Hermione mimicked Miyuki's breathing techniques and calculated the trajectory of her arrow. She pulled back the drawstring to its full weight, shaking slightly less each time she pulled. Her bare feet rooted to the tatami floor. She forced her back straight, a hard task after years of making herself as small as possible. She let loose the arrow.
It soared along its predicted path, landing in the very centre of the target. Hermione's heart leapt, but she reminded herself that jumping for joy was strictly not allowed. Nor was her skill improvement as an archer the point. She joined so she could find out what happened to Togo.
"Nice," Suzuki Kaho smiled. "I don't know where Hitoromi-kun was hiding you the past two years. I'm almost sad you're leaving in a week."
"It's nothing!" Hermione smiled and bowed. "Miyuki-chan–I–erm– Hitoromi-Senpai taught me well."
Suzuki nodded and marked something on her clipboard. "You have a lot of clubs this year. Kendo, Culture, and the school paper. Do you guys know what you're doing for the matsuri?"
Suzuki called extra practice that Thursday evening after supper, and the lot of them gathered there. She wanted to do a show displaying her best archers. A big bang for her final year before entering the classes for 18-20-year-olds. It reminded her a bit of Watari from her first summer here. It seemed all of those graduating in March were obsessed with leaving their mark. Back home graduation was mostly happy, but here sometimes it felt like life ended at seventeen.
"Culture club is doing a food stand, we're each preparing something from our home countries. I'm making blueberry scones. Kendo Club is making masks, and–erm–we're very busy at the Mercury so we haven't–erm–decided."
Suzuki nodded. "I want you with Tsukino, Hitormi, Togo and myself. It'd be nice to have a gaijin archer to showcase."
"What?!" Hermione squeaked, now blushing furiously. "I can't! I–what about Sani-kun?"
As if on cue, Sani Monifa launched an arrow and it skimmed the outer rim of the target. Decent for someone who just started archery, but not worthy of Suziki's showcase.
"Not happening," she said, before leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Besides, she doesn't ever talk to anyone. I think someone that shy would fumble during the show."
And so will I! "Yes, Senpai," she squeaked with a bow.
"You'll be so cute, though!" Miyuki grinned. "I'll be making the costumes!"
Heat intensified on Hermione's cheek's and she was certain her usually medium olive skin was now redder than maple leaves in autumn.
Suzuki sighed, pinching the bridge. "I already told you, Hitoromi-kun, I'm too fat for costumes."
"Senpai," Miyuki said sweetly. "You'll look lovely, you have a really nice face."
Now it was Suzuki's turn to blush. "They'll get in the way of the bow string!"
Hermione watched Suzuki come up with excuse after excuse. It wasn't traditional, inappropriate, it would mess with the archers' accuracy, and Miyuki had other things to do, let one of the club members not on display handle it. Though Hermione was beginning to believe it had more to do with the first reason she gave more than anything else. Which was sad, Suzuki was fat, but she was also quite pretty…at least, Hermione thought so.
Suzuki's objections as captain and upperclassman were no match for Miyuki's raw enthusiasm. Hermione wondered if it were stories or fashion that captivated her the most. Given her diet of shoujo manga, it was likely both.
"Fine!" Suzuki huffed. "But they have to at least resemble traditional attire."
Miyuki squealed in delight and threw her arms around Hermione and Saiyaka. "We're going to be super cute!"
"I'm working on the set!" Saiyaka whined.
"No reason not to look cute!" Miyuki squealed once more."
"Yare, yare!" Sayaika, Hermione and Suzuki groaned in unison.
Yamato invited an Onmyoji to speak and showcase yokai. Years 1-3 were meeting in the morning and 4-7 were in the afternoon. Hermione was thrilled, she adored yokai and she'd be with Hiro, and everyone else.
"Hiro-kun!" Hermione waved as they prepared to enter the Spring Grove.
"Mi-chan!" Hiro nearly skipped up to her, Sam and Toshio walking up behind him.
Hiro smiled down at her, his expressive hazel eyes and untidy black hair with his crooked smile convinced Hermione to rise to her tiptoes.
"Mione-chan, Hiro!" a voice snapped. "Stop before Kaname sees you!"
Hermione felt a furious blush rise to her cheeks as she forced herself to turn from Hiro to see Kaori looking both beautiful and exasperated. Miyuki however looked amused.
Both nodded and Hermione caught Hiro flushing a pleasant pink. She wanted nothing more than to kiss him or somehow be in contact. Hiro's pinky discreetly reached out to her, she subtly moved toward him in turn, linking her pinky in his.
The summer grove hit them all with a sweltering heat, the humidity clinging to their skin. An unpleasant reminder that this was what the weather of the island was truly like in July. Towering bamboo, hinoki, yew, sugi and even apple trees mixed with shorter banyan trees along the meadow.
She suddenly understood why so many chose to hangout in the Spring and Autumn groves, though she imagined the summer grove was a great reprieve during the long cold winters. The beauty of the bright greens and blue sky weren't lost on her.
The German Anya took out her folding floral fan from her obi to cool herself and Miyuki, who hailed from Sendai, was among the first Japanese students to do the same. After that, Hermione felt it okay for herself to do so as well. She hoped so at least.
"Scotland doesn't get this hot, does it?" Hiro asked. "Back in Tokyo, Ma–my mother would buy us ice candy and we'd leave the city to play on the beach."
"That sounds nice," Hermione imagined she and Hiro taking their own kids to the beach someday.
Kaname filed sorted the students loosely so that groups of ten were sitting under trees. Luckily, the lot of them were together, it was less lucky when to round up to ten Inyuama Rie and her two malicious friends were added.
"I love your hair, Snape-san," Inyuama grinned. "The ribbon really brings out the wolly look, and those flower's pulling back your fringe help us to see your rat teeth!"
Hermione examined the other girl. Beautiful black hair coiled up and was secured with a gold hair pin decorated with sakura, carefully selected to match her robes. Her skin was clear, nearly snow-white, while her large black eyes were fringed with unnaturally long lashes and carefully shaded with hints of pink to match her lips, cheeks and nails. Got her.
"And I love the oiran look you're going for!" Hermione pretended to swoon. "If I knew we were allowed to reconstruct ourselves in the morning, I would. While, I would if it didn't mean losing my place as top student. But I understand you need every advantage you can get, you poor thing," she then leaned in to whisper. "So, don't worry, I won't tell the professors."
Everyone stared at the two of them, waiting for Inyuama's scathing slap-back, but instead her perfect, pretty face froze in shock as Tanaka Yui muffled a giggle and Yagami Izumi shot daggers at Hermione then Tanaka.
Tanaka cleared her throat and silenced herself, looking rather ashamed. Izumi returned her death glare to Hermione.
She wasn't sure if it was shame from her behaviour or the fact that Inyuama's words did hurt, but once attention had turned back to Kaname Hermione removed the flowers and Saiyaka's ribbon from her hair and placed them in her silken pouch. The bushy locks and loose, long fringe provided a familiar veil of security while she contemplated if she were as bad as her father.
She's actually worse than Snape!
You're not cruel like your father, are you?
You are your father's daughter…
Hermione clasped her hands in her lap, digging her still blue nails into her flesh. Those voices weren't supposed to follow her. Not here. This is where her efforts meant something, where she and Saiyaka brought attention to the house-elves, where they caught the library bandit, where people laughed and smiled when they met her. And not just from malice. Where she looked into Hiro's eyes and saw the future.
But she supposed they'd followed her before. Why did she expect that now she and Hiro were truly dating that things would be any different? You little idiot!
Professors Kaname and Haruna flanked the Onmyoji, a towering elderly man in white and black, who stood even taller with his tall hat and straight posture. His hair had gone completely white along with his goatee and moustache, and his black eyes surveyed the students seated before him.
"My name is Okimura Tanjiro and I have been an Onmyoji longer than any of you have been alive. As such I have seen many different yokai and spirits across the world. We are lucky enough in Japan that many of our forests still host nature spirits, where so many in America and Europe are extinct or critically endangered."
Hermione thought back to Britain and all the fairies and spirits that no longer existed in the wild. House Elves were once Brownies before years of subjugation, pixies and borrowers were unheard of, save for in captivity, leaving unicorns and dragons as the only creatures that could be classified as nature spirits, though centuries of wizard hunting and breeding diminished their intelligence and powers.
Maybe the goblins are right about us…
"Today we brought various spirit animals from a remote mountain shrine. They were either born to the shrine or brought there when cities expanded. They do tend to shy away from humans despite their intelligence. I would be very careful, but also treat them with their due respect."
No further word was given before he began calling up the groups one by one. While they waited, conversations broke out between the lot of them. The boys and Saiyaka discussed manga while Miyuki lamented that Kaori would start her last year in April. Meanwhile Inyuama gossiped with her friends, giggling in hushed tones. Hermione noticed pointing in her direction but decided to say nothing. Instead she surveyed the grove looking for Togo, finding her with Suzuki, Tsukino and seven boys she didn't recognise. Though everyone seemed to know each other and she wondered if perhaps they were all on the boys archery team. Though Togo was quiet, demurely nodding with a small smile while the others laughed.
Sudden warmth surrounded her hands. She looked down to see Hiro's hands laying gently on top of hers. She looked up to see him, his hazel eyes glinting in the sunshine and his lips formed a soft, but generous smile.
Hiro moved her hair out of her face, placing a stick of bamboo behind her ear. She leaned into his palm and smiled back, and unclasped her hands, holding Hiro's in both of hers.
"I happen to like your face," he whispered.
A furious blush rushed to Hermione's cheeks and she had the burning desire to look away once more or change the topic. So many romantic moments she'd read about, and she wanted to experience them with Hiro, but every compliment sent her heart into a mad flutter and turned her flesh pink.
"Mione-chan, Hiro-kun," whispered Saiyaka, elbowing them both. "They've called up our group."
"Oh!" they both cried, scrambling to their feet.
Haruno led them to a secluded space in the Summer Grove by a narrow stream surrounded by a rich assortment of trees and shrubs, a bamboo water fountain beckoning the ten students into the enclosed area. Hermione noticed a giant ginkgo tree with a thick braided cord boasting talismans tied around its trunk.
She removed a single paper talisman from the cord and spoke words into it. The bark of the tree morphed and liquified to stunning galaxies of swirling colours. Omnyoji Okimura walked through the portal followed by ten white, ethereal creatures.
Hermione wasn't sure what she expected, but the white creatures with red noses and eyes were no bigger than their mundane counterparts, but their presence reminded her of unicorns, she viewed them with awe. A feeling of tranquillity washed over her, a calm she so rarely could achieve.
The ten of them stood in a circle under the great tree and waited for the animals to seek them out. Hermione simply couldn't believe she was face to face with spirit animals. She wanted to reach out and touch them, but also felt unworthy. Something grown unicorns were very good at as well.
A red-eyed white cat with long fur and red markings, their tail split and aflame bounded for Hermione. They–she weaved between Hermione's legs and Hermione in turn stooped to her level.
"Hi there," she whispered, scritching behind her ear.
Hiro bent down and joined in, the cat spirit eagerly accepting his attention as well.
"Mmm," the Omniyoji pondered. "The nekomata is normally much more hostile. Even young ones raised in the shrine. Kyoko's no exception."
"Probably because Snape was found in a box of kittens before being taken back to Britain," Inyuama muttered to her friends, who giggled furiously at this.
How could that have followed me here? Hermione shook her head and returned to looking into Kyoko's massive ruby eyes. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a connection with her. She leaned in her head, to which Kyoko lightly touched her own red nose to hers.
The rest of their time with the spirit animals was much less structured. They each got to interact with them, while learning about their connection to the ecosystem, as well as their holy status in ancient Japan.
Hermione and Hiro reclined against a tree while Kyoko nuzzled into Hermione's chest. She was surprised when the bright red flame on either tail grazed her with no damage done. The Omniyoji explained that a nekomata's fire only burns when they are scared or angry, or if they intend it to. Similar to human's wielding of magic.
The kitsune or fox spirit, a beautiful creature with the same ruby eyes, nose and snow white fure, boasted nine fluffy tails that gently moved when Miyuki and Kaori pet it. Toshio had an infinite with Tsuki the rabbit and Sam was able to glean the attention of both the Tsuki and Izuku the dog. Hermione was amazed that these famously picky spirit animals all accepted attention from Saiyaka who was able to approach all ten spirit animals, but found her most profound connection with Yukito the snake.
Hermione leaned against the tree in the hot summer sun, Kyoko and her communicating to each other, Hermione with words, Kyoko with looks and body language. Hiro smiled and laughed gently.
"You can talk to cats?" he asked.
"Sort of," Hermione felt a blush go to her face. "When I was transfigured, I think some of the wiring is there in my brain. I can get the gist of what they want to communicate. But it's more complete with Kyoko. I think it's because she's a spirit."
"It is," Saiyaka said, sitting next to them with Yukito coiled around her neck. "You just have to pay attention and they'll let you know what they want. Isn't that right, Yukito?"
"That's incredible," Hermione commented in awe of Saiyaka's expertise.
If Harry and Ron thought Hermione was smart, they'd think Saiyaka was a genius, and they wouldn't be wrong.
"You did too," she smiled.
Kyoko purred happily as Hiro stoked her eyebrows. She closed her eyes happily and the tightness in Hermione's chest vanished with her kneading. Curled up with both Hiro and Kyoko, any feelings of inadequacies didn't matter.
They spent time learning about the different animal spirits, but it was clear who had affinity for which spirit. Hermione ended the lesson leaning her head against Hiro's shoulder with Kyoko purring happily in her lap and wondered if she had ever been so at peace.
"Sayonara," Hermione whispered to Kyoko when it was time for them to return. "I hope they treat you well at the temple."
Kyoko nodded, looking back at her before slowly blinking her ruby eyes. Hermione returned the gesture and watched the small white creature leap through the open portal.
Hiro and Hermione lingered among the hinoki and bamboo as everyone else filed out. The walked together hand-in-hand before leaning against a giant tree. Hiro surprised Hermione by leaning over her and placing his outstretched arms on either side of her head, his open palms against the tree bark.
Hiro smiled down at her, his expressive hazel eyes shining once more. Hermione admired the gentle lines that formed around his eyes with his smile. His untidy black hair gently blowing in the breeze from the open window. His olive skin glistened in the dappled sunlight filtering through the leafy canopy.
Hermione's heart pounded against her chest, and she wondered if the feeling would ever go away when he looked at her that way. Or whether she wanted it too. She rose to her tiptoes and met Hiro half-way for a kiss.
She didn't know how long they were kissing beneath the trees, but the golden light streaming through the trees turned into a vibrant orange, which Hermione felt made both Hiro and the grove look even more beautiful.
"I think Kyoko gave you a gift," Hiro said, pointing to her shoulder.
Hermione looked down to find a shimmering long white whisker on her shoulder sitting on the pink and gold silk. "Amazing," Hermione plucked it from her shoulder and examined it.
"They say that's supposed to be very good luck," Hiro said, closing her hand around it. "Be sure you don't lose it."
Hermione looked down at the dried twigs littering the ground at their feet. "I think I know just what to do with it," she smiled.
Suzuki Kaho is too invested to hurt one of her key archers.
All the other girls seem fond of each other.
Sani Monifa doesn't talk to anyone, but she has no motive…
No one seems to have a grudge against Togo Sumi…What if…
"Gah!"
"Lost in your thoughts again?" Hiro smiled down at her.
Hermione let out a series of squeaks before she felt her face grow rosy. "I'm just—Hiro, what are you doing here? You could get in trouble."
"So could you," he took her hand. "And I have advantages you don't."
"So do I," Hermione said, making ears on the top of her head with her fingers and whispering. "Nyan, nyan."
Hiro was the next to flush pink. "That's one way to say it."
Hermione rose to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Go before you get in trouble."
"Did you two forget I was here?" Saiyaka asked. "We can all ask the house elves what they've seen , the longer we stay out here the longer we're at risk."
Saiyaka had a point. Hermione objected to her coming in the first place, saying it would be awful for her to get in trouble because Hermione was distracted by Hiro. She was here for a reason.
"We may have overheard you and Saiyaka talking…" a small voice volunteered.
Sam and Toshio crept out from around the corner, Toshio fiddling with his camera.
"We can all ask the house elves what they've seen," Saiyaka sighed. "The longer we stay out here the longer we're at risk."
Saiyaka had a point. Hermione objected to her coming in the first place, saying it would be awful for her to get in trouble because Hermione was distracted by Hiro. She was here for a reason.
"Okay," she nodded. "Let's go."
Hiro, Saiyaka and Hermione entered the kitchens to find Kaori, Miyuki, Anya, and Togo already there speaking to the House Elves.
"What are you doing here?" Hiro asked, letting go of Hermione's hand.
Kaori folded her arms and sighed. "Do you really think that your the only ones who would think to the House Elves might have seen something?"
"But I was the one that mentioned the House Elves might have seen something," Saiyaka murmured while playing with one of her twin plaits.
And here I thought it was my idea… Though, it wasn't fair, any good mystery story started with the often overlooked help as witnesses. Is it fair to call them that?
"Suni wishes you wouldn't talk about us like we weren't here," Suni said to the gasps of the elves cleaning the coal beds.
"Sorry, Suni," Hermione averted her gaze. "I-erm-I-"
Saiyaka shook her head and knelt to their eye level. "We're sorry, Suni. But did you see anything weird Friday night? I don't know if Togo-san told you, but she we think someone from one of the archery clubs attacked her. If you or any of the elves saw anything, it could be helpful."
Suni's huge dark eyes scanned the room, their mother Kiki casting glances at them Hermione was very familiar with. She wondered briefly if she should assure her that Suni was safe, or if she would only worry about them more if she did.
Hermione imagined her own father in the situation and knew it was hopeless. Parents never understood.
"Suni, help Kiki with the tea kettles!"
Suni rolled their eyes and looked back before whispering. "Suni saw something in the library the night before they weren't sure if…"
"Suni!"
"Come on, Suni," Kaori whispered. "Aren't you like a hundred?"
Suni looked back at their mother and shook their head. "That's adolescent in my species."
"Oh."
"Wait," Sam mused. "If you're still an adolescent at a hundred, then doesn't that mean you're infants for—"
"It's probably best if you don't think about it," Suni muttered. "I have to go."
After that the entirety of the Mercury headed to the library.
Hiro chuckled and took Hermione's hand with a squeeze.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"This just reminds me of our first midnight library run."
Toshio was the next to laugh, running up to them and dragging Sam by the hand. "The Mahoutokoro Mercury and the Case of the Library Bandit! Those were some of my best pictures!"
"And my best article!" Saiyaka threw an arm around both Hermione's and Hiro's shoulders.
"Don't forget us older folk had something to do with that too!" Anya announced happily.
"We're not that old!" Miyuki cried. "Your girlfriend's mean, Kao-chan!"
"Mean or accurate, you do graduate after us," Kaori stuck her tongue out at Miyuki.
"I still haven't forgiven you for that," Miyuki replied, returning the childish gesture.
Togo bit her lip and looked confused. "You've been through a lot together, haven't you, Miyuki-chan."
"A bit," she admitted with a grin. "I'm going to write a best selling novel on it! Or a manga!"
Togo smiled gingerly, "Just be sure to send me a copy when you're famous."
Anya sighed. "I still can't believe we're graduating this year. This might be our last adventure."
Miyuki covered her ears. "La, La, La, can't hear you!"
The lot of them broke out into laughter, covering their mouths to avoid getting caught. Hermione looked at everyone and hoped Anya was wrong.
Ikigawa no Kagome gilded between the stacks, her wispy silver tendrils of hair floated as if in wind, like her translucent kimono. A benefit of a ghost for a librarian was that she never slept. Hermione remembered the last time they had to sneak in, Miyuki and Kaori distracted her while the rest of them hid among the shelves.
She wondered if it was better for her to take the brunt of Ikigawa's rage. It would be unfair to make Kaori face her grandfather again, and in her last year too. Hermione inhaled deeply and readied herself for the sacrifice before pausing.
The minute her father got the letter that she placed a toe out of line, she would be brought home. And she imagined his reaction. He'd threatened to pull her out of the program. Would she ever see her friends again after that? Would she ever see Hiro again after that?
Hiro squeezed her hand and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "You know it doesn't have to be you."
At this Anya rolled her eyes. She extended her wand and several books came flying off a shelf on the upper floor.
"Little bastards," Ikigawa grumbled before floating up through the mezzanine in search of the perpetrator.
Kaori nodded. "Let's go!"
Everyone made their way to the opposite staircase, Hermione casting muffliato in Ikigawa's direction, allowing them to run and duck when appropriate. Once they reached the restricted section on the top floor, they hid behind a bookcase to catch their breath.
Hermione wished she could just turn into a cat and slip between the bars to let them in.
"Do we even know what we're looking for?" Sam asked.
"Suni didn't exactly say what they saw," Toshio nodded.
Hermione bit her lip in thought. She also wished they had been more specific. She looked to Hiro and whispered. "Nyan, nyan."
Hiro stifled a chuckle before turning to the rest of them. "We should find places to hide and comeback here later. Ikigawa will find us if we stick together."
Kaori nodded. "Anya and I will hide out in the the clubroom, Toshi and Sam, you can track back to one of the study rooms on the second floor, Miyuki, take Hiro down to the children's section and hide under the stair well, Saiyaka and Hermione why don't you–"
"If Hermione gets caught, I think it'll better if it's with me," Hiro volunteered. "She'll be sent home if she gets in trouble. But I might be able to explain to Osofu-san and convince him not to write her father."
Kaori looked back and forth to the two of them for a moment before sighing. "Fine, Miyuki and Saiyaka then."
The group prepared to split up, but Kaori stayed behind a moment looking at Hermione. "Take care of my little brother!"
She ran off to join Anya and cast a glance back before ducking around the corner.
"Take care of me?" he grumbled. "I'm fifteen! Whatever, they're gone. I think it's safe."
"I'm sure she just worries," Hermione said, kissing his cheek.
Hermione transformed into a cat, each time feeling more fluid than the last. The movement of the air on her whiskers, and the light feeling of her feet pads on the floor were as natural as breathing.
She jumped up to the cage barring the restricted section, turned her head to the side and squeezed her head through the bars. The metal scraped against her cheeks as she tried to push through. It was tight, but Hermione was an exceptionally small cat so she was able to do it.
After that harrowing experience she was through. She resumed human form and unlocked the gate.
"Was that painful?" Hiro asked, placing his hand on hers.
Hermione shook her head. "Just very weird."
"You're amazing," he said, leaning in.
"You're the amazing one," Hermione rose to her toes, watching the candlelight flicker in his eyes.
"Suni is here!" Suni appeared between the two of them.
"Suni?" Hermione squeaked. "Why are you here?" And couldn't you have waited 5 seconds? Or come earlier to prevent me from…Hermione shuddered.
"Oh," their ears perked up and they smiled. "To unlock the gate…which it looks like you already did…. I told the others I'd let them in. How did you—"
"Ikigawa forgot to charm proof the locks," Hermione lied. "But if Kiki won't pull you away, maybe you can give us some details while we wait for the others."
Suni nodded. "Suni—I saw a young woman come out of the cage while I was–erm—not reading up on ancestral magical contracts—"
"I think I know why Kiki was so worried about you," Hiro muttered and Hermione nodded.
Suni shook their head and sighed. "I can keep secrets, it's just—it's hard having wizard friends."
Hermione clasped her hands and stared at her fingers. She liked Suni, but had no idea they considered the Mercury club as friends. Hermione felt woefully inadequate. This whole time, outside of updates on the offerings situation, she paid Suni and their community little to no mind. She couldn't even pretend she'd been too focused on the case at hand. Sure, she wanted to catch the person who shot Togo, but her thoughts and feelings had been consumed with Hiro. She adored him, and even now couldn't believe that they were actually together.
But that made her a pretty shit friend. Unless they were talking about Hiro, who naturally could juggle all of these so well. Hiro made cringey jokes, was maybe a little too invested in manga, and had trouble standing up to his sister, but he was still perfect.
"And I've never had a house-elf as a friend either," Hiro smiled at Suni and placed a hand over Hermione's.
Hermione looked up at Hiro's reassuring smile and turned to the self-conscious Suni. She took a deep breath and remembered why they were there. She knelt before Suni. She wasn't technically a master as a gaijin student. She hoped that would make the conversation easier for them.
"Suni, what did she look like?"
"I think she was very pretty by human standards," they mused. "At least I think she was. Thin, pale skin,long shiny black hair tied together. But she didn't wear student robes. Instead she wore a white shirt and yukata. I think she was an archer."
Togo? She never mentioned being in the library that night…
Togo, Miyuki and Saiyaka were the next ones to arrive. They bent over, out of breath.
"I wasn't sure if we'd lost her," Saiyaka gasped. "Miyuki thought it was a good idea to go back for a hair pin."
"It was cute?" Miyuki offered, clearly regretting her decision.
"Miyuki-chan," Togo gasped. "You're my only friend, but I think I have to agree with the tiny lesbian."
"Victory for the tiny lesbian!" Saiyaka flashed a victory sign with her fingers.
Hermione couldn't help but smile. It wasn't that long ago Saiyaka was ashamed of her feelings toward other girls, and now she embraced it as part of who she was. The tiny bespectacled girl who met her at the door two years ago with an averted gaze now beamed with pride..
"It was my mother's…" Miyuki whispered.
Togo averted her gaze. "Sorry, Miyuk-chan, I forgot that was hers…"
A silence fell over the group. Hermione wrung her hands, her mind somewhere between jealousy and sympathy. Miyuki didn't remember her mother either, but at least she knew who she was. And she had a tangible token, proof she existed.
Hermione shook herself from the thoughts. "Are you okay, Miyuki?"
She sighed. "Yeah. Except we don't have nearly enough girl power to crack this case!"
"Hey!" Hiro and Suni protested.
"And boy and non-binary elf power," Miyuki added with a wink.
"Well, now I feel patronised," Hiro teased.
"I just feel included!" Suni beamed.
"You are very honest," a voice whispered entering the gate. "Very honest. I worry about you Suni."
It was Sam, followed by Toshio who held out a sneakscope in his palm.
"I don't think we were followed," Toshio placed it back in his bag. "Where's–"
"Here and accounted for!" Kaori said, straightening her robes.
Anya soothed her hair. "Everyone's here. And I don't think anyone was followed. Let's—"
"THE RESTRICTED SECTION?!" a ghastly wail echoed off the walls. "I WILL FIND YOU AND FLAY YOU!"
"Suni, what direction did the girl come from when she left."
Suni pointed to the left. " Cursed books and artefacts."
"You just have a cursed books and artefacts section in your library?" Sam choked.
"We can criticise that later," Kaori said, grabbing Anya and Hiro's hands. "Let's go!"
"IF I FIND YOU I WILL FEED YOUR LIVERS TO THE KAPPA!"
"She's normally so serene," Toshio shuddered. "I forgot how that cry goes through the bones.
The lot of them ran through the maze-like section. Hermione realised that the cursed artefacts and books section was impossibly large, as if they were in some extra dimension. With each dark corridor they conquered, it became less clear what they were looking for.
That was when the music started playing. Piano music floated through the air, and the lot of them huddled together equally frightened of the ghostly pianist and the potential it would attract Ikigawa.
"I heard about this," Miyuki whispered, holding her wand light up to her face. "I thought it was supposed to be in the music room. They say a seventh year girl was a prodigy. She played every day and night, hoping to be admitted to a Bardic College in Europe. But she had a lover who didn't want to see her go and one night, while she snuck away to practise—and bam! He stabbed her. If he couldn't have her, no one could. Since then, every night you can hear her playing the song that she was practising the night she died!"
"I heard that you can see her blood everytime the keys are pressed," Togo nodded.
So that's how they became friends…
"Erm," Suni bit their lip. "Actually, one of the students cursed the piano to play itself after sunset on Muck-up day their graduating year. We elves moved it here after students kept trying to play duets with it."
"Oh," Miyuki sighed, evidently, less fond of the truth than the fiction.
Hermione giggled. "My friend Luna back home is just like that. I should write to her when this is all over…"
"Oooh," Miyuki teased. "Luna. Should Hiro-kun be jealous?"
Hermione felt a furious blush rise to her face. "L-Luna, of course not! She's a friend."
She didn't know why she was acting like that, especially with Hiro's hand in hers. So often, that was all that mattered. She loved Hiro more than anything. But Luna just flustered Hermione sometimes.
"Don't worry, Mi-chan," Hiro flashed his crooked smile. "I trust you."
That crooked smile, and the refracted light in Hiro's eyes suddenly recentred Hermione. Nothing worked to calm her more. She returned his smile and wished that they were alone once more. It was funny, they'd been together a whole year and still, just his smile sent a blush to her face.
"Neechan!" whispered Saiyaka.
"You two can get lost in each other's eyes after we're safe!" Toshio lightly punched Hiro's arms.
"Oh," Hiro's face flushed a pleasant pink. "Right, let's go!"
The eight of them rushed around the corners until Ikigawa's shrieked threats grew distant. To avoid too many lights attracting attention, Toshio was the only one to light his wand, he and Sam stood in the centre of their line, while Kaori and Anya took the front of the line. Saiyaka, Hiro and Hermione clung to the back, each looking over their shoulders at every sound.
"Sweet silence," Miyuki breathed, leaning against a bookshelf.
The rest of the group followed suit, Hermione and Hiro leaned against each other, their legs and lungs burning from the unbroken full-tilt sprint.
A book swayed from the dark floor-to-ceiling shelf, landing open over Togo's head.
"Ow!"
Miyuki giggled. "Oh! Little Daruma and Little Tengu?! I loved this book when I was little, why is it in the restricted section?"
Before waiting for an answer she opened the book.
A hand suddenly shot up from the pages, a rough charcoal outline mixed with filled in with white and orange ink grabbed at Miyuki's hair clip.
Everyone scrambled up to Miyuki and Togo staring at the child's illustration come to life. Kaori reached them first, shutting the book before Daruma-chan could drag Miyuki and her hair clip into the pages with him.
"Suni did say this was where all the cursed books and objects are," she reminded her.
Hermione stared at the discarded children's book as she thought about Suni's description of the young woman leaving the restricted section. Long black hair tied together, wearing a white shirt and hakama, pale skin. So much like Togo herself, but also like how Hermione imagined ancient Japanese princesses and priestesses.
"Togo-san," Hermione asked. "You went to the springs after sneaking out to practise archery, yeah?"
Togo narrowed her black eyes in confusion as she thought about it. "Yeah, I hurt my shoulder and wanted to sit in the springs. I just had to use the toilets first."
"Suni," she turned to the small house-elf. "You said you saw a young woman in hakama?"
Suni nodded.
Hermione tapped her fingers against the closed book cover as she mulled over her thoughts. "Maybe…"
Hiro caught on, taking her hands. "The girl Suni saw was from one of these cursed books?"
"If she saw another girl like her…"
"She might have assumed she was an enemy archer and shot her!"
"So it wasn't a student at all!" Hermione snapped her fingers.
A sparkle lit in Hiro's eyes before he leapt to his feat. "It was a character from a cursed book! But—"
Hermione looked back down at the children's book, tapping it nervously three times. "Who let her out?"
"Who would be in the library that late?" Hiro mused.
The lot of them were careful as they pressed forward. Not only to avoid the wrathful librarian spirit, but also potential released book characters. Knowing that a children's book from the pre-boarding years was cursed, Hermione expected anything. She remembered the terrifying monsters like cockatrices and furies found in the Son of Hermes books and the assortment of created and actual spirits used in her favourite manga.
Luna would love this… Nargles and cat fairies made flesh in our world. I'll have to write her…Write…I wonder if I can use this time to figure out more about Harry's curse…
Hiro squeezed Hermione's hand as they walked down the narrow aisles. She turned back to see the usual tan to his olive skin drain.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Do you think that onryo could be released from those books…or that the archer is an onryo?"
"I don't know," Hermione gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and looked him in the eye. "But if it is, then we'll handle it together. Between Saiyaka and myself, we know so much about warding against harmful spirits. And I know she's flighty, but I wouldn't discount Miyuki. Yokai, yurei, onryo, that girl's an expert."
Hiro looked up to the older girls walking ahead of them. "That's true. I just…really don't like onryo. Sometimes, I wish I were more like Kaori, she's so brave."
Hermione leaned her head against Hiro. She knew that feeling so precisely. Hermione forever felt as though she were coming up short for her friends, for her father…and she knew she wasn't good enough for Hiro.
Yet for someone as patient, kind and smart as Hiro to feel that way…This wasn't the first time. She recalled all those letters of him comparing himself to his sister. Kaori was a golden child and Hiro keenly felt the pain when he tried to measure up to her.
There was some strange mixture of frustration and sadness within her at the reminder Hiro thought he wasn't good enough. Suddenly, she felt herself channelling some mixture of Luna's and Miyuki's boldness.
She lightly punched him in the arm. "Stop being mean to my favourite person in the whole damn universe."
"What the–?" Hiro chuckled confused, running a hand through his untidy black hair. "How'd I ever fall for someone so weird?"
"I've been asking myself that for a while," Hermione admitted, once again getting lost in his hazel eyes. "But I'm glad you did."
"Me too."
"Hiro!" Saiyaka hissed, "Neechan! We're looking for a mad archer in a cursed library!"
Hiro and Hermione separated from each other and Hermione tried not to admire the furious pink blush that rose to his cheeks.
"Wait!" Toshio whispered. "What's that?"
Hermione heard the familiar sound of stone scraping against stone dragging down the opposite corridor. She immediately thought about the giant wizard's chess pieces dragging themselves across the board during the third floor challenges back in first year.
"It sounds like.." Hermione bit her lip. "Is there any chance there's a giant wizard's chess piece walking around here?"
Hiro shook his head. "Worse, it's Ninomiya Sontoku."
"Who?"
"A statue of a famous Japanese agriculturist," Saiyaka explained. "But he was also a scholar, most schools in Japan, even muggle ones, have a statue of him as a boy reading. It's supposed to be a testament to how anyone—"
"What's important is that the statue roams the school at night looking for misbehaving students!" Hiro explained. "It's like in the manga Card Collector Usagi! I didn't even know we had one!"
Suni spoke up at this point. "We did! Until he killed a student back in 1954! That's why he's in the cursed section. Everyone, this way."
They back tracked, tiptoeing and clinging to the shelves. Hermione was suddenly grateful for the years she spent avoiding her father, clinging to walls, and padding along corridors barefoot. Sneaking, and instructing others on sneaking became second nature.
They followed the small house elf further into the twisting corridors, now avoiding both Ninomiya and Ikagawa as well as keeping an eye out for fictional characters made flesh. Hermione had no clue how deep into the building they were when she saw a flash of white and black glide around a corner in the distance.
"Is that–" Hermione moved
"Wait," Hiro whispered, grabbing her hand. "We don't know if that's the archer or someone—something else."
Hermione nodded. "If I can sneak ahead and get eyes on her, I can come back and let you know what she's up to."
Hiro nodded but clutched her arm. His usually playful hazel eyes conveyed rare worry. It had been a while since she had seen Hiro like this. He was usually so carefree. Even his sister's shadow wasn't enough to dim his light.
"It's okay," she whispered.
"She's getting away!" someone cried.
"Miyuki-chan!" Kaori and Togo called after her, all three older girls disappeared around the corner.
"She's graduating in two years?" Saiyaka shook her head.
"If she survives," Hiro said, steeling himself. "Let's go, Mi-chan—"
"Not leaving your side for a second," Hermione flashed him a reassuring smile before kissing him. "Let's save your sister."
"Ugh, Scotland," Sam groaned.
"Yeah," Toshio nodded. "I liked it better when you two had a hopeless obvious crush on each other. Somehow it was less painful."
The younger group caught up with the three older girls and Suni, who had the culprit cornered in a dead end. Now that Hermione saw her up close, it was clear that she was a character from a story book. She stood tall, above two metres, with large breasts and an impossibly small waist. She wore her long, glossy black hair tied together at the nape of her neck, with large black eyes beneath her fringe with specks that even in the dim wand light shone like stars. And her skin was quite literally white.
Suni might have thought she passed for beautiful by human standards, which she might have on paper. Hermione definitely saw the traditional Japanese beauty standards in her, but the extreme exaggeration that evoked envy in manga and novels unsettled her in the real world.
The priestess raised her hand and a shimmering silver light appeared over her spread out fingers. The next moment she was grasping a yew bow.
How did that happen? Can magic from her world work in ours? Would our magic work on her? What if—
Hiro's tight grip on Hermione's arm broke her thoughts. She suddenly understood the very real danger she and her friends were in while she was trying to break down the laws of the Priestess's strange magic.
A shimmering arrow now aimed at Miyuki, who stood at the head of the group and pointed a wand in her direction. Hermione stood frozen wondering if the arrow would hit her like the one they found in Togo. Her friend was in danger and Hermione couldn't get her feet to move.
The Priestess fired her arrow and unlike the last time, it split into several shimmering arrows like meteors flying through the library.
"Protego!" Kaori shouted, and the projectiles flung uselessly off the invisible shield.
Hermione noticed something at the Priestess's feet. A closed, untitled black book lay neglected. She must have dropped it to summon her bow. Perhaps she was just trying to get home. But if she knew where the book was then why did she leave the library in the first place?
"That book doesn't have a title," Hermione whispered. "Do you recognize her? She looks like a manga character."
"A lot of priestesses in manga look like her," Saiyaka admitted.
"Tsukihime!" Hiro gasped. "It's a light novel. They cancelled the print after two issues in 1978. I didn't think– Tsukiyasha!"
The Priestess paused from reaching into her quiver for yet another arrow. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Who are you?" she continued to glare.
"A friend—sort of—you're the main character in my father's favourite book," Hiro explained.
"I'm what?" the priestess's voice cracked.
Hiro faltered, Hermione touched his arm in an attempt to encourage him. No one could really say how the right way to tell someone they were a fictional character was. However, she turned her gaze back to the volume at the Priestess's feet.
"That book!" Hermione choked, pointing. "You had it before for a reason. It's because you and your friends are in it, right?"
The Priestess dismissed the bow, but bent down to clutch the book tightly to her chest. "And what do you know of it?!"
Hermione paused there. Despite it being the favourite of Hiro's dead father, this was the first time she'd even heard of Tsukihime, she'd only meant to help support what Hiro said.
"I remember now!" Kaori leapt before Hiro. "You're the daughter of the Moon Rabbit reborn as a half-demon priestess that acts in service of yokai and humankind. That you're secretly in love with a Demon Prince and that Baba Neko tells you where to find the moonshards! In this life you have a human father and demon mother and you can't stand the sound of bells!"
"All that proves is that you were spying on me!" the Priestess hissed. "Tell me how to get home!"
"THERE YOU LITTLE MONSTERS ARE!"
Ikegawa caught up with them, phasing through a bookshelf to confront them, the wispy translucent woman, chilled the aisle while a fire burned in her milky eyes. A cold hand seized Miyuki's arm, and the usually rosy girl drained of colour.
"Purity Arrow!" Tsukiyasha shouted, releasing another shimmering arrow.
"Ikigawa no Kagome!" Kaori raised a shield once more deflecting a shimmering arrow.
Hermione seized the moment, summoning the book to her, but once she had it in her hands she didn't know what to do with it. When Miyuki opened Little Tengu, the character came out of it. What if more characters came out, confused and very powerful? Didn't Kaori say there was a Demon Prince? Hermione wasn't exactly keen to see that break into reality.
"What do I do now?" she squeaked.
"Destroy it?" Kaori suggested.
"Unless, do you think that'll kill her?" Hiro cast a look to the Pr–Tsukiyaha.
"Can a–" Hermione paused, unsure if a fictional character could be killed. But Hiro was right. She couldn't risk it. Tsukiyasha was just scared and confused. But she wasn't exactly listening to reason.
Knowing that she was literally dealing with a manga character made Hermione wonder what Aiko from Koneko Mahou Shoujo or Jason from the Son of Hermes Series would do. They both would likely try to befriend her, but Hermione hadn't a clue how to do that.
"I have an idea!" Saiyaka grabbed the book from Hermione. "If we read the right part—"
"Okasha-kun!" Ikigawa snapped. "Don't open th–"
Saiyaka had already opened the book and the next thing Hermione saw was a brilliant blinding light.
The ground might have been grassy, but it was far from soft, knocking the wind from Hermione's lungs as she landed. She and her friends found themselves in an ancient towering forest, dark blues and greens from the trees blocked out what little light there was. Hermione wished she had some owl vision potion on her now.
Though she could see her friends similarly struggling to rise after the impact. All were there and accounted for, including Tsukiyasha. The only missing party was Ikigawa. Perhaps the curse didn't work on ghosts?
Focus, stupid little girl.
"Mi-chan?" Hiro coughed.
"Lumos. Hiro-kun!" Hermione struggled to her hands and knees and crawled over to Hiro. "Are you okay?"
Hiro nodded, taking her hands. She helped him to his feet. "What is this place?"
"I don't know, there were a lot of forests, and I was so young when my father read it to us," he explained. "I th-think I remember one crawling with onryo."
Kaori and the others eventually came to their feet as well. Once they came together, Kaori nodded to Hiro's response.
"I was a bit older. This would be it. Yashamorii." Kaori mused, helping Anya to her feet. "I remember the picture of the drowned onryo crawling out of the river to catch Tsukiyasha and Onimaru when they met in secret. Papa would always make these terrible sounds when reading her approach. It gave Hiro nightmares for weeks."
Hiro gulped and Hermione took his hand. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know."
He nodded. "Yeah, Papa was great, but he might have been too into this story…"
Tsukiyasha slowly approached the group, her bow shaking in her hands. "So, it's true then. I'm a made up character? Fake?"
"Sorry," Hiro cast his gaze down. "I'm not sure what else to say."
"Neither do I," she said, dismissing her bow. "If I'm not real, then this place isn't real. Onimaru, Baba Neko, the ayakashi…it's all…but I remember…" she grabbed an arrow from her quiver and stabbed her own hand.
"Stop!" Togo and Miyuki called.
"Is this even blood?!" she cried. "Am I feeling pain right now?! Do I just think I am?! Can I even think or is that already written?!"
"Tsukiyasha," Hiro swallowed, approaching her. "Can you sit for a minute, breathe? I don't know what's going on but—"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she slapped his hands away from her.
"Hiro-kun!" Hermione ran over to him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm not worried about me," Hiro admitted. "I used to idolise her, and now…"
Hermione bit her lip and grabbed her wand. "It's Tsukiyasha, right? I-I'm H-Hermione. I just want to fix your hand. C-can I?"
"Does it matter?" she stared at her hand. "If it's meant to be fixed the Writer will."
Hermione dug her nails into her palm. It wasn't as dramatic as stabbing her hand with an arrow, but she understood how the pain could sometimes ground her. Even soothe her when she clasped her hands nervously. Though she was unsure if there was any way to reach Tsukiyasha. By some strange boon Tsukiyasha extended her palm to her.
Hermione tapped her wand to the wound, remembering the spell her father taught before her first summer in Japan. The flesh on Tsukiyasha's hands knit together, stopping anymore blood from flowing, but a scarlet scar marked where the arrowhead was. Ditini might help with the scarring, but Hermione didn't exactly bring any with her. She wasn't even sure if Tsukiyasha would accept erasing it.
"What do I do now?" Tsukiyaha collapsed next to a tree.
Hiro approached, ever quick to forgive, and sat opposite her. "I don't know. I used to be afraid of so much…" he reached for Hermione's hand. "But then I would always think of my friends, my family or my girlfriend and I'd tell myself 'It's alright'."
Hermione smiled at Hiro. She admired the transition from the scared little boy who sent her letters wondering if he was good enough, to the carefree, happy one she'd met and fell in love with two summers ago. While she might have been still figuring out who she was, she was happy she could play any role in helping Hiro step into himself.
Suni was the next to speak, their eyes downcast and reverting back to their old forms of speech. "Does Tsukiyasha-sama remember how she left?"
Tsukiyasha looked up and narrowed her eyes. "Who is this strange little demon?"
"They're a friend," Hiro and Hermione explained simultaneously.
Tsukiyasha shook her head and turned her gaze back to the ground.
"Repairo," Saiyaka tapped her wand to her glasses then addressed Hiro and Kaori. "What else do you two remember? Any portals?"
"This is why Suni–" Suni corrected themselves. "Why I asked her. She should know how she got into our world."
"And she's clearly in no condition to answer. I think we're on our own," Saiyaka admitted.
Click, click, click.
Anya tugged on Kaori's sleeve. "That's not the sound your father used to make is it?"
Miyuki pointed her wand before her, using its light to examine her immediate surroundings. "Do you see anything? Kao-chan, Sumi-chan?"
Kaori and Togo shook their heads.
Sam rolled his brown eyes and pointed to his left. "Well, it's no onryo. Care to join us, Toshio?"
Toshio lowered his camera and flushed—or Hermione thought he flushed. Three red lines appeared on each cheek.
While Tsukiyasha appeared as a weirdly proportioned real person, Hiro and everyone else looked like under-exaggerated manga characters. Though she and her friends had smaller eyes, more realistic proportions and most of them had darker skin than manga characters, she did notice that they seemed to look less "wrong" here than Tsukiyasha did in the real world.
"We're literally in a manga!"
"Light novel!" Kaori corrected.
Toshio gestured to the trees around them "This forest is watercolour! How could I not take pictures?!" he took a picture of the lot of them before anyone could object. "This is amazing!"
Sam buried his face in his hands and groaned. "You can't be serious."
"You make a cute manga boy?" Toshio offered.
"You are really not helping, Toshio," Sam sighed, but the blush lines similarly appeared on his own face.
To Hermione's surprise Tsukiyasha stood to her feet. "We need to move before you and your little demon bring the whole forest on us."
"Is it just me," Saiyaka whispered in Hermione's ear. "Or did she get over the whole 'I'm not real' thing very quickly."
"We'll be safe here until morning," Tsukiyasha said as they entered an abandoned shrine.
"Thank you for granting us shelter," all of them said bowing to her,
She inclined her own head. "It's not much and there are no futons here. But it's better than the caves. Jurogumo hide within them, and that's just one threat. I'll look for Onimaru, he'll want to get humans out of his father's forest."
"Tsukiyasha?" Kaori asked. "Do you remember how you got here?"
Tsukiyasha sat on her knees and removed her quiver, before delicately placing it on the ground. "Not much, I'm afraid. I was searching for a missing kitsune child late at night. I heard the muffled sounds of sobbing, I couldn't locate it. I thought it was the kitsune girl,but then something happened. The wind blew and the moon grew brighter until all I saw was a blinding white light. That's when I found myself in your library. I saw that damn ghost floating around—"
"Ikigawa no Kagome," Saiyaka said. "That's our school librarian."
"A ghost?" Tsukiyasha choked.
"Oh, you help demons find missing children. It's not that strange,' Saiyaka huffed.
"Some might say a ghost librarian is cliched," Miyuki pointed out.
"You read too much manga, Miyuk-chan." Kaori grumbled.
"That might be a skillset here?" Miyuki suggested.
"It's a light novel!" Kaori hissed.
Anya and Togo covered their mouths and began to giggle.
"What happened after that?" Hiro asked.
Tsukiyasha thought for a moment, staring out the window rather than at them. "I saw the book at my feet, and recognized Yashamori in the pictures. I picked it up and left. I injured myself during the fall and went to find a hot spring to heal it. I found a room with a number of wooden stalls, but they weren't washing stations. Opposite me was this huge mirror. I saw myself, and I looked…different. That's when I realised everything looked different. I thought I must be in some strange demon realm. That's when I saw her–" she pointed at Togo. "Appear in the mirror. I assumed she was a demon priestess and–well–"
"Shot her!" Miyuki yelled. "Sumi-chan was just using the bathroom after practising and—"
"Miyuk-chan," Togo said. "I'm fine. I—why did you shoot me? Aren't you also a demon priestess?"
"Half demon," Tsukiyasha emphasised, before bowing. "But I do see now you meant no harm. I'm sorry. We should try to sleep.
Hermione mulled over this information. Someone had found the book. But if they knew they were summoning a fictional character, they might have stuck around. Perhaps it was someone who just wanted to read some books rumoured to be cursed. It sounded like they were part way through it before they realised something was happening and likely ran off.
She wondered what caused Tsukiyasha to be dragged out rather than sucking the reader in. Perhaps it was because Tsukiyasha belonged in the book. Maybe it was—
"Mi-chan," Hiro whispered.
"Hiro-kun," Hermione broke out of her thoughts. "Sorry, I was just thinking about how the magic works. I don't know what brought her out last time, or why we're inside this time. I think it's because Tsukiyasha belongs here, but then why did the book let her go the first time? It was in the cursed section–so what was the curse on it?"
Hiro began tracing on the ground. The shrine's floor appeared to be regularly swept, despite its status as abandoned. So, she only had his slow-moving index finger to follow.
"Oh," Hermione slapped her forehead. "Lift your wand and say 'haurire'' the wand will create marks in whatever colours you think of as you draw."
"Thanks!" he said and followed her instructions.
Now Hermione could follow his tracing. A book laid open with a woman's silhouette standing in it. Another was had a hand a child's hand emerging from it. The next image was several silhouettes being sucked into a book. He then drew a timeline, starting at the night Togo got shot.
Hermione added her own notes in red to stand out from Hiro's.
"Tsukiyasha heard someone crying, and came to the real world shortly after–"
"Do we think it was the kitsune child?" Hiro asked.
Hermione thought about it for a moment before quickly sketching a kitsune with a question mark, and a human on the other side. "Don't know, but she did go missing so maybe. My theory is it was a student like us–I just don't know why. But it's definitely possible."
Hiro nodded. "We know there was a curse on Little Daruma and Little Tengu. Daruma-chan almost came out as soon as the book was open."
Hermione clasped her hands and thought. "But there was no blinding light…so maybe the curse used was different?"
"Maybe," he agreed. "How many curses to make fiction real do you think there are?"
Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know. I've never read about anything like this before."
After a moment of silence, they both dismissed their respective images and clasped each other's hands. Hermione wanted to comfort Hiro, who now stared at the floor boards, and she recognised the troubled look on his face.
"Are you okay, Hiro?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. I just feel—this is terrifying and amazing. And we're in my father's favourite light novel. I almost wonder if he'd be jealous. I barely remember him, just his love of stories, his laugh, even the creepy onryo sounds. And how he'd let me eat mochi until I calmed down after a nightmare. I wish I knew him better."
"I'm sorry," Hermione knew that feeling when she thought about her mother. "It's not the same, but I sometimes miss my mum…I never met her, I don't— I just—It's hard missing someone you barely knew."
"At least I got to know him a little," he sighed, squeezing her hand. "I guess I have something to miss."
Hermione leaned her head against Hiro's. "And that can make it harder. I'm sorry."
The tears in Hiro's eyes brimmed over. "And then there's Mama. She's all alone. With Papa gone, Kaori and I are all she has. And if we don't get back to her…I don't know. I just know she'll be lonely. It's funny, Mama's a muggle, but I bet she would know what to do here."
Both Hermione and Hiro threw their arms around each other, and Hiro sobbed in her arms. She wished she knew what to say, all she could do was hold him. All she could do was let him cry until he exhausted himself.
"I promise, Hiro," she whispered into his ear. "I'm going to get us home."
Once Hiro fell asleep, Hermione looked out the window to see the full moon casting down on them. She wondered briefly what the moon phases were like, and if werewolves hid among the trees as outcasts like they did in the real world. That made her think of Remus and her father. They would be okay, it'd be at least a week before they even knew she was missing.
She wondered how long they would be stuck there. If it'd be long enough to be missed. She promised Hiro to bring him home, and she intended to keep it. She thought of Yamato Minako wandering Tokyo, lifeless as she searched for her missing kids.
Then she thought of Luna, would she be lonely? And would Harry be able to find out about his dreams himself? She looked at Hiro and her friends sleeping around her. She had no clue how, but she had a promise to keep.
Hermione felt a pang as she thought about her father once more. He had a lot of qualities she hated that she emulated, but he was smart enough she was certain if the situations were reversed, he'd find his way back. She wished she were as smart as he was, but he was right about her simply being a stupid little girl. And yet…
"I hope you're okay, Dad," she whispered to the sky.
