Chapter 1
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, setting, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. All other concepts and ideas from other books or stories belong to their respective authors. No copyright infringement is intended.
The light from the morning sun entered through the east-facing window, illuminating the room within. The light shone on a master bedroom with carpeted floors and white walls with light crimson accents. The bed was a king-size four poster canopy with a crimson comforter and white sheets. There was a dresser with a mirror across from the bed, a night table next to the bed and another, larger, dresser along the wall next to the window. The theme was distinctly male but there was a hint of female influence in the curtains and the way not the entire room was painted a deep crimson but rather was predominantly white with hints of the color tastefully splashed here and there.
The walls had several pictures hanging from them, the fact that the same teenage boy showed up in all of them showing he was the owner of the room. The boy was tall, with black hair and deep emerald eyes. In one picture, it showed the teenage boy with a large group of girls dressed in a jacket and hakama with shinai hanging from their waist, obviously a kendo club of some sort. Next to the boy was a purple-haired girl of the same age, obviously the captain of said club, with a neutral look that showed a hint of a smile along the edges of her mouth. The boy had his arm over her shoulder and it was obvious they were close friends.
Another picture showed him with two beautiful girls, one redhead and the other black-haired, standing in front of a fair with the boy smiling and waving at the camera as the two girls smiled alongside him, though the red-haired one seemed to be hanging onto him a bit more possessively than the other.
The last picture on the wall showed the boy at a much younger age with a cute blonde-haired girl in pigtails who was hanging onto his arm possessively as they smiled for the camera. They were standing in front of a church with people walking around in the background, obviously having just gotten out of Sunday Mass.
On the night table were two more personal pictures, one of them including the boy with a busty young woman with long, blonde hair in multiple drill-like curls. In this one the boy and the blonde were standing next to each other with the boy's arm thrown over her shoulder in front of a fountain, smiling gently. The second picture frame on the night table was set up as a series of pictures similar to the set of 2x2 pictures from photo booths. Each picture frame showed the same two people; the young man from before and an extremely attractive older woman with long violet hair and a voluptuous figure, the final picture frame showing them kissing passionately.
Suddenly, the sound of an alarm clock rang through the room, awakening its occupants from their slumber and from dreams of things they could no longer remember now amongst the waking world. After a minute or two, an arm appeared from under the covers and sleepily reached over to turn off the alarm clock. The act had moved the comforter down enough to reveal the owner of said arm to be none other than the same boy in the pictures, one Harry James Potter.
Harry reached beside him only to find he was alone in bed, only a warm spot showing someone had been sleeping beside him. Confused as to where his bedmate was, he look around and spotted a note next to the clock. Reaching over, he read it as he blinked sleep from his eyes.
Sorry, love, but I had to get back home to shower and get my work clothes. I cooked breakfast earlier so all you have to do is heat it up. I made your favorite. Love you and see you in third period.
M
P.S. Don't be late!
Even half-asleep, Harry couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend's post-script, knowing that despite her words she wouldn't be that angry unless he was late for third period.
Groaning slightly and wishing he could go back to sleep but knowing he couldn't, Harry got up and sleepily changed into his workout clothes/ He always did some morning exercises before starting the day, both to keep in shape and to get the blood pumping for the day.
Harry walked into the basement and started his stretching exercises to get warmed up. Once that was done, he walked over to the workout mat he set up for his physical training before grabbing a simple wooden sword shaped to be similar to a typical Western broadsword. It also had several runes sketched into it to give it a weight similar to a real broadsword as well as runes to make it nigh-unbreakable. Of course, overwhelming force, physical or otherwise would break it so it wouldn't be useful for real battle but it was sufficient for training.
Harry took a deep breath before a small haze started to form around the training sword. Slowly, the blade seemed to disappear as a barrier of wind formed around the training blade, increasing its sharpness while also making it invisible, making it difficult for opponents to guess its length. It was a new spell Harry had created when he was thinking up ways to make his sword skills more effective in battle against wizards. Harry went through a long series of katas as he thought back on the last few years and how he ended up here.
A little over three years ago, Harry had just graduated from the fourth and worst year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The year had been one terrible experience after another from Ron's abandonment, to Hermione's lack of support to being forced to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. However, the worst came at the end of the Tournament when he had been tricked by a spy for Voldemort to participate in a ritual to resurrect said Dark Lord. Unfortunately, the ritual had been a success and Voldemort had returned to life at full power once more.
Harry had managed to escape through sheer luck and tried to warn everyone of Voldemort's return. Sadly, Minister Fudge was a spineless coward and refused to even consider the fact that it might be true and had started a smear campaign against Harry to discredit him and Dumbledore who, at the time, supported Harry's claims.
At first, Dumbledore had supported him openly which had relieved Harry greatly. However, that all changed during the summer. It seemed as if Dumbledore had been threatened with the removal of his positions and power and had retracted his support for Harry, leaving him to stand alone. Even Harry's supposed best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had abandoned him, ignoring his letters and refusing to tell him anything, simply saying he wasn't supposed to know. The gall of Hermione saying he wasn't mature enough to deal with some of the things Dumbledore was doing and he was acting irrational for questioning Dumbledore had really broken any chance of them being friends once more.
It was then that Harry had realized something. Why exactly did he stay in the Wizarding World? He didn't owe them anything and his vault had more than enough money to tide him over for the rest of his life. Every year at Hogwarts he had risked his life for them only to be met with ridicule and outright hostility. Every time he needed help he had been forced to do it on his own or outright abandoned. He owed them nothing. As for learning magic, Harry could always pay for a private tutor since ICW laws allowed it as long as the tutor was certified. Furthermore, since he was the last heir of an Ancient and Noble family, Harry automatically became of age at 15 instead of 17, something Dumbledore and his group had conveniently forgotten to tell him.
The only person that he might have stayed for was Sirius and a quick conversation with him had gotten his support. Sirius, however, had warned him that Dumbledore wouldn't let him go without a fight and might even use illegal means to keep him under his control. He suggested it would be best for Harry to leave the country altogether once he turned 15 and was officially of age. They had discussed it over a magical mirror and Sirius gave him all the different places he could go before finally deciding on Japan.
They had chosen Japan for various reasons. First, Japan was literally on the other side of the world. It was separated from Britain and the other European magical countries by a large distance and for this reason, communication between Japan and the ICW countries had always been sparse. The fact that European wizards looked down on the Eastern countries also contributed to this. While Japan had once been an ICW country, it had left the ICW soon after Dumbledore became Supreme Mugwump. This meant they were under no obligation to report Harry's presence in their country since he wasn't a criminal of any kind.
To make things better, the Japanese had a strong dislike if not outright hate for Dumbledore due to his passing laws that made most of their magic illegal. Before Dumbledore became Supreme Mugwump, European wizards could choose amongst many different branches of magic, everything from elemental manipulation, to shapeshifting, to evocation to even blood magic. However, Dumbledore had used his fame to push many laws making such things illegal, stating that the recent war against Grindelwald as an example of why such magic shouldn't be taught. Japan had refused to follow such laws, causing them to leave the ICW to much outrage from the other ICW countries due to Japan having been one of the founding countries of the ICW.
Needless to say, the magical government of Japan would be under no rush to report Harry's presence to Dumbledore and would actually be happy to hide him there as long as Harry didn't break any of their laws.
The large selection of magic available to learn had been another reason Harry had decided on Japan. Not only was there a larger selection to choose from, calling to Harry's inner Ravenclaw, but it had been extensively studied to make studying even blood magic safe. The United States also had a large selection of magic to choose from and was not part of the ICW but had been dropped because it had been recently been trying to gain ICW membership (and selling Harry out to Dumbledore might gain them that) and because they were a relatively new magical community compared to other countries meaning they had less time to develop their magical teachings than others.
However, choosing where to go had been the easiest part. The hard part was actually getting there. Sirius had warned Harry that there was a guard around his house 24/7 so leaving without alerting Dumbledore would be difficult. The easiest time to escape would be just when Mundungus started his daytime shift since he never reported in hourly like he was supposed to and it gave Harry a six hour window before the next shift arrived. It hadn't taken long for Harry to discover his minders since wizards absolutely sucked in anything resembling common sense. Seriously, what was the point of an Invisibility Cloak if they didn't silence their shoes and stood in the middle of the sidewalk where anyone could bump into them? Harry really wondered if all wizards became stupider as they grew older or if it was just the British wizards in general.
Harry had arranged things with the goblins through owl, Hedwig being too good at her job to be intercepted or stopped by any of Dumbledore's stooges. The goblins had created a muggle passport along with permission for him to become a citizen of Japan, both muggle and magical, and even booked his flight. Harry had chosen muggle transportation because it would harder to track. Portkeys had to be registered a month beforehand by the Ministry and would alert Dumbledore to something afoot while Apparition couldn't go that far. Furthermore, wizards had no way of tracking someone through muggle means, the centuries they spent separated from the muggle world meaning most didn't even know airplanes existed much less how to track a specific passenger.
Harry had been afraid of tracking spells Dumbledore might have placed on him but Sirius had assuaged his worries. Tracking charms could only be placed on non-living things such as clothing and the like, therefore all he had to do was buy new clothing and leave his old. As for objects, wands couldn't have any charm placed on them due to it interfering with the process of casting magic. In other words, any tracking charm placed on his wand would have broken the moment he cast his first spell as the interfering magics caused both spells to fail. His Invisibility Cloak had also been a thought but had been discarded when Sirius told him that his father's cloak had been found to be immune to spells cast on it. While the one under it could still be hit by a spell, the Cloak itself resisted any attempts to place spells on it.
Owls were also a problem but owls usually had a limited range. Normal post owls could only reach anywhere within Britain. Once Harry arrived in Japan, only specially made international owls could reach him and even then, they would have to go through Japanese mail service first. Japanese wizards were smart enough to know that using owls during the day was just plain stupid so they had a mail office that received all wizard mail, international and domestic, where it was cleaned of any lingering magic on it before sent onward toward the receiver through regular muggle mail. The opposite could also be done as long as the wizard used a specific mail service that was a front for wizard mail.
With his plans set, Harry had left on his 15th birthday, passing by a sleeping Mundungus without trouble. Sirius had warned him that Dumbledore would be sending people to pick him up that night so Mundungus's shift had been extended to last all day so there would be more of his people awake and alert for Harry's "guard". This gave Harry plenty of time to go to Gringotts under his Invisibility Cloak, take control of his finances by becoming Lord Potter, taking his passport and ticket, and arranging for every single Knut in his vault be transferred to the Japanese branch of Gringotts just in case the Ministry tried to take his money. The smear campaign in recent weeks had turned particularly nasty and it wouldn't surprise Harry if the Ministry made up some excuse to seize his assets.
Harry wouldn't find out till much later that he had been lucky to leave at that time since Dementors attacked his relatives' place that very night, sucking out all of their souls before the Order arrived and chased them away. The mess left behind from three muggles being Kissed and dementors being in a muggle neighborhood without authorization had muddled any effort to find him even more, not helped by the fact that Fudge tried to blame it on him.
After withdrawing 3,000 pounds and getting 1,000 of those exchanged into Japanese currency for when he arrived in Japan, Harry had quickly bought a few changes of clothes (since he had left all the clothing he owned, except for the one he was wearing, at home). He had left on his flight to Japan in new clothing and nothing to tie to his old life except his Invisibility Cloak and his wand. He had even been forced to leave behind the album of photos of his parents due to not knowing if tracking charms had been placed on it. It would make sense since under normal circumstances Harry would never have left it but Harry knew his parents loved him and would prefer him to leave it behind and be free instead of risk taking it and being tracked.
While Sirius and he had decided on Japan, Harry had decided on where exactly in Japan thanks to a childhood friend of his, Irina Shidou. Irina was a cute blonde-haired girl one year younger than him that had moved to Surrey when Harry was nine. Her family had been part of the church Harry's relatives went to and the two had met there. Unlike other children who had been scared off by Dudley and his gang, Irina hadn't cared about Harry's cousin and had quickly befriended him. Summer at the Dursleys once he started to attend Hogwarts had been more bearable thanks to Irina's presence and although he couldn't tell her about Hogwarts and magic, they remained close.
Irina's family had originally been from Japan and so she had recommended her old town to live in, saying it would be a great place to have a fresh start. Harry had quickly agreed and after many promises to stay in contact, they had tearfully parted ways with a promise from Irina that she'd return to her old town someday so they'd meet again. Harry had no fear of not staying in contact with Irina since no one in the Wizarding World knew about his friendship with the pretty girl. The only ones who knew were the Dursleys and they were no longer in any position to say anything.
Once arriving in Japan, Harry had contacted the magical government saying he had arrived and they had quickly set up a program so he could catch up with the muggle side of his education. Unlike Britain, Japan insisted on wizards attending muggle schools while learning magic either during the summer or with a tutor at the wizard's own pace. Also unlike Britain, in which everyone who graduated Hogwarts was considered a fully certified wizard, Japan only allowed one their certificate once their tutor said they were ready or they graduated from the summer school with the approval of no less than three instructors, a Mastery in a minimum of two subjects and expert in three more.
They had also had him swear under magical oath and then under Veritaserum that everything he had said regarding Voldemort's return was true and that he had nothing to do with Cedric's death. Japan had then dated the testimony and given it over to the ICW under the promise that Harry's location wouldn't be revealed.
The outrage and confusion that followed the testimony's validation and revelation had caused the ICW to declare Voldemort alive and a threat on equal to Grindelwald. When Fudge refused to listen to ICW decrees, the ICW had embargoed Britain as well as force all natural British magicals to return to Britain after losing their jobs out of Britain.
Harry didn't follow what happened afterwards but he did know that Britain eventually caved in and the government was completely restructured under ICW purview. They had also taken lethal action against Voldemort and his death Eaters which Harry personally wished to see the effects of but didn't care to risk his life to see. Harry doubted he would be warmly welcomed if he ever returned.
Harry chose to learn magic under a tutor, having too much bad experience with magical schools to want to attend one in another country whose culture he still didn't understand.
Under a tutor it was far more rigorous than what it would be in a school. This was because tutors were Masters in no less than seven fields and experts in all the others and were certified as capable of passing on their knowledge (which Harry sincerely doubted Snape was). Harry had chosen to get a tutor and had spent the time from August to December of that year catching up on what his muggle and wizarding education should be at his age. Harry was not allowed to slack off like he had at Hogwarts and his nose had been pressed against the grindstone the entire time.
Harry's tutor was an elderly man named Master Tanaka that was nonetheless very knowledgeable about many things. When he learned that Harry had never been outside of the UK until then, he had taken Harry travelling around the world (with the exception of the UK) while he taught him. Harry met many different people and made a lot of friends.
'Some were friendlier than others,' thought Harry with a grin as he remembered the Greek mermaids and how thankful they were when he saved them from some poachers.
Master Tanaka had made sure that Harry was also knowledgeable about muggle things as well, reasoning that sometimes the inspirations for spells came from muggle inventions. He also made sure to teach Harry how to use a sword and staff, both alone and together, so Harry didn't completely depend on his magic in case he met a magical creature with resistance to magic.
Harry had been extremely thankful for that when he ran into a chimera when he was exploring a forest one night
Despite his previous experience wielding a sword to have been more luck than anything, Harry had quickly discovered that he had a talent in finding openings. He applied this to his sword and staff techniques and become very good at wielding both. Harry preferred the sword to the staff despite the staff being more logical to master since he could just create a staff and use both magic and bojutsu at once. Due to this, Harry had been creating ways to use his sword consecutively with his magic in order to not be limited to just one.
In January of 1997, Harry had been considered caught up in his muggle studies and had advanced far enough in his magical studies to return to Japan and enroll as a first year in Kuoh Academy for the second term. Kuoh Academy was a prestigious school that had once catered only to girls but had recently been opened for boys as well. Harry himself was part of the trial group of boys to see if the idea would work. Since he needed a muggle address to attend the school, Harry had bought a house instead of renting an apartment since it was near the school and he wanted privacy for his magical studies.
While he studied in Kuoh Academy, Harry continued his magical studies under Master Tanaka on the weekends. They had lowered lessons for weekends since Harry had quickly shown he was a prodigy and no longer needed as intensive teaching as he did when he arrived. Harry had wanted to make up for his previous lack of motivation (due in no small part to Ron's jealousy and Hermione's hate of anyone being better than her) and had applied himself in both studies.
Harry was praised as a magical prodigy when he passed his exams and became a fully certified wizard by his 18th birthday, something which was very rare since most Japanese magicals aren't given their certificate until they were 25. And then, Japanese magical started studying magic since before they could walk.
Personally, Harry didn't care about that beyond being a fully certified wizard. This was because it meant he had another layer of protection from Dumbledore's plans. Like Harry expected, Dumbledore hadn't taken his disappearance well and was still searching for him to this day. The Ministry had tried to seize his assets as blackmail to get him to return from wherever he was only to find Harry had emptied his vault and moved it to another Gringotts branch outside of their control. Despite all their threats and attempts to find out where he was, they had failed meaning Harry was still free and now recognized as an adult wizard even by the ICW. Harry couldn't be happier, especially since he could now use most spells without a wand, only needing his wand for the higher tier spells of the branches he hadn't mastered.
All in all, Harry loved his new life. A school where he didn't face death every year, a beautiful girlfriend and he wasn't living off scraps. His life was much better now.
Harry went through his final kata and breathed deeply as he was now fully awake and had worked up quite a sweat. Going through his cool down exercises, Harry then left the training sword leaning against the wall before going up to his bedroom to grab his school uniform and shower.
After showering, Harry had been happy to see his girlfriend had made him a full English style breakfast with bacon sausages and eggs. While Harry liked the Japanese cuisine there were times he just wanted a real English-style meal to start the day. His girlfriend didn't like it, saying it was too fatty and bad for his heart but occasionally relented as long as he didn't eat it too often. He made sure to leave a plate of bacon on the table for when Hedwig came in from hunting since, having eaten or not, she would want what she considered her due.
After tucking in with gusto, Harry had washed his plate and walked out of the house around 7:30am. Once outside and after locking the door behind him, Harry closed his eyes and connected himself to the house wards. He put them into what he called Code Beta which meant any non-registered people with hostile or non-friendly intentions were to be first transported somewhere in the Pacific and if they persisted, killed.
Code Alpha meant the wards were in complete 'kill' mode and killed anyone who wasn't registered into the wards without warning. It was what Harry considered his 'war' mode.
With that done, Harry started walking to school. He quickly arrived started to make his way across the school grounds when he heard his name being called. Turning to where he heard the call originate from, a smile came to his face when he saw who it was.
Walking toward him with a friendly smile on her face was Rias Gremory, the unofficial Queen of Kuoh Academy and one half of Kuoh Academy's Two Great Ladies. Rias was a beautiful young woman, easily one of the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen, and that was including the Veela in the World Cup. She had a buxom young figure with a light skin tone and blue-green eyes. She had long crimson hair that reached down to her thighs and had a single hair strand sticking out from the top and few bangs covered her forehead and side strands framed her face. She was wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' uniform which consisted of a white long-sleeved, button-down shirt with a black ribbon on the collar, a black shoulder cape and matching button-down corset, and a magenta skirt with white accents. The uniform did nothing to detract from her beautiful figure and all in all, Harry could easily see why boys at the Academy tripped over themselves to get her attention.
Rias had been the one tasked by the school with helping Harry get settled into Kuoh Academy when he first transferred in almost two years ago. While Harry knew that the school board must know about magic for him to be able to transfer in so easily, Rias, as far as he knew, didn't know about magic and simply helped him get used to the customs of Japan.
Being one of the few who could speak English fluently Rias had no trouble helping him get the nuances of Japanese culture down as well as help him not get lost in the school. While translation spells allowed one to learn a language as long as they were immersed in it, it didn't help one learn about that society's culture.
Who knew that failing to show proper respect to someone could start a family feud? And he thought purebloods were touchy about that sort of stuff.
Either way, Harry and Rias had become good friends due to the time they spent together. Harry's friendship with Rias, due to him being a foreigner, had gotten him much popularity from the girls as well as jealousy from the boys. It was partially for this reason, as well as 'exotic' good looks, that Harry was known as the unofficial King of Kuoh Academy and was regarded by most girls as the school's most eligible bachelor.
Harry could only internally sigh at the thought. It looks like no matter where he goes he'd always be cursed with fangirls. At least this time it was about something more understandable than simply surviving a madman's attack when he was one.
Harry smiled at Rias as she approached. "Good morning, Rias-chan. How are you today?"
"I'm good. Not looking forward to the new school year but that's normal," said Rias with her usual smile. "So meet anyone new this past summer?"
While Harry was normally dense when it came to women, even he suspected that Rias might have more than a passing interest in the answer to the question. Rias and him had become close and he knew that she didn't date since most boys objectified her to the point where they didn't respect her as person. While she didn't mind being admired for her looks, she hated that it overshadowed everything else about her.
Harry had never done that and was one of the few who knew that she was actually very smart. This caused Rias to consider Harry a potential boyfriend and never failed to leave subtle hints that she wouldn't mind dating him.
Alas, Harry was devoted to his girlfriend and while they had to keep their relationship secret, he wouldn't betray her.
Unbidden, a memory of a letter he received from Gringotts this past summer crossed his mind before he shook it off. "No, didn't meet anyone new. I just spent it traveling and catching up with old friends."
It wasn't far from the truth. Harry had spent the summer traveling visiting the friends he'd made on his travels with his old master. He just didn't mention that he brought his girlfriend along as well.
An interested look crossed Rias's face at his words. "Really? Where'd you go?"
They spent a few minutes talking about the places Harry visited and the stuff that happened. He carefully avoided any mention of his girlfriend, just in case he let something slip that revealed her identity. Eventually, the subject changed to Rias' club.
"So what are you plans for the club this year?" asked Harry curiously.
Rias shrugged slightly."Nothing much, probably get a few new members."
Rias' Occult Research Club only numbered four at the moment and was the smallest club in the school. Harry wondered why that was since he knew most boys at the school would trip over themselves to join. Though if he thought about it that was probably why there were so few members. Rias probably didn't want people who weren't serious about the club to join.
"Yeah, you should probably do that," said Harry absently as they started to walk again. "I remember Souna complaining last year about the costs of maintaining a club of only four people. Something about such small clubs being useless or something. Though personally, I think she just likes to complain about you."
A twitch developed above Rias's left eye as she heard Souna's words about the usefulness of her club. "Useless, huh? I'll show her." Rias grumbled under her breath some not so kind suggestions as to where Souna could place her opinion before turning to Harry with a speculative glint in her eye. "I was actually thinking of inviting you, Harry-kun."
Harry almost tripped over himself at her words before turning to her with a nervous smile. "Me? For the Occult Research Club? Why do you think I'd be good for something like that?"
The Occult Research Club was exactly as it sounded in that its members researched paranormal activity such as claims in the city of magic and ghosts. Harry doubted they'd ever find concrete proof since Japanese wizards were much more careful about hiding that kind of stuff but he didn't want to tempt fate by joining. That was just what he needed. Just when he was finally settling down in peace he manages to break the Statue of Secrecy and alert the world to his location by letting some muggles find out about the existence of magic.
Rias got into a lecturing pose as she explained. "Well, you're top in our class, even better than Souna, much to her ire and really popular as well. You're physically fit in case we need to look up certain claims in town quickly and can defend yourself thanks to being Head of the Kendo Club, which by the way I still find incredible you managed despite being foreign and a boy."
Harry just smiled sheepishly and passed a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. Rias had to stop herself from blushing at the gesture since it made him look that much more handsome.
"Also, you live alone in a big house that we can use to meet up at in case we're looking up a case outside school hours. And finally," said Rias as he turned to Harry with a sly smile that for some reason gave him butterflies in his stomach. "I would really appreciate it."
Harry gulped as Rias looked at him with a small smile. Harry had always known Rias was beautiful from the moment he met her. With light creamy skin, long legs and bountiful bust not to mention a beautiful face to finish it off; Rias Gremory could have posed for magazines like Maxim and sold out every copy as well as caused the company to have to reprint. It was no surprise that even grown men wanted to be with her.
He also wasn't surprised by her not so subtle insinuation that she felt similar for him. No, what surprised him were the butterflies in his stomach at her smile. He always subconsciously admitted that he had a crush on her but was always suppressed it because he loved his girlfriend more and didn't want to cheat on her.
Now, however, it took most of his self-control not to kiss Rias where she stood and the intensity of it surprised him. Could the letter he received a month ago have subconsciously affected him?
However, even if that was true, he wasn't sure about starting a relationship with Rias. While they had good chemistry and he had no doubt they would be good together, he didn't know how his girlfriend would take it. Things had been… tense for a few days after the letter arrived and things had just recently returned to how it was before. He didn't want to ruin it by bringing his newly discovered feelings for Rias up. He also didn't want to lose Rias as a friend if they didn't work out, especially since Rias was one of the few he could talk to easily.
There was also his history with a certain black-haired best friend of hers and the still unresolved things between them to consider….
Just as he was about to make an excuse as to why he couldn't join the club, a pair of large breasts were squished against his back even as pair of creamy soft arms wrapped around his chest.
"Ah," said a sultry voice in his ear that caused shivers to go up his spine. "I would love for Harry-kun to join our club. I'd take care of him, buchou."
Harry couldn't help the small smile that crossed his face at the familiar voice. With the smile still in place, he turned around in the arms holding him and looked into the mischievous eyes of his ex-girlfriend Akeno Himejima.
Akeno was a buxom young woman around the same age as Rias and himself with long black hair and exotic violet eyes. Her hair was in its usual style of a long ponytail that reached all the way down to her legs with two antennae sticking out from the top and sloping backwards, with an orange ribbon keeping it in place. Like most of the girls at Kuoh Academy, she was wearing the customary Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, with the addition of black knee-high socks that further emphasized her long creamy legs.
Akeno was Rias' best friend and vice-president of the Occult Research Club as well as Harry's ex-girlfriend. They had met the very first day Harry enrolled into Kuoh Academy over a year ago and their relationship had been inevitable from the start. Harry had felt an instant connection to her that was obviously returned and for some reason, Harry found himself flirting back whenever Akeno flirted with him.
Flirting turned into stolen kisses. Stolen kisses turned into longer ones which turned into dates. Their relationship had been passionate and Harry could honestly say he had fallen in love with the girl very quickly. They had seemed perfect together and even lost their virginities to each other.
However, as with all things once the honeymoon portion passed, the problems quickly appeared. Harry hated the fact that he had to keep his magical status a secret from her and it caused him to not be as open with her as he wanted. There were times Harry swore she knew about magic but any attempt to find out if she really was a witch was met with failure.
There was also the fact that Akeno had demonstrated an interest in S&M. While Harry didn't judge her for it, he himself didn't feel exactly comfortable with it due to his history with the Dursleys. The thought of being under another's mercy always brought him flashbacks to that time and it was even worse thinking about being the one hurting her. Harry couldn't help but be afraid that he might go too far and seriously hurt her.
This brought a wedge between them since while Akeno understood when he explained it; it meant they couldn't indulge in one of her desires. It was made worse by the fact that Akeno was keeping secrets from him such as where she lived, her past, and her frequent disappearances for 'business'. It had hurt Harry that even after he shared his own painful history with her she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him hers.
Harry's past betrayals and still low self-esteem at the time had made him paranoid and he had suspected she was seeing someone behind his back. Akeno had sworn she wasn't and loved him which had soothed him of that suspicion but the problem still existed since she wouldn't tell him what she was doing.
Eventually, the secrets along with her frequent absences culminated when she disappeared for 'business' on the anniversary of Sirius's death despite promising to spend the day with him. They had argued where Harry demanded to know what was more important than him and she refused to tell him simply telling him she loved him and she wasn't betraying him.
Despite Harry doubting she was cheating on him, Harry had too much bad experience with people keeping secrets from him to let it slide from someone he loved. It was made worse by the fact that it had been the first anniversary of Sirius' death due to Dumbledore's secrets so his emotions had been raw at the time. Eventually, Harry couldn't deal with it and he broke up with her, unable to stand her keeping secrets from him, breaking both their hearts.
Harry had met his current girlfriend over the summer after he broke up with Akeno. They had started dating soon before school started again and by then the pain of his break-up with Akeno had mostly healed. He had made up with Akeno and reestablished their friendship but not their romantic relationship which he knew hurt her. To this day she kept trying to get back together with him and as far as he knew never gave any other boy the time of day.
Their friendship had turned into a semi-flirty one where Akeno flirted with him to get a reaction and he tried to suppress one. It bothered him slightly, especially since he still had feelings for Akeno but he also didn't want her to stop. Her stopping meant she no longer had those feelings for him and he didn't know what he'd do if that happened. But then again, he was dating someone else at the moment and loved that person very much so shouldn't he want her to stop?
It was all very confusing.
Harry smiled down at Akeno and continued their familiar banter, the familiarity helping him get into the swing of things. "Good morning to you too, Akeno-chan. How are you doing on this fine day?"
Akeno gave him an exaggerated pout that Harry knew was false but couldn't help but fall prey to. "Sad because my favorite male friend didn't call me all summer."
Harry rolled his eyes. "That's probably because you still haven't given me your phone number or even an address as to where you live. How am I supposed to contact you? Telepathically?" Harry couldn't help the slight bitterness in his voice at that. While he didn't need to know where she lived, he didn't see the problem with giving him a way to contact her if she so wanted him to keep in contact.
Akeno's smile slightly dimmed at the bitterness in his voice but it returned quickly enough. "Oh, you want my 'digits', as they say in America, already? Oh, what is this poor, innocent maiden to do against your bestial lusts?"
Harry snorted at the idea of Akeno being innocent. Even when she was a virgin and they just started dating, she had never been shy in expressing her desires. Harry actually doubted she had ever been innocent which, admittedly, had been one of the things that attracted him to her. She had a look in her eye at times that reminded Harry of himself at times and wondered what exactly was in her past that haunted her. Just another thing she didn't share with him.
A throat clearing beside them brought their attention to Rias who was looking at Akeno with a stare just a step down from a glare that was also laced with exasperated amusement. "Stop playing the Yamato Nadeshiko, Akeno. It doesn't suit you." said Rias in such a dry tone of voice that it caused Akeno to pout and Harry to laugh.
Rias smiled a bit at the look on her best friend's face. "Plus, I don't think Harry is into the whole perfect and quiet wife thing."
Akeno looked up at Harry who shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. The whole 'seen but not heard' thing isn't really my thing. I don't mind it but I do prefer a wife that speaks her mind." 'And is an animal in the bedroom,' thought Harry within the confines of his mind.
Akeno smiled mischievously. "So what is your 'thing' then?"
Harry chuckled nervously as he tried to ignore how both Rias and Akeno were looking very interested in his answer.
Luckily, Harry caught sight of a nearby clock and noticed they only had 10 minutes till class started. "Look, we only have 10 minutes to get to class and its bad manners to be late on the first day of school."
Both girls looked half-annoyed, half- amused at his blatant subject change before simply letting it go. The three friends continued talking as they crossed the grounds to enter the school building proper, ignoring the whispers of the student body. You'd think that after Harry being in the school for so long they'd be used to the sight of them being seen together. But no. Every time the three were seen together Harry would hear the usual comments of whether Harry was starting harem with them and how lucky he was.
Though considering some things Harry found out when he turned 17, they weren't far off.
As they were about to enter the school building, they were stopped by someone who made Harry frown and curse the fact that he wouldn't have one day without seeing him.
Standing there with a cocky grin on his face was Hayate Akita, a third year student much like them and one that had been after both Rias and Akeno since he enrolled into the school last year. Hayate was a moderately handsome young man with brown hair and brown eyes that always walked around with a swagger in his gait. His family came from money so he always thought himself better than most and that any woman should be lucky to bask in his presence.
Harry despised the guy. He reminded Harry too much of Malfoy only ten times worse since at least Malfoy knew when to back off. Hayate didn't seem to get that memo though and kept coming back like a roach no matter how many times Akeno and Rias shot him down.
"Hey ladies," said Hayate in what he probably thought was a suave manner but only succeeded in making him seem oily. "How are you?"
Rias and Akeno smiled politely, something Harry couldn't manage. Harry couldn't forget an incident last year involving a friend of his, Kiyome Abe, where Hayate got a little too aggressive in trying to get her to go out with him. Harry had convinced Kiyome to try and press charges only for them to disappear due to his family's money. Harry had wanted to use his own money to counteract theirs but his girlfriend convinced him it wouldn't work and only draw attention to him. Despite this, Harry still despised the boy who almost raped one of his good friends.
"We are fine, thank you for asking Akita-san," said Rias politely. Only someone who knew her for long could see that she was irritated with the boy's presence. Harry had told her about what he almost did to Kiyome and Rias had been furious. The idea of someone getting away with attempted rape angered her and the fact that Kiyome was a friend of hers only made it worse.
"I thought I told you to call me Hayate, Rias-chan," said Hayate.
Rias just continued to smile politely even as her irritation seemed to rise. "I don't think we're close enough to call each other by our first names, Akita-san." The last part was said in a firm and annoyed tone of voice. Beside her, Akeno was smiling her scary smile which Harry recognized from the rare times she got angry at something.
Hayate smile turned almost into a leer as he stared at Rias. "We could always change that. Why don't you say you and me go out sometime this weekend?"
"I'm sorry but I'll have to decline, I am very busy," said Rias smoothly.
Hayate's smile dropped and turned ugly. "Doing what?"
"Club activities," said Rias in a clipped tone. "Sorry."
Hayate twitched at that before plastering a smile and turning to Akeno. "Looks like it's just you and me then, eh Akeno-chan?"
"Ara Ara Ufufufu," giggled Akeno in a very condescending way. "I don't think I ever agreed to go anywhere with you. Plus, I'll be busy as well."
"Doing?" asked Hayate through gritted teeth.
"Anything else," said Akeno with a mocking smile, drawing a laugh from the crowd.
Harry himself couldn't help the chuckle that left his lips at Akeno's words drawing the boy's attention to him.
Hayate's eyes narrowed at the sight of Harry, especially since Akeno wrapped an arm around on of Harry's as if trying to send a message. "What are you laughing at, foreigner?"
Hayate had never liked Harry since the former had enrolled in Kuoh Academy during Harry's second year. The fact was that Harry had everything he felt should be his: he had dated Akeno, was popular among the girls for his courteous demeanor and politeness as well as his approachable demeanor, was good friends with Rias, was considered the 'King' of Kuoh Academy, and worse, at least in his mind, Harry had more money than his family did. For some reason he considered himself Harry's rival while Harry barely considered him an annoyance.
The fact that he consistently hit on two girls who were his friends, both of which (if he was honest with himself) he had less than platonic feelings for, only made it worse.
Harry just smiled at Hayate's attempt at provocation. "An idiot."
That got the crowd laughing and Hayate grit his teeth in anger at his quip.
Suddenly, Harry felt something akin to magic emanating from Hayate, getting his attention and putting him on alert. It felt similar to when a mage was preparing a spell. Harry absently noted that Rias and Akeno also seemed to tense and filed that observation away for later.
Harry studied Hayate seriously as he wondered whether he'd have to take down the boy to stop him as well as wondering how it was possible that Hayate was emanating magic of all things. As far as he knew, he was the only wizard in the school so how was Hayate capable of using magic?
Just when Harry was about to discreetly take down Hayate before he could unleash his spell, Hayate calmed himself and smiled politely. "I'm sorry you feel that way. I'll see you all in class."
Hayate bowed politely and started to walk away only to stop when he passed Harry. "Oh and please tell Kiyome to create a tennis uniform that's a little more respectable. We don't need any more rumors about you, do we?"
It was only Akeno's grip on his arm that stopped Harry from punching the guy out since it was Hayate himself that started rumors about Kiyome's promiscuity. In a traditional country like Japan where reputation was important, it had been a massive blow to her job prospects in the muggle world. Even Harry's wealth couldn't counteract it since it could actually make it worse making prospective bosses what she did to get his patronage.
Hayate walked away with a smug smile, leaving an angry Harry and a speculative Rias and Akeno behind.
Watching the scene from the third floor of the school were two girls around Harry's age. The first girl had black hair styled into a short bob cut and violet eyes along with a slender figure with modest sized breasts. She was wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' uniform and finished off her look with a pair of red framed round glasses that gave her a serious air. The other girl also had black hair but hers was knee-length with split bangs and had heterochromatic eyes with the right being light brown and the left being violet. She was much better endowed in the chest area than her companion and was also wearing the girls' school uniform plus a pair of blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses giving her a serious and academic look much like her companion.
These were Souna Shitori and Tsubaki Shinra, the president and co-president of the Student Council. Secretly Souna's real name was Sona Sitri and both girls were devils with Sona being the King and Tsubaki being her Queen.
The two had watched Harry arrive and his meeting up with Rias and Akeno. Tsubaki, who had been blushing since catching sight of Harry, had narrowed her eyes when she saw Akeno's affectionate display. They had watched the short exchange between Harry's group and Hayate and both had a calculative look on their faces as they took in what they'd seen.
"Something's off," concluded Sona decisively. "Hayate was always an arrogant little shit but he would have never been so brazen before. Rich family or not, the school won't tolerate sexual harassment which he's on the border of doing. He has to know something we don't."
Tsubaki nodded thoughtfully. "Do you think his family has managed to get some influence over the school? His family is pretty rich as well as having some influence in the government."
Sona shook her head. "No. The school is run by Rias's older brother, Sirzechs Lucifer, and even if he's lazy as hell when it comes to doing his job, he takes Rias's safety very seriously. He wouldn't let some punk with a history of sexual harassment complaints filed against him have influence in the school his sister goes to. No," Sona's face took on a thoughtful look. "It's something else. Did you sense it? Just for a moment there when he got angry before he controlled himself?"
Tsubaki hesitantly nodded. "I think so. I thought I was imagining things but for a moment there... I thought I sensed a similar presence to a Holy Sword."
Sona nodded. "Yes. The thing is... while we haven't been in the same class as Hayate before, we've been around him enough to be able to sense something like that. However, until now we've never sensed him having the potential for a Holy Sword. It would be different if he was in another year from us, but he's a third year like us. We should have sensed it if he had one. Plus, the presence felt... wrong somehow. Like it was fake in some way."
Tsubaki turned over her King's words in her head before pointing something out. "I've never heard of someone wielding a Holy Sword if they're not meant to. But you're right, buchou. It did feel... off somehow."
Sona's face took on a calculative look. "We have to watch him and decide if he's a threat or not. If he is, we have to proceed with caution. We don't know which Holy Sword he wields so we have to be careful." At Tsubaki's agreement, Sona's mind turned to other matters as a small smile crossed her face. "So what do you think of Harry?"
Tsubaki almost tripped despite having been standing still before a small, almost unnoticeable blush crossed her face at the mention of the handsome third year. "U-Um, Harry Potter, President? Well, he's certainly in top shape this year. He seems to have taken care of himself over the summer."
A small laugh escaped Sona's mouth at her Queen's words. "I mean, what do you think of my making him my knight this year?"
Tsubaki blinked at her words before turning to Sona with a slightly hopeful look in her eyes. "Really? I-I mean," Tsubaki plastered on a calm look on her face when she saw Sona's smirk, "He would be a good addition to your peerage. Especially as a knight. His skills with a sword are already quite considerable even as a normal human."
Sona smirked. "Yes. He even managed to defeat you last year despite you being a Queen and him being just a normal human. His skill with a sword is truly a sight to behold."
Tsubaki's blush grew as she remembered when she sparred with Harry using a simple staff (since she couldn't use a naginata) while he used a shinai. His swordplay had been beautiful to behold and Tsubaki had had to use her Devil abilities up to 20% just to keep up. In the end, he beat her with skill alone since the only way she could have won was by revealing more of her abilities than could be explained away. Since then, Tsubaki had had a massive crush on the handsome boy, but didn't know how to approach him.
His obvious association with Akeno and Rias and the latter's obvious interest in making him a member of the latter's peerage made it difficult. There was actually a bit of a cold war between Rias and Sona over him since both high-class Devils were friends of Harry and wanted him in their peerage but didn't want to start a fight with the other by overstepping their bounds.
There was also the fact that Tsubaki herself didn't know how to approach the charismatic and handsome boy. Harry was quite popular with the ladies even if the only girl he's dated was Akeno over a year ago. Tsubaki was afraid he would be disappointed in her by comparison since she didn't consider herself that interesting.
Sona seemed to sense her thoughts since her eyes softened. "I'm going to ask him if he can continue to fill in as treasurer for the Student Council until we find a replacement. You should continue to help him and sound out whether he'd be inclined to accept my offer to join our peerage."
Tsubaki blushed at the thought of spending more time with the handsome boy but nodded her head in understanding. "Very well, Mistress. I won't let you down."
Sona smiled. "I know you won't." Sona turned back to the window with a calculative glint in her eye. "Things look like they're about to get interesting this year."