Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.
Weeks passed, school started again, the expected wedding invitations came, and Hermione and Tetsurou fell into a routine. Hermione would spend her days with Tetsurou in Tokyo, usually invisibly wandering around his school campus or studying in a quiet nook somewhere. After his classes and volleyball practice were over, the two would go to his house, eat dinner with either his parents or Kenma, and then apparate to Miyagi around 7 and spend the evening and night with the Tsukishimas.
It was a good schedule. It worked. They saw everyone in Japan that was important to them every day. More importantly, they stayed together and avoided upsetting their bond.
And she talked to Harry and Ron on the weekends, so she at least got some updates from back home.
But Hermione was bored.
She needed the studying time, but after a week of focusing on nothing but her textbooks for nine hours straight, she was yearning for some variation in her schedule.
She'd gotten too used to Harry and Ron's constant interruptions.
Hermione sighed.
She'd decided to study potions today, but the textbook lay open in her lap, taunting her.
She shut it with a snap.
Maybe if she focused on learning about their bond, instead? They were still trying to test its limits… She closed her eyes, focusing on where she felt Tetsurou.
He was in the gym, running back and forth. He was also physically tired, but that was hardly surprising. He always was in the second half of practice. She felt annoyance. But at what? She tried to reach for his thoughts.
emBaka. Massugu, massugu! /em
Well that wasn't helpful.
Hermione sighed again. She really needed to keep getting better at Japanese.
One more hour, then volleyball practice would be over. She supposed she might as well wander over to the gym and watch. No one could see her, and it's not like she could focus at the moment.
Hermione slipped her book into her bag and slowly began making her way across the Nekoma campus. Last week her study breaks had consisted of exploring the campus, so she now knew every nook and cranny.
Hermione turned to the right and took a shortcut between two buildings, pausing to make sure no one was in sight before she bought a drink from the vending machine.
She could hear the sound of sneakers squeaking on the gym floor as she approached, and Tetsurou's voice yelling at Lev. So that was who had annoyed him, not that the revelation was surprising. The gym door was thankfully open, letting her slip inside. The team seemed to be doing a practice match against each other.
Tetsurou's eyes flickered over to where she was standing, then quickly returned to watching the first years. emGet bored, love? /em
emUgh. Yes. I can only read potions textbooks for so many days and hours in a row, you know./em
emSacrilege./em "Oi! Lev!" Tetsurou was waving his arm over his head, outstretched, yelling something about arms in Japanese.
Hermione smiled, making her way over to the edge of the gym where she sat down to watch the team.
She tried to pick apart what they yelled at each other. Yamamoto was hungry? And who knew what Yaku was saying to Lev, but Lev's response was something about it not being a big deal. Yaku definitely disagreed with that. Now Yamamoto was talking to Inuoka about a girl? Someone in his class?
While she focused on studying the language, time passed quickly and soon the coach was telling them to stop for the night.
Hermione sighed, pulling her textbook back out and beginning to read once more as all of the boys ran around cleaning the gym and rushing to get showers before the others.
She lost herself in the pages while reading about the various different properties of salamander blood and was startled when a figure leaned down and cleared his throat in front of her. She looked up and met amused hazel eyes.
"I thought potions was boring?"
Hermione looked around. Kenma was standing a few feet away, but it appeared everyone else had left for the day. She cancelled the disillusionment spell and put her book back in the bag. "Apparently all I needed today was a little break before I could focus again."
Tetsurou was watching her carefully. "You felt agitated all day. What's up?" The three of them made their way out of the gym and began to walk through the deserted campus. Kenma had pulled out his DS.
Hermione groaned, "I'm going insane. I've gotten so accustomed to studying with distractions all around me that now I can't study when it's quiet!" Hermione threw her hands up in frustration."I just get so restless."
"So…you're upset because no one's interrupting your study time?" Tetsurou was shaking his head, amused.
"Yes!" Hermione sighed, "No; I don't know. I know it makes no sense."
"I could always send distracting thoughts your way."
"I don't want to ruin your focus. You should be paying attention in classes. Your exams are coming up, after all."
"Yeah, yeah. You don't need to remind me. I'll ace them, well enough." He sent her a sly grin, "I'm smart enough to be able to afford being distracted by a pretty girl every now and then." Hermione blushed a little at the compliment as Tetsurou smirked at her.
"I won't be the reason for your grades dropping, Tetsurou."
"I'm telling you, they won't!" He shook his head emphatically, waving his arms, then added, "You have that ambassadors meeting next week, right? Maybe a break from the routine will help?"
Hermione sighed, "Maybe." First she had to get through the next four days.
"You could be a manager." Kenma didn't look up from his game. Hermione hadn't even realized he'd been listening.
Hermione and Tetsurou stared at Kenma. "A manager?"
"For the club. Like you were with Karasuno." Kenma's screen began to flash as a battle began.
"But I was at least attending classes at Karasuno… I'm not affiliated with Nekoma at all. And how would we explain my being in Tokyo when I live with the Tsukishimas in Miyagi?"
"You're commuting for your ambassador stuff."
Hermione blinked. "Every day?"
Kenma just shrugged. "Shinkansen. Or say you're staying with Tetsurou during the week."
"The Shinkansen doesn't even stop near Shiroishi. And I don't think people would approve of that, Kenma. We're still in high school." Hermione sighed.
Kenma shrugged, "It's not that different from what you do now."
Tetsurou groaned. "I mean, yeah, but no one knows about that."
"Since when do you care about what people think?" Kenma's eyes briefly looked up from his game. "You haven't done that since you started playing volleyball here."
"I don't, but…" Tetsurou glanced at Hermione, she could feel his wariness and unease, "People will start rumors."
"She'd be staying in your guest bedroom, though. And that's right next to your parents' room. It's not like you could do anything."
"Not everyone knows the layout of my house, Kenma-cat."
Kenma just shrugged. "You'll have to deal with rumors anyway when you get married."
"We're trying to figure out how NOT to get married right now, Kenma."
Another shrug.
Hermione sighed. Sure they might have to deal with rumors later, but hopefully not. And this seemed like an awful lot of hassle just to have a few hours during the day when she could be visible and have something else to do…but she also really did need to interact with more people to improve her Japanese…
"Even if we can come up with a good explanation for where I'm staying and all that, how could I be manager if I'm not taking classes at Nekoma?"
Tetsurou sighed. "Just wave around your ambassador internship and the school will be begging for you to come. It would be a prestige thing."
"A prestige thing."
"Yeah." He shrugged. "Or at least that's how mom would spin it."
Now it was Hermione's turn to groan, "You want to get your mom involved in this?"
"It would get the job done with the lowest amount of hassle, so sure." He paused, turning to look at her, "That is, if you even want to be a manager." He shrugged, "I'm fine with you staying invisible. If you become manager I'll have to share your attention with the other guys."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's not like I can even talk with them at the moment."
"There is that. I'll just have to make sure that you never learn Japanese."
"That would hardly be a good solution to our problems, Tetsurou."
"You don't like having me around as your personal translator?" He turned to his friend, "Kenma, are you hearing this? My own girlfriend doesn't like having me around!"
Kenma ignored him, instead continuing his assault on a demon in his game.
"I like having you around and you know it, Tetsurou. Stop being melodramatic."
He grinned, "Confessions like that won't discourage me, love."
Confessions…? Hermione thought back a few seconds, then blushed. "That is hardly a confession! I've said as much before." She looked stiffly off to the side.
"Mmmhmm. Doesn't mean I don't like hearing it again, though." He reached down and threaded his fingers through hers. She looked up at him, but his eyes were on the road ahead of them.
They walked in silence as Hermione turned the idea over in her head. She gently squeezed his hand. "If we can make the logistics work, I'll be manager."
"Oya?" He turned to look at her.
"I like being visible. Actually being able to talk with you and hold your hand." Despite the occasional annoyed looks that such a minor public display of affection could cause.
Tetsurou's eyes widened. She could feel his happiness and arousal.
"Careful, Mio. A man can only handle so much appreciation at once."
She pulled herself up and kissed his cheek, laughing when he immediately froze. "Don't worry, Tetsu. You're cute when you're flustered."
She blushed at the scandalized looks a few passerbys gave them, but tried to ignore them.
"Oi!" Tetsurou shook his head, snapping out of his frozen bewilderment. "What have I said about calling me cute?"
"Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you aren't cute." Hermione skipped ahead of them to the door. Tetsurou gave a put-upon sigh.
"You call me cute, then you go and do something like that." He waved a hand between them nonchalantly. "Skipping is about as cute as you can get, Mio." He smirked at her.
Hermione gamely pushed on, "And so is keeping apple pie in your fridge because you know it's your best friend's favorite." She turned to unlock Tetsurou's front door.
"Apple pie?" Kenma looked up, suddenly interested in their conversation, but then he sighed. "If you two are just going to flirt all evening, though, I'm taking it back to my house."
"Aw, Kenma-cat! We'll stop, don't go!" Tetsurou grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him toward the house. Kenma only weakly protested as he was thrust through the doorway.
Hermione smiled fondly at the two, then followed them inside. She missed her friends, but Luna was right. Making new friends was good, too.
A/N: As always, feedback is much appreciated! Y'all's reviews always make me so happy.
Emma3mikan, NYFanFic, and BrownEyesAngel: thank y'all for the reviews! I'm amused at the different reactions to the prospect of marriage, lol. But yeah, lots of stress atm.
