First of all, thank you so much for the kudos/alerts/comments/reviews! I honestly didn't expect people to like this story this much. Thank you again!

I feel like I've read some of the things I used as reference somewhere in the manga but I don't want to break my heart again checking it to make sure if I didn't just made up the facts, so… for the sake of this story, let's just pretend that ghouls appear out of nowhere, shall we?

I've changed several things in chapter one, so if you're a returning reader it may be best if you re-read the latter part of chapter one. I'm also aware that everyone's so out of character. I just write them the way I like it because I can't be bothered to make them in character I'm so sorry hueheu /flees

2. Metamorphosis

Harry had heard about ghouls before, though he had never seen one prior to this incident. Even before he went to study at Hogwarts, he had heard often about them as Dudley loved to scare him with the idea that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would sell him to one as food if he dared to fight back when his cousin bullied him when they were younger.

But he had never thought of that he would encounter one before, so he had let his guard down. He was being arrogant, he realized, because he was a wizard he thought that magic would protect him from anything—even from these ghouls that was regarded mostly as myths in Britain's magical world.

Because "there were wards that prevented ghouls from entering magical districts" — but he had forgotten that he was not in a magical area and the magic that protected those places will not protect him here.

He had only learned about ghouls properly last year and not even from the professors, but from Hermione, who had told them grimly on the train that her neighbor was eaten by one during the summer.

Ron didn't even believe her at first. He grew up in the magical world and never even knew that ghouls are real and thought that they were only creature made up by his parents to scare him from playing too far from home, so she went to lecture both Ron and him everything there is to know about ghouls and their danger then, and that was how he found out that ghouls used to be a part of the magical world and were recognized as a magical species up until the middle of the 17th century.

Apparently they have an agreement with the magical people of back then, "to only prey on non-magical humans" in exchange for "protection and a place to belong", but an organization of magic-hating ghouls, for reasons that was lost to history, schemed to take over the France magical district for themselves and attacked their ruling ministry one day.

After several days of intense battle, the incident finally ended with the ghouls' defeat. The war, although brief and barely lasted three days, caused a vast number of deaths on the humans' side and destruction that couldn't be mended just by magic alone. Over two thousands wizards and witches died at the battle, causing the survivors to come to fear and hate the ghouls—even the innocent ones that didn't have anything to do with the uprising—and barely a day after the bloody incident they commenced an operation to "purify" the magical world of ghouls.

The witches and wizards of that time then brutally hunted down every last ghoul that survived the battle and executed them, forcing the innocents who wanted to live to flee to the muggle world, and warded their district so the ghouls could never return to pay them for their betrayal as well as to prevent similar incident to ever happen again.

The other magical communities all over the world who had heard of the incident followed the example of their France counterpart and drove the ghouls out from their community out of fear that the same thing would happen to them, and that was how ghouls lost their place in the magical world, as well as how they seem to "suddenly" appear in the muggle world without any explanations or evidence that they existed prior to that time. Because they were previously protected and hidden by the magical community.

Hermione also told them of the organ that every ghoul possessed—the kagune. It was an organ made from their blood* that would harden and come out of their skin when they willed it to. Hermione warned them to never take on a ghoul lightly because of this very organ. It was an organ that varied in every ghoul; an organ that was flexible like the flow of water, but firm and sturdy like steel; a deadly weapon that could pierce and slice through the human body like a hot knife through butter.

An organ that was apparently covering his entire body now.

And his head too, he thought with major bewilderment as he patted his head frantically, hearing the soft clinking sounds from where the dark appendage that coated his fingers were clashing with the one that covered his face.

"What—" Harry began, but was cut by the sound of a loud exasperated groan from the blond ghoul as he leaned back and slapped his own face.

"Wait, you're a ghoul?! Why didn't you just tell me in the first place? It'd save me the trouble and embarrassment, man!" the blond rubbed his face, sighing resignedly as he backed away from him and willed his tail away. It dissipated into the air with a sizzling sound and a trace of white smoke, leaving several red colored residues on the ground in its wake.

He's mistaking me for a ghoul.

His bloodlust vanished in an instant and suddenly the thing that was covering his entire body dissipated into the air much like the older man's tail just seconds ago. He watched anxiously as the blond ghoul glanced at the still unconscious form of Sirius on the other side of the road and made a gesture with his thumb.

"What about him? He's our kind too?"

"I'm not your—" Harry slapped a hand to his mouth before he could finish his sentence. Denying that he's not a ghoul would be a stupid thing to do, he thought.

He still didn't understand what was happening to him and it's frustrating. He just wanted to take his godfather to safety and check him for injuries, and no matter how he looked at it the smartest way to get out of this mess safely was to play along with the older man's misconception—even if he didn't want to.

Harry swallowed, hoping that his voice will betray the anxiety that was wrecking his body right now. He was not the best of liars, after all. "I mean—no, he's human."

"Hmm, is that so? Does he know what you are?" The ghoul appraised him with a mix of interest and disgust—like he couldn't fathom why he would be protective of a human.

He glared at the older man's obvious disgust. "No, he doesn't know."

The older man put his hands up to show that he meant no harm. "Geez, no need to be so hostile. I'm warning you though, humans can't be trusted. This guy too. He will betray you the moment he finds out what you are."

Harry glowered at the blond. "He won't. I trust him."

Yet, despite saying that so confidently, an uncomfortable feeling somehow crept into a corner inside his heart. He knew Sirius loved him, but somehow a little part of his mind was worried that the man would view him as something lesser if he finds out about his… deformity.

Why was this happening to him, though? What exactly was happening to him? He remembered that he was just a normal human that morning. He wasn't even aware that a normal human can turn into another species entirely just like that. But then again, he wasn't exactly someone you'd call normal, was he? Did his magic do this to him?

Harry felt a little sick.

While he was having a little mental discussion-slash-breakdown, the blond ghoul shrugged at his response, before he offered his hand at him. "Suits yourself. Come then, I'll help you bring him back to the café. I doubt you could carry him there with those scrawny arms of yours."

Harry tried to shove his less than pleasant thoughts aside to answer the ghoul, who was still waiting for him to take his hand. He didn't take it though. He didn't trust this man, no matter that he didn't seem to have any intentions to harm him anymore.

"The café?" What does Anteiku have to do with this? "Why?"

The ghoul raised an eyebrow as if questioning his intelligence. "Um, so that Yoshimura-san and Koma-san could take a look at Sleeping Beauty's injuries? They have the most experience in dealing with humans amongst us after all."

What? Koma-san and the Manager are ghouls too? Those gentle people were ghouls… and he never noticed. There were human customers in the café too. Were they just pretending to open a café, but in actuality it was a trap to catch their prey with?

He was so upset that wanted to throw up.

"I don't need your help." He said harshly to the ghoul, swallowing the bile at the back of his throat and moved to lift his godfather's body up. "I'll take care of him by myself."

As he expected, his godfather was heavy and his arms and legs were trembling supporting the weight of the man, but he just wanted to go back to their hotel, check Sirius' condition, and sleep. He wanted to forget the last ten minutes ever happened.

Seeing his trembling limbs, the ghoul approached him and took hold of one of Sirius' arm and placed it over his shoulders to help him support the weight.

"What—" He began, indignation coloring his tone of voice.

The ghoul raised an eyebrow again. "I said I'll help you, didn't I? You look like you were having trou—"

Harry glared at the man and interrupted him back, tugging at the arm that was on his own shoulder. "Well, I said I don't need your help, didn't I?! So stop bothering me and go back to wherever it is you came from!"

The man glared right back at him, but he was still holding onto Sirius. "Why are you being so defensive? I'm just trying to help!"

He retorted, tugging at Sirius's body with both his hands. "You're the one who did this to him in the first place!"

"YesI know, okay? That's why let me make it up to you!" The ghoul huffed and readjusted his hold on Sirius's side. "I don't get why you get so upset all of the sudden, but you're clearly not strong enough to carry him. I feel bad for mistaking you for a human and assaulting you like that already, so stop being so stubborn and just let me help you, alright?"

He eyed the ghoul hesitantly, actually feeling bad for the ghoul because of the miserable tone he used.

"Fine. I promise I won't do anything harmful to you or Sleeping Beauty anymore." The ghoul huffed again. "Is Your Highness satisfied with this condition?"

Not having the energy to argue anymore, Harry finally relented.

"Fine."

"Great! I know you would give in eventually!" the blond grinned and readjusted Sirius's position once again, before he began to drag his godfather's body back towards the café, making him jump in anxiousness.

"Wait, no!" He grabbed the edge of the ghoul's shirt, making him almost topple backward.

"Ow, goddamnit! Brat, do you want me to drop your Sleeping Beauty?!" the ghoul scowled, and he let go of the man's shirt when he realized what he had done.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry. It's just—" Harry bit his lower lip in hesitation. "I don't want to go to the café right now. I'm tired. Please just help me bring him home."

He really didn't want to meet Koma-san or the Manager and have bad thoughts about them while he put on a smile like nothing happened. He can't do it. They were deceiving him.

The blond ghoul raised an eyebrow at him for the third time that night. "You sure you want me to know the place you're staying at?"

Oh damn. He forgot that he didn't trust this guy.

"You promised that you wouldn't harm us anymore." He accused.

"I know. But are you sure you want to trust me?" The man tilted his head questioningly.

"Not really…" He replied bluntly.

"Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence." The blond faked a sneer, before he dropped his expression into a serious one. "I won't hurt you anyway. It's up to you if you to believe it or not. What about his injuries though? I know how to make them but treating them is out of my field, I'm afraid."

"I can handle it by myself."

With the help of Hermione, many healing books, and potions, he can do it. Probably.

"Sure. If you say so. Lead the way then, Your Highness." The ghoul curtseyed as best as he could while supporting Sirius' body. As they walked through the silent street, the ghoul suddenly let out a relieved breath. "But, whew! Imagine what Koma-san would do to me if you refused to let me help you after I created so much trouble and go against his direct order. Thank goodness you're willing to cooperate with me."

Despite having promised himself that he would ignore the blond, he couldn't help but be curious. "Koma-san?"

"Uh-huh. He's really fond of you, you know. Always talk about you with this silly grin I have never seen on his face before you showed up." He scrunched up his face. "I got a bit jealous, I guess. He never makes that kind of expression for any of us."

His heart skipped a bit and a guilty feeling settled in his heart. "Any of you?"

The blond nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! I'm a member of the gang he was leading you know! Though Koma-san disbanded it several years ago, I still consider myself his most loyal follower. He was a very strong and charismatic leader back then. Everyone looked up to him." He grinned proudly. "He's my idol."

"That's why I attacked you that night, actually. But you somehow managed to throw me off and got hit by that car." The blond looked up the sky with a sheepish expression, clearly avoiding his sharp glare.

"When you appeared again today, only a week after the accident… I know I should have been suspicious at the very least. No human could heal that fast, after all. But not only you caused Koma-san to laugh at me because you mistook me for a pervert, he also scolded me very harshly because I attacked you and ordered me to never go after you anymore."

He looked down in shame. Koma-san really cared about him, yet he repaid his kind thoughts with suspicion based on his species. It wasn't like he could help what he was born as.

"You were touching my neck with your tongue. What am I supposed to think? I never expected that a gho—another ghoul would try to eat me." Harry stuttered finally, trying to shake off the guilty feeling from his heart.

"W-well! It's not my fault that you smell like humans! How should I know that you're not one yourself?" The blond blushed, realizing that his argument were really weak and coughed to hide his awkwardness. "T-the point is, I hate humans. They cannot be trusted and very prone to betrayal. That's why I got really angry that I got scolded by my idol for a mere human and decided to go against his order, but you turned out to be a ghoul too! Man, how embarrassing."

Your very existence is embarrassing. Harry thought. The blond was really shameless, after attacking him twice and even harming his godfather, he dared talking to him like he was an old friend without even apologizing first, only offered him a half-assed explanation on why he did it and expecting him to sympathize with his circumstances.

"Don't worry, though, I don't eat ghouls. I've heard rumors that eating ghoul meats could cause mutation and make you mentally deranged or something. I love myself too much to risk something like that happening to me, whether the rumor's true or not." The ghoul added unnecessarily. Harry didn't understand how he could ever think of the ghoul as refined when he first saw him at Anteiku.

"Sirius' not a ghoul though." He commented suspiciously.

"I don't eat people precious to one of ours. That would only create unnecessary problem for me in the future and I'm not stupid enough to do it." The ghoul glared, obviously feeling indignant that he would accuse him of doing something so stupid.

This time it was him who raised an eyebrow and retorted snidely. "You have no qualms with getting into trouble with me though."

"That was because I thought you were a human. I don't seek trouble from ghouls that could attack me back." The ghoul huffed, shamelessly admitting that he was a coward. "What's your name anyway? I'm Touno Shouji. You may call me Shouji-san."

He looked at the blond, whose name had been revealed as Shouji, with an unimpressed stare that illustrated his opinion on the man right now, which was: not just shameless, he's an idiot too.

Not getting any response, the ghoul finally sputtered.

"Oh come on, it was a joke! If you don't make a proper comeback I'll be embarrassed!" Shouji blushed brightly as he blurted out his words, and despite his tiredness and everything that happened that night, he surprised himself by laughing earnestly at the older man's reaction.

He finally noticed the man's stare after awhile, and he scowled back defensively.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." The blond shook his head frantically and looked at the ground, avoiding his stare once again. "I just didn't know you are capable of laughter."

Just what did this bastard think he was? He wanted to be mad at him, but he was out of energy already so he decided to just ignore him for the rest of their short journey. That was before the blond finally decided to finally look at him once again though.

"Listen, um… I'm really sorry okay. For everything. I know I'm a jealous person and easily riled up, but I shouldn't have assaulted you like that." He said. "Will you forgive me?"

Finally, an apology, Harry thought, but he decided to withhold his response for a while to find out his true intention. "Are you afraid Koma-san will hate you if I didn't forgive you?"

Shouji made a choked sound. Ah, must have hit the bull's-eye.

No matter though. He didn't like holding grudge for a long time—even though he was still so tired and upset and also confused by that night's events—and Shouji was making it hard for him to stay mad at him, so he finally said: "Sure, I'll forget this ever happened," in a totally devoid of emotion kind of manner, and received a relieved grin from the other.

"Yes! Thank you so much, um… Your Highness!" Shouji thought momentarily before he settled on his previous nickname with a bright grin.

"Please just call me Harry."

But that was the event that occurred three hours ago. Shouji had left after he laid Harry's godfather on his bed, but not until he extracted another promise from him to not tattle to Koma-san because he was scared that he would receive a punishment this time instead of scolding.

After Shouji left, he had grabbed whatever healing books he could get his hands on and a phone to call Hermione. Thankfully Japan was eight hours ahead of their home country so hopefully he wouldn't be too much of a bother to her. He definitely would feel bad if he were to disturb her sleep or something.

Hermione was being her typical self and got really worried, and after she failed to convince him to just take Sirius to a hospital, she instructed him as best as she could and referenced him to the books that would give him the information on the spells that he needed to carry out. He used Sirius wand to perform a diagnosis spell then, and the information it revealed to him put his concerned heart at ease.

It seemed like Sirius just suffered heavy bruising at his ribs area and the reason he passed out was because he hit his head on the wall, so he just spread some healing salve on the bruises and leave the bump on his head alone before he thanked Hermione for her help and let her end the call first.

Now he was sitting at his bedside, feeling upset and confused as he stared at his hands as everything that happened that night finally caught up to him again. Trembling with confusion and anxiousness, he covered his face with his palms tiredly and wondered out loud.

"Just… just what the hell am I?"

He fell into a fitful sleep soon after that, haunted by a terrible dream of being hunted by humans in white coats wielding pitchfork, being led by his furious godfather.

When the sun rose the morning after, Sirius woke up not remembering what happened to him so Harry blearily gave him the explanation he had prepared the night before, hoping that his godfather didn't suspect his lie. Thankfully, his godfather was really gullible. Or maybe just dim, he was not sure which.

"I can't believe that I slipped on a banana skin and hit my head on the street so hard that I passed out—" Sirius exclaimed with a horrified expression before he slapped his face, his red face told him that he was thoroughly embarrassed by his own lameness. "If James was still alive he will probably met his end laughing at my predicament right now, I know it."

He could only laugh weakly in response to hide his nervousness.

Truthfully, his body was exhausted and his mind was troubled. The dream he had, and also Shouji's words the night before made him doubt his previously absolute trust in his godfather. Sure, the man didn't care that one of his best friends was a werewolf, but werewolves didn't eat people—unlike what he had (possibly) become.

He mustn't let Sirius know about it.

For days after that, he had not been able to sleep properly and refused to eat for fear of discovering his possible inability to consume human food anymore and just drank water and coffee after he discovered that ghouls could consume them. The coffee helped reduce his sleepiness and exhaustion, but he still felt jumpy and on edge all the time, afraid that somehow he would give his godfather the impression that he was not a human anymore.

He acted like everything was fine in front of Sirius and was glad that he didn't notice what was going on, but secretly, a tiny bit of him resented the man for it also. Deep down, he knew that Sirius was not to blame for anything, but anxiousness, exhaustion, and hunger made him irritable. The man also didn't help him by being so fucking cheerful all the time when he was in this condition.

Immediately, he felt guilty for thinking like that about the man who had offered him a home even when he was still practically a stranger. He put a hand on his stomach, wishing it to stop hurting as he mentally apologized to his godfather.

Even though the state of his mind was in chaos, the weather outside was really lovely. The sky was bright blue with only little specs of clouds. It was the perfect weather to play around outside all day, so after they (Sirius) had breakfast, Sirius told him that their destination for the day was the Tokyo Disneyland.

If he was in his best condition, Harry actually would be really excited as he had never gone to an amusement park before, but he was not so he could only cheered half-heartedly just to satisfy his godfather. Sirius told him that it would be really fun, before he laughed and told him his hilarious experiences when he went to one before with Remus, Pettigrew, and his parents before they got married.

Listening to Sirius' stories always calmed his nerves, and he mindlessly followed the older man's steps as they traveled on foot to the train station like they always do ever since they arrived in the country.

That was until he realized where Sirius was leading him to.

"Sirius, why are we here?" He said, staring with trepidation at the entrance to the Himiko Kōri, the biggest magical shopping district of Japan. The long row of vermillion Myōjin-styled torii stood imposingly at the end of the narrow alley they were currently standing in front of, guarding the magical area from both ghouls and muggles alike.

"Mm? To get money of course! Can't enter the Mouse Land without tickets, which is bought with money." Sirius said cheerfully, already starting to walk towards the gates.

Harry closed his eyes, panicking internally. How should he get out of this one safely? Should he try to tell him directly that he didn't want to try his luck to see if he could pass through the barrier that protected the district? Should he fake sickness? But he didn't want to worry Sirius.

Noticing that he wasn't following, Sirius looked back in confusion.

"Harry? What's the matter?"

Harry bit his lip, contemplating his answer. "Can I just… you know, wait here?"

Sirius looked surprised. "What? Why? You were so excited the last time we went to the bank. Their cart was way better than the one back home, right? Come on!"

Harry smiled a little at that, but he still didn't want to go. He can't.

"I know. I just don't feel like going. Please?"

Sirius looked concerned now and walked back towards where he was standing still in front of the alley. "Are you sick after all? You've been acting really weird since this morning, you even refused breakfast. Should we just head back?"

"No, I'm—I'm fine. I just don't want to go there." Harry said in a calm manner, despite his thundering heartbeats. In his mind, he cursed Sirius for acting so concerned now of all times when he didn't look like he cared before. His hands shook in nervousness as he prayed to whatever gods was watching for Sirius to drop the topic and just go by himself.

"Harry?" Sirius asked hesitantly. "Why is your right eye like that?"

He tensed and from the corner of his eyes he caught his reflections on the glass window of the building that flanked the alley, and saw the red in his eye. His blood ran cold. How could he forget about the kakugan? Immediately his hand flew to cover his eye and he almost hyperventilated in his panic.

Unfortunately for him, his body mistook the panic he was experiencing and his desire to run away as a sign that he was being threatened, and in a flash of pain that originated from his upper back, he was enveloped with a familiar darkness.

No! Not now, why do you have to show yourself now?!

"No, this is—!"

His whole body froze with fear, and his jaw shook as he tried to find the right words to explain it to his godfather—before he caught a flash of shock and fear from Sirius' eyes and felt something inside of him snap.

Before he knew could stop what was happening, he was already dumping his emotions and thoughts at his still shocked godfather.

"Do you get it now? These things are the reasons I didn't want to enter the district. The reason I haven't been able to sleep properly for the past week. The reason I didn't want to eat anything. Do you fear me now that I've become a ghoul? My body changed so suddenly and I was—what if I discovered that I cannot go through the barrier? Or eat human food anymore? What if I could only eat human meat from now on?" He yelled, looking at the ground and not noticing the way his godfather's face twisted in pain.

"I… I was feeling so frightened and anxious for days, and you didn't even notice and acted like nothing was wrong in this world! You're so insensitive! What kind of a godfather are you—oh…!" He burst out, before he realized what he just said with a horrified expression. "No, Sirius, I… I didn't mean… I'm so sorry—"

He uncertainly looked up as he apologized and saw Sirius' eyes hardened in fury.

Ah.

This is it.

At that moment, he knew that it was over. He felt only numbness, yet his hands shook so much. The world in front of him gradually looked blurrier and he looked back down to the ground, trying to hide his godfather from seeing him in the verge of tears as his kagune dissipated again into the air.

He hates me, he thought. Or was he disgusted with me? Maybe it was a mixture of both.

He closed his eyes, waiting for Sirius to start spitting insults or throwing spells at him, but instead of pain, he felt a hand grabbing his wrist. His eyes snapped open, and he saw Sirius' furious eyes before suddenly he was being drugged towards the torii. He struggled, fear etched so desperately in his expression.

"No, Sirius!" He tried to pull away, but Sirius wouldn't let him. The row of vermillion gate got closer with each dragged steps, and he grew more desperate in his struggle as the fear clawed deeper inside his heart. "Please no, I don't want to!"

Only one step from the gate, and he closed his eyes as tears started to fell down his cheeks.

"I'm scared!"

And with one final tug, Sirius pulled him inside the barrier.

Feeling no pain, he opened his eyes in shock. His breath labored, his limbs trembled, and his cheeks wet with tears as he realized that he had passed past the protections. He fell to his knees, strength leaving his body as a hopeful feeling filled him. That could only mean one thing, right? He was not a fool for hoping, right?

He was still a human, right?

"See, you were human. You've always been and you'll always be. I don't know was happening to you, but I don't care if you have an extra organ in your body, or even if you decides that you'd rather eat human meat rather than cakes—nothing will stop me from caring about you." Sirius said with a serious expression he had never seen before on his godfather's face, and he couldn't do anything but try to suppress his trembling body as a choked sob escaped his lips.

"I was really mad, yeah. I was mad at myself for letting you go through this by yourself. I was mad at myself for not noticing that you've been keeping this to yourself and have been suffering alone. And I was afraid, yeah, but for your safety, not of what you've become. This is no place to speak about such things, after all." Sirius said grimly.

He felt Sirius' arms embraced his shoulders tightly, and a hand shoved his face onto the older man's chest. "But there's no way I'll ever fear what you've become or abandon you, Harry. Not just because you're James' son, but because I see you as my own, um, little brother. Yeah, little brother. I'm not ready to have a son yet, I'm afraid."

He let out a surprised, teary laugh. "The last part totally ruins it, Siri."

"Yes, but it made you laugh. Come on, wipe your tears! Crying face didn't suit you at all." Sirius flicked his nose and he smiled kindly. "I know I'm not the best of godfathers—I'm not a dependable person; I can't give you advice on life like a proper adult or do fatherly things for you, but I do love you and I will listen to your thoughts and insecurities if you need someone to talk to, you know? I'll support you with everything I've got, that's why you don't have to be afraid anymore. Understand?"

"Y-yeah…" He wiped his tears and nodded his head, a heartfelt smile on his face. "Yeah… thank you so much, Sirius. And I'm sorry. For everything."

"No problem, kid! Now let's go! The Mouse Land can wait, but we must feed you before you get any more skinny and collapse from the hunger. You're thin enough as it is." Sirius smiled teasingly, and he laughed back.

"But I don't want to get fat like you, Siri."

Sirius gasped. "So rude!"

Sirius pulled him up, and put an arm around him. Feeling the warmth and safety it provided, he smiled again. As he thought, he was an idiot for doubting Sirius' love.

Next Chapter: Affection

*The wizards are stupid and don't know that kagune are actually made from RC cells.

I bet you didn't expect that to happen. You must have thought Harry and the blond ghoul would have an epic battle where Harry discovered his powers as a half ghoul and then decided to use that power in order to save lives and change people for the better am I right? But no he's kind of a wimp in here I'm so sorry.

On another note I actually never intended for Shouji to become an actual character for this story orz. I didn't even plan to give him a name at all but he seems to have inserted himself into the plot without my consent and I can't get rid of him. He'll probably be the only OC though, don't worry.

By the way, the Japanese sometimes (or all the time, I don't know) call Disneyland 'Mouse Land'. Sirius just copied this to 'blend with the locals'. Also, kōri is a term used to call district a long time ago in Japan. It is now called gun though. Himiko is the name of the woman who united and ruled Yamataikoku during Japan's Yayoi Jidai. People of back then believed that she could communicate with the gods. Torii is the gate, usually vermillion in color or unpainted, that you'd often see in front of a Shinto shrine.

And here's a little Japanese lesson!

Shouji is written in Japanese with these characters ｢倡嗣｣. The on-yomi for ｢倡｣ is 'shou'. It has the meaning of 'lead' or 'initiate', while the on-yomi for ｢嗣｣ is 'shi' and means 'heir' or 'successor'. When the two kanji are put together, ｢嗣｣ is read as 'ji'. His family name Touno is written with the characters ｢灯野｣. The kun-yomi for ｢灯｣is 'tou' and has the meaning of 'light' and the kun-yomi for ｢野｣ is 'no' and has the meaning of 'field'. Just like my username, I shamelessly stole his name from the characters in Sugiura Shiho's Silver Diamond. Eheh ;p

Update: Just to clarify, Harry didn't know that the cause of his change was because of the surgery. That's why he thought the change was sudden because one moment he was just eating with Sirius and the next he had turned into a 'ghoul'.