A/N: 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.
She had spent all day yesterday with Kei learning how to introduce herself and say basic things in Japanese. And answering his questions about the magical world, of course. Nonetheless, she was still nervous about going to school with him. He'd laughed his head off when she'd explained that she knew practically nothing about any of the subjects he took, regardless of the language the courses were taught in.
She was beginning to agree with Ron and Harry. She was insane to have actually wanted to do this.
The doorbell rang.
"You ready?" Kei was standing at the door, smirking at her. His headphones were around his neck, which Hermione had quickly come to realize was their default position.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose." It felt odd to be in a muggle uniform after wearing robes to classes for years. She picked up the bag with her new schoolbooks and notebook (which the Tsukishimas still wouldn't let her pay them back for) and followed her cousin out the door, calling out "Ittekimasu" before the door shut.
A boy who was shorter than Kei, but still fairly tall, greeted Kei, then turned to her nervously. "Hello! I'm.. eto… Tadashi Yamaguchi." He stuck out his hand. It was shaking slightly. "You're Tsukki's cousin, right?"
"Yes. I'm Hermione Granger." She shook his hand and smiled disarmingly. He reminded her a little of Neville, so far. "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise!" He gave her a bright grin as they began walking toward the school. "I am not good at English," he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "gomen."
"It will give me a good reason to learn Japanese." She spoke a bit more slowly than usual, and he seemed to have understood her because he grinned again and nodded.
They walked down the road quietly after that, Yamaguchi would occasionally say something to Kei, and he sometimes responded, but for the most part the three of them enjoyed the silence. The pleasant walk, however, was soon ended by the looming presence of their school building.
"This way." She stayed glued to Kei's side, trying her best to ignore all of the stares. When they got to the classroom Kei went with her to introduce her to the teacher, speaking quietly to him in Japanese.
"This is Yamamoto-sensei. He's our homeroom teacher."
Hermione bowed like Kei had told her, then said, "Watashi wa Granger, Hermione, desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu." The man beamed at her, then nodded a few times before turning back to his desk. Hermione looked back to Kei in confusion.
"Since you don't know any Japanese, sensei said I could introduce you at the beginning of class."
Thank Merlin. She was sure she had butchered her pronunciation just now. "Arigatou, Kei-kun."
He nodded, "Come on, the seat behind mine was empty, so you can sit there."
Class would soon start, so Hermione pulled out her notebook and pencil. It felt odd writing with something other than a quill, but at least she'd kept using them over the summer with her parents.
When class started, the sensei made a brief speech, then every eye turned to look at her. Apparently this was the introduction time? Kei sighed in front of her. "Stand up with me." She immediately did so and was relieved when the attention shifted to include Kei, as well.
He rattled off something in Japanese, but the only words she understood were her first and last name. She really needed to get better fast. When Kei began to sit back down, she followed suit, a chorus of "yoroshiku's" accompanying them.
As the lesson got underway, Hermione quickly gave up on understanding sentences and just focused on jotting down the occasional word, along with what she suspected was its English equivalent.
At the first break, Hermione tapped Kei on the shoulder. He turned around, then snorted when he saw her list.
"Some of these are right."
"Oh, hush." She glared at him, ignoring the people watching them with curiosity. "How many did I get wrong?"
"About 50%."
Her head hit the desk. "Kei-kun…." She looked back up at him, "this is ridiculous."
"You're the one that wanted to do it." He picked up the pencil and began crossing through her English words, writing neat corrections. Occasionally his hand drifted over to the Japanese, correcting her romaji.
"There." He twirled the notepad back around as the next teacher walked in the room. "Want to see if you can make higher than a 50 this time?"
"Shut up."
He snickered and turned back around.
After the morning classes had finished, Kei declared that she had indeed made better than a 50, but only barely. His teasing didn't last for long, though, as Yamaguchi came into the room, three other people in tow. Kei sighed.
"Hermione-san, meet my fellow first-years on the volleyball team. They usually eat lunch in here." The group began sitting as he introduced them, "Hinata-san," he pointed at the redhead, "and Kageyama-san," the taller one, "are failing English, so don't even bother."
"Kei-kun! That's not nice."
"Do they look like they understand us right now?"
She glanced at their blank faces, "It's still not nice."
He shrugged, then gestured to the girl in the group, "This is Yachi-san. She's in the advanced class, so she probably knows some English."
"Nice to meet you! I…umm…help the team with…eto….notes and exercises."
Hermione was still a bit confused. Quidditch teams didn't have anyone like that…she nodded politely. Kei sighed. "She's the team's assistant manager." Hermione looked at him blankly. He smirked, "You're so clueless with normal things."
"Shut up Kei-kun." He just shook his head and said something to the others in Japanese.
Whatever it was made the girl brighten enthusiastically, even if the boys, especially the redhead, were dismayed.
"I didn't like sports either!" Ah. So that had been his explanation for her confusion. At least it was accurate, even if it wasn't entirely truthful. Yachi kept talking, "I wanted to join a club, though. And Shimizu-senpai and Hinata-san asked me to help the team." Yachi-san began unpacking her bento, ignoring whatever the redhead was complaining about. "Do you like a club?"
Yes, the D.A. Which wasn't an answer she could give here. Hermione mentally sighed. "I mostly read, though I did start an... animal's rights group for a bit." Kei was smirking at her again, the brat. He was enjoying her awkwardness way too much.
"I don't think we have that here…" she switched to Japanese to ask the boys something, but they shook their heads. "Sorry. Our library is nice, but…" she winced, "most books are in Japanese. Gomen nasai."
Hermione shook her head, "It will be good practice." At that the conversation began flowing around her in Japanese, with Yachi occasionally translating for her. Kei and Kageyama were quiet for the most part. Hermione was starting to get the feeling that they met in Kei's classroom for lunch because the others all knew that her independent cousin would never willingly go to them. She sighed. At least he had good friends that didn't appear to mind it, especially Yamaguchi.
While they talked, Hermione decided to study her list of words, and it wasn't too long before the next subject started and she was once again struggling to understand anything.
When the last bell rang, Hermione sagged in her seat. A few people had come up to talk to her throughout the day, but, after receiving blank stares once they got past the introduction, they had quickly smiled and wandered off. Apparently a foreign student who couldn't talk to anyone wasn't that interesting.
"I have practice now. If you want to come you can, you could always read or help Yachi-san and Shimizu-san."
Hermione sighed. Athletic practice was hardly an ideal way to spend her time but interacting with people would help her learn the language. "I might as well come and help."
She gathered everything into her bag and followed him down the hallway. He pointed the gym out to her, then headed over to their club room to change. Hermione tentatively poked her head inside. There were a bunch of guys she didn't recognize, along with an older girl and a man who was clearly the coach. None of the first years.
She was going to strangle Kei.
"Ano…Sumimasen."
The few students nearby turned to look at her. "Watashi-wa Kei-kun" blank stares, "gomen, Tsukishima-san no itoko." There were a few nods, but she had no clue what to say now. How did she say that Kei had told her to come watch practice? They were all staring at her. "Eto…watashi wa Granger Hermione desu."
"Granger-san!" Thank Merlin. She turned around to see Yachi approaching with the two who apparently knew no English.
"Why are you here?"
"Kei-kun told me I could watch practice or maybe help you." Hermione fidgeted. "There's no one at home, so…"
"Of course!" She smiled brightly at her, then looked toward the surrounding boys, only a few of whom looked like they had understood anything being said. Yachi said something in Japanese, Hermione assumed to explain her presence, and the boys nodded, then went about their business while the other girl approached them.
Yachi turned to her, "Don't mind the team. Or the coach. They look scary, but they are all nice." Hermione blinked. They looked scary…? She glanced over the team again. None of them particularly looked scary to her, but she had fought in a war… she decided to just smile and nod at Yachi.
"Hello." The other girl smiled at her. "I'm Shimizu Kiyoko. Nice to meet you, Granger-san." Hermione was immediately glad that at least both the other girls spoke some English. "We take notes on the team and help the coach. Yachi said you wanted to help?" Hermione nodded. If Kei liked the sport, she might as well try to learn about it. And Akiteru seemed to like it, too.
"Yes, though-"
"EH?!" Hermione looked over to see that two new boys had entered, one was short and the other with a shaved head. The latter one was pointing at her. He said something, but Kei quickly responded sharply, which then resulted in another shout of surprise.
"They don't believe that you're related to Tsukishima-san."
Hermione turned back to Shimizu, confused. "Why?"
"You are cute."
"What?" That did not make any sense.
The girl laughed quietly. "They are silly, but nice. They flirt a lot. Tsukishima-san does not want them to flirt with you."
"Thank you for translating." Hermione shook her head. Apparently boys would always be stupid with girls, no matter the country.
"If you do not want them to flirt, ignore them. I do that." Hermione thanked her. It wouldn't be too hard to ignore them since she wouldn't know what they were saying, but it was nice to know that ignoring their flirting wouldn't be seen as rude.
"You know no Japanese, right?"
"Nothing. Kei-kun is trying to teach me, but it will take a while." No matter how smart she was, learning a language would take a long time.
"Is it hard to be here?"
"Because I don't know Japanese?" Shimizu nodded.
"A bit. It helps that I have relatives who can translate for me."
"Takeda-sensei can help. He knows English. He is our advisor." Shimizu smiled at her, "Do you want to meet the coach?"
"That would be great, thanks." Shimizu began walking toward the man with blonde hair. "Kei-kun's not the best at social niceties."
Shimizu frowned and looked back at her, "Niceties?"
"Uh… the things you do to be polite."
"I see. Thank you." She stopped when they reached the blonde man she had previously assumed was the coach. He looked up from his clipboard and said something in Japanese, to which Shimizu responded. Hermione caught her name, but again, nothing else. She sighed.
He looked at her and rubbed the back of his head. "I am Ukai Keishin. Uh… My English is bad." He winced. "Gomen." He glanced at Shimizu and said something in Japanese.
"He says it's nice to meet you and thank you for the help."
"Would you let him know I'm happy to help and thank him for letting me be here after school?"
Shimizu nodded and relayed the message in Japanese. The coach grinned at her and nodded, said something in Japanese to Shimizu, and then returned to looking at his clipboard.
"You do not know Volleyball, right?"
"Yes…I don't know anything about sports, really."
"That is fine. Everyone here will help." Shimizu smiled at her, "Have you met everyone?"
Hermione shook her head. "Just the first years."
"I'll introduce you." Shimizu took her around to each of the older guys, most of whom looked intimidated at the prospect of trying to speak English with her. She still couldn't understand why Yachi was scared of these boys. Ennoshita, Sugawara, and Sawamura were at least willing to try to talk with her, which was nice. The one named Nishinoya had just jumped around and yelled "awesome," then shook her hand really hard. Shimizu told her he was one of the flirtatious ones, so apparently she would be ignoring him a lot.
Practice went smoothly after that. Since she knew absolutely nothing about the sport, Hermione was given the job of collecting all the spare balls and putting them in the bin, which was apparently an ever-present task during practice.
She was glad when it ended.
The walk home was a quiet affair—Kei had his headphones on and Yamaguchi seemed content to walk next to the two of them in silence. Not for the first time that day, Hermione wondered about their friendship. The two seemed completely different at times, yet had obviously been friends for a long time.
When they got home, Kei spoke up quietly. "I heard you talking with Shimizu-san."
Hermione blinked. "When?" She had honestly no clue what her cousin might want to talk about.
"At the beginning of practice. She said the guys liked to flirt and you…." He paused, frowning. "You didn't seem bothered by it. Do you want them to flirt with you? I can back off…"
Ah. Kei thought he'd done something wrong. It was sweet, but… "Play the overprotective cousin all you want, Kei-kun. I'm not interested in any of them." She shrugged, "It's not like I can understand what they're saying, or I would discourage them myself."
"Oh." He seemed relieved, but then he steeled himself and added, "If that changes…"
"It won't." None of them was her soulmate, after all, and that was the only person she'd date besides Ron.
His brow furrowed, "How can you be so sure?"
"Witches and wizards have soulmates, Kei-kun."
"You're joking."
"No, though I thought it was a bunch of lies at first, too. To be honest I'm still figuring out the details, but I do know that none of the boys on your team are my soulmate."
He shook his head incredulously, "The more I learn about magic, the more bizarre it gets."
"Well itismagic. It's not supposed to be logical, as infuriating as that can be sometimes."
Hermione laughed at his annoyed expression, then went upstairs to talk to Harry and Ron before dinner.
A/N: Thank you for the review Emma3mikan! I really appreciate all of the feedback I get JPositive feedback can really make my day.