of the Seven God of Fortune and is now trying to gain control over the phantoms, even willing to descent to the underworld to fulfil this goal. It is however, a punishable sin, and the displeased Gods are about to strike him dead when the episode ends.

However, even more of a surprise in the episode was the revelation of Yato's real name — Yaboku. Hiyori had figured it out, and called out to him as Yaboku to get him out of Izanami's territory.

It does seem like a variation of Yato itself, but there has to be more of a meaning to it. In the past, Yato had mentioned that if people knew his real name they would hate him. This should mean Yaboku stands for a terrible God.

Yaboku is a combination of the Kanji Ya (night) and Boku (divination). However in Chinese the word means the God of Disaster. Regardless, many fans believe that Yaboku is just a name the creators came up with, just to make it sound similar to Yato.

Here is an interepretation of the name by fan Swave 158:

In the first season and the first episode we see Yato granting the wish of someone to protect him from a phantom. So a figurative translation of his name "Yaboku no Kami" translates I'm the "Spirit who grants dark wishes". So that would make him the "God of Vengeance". This is why "Tenjin", the god of learning, wonders out loud why such an obscure god like Yato has not died already without worshipers. Yato himself tells Hiyori the gods are born of men's wishes, and his "Father", a mysterious god yet to be revealed in the series, told him he would never need a shrine or worshipers, because humans already pray to him without knowing it. This would make him a major god, but not one that is well known or acknowledged.

Hopefully we will get more back-story on Yato in the future, but for now, the series will continue with Ebisu's fate. Watch Season 2 Episode 13 of "Noragami Aragoto" titled "The God of Fortune's Message" on Friday, 25 December on Tokyo MX and later on MBS, BS11 and TVA.

Also Read