Chapter Text
Chuuya watched as all the fishes began to swim close to the edge of the pond, throwing in some fish food and looked on boredly as tens of koi fish jumped and congregated to that spot as they ate up the offerings. The little garden behind their new clinic was nice, nothing like where his parents used to work back in Tokyo, much too green and smelled less like smog and more of fresh air and a hint of rain.
He placed his hand in the water to get rid of the remaining fish flakes, some fish bumping into his hand, the wet scales making him scrunch his nose as he quickly pulled it out and rubbed his hand on his pants. It was quiet, a little too quiet without the backdrop noise of cars honking, sounds of construction, and the overall buzz of people existing but Chuuya didn’t mind.
Humming to himself as he made his way back into the clinic, he saw his mom wiping at the receptionist desk, carefully arranging a flower pot and the patient log book on it.
“I don’t understand why we had to leave Tokyo for here,” Chuuya grumbled, bending down to pick up a pen that rolled off the desk. “Dad was doing fine at Todai wasn’t he?”
“We talked about this,” his mom sighed, taking the pen and placing it on top of the log book. “We just needed a new change of scenery and this clinic was the perfect fit. It’s not that bad of a place, is it?”
“Is our little Chuuya complaining again?” Kensuke asked, coming around and kissed his wife on the top of her head. “He’s just upset that he had to leave his little sheep behind.”
“Dad,” Chuuya groaned, rubbing his face in embarrassment as his father recalled the little name he gave to his group of friends. “I’m not upset about that! I just don’t get why good doctors like yourselves are out here to the boonies. Or at least set up shop closer to the main city.”
“This place is not the boonies,” Fuku scoffed, rolling her eyes at her son’s dramaticness. “There’s a need here for our specialities and lack of competition. Plus, your dad wasn’t made for the politics of Todai’s medical department anyways. We would have left sooner or later.”
“Why would you say that honey?” Kensuke asked, frowning as he followed his wife’s giggles out of the entrance and further into the clinic. “I’m cutthroat enough for hospital politics. Tokyo wasn’t ready for me. ”
Chuuya rolled his eyes at their display of affection and messed around with the flower arrangement, pursing his lips when he noticed a lily that looked like it was drooping earlier now suddenly firm and blooming with life.
“Hello there.”
Steel blue eyes quickly flitted to the door, brow quirking in curiosity at a woman in a wheelchair behind pushed by a man with a red scarf.
“Hi, we’re not quite open for business yet,” Chuuya slowly said, rounding the receptionist desk and turned on the computer anyways due to the fact that he knew his parents would see these people regardless of them not being officially open. “Here to see the doctors?”
“Our apologies, we were told that we could be seen if we came here.” the man smiled, and Chuuya twitched at the uneasy feeling crawling up his spine. “Are they in?”
“Mhm,” he hummed, tapping the bell on the desk twice to alert his parents someone was here. “I can get you signed in. Is it for you or her?”
“It’ll be me,” the woman spoke, voice airy and kind. “Tsushima Tane. This is my husband, Mori Ougai.”
If the man gave him a chill down his spine, this woman made his insides freeze, something about this pair sending off alarm bells in his mind.
“Got it,” Chuuya muttered, passing along the patient log book towards them to fill out. “If you can just write your name, reason for being here, and a number we can get back to you while I go get my parents that’d be great.”
“Sure thing,” Tane smiled, tapping her husband’s hand to push her forward. “Your parents own this place?”
“Yup. We just moved here a couple months ago to buy this place.” Chuuya turned his head at the sound of heels and waved at his mother. “Oh actually that’s my mom, one of the doctors in charge here. There’s new patients here asking for you guys.”
“Already?” Fuku asked, smiling and tossing something in the trash near the desk, gently patting Chuuya’s head as she stood behind him. “Are you here for my husband or myself?”
“Dr. Nakahara, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mori said, stepping away from his wife’s wheelchair to shake hands with Fuku. “While I’ve heard many great things about you, I’m actually here for your husband.”
Fuku’s eyes glanced over at the couple, eyes focusing on the wheelchair and the woman in it.
“I see. Want to tell me about it while my son here fixes up a room for us real quick?”
Chuuya noticed the dismissal for what it was and walked away so the adults could start talking privately. He entered the first room in the hall and started the computer in there to begin with and started cleaning the bed and placed a sheet on it. He swept away any shavings from the newly installed cabinets that might have fallen on the floor and dimmed the lights, looking around the room one more time to see what else he might need to do.
He waited a few more minutes in the room before opening the door and called out to his parents who were both talking to the visitors.
“All done.”
“Thank you Chuuya,” Fuku said loudly, walking forward and motioned for the visitors to follow her. “This way. Anything else we should know?”
“Here are the summaries of our past visits from other doctors. However, like I said, it’s been a dead end everywhere.”
Chuuya furrowed his brows as Mori handed Kensuke the pile of papers, his dad flipping through them humming in confusion as he read through diagnoses and prognoses. His dad made comments and his mother looked over, a look of understanding crossing her face as she hummed along and agreed with whatever her husband was saying.
“Hey, is this a joke?” Chuuya asked, pointing at the papers and then at the man. “These are all blank.”
Kane and Mori stared at the boy in surprise, Fuku snapped out of her focus and looked alarmed at Chuuya’s statement.
“Sweetie, this isn’t a time for pranks.”
“Chuuya, we’re working now,” his dad chastised. “If you’re still upset from earlier-”
“Huh? No, really, look, it’s blank!” Chuuya exclaimed, touching the paper and something shimmered on the white sheet, words appearing before vanishing again. “See? It’s like….a prank or something?”
“How peculiar,” Mori mumbled, looking at Chuuya in a new light and then pulled out a piece of paper from the pile and handed it to Chuuya. “What does this say?”
“I’m so sorry about this,” his mother suddenly said, grabbing Chuuya by the arm and pushing him behind her. “He’s normally not like this.”
“No worries, our son is much worse.” Tane sighed fondly and Mori grimaced. “You should see the things he comes up with, now those are pranks.”
Loud laughter filled the hall until it stopped due to harsh coughing, the adults stared at Tane in varying degrees of concern.
“Chuuya, go clean up the other rooms while we finish doing our examination over here,” Kensuke ordered, clasping the ten year old’s shoulders gently. “Feel free to head on home in case you’re bored here, just leave us a note.”
Chuuya nodded silently, lips pursed as Mori’s quizzical eyes lingered on him, carefully maneuvering his wife into the room and the door closed on them. Following the orders, Chuuya cleaned and organized the remaining five patient rooms, going upstairs to check on the small in-house laboratory and throwing away plastic and cellophane from the brand new equipment.
It took less than thirty minutes for Chuuya to tidy up whatever he could, slightly stomping his way down the stairs again in boredom as he debated whether to go home. He stood in front of the automatic doors, the air conditioner blasting cold air in his face as he lingered in the entrance. Deciding to head on home, Chuuya exited the clinic, stopping at the rows of flower beds that lined the paveway to the entrance of the clinic.
He bent down and gently ran his hands over the buds that haven’t bloomed yet, stopping at a bush that was nothing but purple buds, gently touching each one and giving words of encouragement before heading on home, pretending that he didn’t notice the way the buds began to unfurl and bloom into brightly colored flowers.
Chuuya woke up from his nap, slowly sitting on the couch as he yawned loudly. He stared straight ahead at the TV that was on some news segment and turned off. Muffled laughter and soft music leaked into the sitting room, his parents talking softly from the kitchen.
“You’re late.” Chuuya mumbled as he entered the kitchen, leaning onto the island and plopping his cheeks onto his palms. “What took you so long?”
“Hi sweetie, hungry?” Fuku asked, passing along some cooked dumplings that were already finished steaming. “I was just telling your dad a story that Tane told me. She’s very charming.”
“You were late because you were talking to that woman?” Chuuya asked, poking at the dumplings and popped one into his mouth.
“No, we were late because we were working.” Kensuke answered, passing a plate of cooked meat to Fuku who set it aside. “It’s a real mystery, this one. Apparently a colleague at Todai recommended that Mori-san reach out to me.”
“Who?” Chuuya questioned, quickly chewing to avoid being burned by the steaming dumpling.
“It was….” His dad trailed off, eyes going fuzzy and distant as he tried to recall but then energetically began talking again. “So after he recommended me, it turns out we already left Tokyo by then so Mori-san traveled all the way here to see us.”
Chuuya stared in confusion at his dad’s lack of answer and turned to his mom, who was smiling at her husband, eyes distant and unassuming.
“Who recommended dad to those people?” Chuuya asked her, popping another dumpling in his mouth.
“Oh you know…” Fuku said, waving her hand. “He worked at the hospital, a real good guy. His daughter used to babysit you when you were a baby.”
“Mom…” Chuuya mumbled, frowning deeply now that his mom would bring up his infant years. “You know I wouldn’t remember that.”
Fuku stared at him, her thin brows pinching together as she opened her mouth, slightly confused as to why her son wasn’t understanding her words. Suddenly her face smoothed out, a calm smile on her face as she nodded.
“Ah yes, that’s right, you wouldn’t know him,” Fuku concluded, grabbing a salad bowl and placing it in front of Chuuya. “Come on, help me set up the table. Dinner’s ready.”
Chuuya bit his lower lip, annoyed at his parents’ lack of answer and grabbed the last dumpling, chewing angrily as he helped place plates and chopsticks on the dinner table in the dining room.
After dinner, Chuuya waited for his parents to fall asleep, his dad’s loud snores seeping through the closed door and into the hallway where Chuuya could hear. He jumped out of his bed, fully clothed with shoes on and carefully walking down the hardwood hall, the stairs creaking as he made his way down and out of the house.
Grabbing his bike near the porch, Chuuya hopped on and biked towards the clinic, a mere 10 minutes away but felt forever at this time of night. Thanking the stars that it was a new moon, the roads were lit with street lamps and the moonlight, Chuuya shivering at the cold night wind as he pedaled faster to the clinic.
There was something wrong, he could feel it in his bones, in the back of his mind, a small ringing telling him that something wasn’t right. His mom mentioned his infant years, his dad couldn’t remember his colleague’s name, that man in a red scarf holding blank papers, the strange aura around that woman that made him feel like he was losing something.
It was all off, it wasn’t right.
He slowed down as he approached the clinic, eyes widening at Mori-san talking to his wife that was now standing up, wheelchair nowhere to be found, her hands gently plucking flowers from the bushes he touched earlier.
“I told you he’d return Rintarou,” Tane sang, her voice sounding awfully loud to Chuuya’s ears. “Such a curious boy. Just like our little star, yeah?”
Chuuya got off his bike, instincts yelling at him to turn around and ride back home, but there was something else, something deep inside him whispering that maybe he could finally get answers- answers to what? Chuuya didn’t know, he paused and frowned at the dark haired couple.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, fingers tightening against his handlebars. “This is private property.”
“It is,” Mori agreed, nodding his head and smiling, teeth gleaming in the moonlight. “Tell me Chuuya-kun, are those your real parents?”
Chuuya flinched at the answer, his upper lip curling into a snarl.
“Who the hell are you to ask that?” He snapped, throwing his bike to the ground as he stomped over to the man. “Get the hell out of here before I call the cops. And never visit here again! I knew something was wrong!”
“Did you?” Tane asked, surprise coloring her tone, but she also seemed happy at his statement. “I told you he had potential. I can feel it.”
“You’re right,” Mori nodded, plucking a flower from the bush and tucked it behind his wife’s ear, the flower instantly losing its luster and turning limp, a petal falling down. “You’re always right about these things.”
Tane giggled and shoved playfully at her husband before crouching down, waving at Chuuya to come closer, her body language attempting to appear non-threatening but Chuuya couldn’t stop his insides from twisting in unease and anxiety. The scene of the flower dying the second it touched her skin made him feel sick to his stomach, his gut warning him to stay away from this woman.
“He’s probably a muggleborn, but strange that he’s so powerful with two muggle parents.” Mori hummed, grabbing something from his breast pocket, a piece of paper. “Come here Chuuya-kun, we won’t hurt you.”
“Hah!” Chuuya scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Like I’d trust that. You two weirdos show up and then my parents start acting weird? You must be like…con artists or criminals! Look! I have goosebumps!! Proof that something isn’t right.”
“Do you get these feelings of something that isn't right often?” Tane asked gently, her smile motherly and unassuming. “Like, you don’t belong? As if-”
“There’s something missing?” Chuuya finished, clamping his hand over his mouth at finishing her sentence and the married couple looked at each other and smiled widely.
“How old are you, hun?” Tane asked, standing up and taking the flower out from behind her ear and let it drop to the ground.
“I don’t think I should tell you that,” Chuuya mumbled, taking a step closer to the couple.
“Let me ask differently,” Mori said, eyes analyzing Chuuya. “When’s your 11th birthday?”
“April…” Chuuya answered, taking another step and Tane reached out for another flower, this one also withering in her hand and she let it drop. “I won’t share the day.”
“You’re older than my son then,” Tane brightly mentioned, nodding and she grabbed her husband’s gloved hand. “They’d be lovely friends, don’t you think?”
“Not at all,” Mori answered honestly and Tane laughed loudly. “Chuuya-kun, can you read this?”
“Haahh?” Chuuya nearly yelled. “Of course I can read? Do I look illiterate? My parents are freaking doctors, it’d be embarrassing if I couldn’t.”
Insulted, he grabbed the paper out of Mori’s hand and angled it so the light from the clinic’s door could shine on it the best it could and used the moonlight to also read. He scanned through the words on the paper, frowning in confusion at what he read.
“Wasting disease? Magical reserves drained? What the heck does this mean? St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries?! Are you two crazy people? What the heck is this?” Chuuya loudly complained, not understanding the numbers and medical phrases used. “This is make believe stuff, isn’t it? You’re just wasting my parents’ time.”
“It’s January,” Mori mumbled, catching the paper that Chuuya crumpled up and threw at him, uncrumpling it and flattening the creases. “His letter will get sent out in April…okay this is what we’ll do, Chuuya-kun, let’s pretend today never happened.”
“You’re crazy.” Chuuya blurted out, taking a step back, suddenly deciding to listen to his gut and get away from here. “I can’t stay here, I have to go home.”
“Wait!” Tane shouted, reaching out and grabbing Chuuya’s hand, her brown eyes shutting in pain as she let go and began coughing. “Oh wow, you- you really have a lot of it, don’t you?”
“A lot of what?” Chuuya cautiously whispered, curling his arms closer to himself. “I’m normal. I don’t have a lot of anything.”
“I’m not saying you’re not normal,” Tane quickly said, small coughs still wracking her body. “Strange things occur around you, don’t they? Accidents you can’t explain? Miracles you’re okay pretending didn't happen?”
“No.” Chuuya immediately said, a firm frown on his face. “I just told you, I’m normal. ”
“Right…” Tane sighed loudly, and looked at her hands, Chuuya carefully peeking at them as well, wondering what she was looking at. “We’re like you. There’s a whole bunch of people like you Chuuya-kun. You are very much a normal person, no doubt about that.”
Chuuya kept quiet, working his jaw and he tried to acknowledge the sharp tug in his heart at those words. He always knew there was something off about him, good things happening when there was no reason, incidents occurring around him and being the only one unharmed, getting hurt and instantly healing like nothing happened. As if the strange woman knew what internal struggle was going on in Chuuya’s mind, she reached out and hesitated, Chuuya staring warily at her hand.
“We just wanted to confirm something,” she continued, deciding to go for it and gently pushed back a brown curl behind the young boy’s ear. “We’re sorry if we scared you.”
“Who wouldn’t be scared by two adults ambushing them in the middle of the night?” Chuuya grumbled, feeling embarrassed but also emboldened by how familiar Tane was acting. “Any kid would be afraid.”
“I suppose my perception of kids is a little skewed because my son is very much a little demon in his own way,” Tane snorted, taking back her hand and stared at her pinky finger where it rubbed against Chuuya’s ear. “I know what I said today might have resonated with you, but we’re also a little too early and can’t explain everything just yet.”
“What can’t you explain?” Chuuya wondered, looking behind at Mori who was patiently waiting where he stood the entire conversation. “The letter thing?”
“That….among other things,” Tane answered. “Look, my husband said we’d pretend that we didn’t meet tonight, do you think you can do that for us Chuuya-kun?”
“What’s in it for me?”
“We won’t tell your parents that you were out at one o’clock in the morning.” Mori loudly said, a smirk on his face. “Or the fact that you were planning on breaking into their clinic.”
“It’s not breaking into it if I have a key,” Chuuya grumbled, cheeks blushing in shame at the truth behind Mori’s words. “But that doesn’t sound like a good deal.”
“Hmm, let’s see,” Tane humored him, tapping her chin as she pretended to think hard. “Ah! How about we’ll bring some treats next time we come?”
“That’s it?” Chuuya asked, disappointed at the offer.
“Trust me, it’s something out of this world,” Tane promised, a lopsided smirk on her lips that spelled no good. “We’ll come back next month since I have to do some tests and get a CAT scan or something? Very strange that cats can be used to scan for illnesses, but you know, I’ve seen weirder things.”
Chuuya laughed at the lame joke and agreed to keep quiet about tonight. He tried to tell the couple that he most definitely didn’t need to be chaperoned back to his house but Mori insisted and Tane nodded along, saying they couldn’t let a cute kid walk alone at night. What if he got kidnapped by two strange people that might be pretending to be a married couple to make him less suspicious?
Chuuya balked at that and was a millisecond away from hopping on his bike and speeding away before Tane laughed loudly, doubling over as tears streamed down her face, coughing and Mori rubbed her back fondly, shaking his head at her antics.
“Your jokes are terrible,” Chuuya grumbled out, kicking a rock as he rolled his bike next to him, Tane snickering the entire way to his house. “I can call a cab for you two instead of you walking back to the clinic?”
“Why would we walk back to the clinic?” Mori asked, confused for a second before nodding. “I mean, yes, the clinic is where we left our automobile.”
“You sound like an old geezer saying that instead of a car,” Chuuya pointed out, sending Tane into another fit of giggles. “But now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing your car in our parking lot?”
“It’s there,” Tane assured him, patting his shoulder and smiling at her hand when she brought it back up. “You’re probably too tired to remember.”
“That…might actually be true,” Chuuya admitted, feeling very tired from the day. “That’s my house.”
He pointed to a winding driveway that led to a quaint two story house turning to say goodbye to the strange couple.
“I won’t tell my parents about today, but only if the candy is really good the next time we meet.”
“I promise that it’d be the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen.” Tana swore, blinking in confusion as Chuuya brought out his hand and offered his pinky. “What’s this?”
“A pinky promise?” Chuuya asked, blushing at the fact that he sounded like such a kid. “I dont know…it’s something my friends and parents do to swear on something we say…sorry, you don’t have to do it.”
Tane oohed at the explanation and smiled widely, her eyes crescenting in enjoyment.
“I love that! Here.” She offered her pinky and waited for Chuuya to hook his onto hers. “Don’t tell anyone about anything we talked about today either.”
“Like…the paper I was given?” Chuuya asked, yawning loudly and stared at Tane’s fascination with their intertwined pinkies. “I won’t, promise.”
“Thank you Chuuya-kun,” Tane softly said, unhooking her finger and wiggling her fingers. “We’ll wait here until you enter your door.”
“Okay,” Chuuya mumbled, yawning again and dropped his bike on the inside of his gate, too lazy to take it all the way back up the driveway. “See ya later!”
He quickly made his way to the porch, opening the door quietly and when he was about to enter inside, there was a loud crack! Chuuya alarmed and ran back down the driveway, eyes searching for the married couple only to be left in confusion as there was no sign of them up or down the road.
Chuuya doesn’t dream. For as long as he could remember, dreams or nightmares never invaded his mind when he slept, only darkness and nothingness. He woke up groggily, smacking his lips as he turned in bed, curling deeper into the warmth of his cushions before he sat up in a hurry, remembering the date.
“Mom?” He yelled, getting out of bed and opening his door wide. “Dad?”
Total silence.
He groaned loudly, opening up his closet to grab clean clothes and shoved them on, quickly pulling his socks on and skipped down the stairs.
“Mom?” He called out one more time, annoyed that his parents left him home when he explicitly told them to wake him up today. “Out of all the days to leave me! Uggghhh!”
Groaning, he shoved his shoes on and grabbed his bike, hitting the kickstand up with his heel and headed off to his family clinic.
He wasn’t excited to see Mori or Tane, to be honest, he didn’t care about them or what little secrets they hid, he just wanted his reward for keeping silent for a month. Okay maybe he was a little curious about what secrets they were hiding, but he could live without knowing, really, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
He rolled to a stop at the front of the clinic, the automatic doors swooshing open and he placed his bike near the entrance but out of the way. Waving at the receptionist he easily entered the facility and walked towards the back where the garden was.
Despite his eagerness to see the strange couple, he wouldn’t actually interfere while his parents worked. He also didn’t know what time Tane’s appointment was so he’d wait until the receipt upmost got up for her smoke break and would sneak a peek at the computer.
Chuuya walked around the garden area, sitting down on the bench that was placed underneath a cherry blossom tree that was nothing but branches, he zoned out staring at the clouds above.
His mind drifted off, thinking about the never ending cycle of moving and uprooting whatever lifestyle he created for the sake of his parents traveling around Japan and helping communities in need. He wished he was able to have a set of friends for longer than a year, those in Tokyo almost lasting two years before his parents decided it was time to leave. Being in a new place, a new school wasn’t so bad, but he did miss Tokyo. He missed his friends that he thought were going to be his people, the streets he was so familiar with, the sights and smells of humanity.
He tried his best to ignore the nagging sensation in his brain that was eager to learn more about what Tane and Mori had to offer, but he knew that if he learned answers to his most desperate questions, things would be irrevocably changed. He did have some expectations for meeting up with the couple, wanting to know more about what they hinted at but figured they’ll probably stay tight lipped.
Sighing loudly, he dropped down on the bench, frowning at the way the cold metal stung his cheek.
“Chuuya-kun?” A soft voice crooned and Chuuya flipped around on the bench. “It is you! I wasn’t sure since you’re so tiny.”
“I’m still growing!” Chuuya barked, cheeks flushing in indignation. “I’m perfectly sized for a ten year old.”
“Yes yes,” Tane agreed seriously, nodding her head and pushing herself forward on her wheelchair. “Your mom said you weren’t coming today, so I thought we wouldn’t be able to keep our side of the promise.”
“My parents didn’t even wake me up to let me know they were leaving,” Chuuya complained, sitting up and trying his best not to look too eager. “How was your appointment?”
“There wasn’t a cat!” Tane answered, disappointment coloring her tone. “In fact, it was this huge machine that I had to lay in, not fluffy or cute at all!”
“You weren’t…were you really serious about thinking a cat was going to scan you? We call it a CAT scan but technically we should refer to it as CT scans… ” Chuuya wondered, unsure how to take the woman’s seriousness. “With all the hospitals you’ve been to, surely you’ve received some MRIs at CTs scans, right? ”
“Hmm, sure,” Tane smiled easily, shrugging and pulling out several boxes from a small purse on her hip. “Which one do you want to open first?”
“How does that even fit?” Chuuya asked, bewildered at the size of one of the boxes and how much bigger it was than the purse. “Huh? It got bigger? What?!”
“Chuuya-kun, you’re still not half asleep are you?” Tane questioned, her straining not to break out in a mirthful smile. “Hurry before my husband comes with your parents. Pick one.”
“Only one?” Chuuya pouted, eyes scanning the five boxes and wondered which one he should choose. “I guess that one.”
Chuuya picked up a small pentagonal box that popped up in the middle, the purple and gold shimmering under the noon sun. He gave Tane a nervous glance from beneath his eyelashes, her wide grin straining at the edges with how excited she was for him to open it up.
He carefully pulled open the box, knitting his brows at the lump of chocolate that was carved to resemble a frog.
“What the heck is this?” He asked, making a face as he picked up the chocolate. “Is this a famous candy from whatever country you’re from?”
Tane laughed loudly.
“I was born and raised in Japan just like you Chuuya-kun.”
“Who the heck would ever want a- WAH!” He screeched and dropped the candy that suddenly became slimy and wiggled in his hand. “WHAT THE!!! IT- IT’S ALIVE?!?!”
He eeked and jumped away as the brown frog hopped closer to him and then away, quickly trying to avoid being caught by anyone. Chuuya looked at his hand and back to the spot where the frog once was.
“Did you try to trick me into eating a real frog?!” Chuuya exclaimed, rubbing his hand on his pants. “Lady, you have some serious issues.”
The garden was filled with vivacious laughter, Tane suppressing her coughs as tears streamed down her face and she tried to answer Chuuya so he could stop yelling. Chuuya quieted down and stared at the box as he pouted, just a tad bit upset that his choice of gift ended up being a gross prank.
Looking at the empty box, he noticed a card and picked it up. He gasped at the sight of a mustached man appearing and disappearing before his eyes, the lettering underneath the small blank window on a card spelled out Natsume Soseki, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with other tidbits about this man.
“Huh? Did it just- Did you see-” Chuuya stopped himself, bringing the card closer to his eyes and even flipped it around, trying to see if it was a holographic card that might have created an illusion of a person standing in the frame. “Who is Natsume Soseki?”
“Ahhh, someone you’ll meet soon I imagine.” Mori said, finally coming out to where his wife was, Chuuya’s parents by his side. “Here you were Tane, we were looking for you.”
Chuuya scrunched his nose at the non-answer and walked towards his parents, his mom easily combing her fingers through his brown hair.
“I thought you’d stay in bed all morning,” Fuku commented, and tapped Chuuya’s scrunched nose. “We’re just about done for the day and are just waiting on Tsushima-san to let us draw her blood.”
“I don’t get why you have to use needles, how primitive.” Tane sighed, stacking the remaining boxes and lifting them towards Chuuya. “Here you go. The rest belong to you as well.”
“Chuuya, did you ask for gifts?” Kensuke asked, frowning at the brightly packaged boxes in the woman’s hands. “I assure you two, whatever my son asks of you, you definitely do not have to listen to.”
“Oh no,” Mori quickly interrupted, standing behind his wife. “We had a lovely conversation with Chuuya-kun last time and thought we’d bring him some gifts since he mentioned that he hasn’t quite adjusted to this new area yet.”
Fuku and Kensuke looked at each other warily while Tane signaled for Chuuya to take the boxes. Chuuya looked back at his parents, the both of them now wearing amicable grins and waving at Chuuya’s expression of hesitation.
“Oh yeah, of course, go ahead and take them Chuuya,” Kensuke said airly.
Chuuya stepped closer toward Tane at his parents allowing him to take the present and tried his best to balance them without any tipping over. Looking back to his parents for help, the both of them had a dazed look, nodding along and smiling pleasantly.
“Well if you insist,” Fuku said, reaching out and grabbing half the boxes from Chuuya. “What were we saying…oh! I promise Tsushima-san, these needles are very thin. You won’t feel a thing.”
The woman sighed loudly, looking back at her husband who stood behind her silently.
“Well, if I must.” Tane acquiesced, letting her husband push her back towards the clinic.
“Whoa! Look at that frog!” Kensuke exclaimed, bending down and watched the brown frog hop away. “I’ve never seen one like that before!”
Tane started laughing again loudly, bent over in her wheelchair and Chuuya kept his mouth shut at his mother’s questions of why he suddenly was so red.
Chuuya leaned out of the large window overlooking the garden area of the clinic, a bottle of water between his hands, waiting for his parents to finish with their morning patients so they could go to lunch. He scanned his parent’s private office, twisting the bottle in his hand and easily passed over the calendar that said it was April 14th.
He felt a rush of wind and a loud cooing sound, turning to see a huge brown owl right beside him, the owl looking at him impatiently and shaking its feathers.
“Uh, hi?” Chuuya mumbled, pushing back from the window and tried to not spook the bird. “Can you, uh, I don't know, go away?”
Chuuya swore the bird rolled its eyes at the request and it inched closer to him instead, cooing loudly, then dropped something heavy on the ground. Chuuya glared at the owl in return, hoping it wasn’t the snowglobe that his mother bought when she visited France so long ago, but instead it was a parcel.
“What the hell?” Chuuya exclaimed, grabbing the package from the ground and examining it. The brown paper was wrapped up tightly with silky ribbons, and it was addressed to him. Nakahara Chuuya, By the window of Dr. Nakahara’s office, the second floor of the Nakahara Clinic, Yamaguchi, Japan. “What the hell? ”
If owls could scoff, Chuuya was positive this owl would have scoffed in his face, instead the owl trilled and opened its wings, fluttering before jumping off the window ledge and flew away.
Chuuya blinked in a daze, turning around to see if anyone was in the room and also saw what he saw, but alas, he was alone and stuck to figure out if what happened was reality or a figment of his imagination.
With shaky fingers, he tugged at the end of the ribbon, easily unraveling, and the brown packing paper easily tearing as he unwrapped the package. There was a fancy envelope with his name written, Nakahara Chuuya , emerald ink looking like it was still wet. Underneath that, there were various papers stapled together, the emblem of a school right in the middle, four animals in one crest and the thick cursive of the school displayed underneath.
“Hogwarts?” Chuuya mumbled.
That word again. After seeing the strange card from a few months ago, he tried to ask Mori and Tane multiple times what kind of school it was, also googling the school too but nothing popped up. He knew the two adults were hiding something from him, but if they truly were Japanese then this school should be in Japan as well right?
He quickly scanned through the papers, recognizing a school shopping list. His eyebrows furrowed deeper with each item he read, materials he never heard of, books that sounded ridiculous and fake, a toad for a pet?! What the hell was this?! He clicked his tongue and turned on his heels, freezing when he was a man standing in front of the fireplace.
“I see you haven’t used it yet.” The silver haired man spoke, wiping off ash from his black haori. “That’s good, this is a new yukata and I’d hate to explain to the person who picked it for me that I had to throw it away after one use.”
“What the fuck.”
The man’s eyes sharply stared at him, looking unamused at the curse that escaped Chuuya’s lips. The man walked looked around the office, nodding his head at the little trinkets here and there
“Yes, very quaint. Are you parents home?”
“Uh, my parents are here, but this isn’t home.” Chuuya said, taking a step back and pulling the papers behind his back. “Mister, who are you? You can’t just come out of the fireplace and expect me to be okay with it.”
“I’m sure you have many questions Nakahara-kun,” the man said gently, walking out of the break room and looking up and down the hall. “It’ll be much easier if I explain this with your parents present. Where are they?”
“They’re busy, but I can take you downstairs to the waiting area. They should be finished soon.”
The man waited for Chuuya to lead the way, the boy clenching the papers in his hands as he kept looking backwards in case this man was going to do something suspicious. They went down the staircase and Chuuya sent mental cries for help towards the closed patient room his parents were in, pouting when they passed by and the door remained closed.
“You can sit there, they should be done in a bit.” Chuuya explained, pointing to one of the seats and flopped down on one far away from the man. “Can you tell me your name at least?”
“I’ll be one of your teachers at Hogwarts, Fukuzawa Yukichi.”
“Hogwarts? So it’s a legit school? Like…you’re a real teacher that actually teaches a subject at a tangible place?”
Fukuzawa looked at Chuuya curiously, nodding slowly and shifted in his seat.
“You’ve heard of Hogwarts already?”
“I did read this,” Chuuya said, waving the papers in his hand.
“You’ve heard of it before today,” Fukuzawa said, not a question but a statement.
Chuuya clamped his lips shut and turned his body away, silently screaming for his parents to hurry up and come out. Five minutes later of awkward silence, Chuuya could feel Fukuzawa staring holes into his face, his parents emerged laughing lightly and talking about the next visit.
“Oho? If it isn’t Fukuzawa-dono,” Mori commented, his deceptively calm voice carrying into the waiting room. “What a surprise.”
“I see, it all makes sense now.” Fukuzawa sighed, standing up and walking over to greet the Nakaharas and the other couple. “There were whispers in the Wizengamot that you’ve been absent quite a bit. Do they know you’re messing around in the muggle world?”
“Now boys, don’t cause a scene,” Tane lightly chided, giving Fukuzawa a gentle smile. “I heard that Rimbaud was the one in charge of house visits this year?”
“The headmaster decided to put me in charge of this family,” Fukuzawa trailed off, looking at the Nakaharas that stared in confusion. “My apologies, I’m actually here to introduce myself and to share some…news that might be alarming. Would you care to do it here or at your home?”
“Uh,” Fuku gave her son a pinched smile, fear in her eyes as she stepped around Fukuzawa and covered her son with her body. “Who are you?”
“You can trust him Fuku-chan!” Tane assured her, adjusting her shawl around her shoulders and let the ends pool in her waist. “In fact, I think this talk would do you two good, but if I’m correct, there are some things you’re probably hiding as well?”
Kensuke cleared his throat loudly and clasped his hands, his own face pinched in consternation.
“Is this to do with Chuuya?” He asked, rubbing his hands together anxiously. “We…we thought we had until he was eleven?”
“Huh?” Chuuya asked, standing up from his seat and walking over to his mom, her grip tight against his arm as she grabbed him and kept him behind her. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” Fukuzawa answered, a small wrinkle near his brow to show his confusion. “I’m here as representative from Hogwarts as well as the Ministry of Magic to inform you that your son has magical blood in him and has received an invitation to our school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”
“Magic?” Fuku whispered, hiding Chuuya even more with her body. “She was telling the truth…”
“Mom?” Chuuya cautiously murmured, trying to shake her grip off, fingers hurting him now. “It hurts.”
“I think…I need a drink for this,” Kunsuke sighed heavily, rubbing his face. “Since you all seem to know each other, I’m assuming you’re also from this…Hogwarts place?”
“Hogwarts is a school for underage wizards and witches so no, we aren’t from there.” Mori said, a condescending tone underlying his words and Fukuzawa rolled his eyes before catching himself and shut them instead. “I do work for the Ministry of Magic though, while Tane was a potions master before she got sick.”
“Right, the Ministry of Magic,” Kensuke nodded, as if it all made perfect sense. “And you are…wizards?”
“I’m a witch,” Tane chirped, grinning and brought out a long stick from her purse. “See? Got a wand and everything.”
“We were told that everything would be explained when Chuuya turned 11,” Fuku said, eyes downcast. “He’s ours , no matter what that woman might have told you.”
“Normally magical kids do get their letters to Hogwarts when they are eleven, but seeing how you’re muggles- ah, non magical people, we like to have a representative here to answer all your questions and ease you into the notion of it all.” Fukuzawa explained, opening his eyes and slightly tilting his head. “You don’t seem very surprised Nakahara-san.”
“Well,” Fuku licked her lips and made eye contact with her husband. “I think it’d be best if we have this talk at our house.”
Chuuya kept quiet and allowed his mother to drag him behind her, her fingers probably leaving bruises on his skin, but he held his tongue, a sickening feeling that something was going to break and shatter his peaceful life settling deep in his bones.
Fukuzawa Yukichi is the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts as well as the Gryffindor house head. He easily answered all questions that the elder Nakaharas have with patience and kindness, simplifying terms and acronyms for them to understand. Questions about what does it mean to have magic, are there other magical beings, is it like a separate dimension separating wizarding world from the regular world, why the heck do they wait until kids are eleven to share this life changing info, and so on.
Chuuya kept quiet the entire time, sitting snugly between his mother and father, something that would have felt comforting but now feels a little stifling. His parents continued to share side glances that exchanged sentences, their fingers would drift over to Chuuya, touching his arms, legs, hair, as if ensuring he was still beside them and not gone. Chuuya kept quiet the entire time, anxiously biting his lips and tearing pieces of dried skin from them.
The makeshift information session nearly ended at seven o’clock, when Fukuzawa finally finished talking and explaining how they would travel to the Japanese entrance to Diagon Alley when Chuuya finally spoke.
“What if I don’t want to go to Hogwarts?” He asked, the wizard looking at him in shock and his parents stiffened beside him. “What if I’m okay with my life here as a muggle, or whatever you called them.”
Fukuzawa schooled his expression and nodded slowly, pondering over the question.
“I believe this may be a bit of an information overload for everyone here,” he said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. “I’m assuming you have a cellphone that I can contact you with?”
“Of course,” Kensuke said, struggling to pull his phone out of his pocket. “I suppose it is the modern century so even wizards can carry them.”
“I usually don't. This was given by the Headmaster.“ Fukuzawa explained, tugging a black flip phone out of his yukata. “I’ll be staying in Kyoto for a few weeks but if you want to meet up, I can easily come here again.”
“Okay,” Kensuke nodded, bringing his phone close to exchange information through Bluetooth. “I’ll see you out?”
Fukuzawa nodded and said goodbye to Fuku who was sitting stiffly against the couch. Chuuya waved awkwardly and exhaled deeply, freezing when his mother ran her fingers through his hair.
“How are you feeling?” She asked, a wary look in her eyes as her fingers caught on a curly knot. “Tired?”
“Not really,” Chuuya mumbled, twiddling his fingers together before blurting out. “What are you and dad keeping from me?”
Fuji sighed heavily, both hands cupping Chuuya’s face and gently rubbing her thumbs under his eyes.
“We were supposed to wait until your eleventh birthday to give you it but I guess now is a good time as ever,” she said, her fingers still caressing soft skin. “We never lied to you Chuuya. You are our son, no matter what.”
It wasn’t until two in the morning that Chuuya finally received all the answers he was missing, finally was able to patch together the empty spaces in his mind, the strange void of memories that seemed to act like they never existed in the first place.
He gently placed the long winded letter away, handwriting unfamiliar to him exposing the circumstances that led his birth mother to give him up, the crest of some pure blood family that ran through his blood, the reason for not remembering the first seven years of his life.
Chuuya laid on his bed and cried, he mourned the loss of a life he never knew, he grieved for the memories that would never come back to him, he fell asleep tired, eyes sore and heart aching at the fact that he couldn’t pretend this didn’t happen.
The next morning Chuuya woke up, making his way downstairs to see his parents in the kitchen, two mugs of coffee in front of them as they whispered softly. They stopped talking as Chuuya entered the room, his dad’s eyes widening at his appearance and his mom had tears in her eyes.
“Hi mom, dad,” he mumbled, tucking his hair behind his ears. “Did you save me some breakfast?”
Fuku exhaled shakily and nodded, Kensuke quickly brought a plate of tamagoyaki in front of Chuuya and smiled half heartedly.
“I like your new look.” He said, passing along chopsticks to his son. “Or rather, I suppose this is how you should have always looked.”
“What?” Chuuya asked confusedly, chopsticks with a piece of egg halfway to his mouth.
“Your hair?” Fuku offered, coming close and rubbed at the creases in Chuuya’s cheek from his sheets. “Haven’t looked in a mirror yet, have you?”
Chuuya raised his brows and exited the kitchen, going towards the hallway where he knew a mirror was placed next to the front door, inhaling sharply at the flaming orange red hair and bright blue eyes in the reflection.
“Uggghh I’m a ginger?!” He shouted, tugging at his curly hair and ignored his parents' muffled laughter. “Magic sucks! Return my brown hair!!”
Chuuya tapped at the glass, the albino snake’s head following his finger as it went up and down, side to side.
“Can I bring a snake as a pet?” Chuuya asked, enjoying the way the snake’s tongue peeked out. “It’s cute.”
“Uhh, wouldn't you want a pet you could actually cuddle?” Fuku asked cautiously, staring at the list that contained the supplies they needed to buy for Chuuya’s first year at Hogwarts. “And I don’t see snakes on the list of approved pets.”
“What? Why not? Isn’t one of the houses a freaking snake?“ Chuuya complained, frowning when the snake got bored playing with him and slithered away. “Should I get an owl? Practical right?”
“Not a cat?” Kensuke asked, four cats meowing and clawing at his sleeves, trying to get his attention. “Look at this one?! A Maine Coon maybe? It’s huge!”
“Ugh, too much work,” Chuuya complained, staring at the cats who all turned away from him and went back to bothering his dad. “An owl, a big owl so it can handle the weight of letters you send me.”
“What sort of letters do you think we’ll be sending?” Fuku teased, ducking down as an owl flew across the store. “Owls are so messy. Maybe no pets for now?”
“These are magical owls mom, I'm sure their poop just vanishes as soon as it comes out, right?” Chuuya looked at the male cashier who looked like a teen, the worker simply shrugged at his question. “Well there must be spells to keep their area clean. White or brown?”
“Tane-chan said they have an owlery at Hogwarts, no need to actually buy one just for sending letters.” Fuku tried to dissuade him again, spluttering as a few pygmy owls flew by and feathers landed in front of her face. “Pets are so much responsibility hun, are you sure you’re ready for it?”
“Mom,” Chuuya complained, reaching out to try to touch a caramel brown owl that was preening itself. “Magical. Animals. Need I say more?”
“They all look like regular owls to me,” she huffed, shaking her head at Chuuya’s expression. “We can come back after going to the bank. I don’t have these… galleons, they want in exchange for these animals.”
Chuuya sighed loudly, waking always from the display of animals and shoved his hands into his jacket’s pockets. His mother was high strung today, ever since they woke up and made their way to a certain warehouse on the port of Yokohama that was actually the entrance to Diagon Alley. She woke them up hours before their train left Yamaguchi and was constantly pressing him to keep on schedule.
But that didn’t deter him from marveling in the magic of everything. It was amazing, the way the warehouse shimmered and shifted, the metal seamlessly transforming into cobblestone streets and loud noises of people, the bizarre clothing, weird sounds from animals scurrying by, the busy main road appearing in front of his eyes.
His father was just as easily entranced as Chuuya, Fuku being dragged to every store that caught either of the males’ eyes, both of them ignoring her words and trying to remind them they came here with specific things in mind.
“Right right,” Chuuya sighed, smiling at the way his dad struggled to say goodbye to the cats. “Gringotts is the bank, yeah?”
“Yes,” Fuku murmured, looking at the map that Fukuzawa gave them when they met up again a few days ago. “Apparently it’s owned by goblins!”
“Amazing,” Kensuke murmured and Chuuya nodded in agreement. “You brought the letter right?”
Chuuya ran his finger over the ledge of an envelope in his pocket. Inside was a letter that explained the medium sized ornate key was to be shown to a teller at Gringotts and there would be some funds that could be of use to him. It also explained that if the goblins gave some pushback, he could always show the crest of his birth family sealed on the envelope and that alone should give him access to a vault.
“Tane-chan said that they also can convert muggle money to wizarding currency, so if anything, we’ll be depositing money into your account,” Fuku assured Chuuya. “I hope the exchange rate isn’t egregious.”
They made their way to the majestic building, white stone and showy dome matching the description that Fukuzawa described as the obvious signs of being at the bank.
“Here we are,” Fuku breathed out, pushing her bag higher on her shoulder and grabbed Chuuya’s hand. “Ready?”
“Yup!” He grinned, pulling her into the building, marveling at the goblins that sat high on desks overlooking them. “Dad, don’t be so rude!”
Chuuya bumped into Kensuke, the man’s eyes wide at the short goblins walking around with stacks of papers in their hands. It was so embarrassing that his parents were reacting to every single magical thing, acting like tourists and announcing to everyone that they weren’t used to these kinds of things. Chuuya rolled his eyes and shoved his hands deeper into his jacket’s pockets, eyes scanning the lobby, wondering where they were supposed to go next.
“If it isn’t the Nakaharas,” a familiar voice called out, a man in deep blue robes walked to them, a red scarf around his neck and his hair was neatly pulled back away from his face. “Normally people don’t start their Hogwarts shopping until closer to the start of the term.”
“Mori!” Kensuke smiled, walking forward and gave the wizard a tight clasp on his shoulder. “I didn’t think we’d see you here!”
“Yes, I have some artifacts I need a curse breaker to deal with,” Mori explained, rubbing the crease forming between his brows. “Of course, I did bring my son, but he ran off the second we apparated so Merlin knows where he is now.”
“You wouldn’t mind pointing us where we need to go, would you?” Fuku asked, edging closer to the man as a trio of goblins walked past them, their eyes narrowed and judging. “Chuuya here needs to access his…vault, I believe it’s called?”
“Oh, in that case,” Mori muttered, finger pointing towards a corner of the room. “You’ll want to give them your vault key to access it…Did Fukuzawa-dono create one for you?”
“Mori-san!” A redheaded man called out, his robes opened and a muggle band shirt displayed underneath it. “Let’s see what wild things you brought today.”
“Let’s catch up next time,” Fuku said gently, looking around and leaning slightly closer. “We got the results back from the experiment we did last month.”
Mori’s eyes gleamed with interest and brought out his wand, making a motion in the hand and nodded to the others.
“I sent a reminder to myself, but yes, we’ll have this conversation later.” Mori said softly, turning his back on the Nakaharas and shaking the cursebreaker’s hand as they entered an office along the wall.
“Curse breaker? What makes a curse different from a spell?” Kensuke mumbled, making an affronted noise at his wife and son’s rolled eyes. “What? I can’t be the only one curious.”
“Anyways, Chuuya, let’s go.” Fuku murmured, her hands on Chuuya’s thin shoulders as she navigated them towards the area Mori pointed out.
The goblin tasked with accessing Chuuya’s vault was standoffish and annoyed at the lack of answers from his parents about the vault and who really owned the key that Chuuya handed over. It was only until Chuuya handed over the letter that had his birth family’s crest on it did the goblin change face and began to treat them like VIPs. He rang a small bell, another goblin appeared out of nowhere and bowed towards the family, offering to bring Chuuya’s parents to a lush waiting room while Chuuya checked out the vault.
“My deepestest apologies to young master Veraline.” An older goblin simpered, rubbing his hands awkwardly as he led Chuuya down a hall. “Normally keys are more than enough to let us into your vault but these young goblins just don’t understand sometimes. Truly sorry for the embarrassing scene that was caused.”
“Don’t call me that, Chuuya is fine.” Chuuya quickly corrected, not wanting to be referred to by some random surname. “I get it. Protocol and all that.”
“Since this is the Verlaine family's vault, only blood relatives can enter,” the goblin explained, making a sharp turn and pausing in front of iron rails. He motioned for Chuuya to sit in the cart that slowly rolled up, stopping before them with a loud creak. “While most of their riches are in France, a vault was opened in this branch 11 years ago. Of course, very hush hush matters, but we goblins take pride in keeping secrets here in Gringotts.”
“The Verlaine family…are they from around here?” Chuuya asked, gripping the side of the cart as it twisted on the railroad leading them down deeper into the mines. “I mean, Wizarding Britain or whatever.”
“They mostly stick to the lands of Wizarding France but who knows. They have deep vaults and even deeper secrets,” the goblin said, answering Chuuya’s question. “Whenever you come to Gringotts, just bring that key and you’ll have full access to this vault. I can tell that no one else has permission for it nor can they take anything from it, not even those from the Veraline family.”
“Nice.”
Chuuya jolted and grimaced at the rough movement of the cart, gritting his teeth as it came to a harsh jolt as they reached the deepest of vaults.
“No one has opened this vault since it was created,” the goblin mumbled, his voice heavy with excitement and pride. “Since it’s so deep, it should be filled with riches, but since you’re not from the main family, who knows, maybe it just has special documents.”
“Some vaults here are purely for documents?” Chuuya wondered, edging closer to the massive vault door, tension and curiosity thrumming through his veins.
“Of course, Gringotts is the safest place in all of the wizarding world. If you want to keep something safe, better store it here.”
The goblin ran his finger over the door and it revealed a keyhole, inserting Chuuya’s key in it, the large iron door shuddered and shimmered. The small ornamental designs shifted and moved, unlocking the door and it creaked open by itself. Chuuya dropped his mouth as the doors slowly parted to reveal a vault filled halfway with gold coins, chests, and some glass cabinets.
“I’m assuming that’s a lot of money?”
The goblin didn’t answer him and Chuuya didn’t need to look at the creature to know that he was probably rolling his eyes but he didn’t care. Chuuya grinned and entered the room, picking up a handful of coins only to drop them. There was a cabinet full of fancy looking goblets and plates, a tapestry near the back of the vault, a couple of stacks of books that looked old and untouched, and a chest that was in the middle of the room.
“Can I just take whatever I want?” Chuuya wondered, cursing himself for not listening to his mom explain the currency rate of wizarding money to Japanese money. He pulled out his wallet and frowned at the lack of space. “I can withdraw more money back upstairs right?”
“You’ll have to wait for one of us to come down here and grab the coins, but yes, you could request it above.”
“Cool,” Chuuya muttered, shoving his wallet full of golden coins, and grabbed some more to stuff his pockets. “I don’t know what those other things are but I’ll deal with that later.”
He shrugged at the goblin’s unamused stare and exited the vault, slightly proud of himself for not fawning too much over the treasures his birth mother left for him. Seems like there was truth in that letter back home that he wasn’t abandoned, but hidden away for his own good.
Back upstairs in the lobby, his parents were chatting with Mori, the black haired man nodding and flicking his hand every now and then with his wand, a quill and parchment floating beside him taking notes. His father caught his eyes and they all immediately stopped talking, Mori raising his brow as a senior goblin greeted Chuuya.
“Did everything go okay?” The older goblin asked, rubbing his wrinkly hands. “It’s been a while since a Veraline visited us, so anything we can do to help, let me know.”
“‘S all good,” Chuuya mumbled, feeling awkward at the eager stares from the goblins around him. “I’m gonna…”
He quickly made his way to his parents, handing his mom his wallet.
“Here, that’s enough for shopping right?” Chuuya asked, leaning back on his heels and grinned at the adults. “The vault is stacked with money, it’s insane. I think I’m richer than you and dad.”
“Oh really?” Fuku said slowly, running her hands through his red hair. “Mori, pardon us, I think we’ll finish our shopping now, but please do reach out the next time you’re in town.”
Kensuke quickly wrapped up his conversation with Mori while Fuku went with Chuuya to pull out more coins, shoving things aside in her purse as she dropped mini bags into it.
“How inconvenient,” she huffed once they left the bank. “It’s the modern era, haven’t these wizards ever heard of digital banking?”
Chuuya snickered and took a coin out of his pocket.
“Can I grab some snacks?” He asked, eyeing a storefront that was advertising colorful and fancy candies. “I don’t think you need me around to buy my textbooks, right?”
“Nice try,” Kensuke sighed, taking the gold coin and peering at it closely. “We’re shopping for you , so no way you’re getting out of doing the boring work.”
“How about we split up?” Fuku suggested bringing out the school shopping list and reading through the items. “Honey, why don’t you pick up the ingredients that Chuuya needs for potions class, Chuuya can go get his robes fitted, and I’ll go grab the textbooks he needs.”
“If I finish early, can I get snacks?” Chuuya begged, crossing his arms and pouting a bit. “These are magic snacks mom, how can you say no to magic candy?”
“Oh my,” she huffed, rolling her eyes and pushing Chuuya along the path. “Fine, get what you want. The robe shop is called Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions.”
“Long name,” he grumbled but set off, eyes carefully running over the signs hanging about the old shops, stopping in front of one that had a variety of colored robes in the storefront window.
He entered the shop, feeling out of place with all the strange clothes around him and froze when a young woman stopped in front of him. She eyed him up and down and gave a gentle smile.
“Going to start Hogwarts, ya?” She chirped, bringing out her wand and suddenly measuring tape and a bunch of pins floated around her head.
Chuuya blinked at her perfect Japanese despite her non-Asian features. The blonde woman paused the measuring of his arms and smiled knowingly.
“Translation spell! First time witnessing it in action? They’re everywhere here since Diagon Alley is a tourist hotspot. Hm, I believe the goblins use it as well.” She explained quickly, tapping her wand against her arm and she took in Chuuya’s numbers. “Very petite aren’t ya? No worries, I’m sure you’ll grow once ya hit puberty!”
Chuuya blushed violently at the comment about his height and kept quiet as the woman gently guided him to the fitting area, humming as the tape slithered around his arms and chest, her fingers quickly pinching and pulling his sweater and pants.
“Muggle clothing is always so restrictive, doncha think?” Not waiting for an answer, she tapped his clothes with her wand, the sweater unzipping itself and the button of his pants unbuttoning. “No worries, I won’t be stripping ya here. Go in there and I’ll pass some robes for ya to wear.”
He quickly entered the dressing room, his clothes flying off his body and left in his underwear, eyes blinking rapidly at what just happened. The curtains ripped open and Chuuya let out a small shriek.
“Uhh, you know you’re supposed to pin these closed so they don’t open?” A bratty voice scoffed, pale white hands holding onto the cloth. “Wow, you’re tiny.”
“You’re Japanese?” Chuuya asked, not seeing a wand out and the boy’s eye grew wide with excitement as they communicated in the same language. “Sorry I didn’t know, uhh, can you close it?”
“Why?” The kid asked, opening it a bit wider.
“Close it!” Chuuya hissed, trying to tug the curtains shut and the boy smirked, pulling the other way. “What is your deal?!”
“Awh, is this your first time in Diagon Alley?” The boy asked, eyes sparkling with mischief. “You’re a muggleborn right?”
Chuuya let go of the curtain and glared hard, bending down to put his jacket against himself. The other kid was lanky yet his robe fitting against him perfectly as he slouched against the wall of the dressing room. There was gauze wrapped around his head and eye, his wrists also covered in the white bandages, and Chuuya pointedly ignored asking about them.
“I’ve been here plenty of times, so you know, if you want, I can help you!”
“Thanks but no thanks,” Chuuya bit out, rolling his eyes. “I’m not a child that needs help with dressing myself.”
“But robes are sooo much different than your muggle clothing!” The boy pouted, pointing at the pants on the ground. “You just slip those on your legs and boom, you’re done. With robes, there’s holes everywhere, and you gotta do certain things and blah blah blah. Just let me help. A way of me saying sorry for walking in on you.”
“I…” Chuuya hesitated, weighing the options and slowly nodded. “Are they really that hard to get into?”
“Totally,” the boy sang, spinning around while closing the curtains shut. “I’ll be back with your fittings!”
Chuuya kept his jacket close to him, shifting his weight between his feet and awkwardly waited for the boy to return. He jumped in surprise again as the brown haired boy came into the small space, heaps of cloth in his arms.
“I just need my Hogwarts uniform,” Chuuya mumbled, furrowing his brows as the kid pulled out a baby blue cape and detached it from the rest of the outfit. “I don’t need-ugh!”
The kid threw a lavender colored shirt over Chuuya’s head, harshly tugging it down until Chuuya’s head went through the hole, his hair messed up and nose hurting from the rough treatment.
“Ow?!”
“Next item ~”
Chuuya quickly grabbed a baby blue coat looking item and suspiciously stared at the translucent white frills all over.
“This isn’t the Hogwarts uniform,” he said, scowling at the boy.
“Huh! Of course it is!” The other kid insisted, plucking it away and opening it in a way for Chuuya to put his arms and head through. “Why would the shop assistant give it to me if it wasn’t?”
“I know you’re lying,” Chuuya mumbled but obediently put his head through because he wasn’t completely positive if the boy was lying. “This is ugly.”
“Yeah it looks really bad on you.”
Taking a deep breath to calm down, Chuuya looked at the mirror in the dressing room, frowning at how huge the material looked on him and grimaced at the frills near his neck and wrists.
“You’re right!” The kid chirped, clapping and smirking at Chuuya’s reflection. “I was lying! This is some supppeerr old fashion ball robes, but honestly, it does look good on you!”
“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t beat you up right now?”
“Whoa! Are all muggles as violent as you?” He gasped, covering his mouth as he snickered. “I’m only kidding! I did bring your actual uniform though!”
The brown haired kid picked up a white button up shirt, black slacks, and a long dark robe, shaking them as if to prove there was nothing suspicious in them.
“Thanks for your help,” Chuuya said sarcastically, yanking his clothes off. “But I don’t trust anything that you brought anymore. Get out.”
“No really!” The boy exclaimed, turning the black robe at an angle to show him the school’s emblems embroidered on it. “See? I mean, it’s actually really easy to get into but-”
“So you lied about that too?!” Chuuya exasperatedly asked, throwing the itchy fabric at the kid. “Ugh, you’re so annoying! Go away!”
“Fine,” the boy huffed out, as if Chuuya was the one that was being emotionally draining. “That’s the last time I ever try to help out shorties.”
“Hah?!” Chuuya kicked the remaining pile of clothes on the ground at the kid. The boy jumped out of the dressing room and stuck his tongue out at him. “I hope I never see you again!”
“Same here!” The kid chirped, smiling as he closed the curtains.
Chuuya waited a few seconds, sighing in relief as the kid didn’t barge back in and picked up the school uniform, hastily throwing it on and stepped out of the dressing room.
“It’s a tad too big.”
He looked at the shop assistant who nodded her head and with a flick of her wand, the slacks shortened to a perfect fit and the robe was no longer dragging on the ground.
“Every uniform comes with one free additional tailoring, so if ya start to feel that it’s too small along the course of the year, send it through the mail and we can adjust it at no cost to ya.” She explained, circling him with a satisfied grin on her face. “Ah, your friend paid for three uniforms and another robe set ya wanna leave with that on?”
Chuuya was confused at who she meant as a friend, when he caught the brunet lounging on a chaise sofa, looking bored out of his mind. They made eye contact and the boy sat up smoothly, wiggling his fingers and making a hurry up motion with his hand. Chuuya narrowed his eyes and sighed loudly, shrugging and gave the shop assistant a small smile.
“Sure, I’ll wear the robe out.”
He took off the school uniform and grabbed the robe that was levitating in the dressing room. It was a dark green color, pretty gold stitching on the wrists and collar section gave Chuuya the impression this robe might have cost more than all the three uniforms combined. The kid was so full of shit when he said robes were hard to put on, because Chuuya slipped into it with ease, fingers deftly slipping buttons into holes on the slacks and letting the comfortable cape hang over his shoulders, leaving the leaf buttons unclasped.
“It fits!”
Chuuya looked over his shoulder and warily assessed the boy, frowning at how smug he looked.
“What do you want?”
“Huh? Nothing?” The boy said, shrugging and grabbing Chuuya’s arm, pulling him out of the dressing room and fixing his overcoat, tying the string together so it actually layed like a cape and had no chance of falling off. “You were super sloppy putting in the buttons, you can’t treat material like this like that.”
The kid gently arranged the buttons so they were all pressed against the small holes, his nails creasing down certain parts so the threads wouldn’t fray in the future. He bent down and tugged at the slacks, grinning at the ankles peeking through the bottom of the slacks.
“Oops, I guess I misjudged your height,” he murmured, looking around for the shop associate. “You like it?”
“I guess,” Chuuya muttered, cheeks blushing at the overly dramatic compliments the shop assistant gave as she lengthened the pants and hemmed the bottom. “Again, why did you pay for my stuff? I could afford it.”
“I’m sure!” The kid said, nodding sagely. “Mother always told me to be kind to the less fortunate though, and looking at your muggle clothing gave me the feeling you need a little more charity than others.”
“You’re a rude asshole, you know that?” Chuuya hissed, grabbing the bag that contained his uniforms and street clothes. “Stay away from me.”
“Huh? What’d I say?”
Chuuya rushed out of the shops, irritation running through his veins as he looked up and down the street, hoping he’d get a glimpse of his parents so he could get this kid to leave him alone.
“Are you mad?” The kid asked, tilting his head in confusion.
“My family is very well off, thank you very much,” Chuuya hissed.
“But your jacket had holes in the elbows,” the kid pointed out and shook his leg. “Your pants also had tears!”
“That’s the point,” Chuuya explained, rolling his eyes. “It’s called the distressed look. It looks cool and stuff.”
“Hmmm, muggles sure have strange taste,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Are you hungry?”
“Says the kid with the mummy look,” Chuuya deadpanned, finger pointing at the boy’s left eye. “Whatever, I’m going to get ice cream. Thanks for the clothes I guess, but hope I never see you again.”
“Ehhh? We’ll both be first years at Hogwarts!” The kid smirked, tagging along and slid into step with Chuuya. “Of course we’ll see each other again.”
Chuuya scrunched his nose and walked faster, trying to remember where the ice cream shop was. He got pulled into a shop, mouth opened to yell at the other kid when he saw bright drawings of cones and scoops of ice cream on the wall.
“Your turn to pay,” the boy sang, already skipping to the counter and listed off an order of two scoops of cacao pulp and chocolate stracciatella gelato on a chocolate sugar cone. “He’ll get…you look like a strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper sort of guy. Yeah, we’ll go with that! One scoop in a cup!”
“Huh?!” Chuuya nearly gagged at the name of the flavor. “Isn’t there a normal flavor? Like, mint or something?”
“Yuck,” the kid shouted, passing over three Galleons to the man tending the counter. “Trust me, you’ll love it.”
“I thought I was paying?” Chuuya asked, grabbing the ice creams from another worker and stared as the kid received some smaller coins from the counter.
“Oh yeah, I nicked this from your pants earlier in the dressing room. You paid mostly for your clothes too.”
“Haahh?!” Chuuya gripped the cone tightly, a small crunch causing him to loosen his hold and the other boy laughed loudly, bending over and wiped at his eyes.
“Your expressions are the best,” he sighed happily, walking towards Chuuya and took the cone, passing him his change. “What’s your name?”
“Why should I tell you?” Chuuya grumbled, taking his tiny spoon and scooping his ice cream hesitantly. It looked like a normal ice cream, nothing magical about it, and that was sort of disappointing. Taking a small bite, he paused and cursed the bandaged kid in his head for picking such a good flavor.
“I knew you’d like it!” The kid crooned, biting into his scoop like a heathen. “I absolutely hate that flavor, so of course someone like you should like it.”
“Another reason why I shouldn’t tell you my name,” Chuuya snapped, taking another bite of his ice cream, adding an insult as an afterthought. “Jerk.”
“I can’t keep calling you angry chibi in my head though?” He said slowly as if explaining to a child.
“That’s fine,” Chuuya sniped. “I’m calling you bandaged jerk in my head.”
The boy laughed loudly again, covering his mouth when he noticed he was getting stares. He straightened up and wiped the tears at the corner of his eyes, taking a bit of his ice cream as he smirked at Chuuya.
“What house do you want to be in?” The kid randomly asked.
“I dunno, maybe Gryffindor?” Chuuya shrugged, stepping out of the shop and holding the door open. “It doesn't matter to me.”
“How predictable!” The kid lamented, nearly tapping Chuuya’s nose with his cone with how close he shoved it in the redhead’s face. He took another bite of his ice cream, quickly licking all around so that nothing dropped onto his hand. “Join Slytherin with me! My mother was in Slytherin and a prefect and head girl when she was in school so of course I’ll have to follow her steps and be both a prefect and head boy for Slytherin as well!”
“All the more reason for me to choose Gryffindor,” Chuuya said, rolling his eyes. “Aren’t their dorms under the lake? Sounds terrifying. Imagine drowning to death.”
“How does a muggle know that?” The kid asked, blinking owlishly. “Oh, did a professor already explain all the houses and their dorms to you? How boring!”
The kid went off on a rant about each house, clearly favoring Slytherin, and didn’t stop talking once he finished that train of thought, continuing to talk about the classes they would take and other things to do around Hogwarts. His ice cream dripped, and between eating and talking, the kid was bright and energetic, poking fun at Chuuya for the simple questions he asked and refusing to answer certain ones.
“What’s your name?” Chuuya blurted out, shoving more ice cream in his mouth in embarrassment.
“I don’t wanna tell you,” the kid beamed, his bite into his cone loud and obnoxious. “See how mean that sounds?”
“ Fine ,” Chuuya huffed, looking for a trashcan to throw his empty cup away. “Be that way.”
“Where are we going next?” The bandaged jerk asked.
Yeah, Chuuya should come up with a better nickname for him.
“I am going to find my parents. What are you even here for?”
“I did a fitting for my new robe that I have to wear to my birthday party next month and then I wanted to check out some new quills from- OH!” He grabbed Chuuya, mouth opened and nearly vibrating with excitement. “Show me your wand!”
“I don’t have one yet,” Chuuya answered, tossing his trash away and pulling the kid out of other people’s way. “I don’t even think that was on the shopping list today? Maybe it was, hmm…”
“So you got robes but not a wand?” The kid asked, disbelief dripping from his words. “Muggles.”
“Look, this is all very new to me so ya know, not my fault I got sidetracked,” Chuuya grumbled, yanking the other kid’s hand from his arm.
“Let me guess, you spent forever at the Magical Menagerie,” the boy said, smirking at Chuuya’s pursed lips. “Get yourself a magical animal? An Owl? Kneazle? Puffskein?”
“I wanted an owl, but my mom said no.” Chuuya complained, following the kid as he led the way somewhere. “Said they’d be too much work. You have a pet?”
“I do,” the kid chirped. “She’s gorgeous ! An eagle owl! My father breeds them actually, but my girl is special. This will be her first and only time hatching eggs but — Oh here we are ~”
Chuuya looked up at the store’s window, the candy shop where he separated from his parents and gave the other youth an unimpressed stare.
“Gonna make me pay again?”
“You should be thankful I even chipped in for your robes!” The kid pouted, grabbing his hand and dragged him inside the store. “I love these, oh this flavor is especially good, those are gross so don’t ever get them, these, those, anddd maybe these as well?”
He kept throwing boxes and bags at Chuuya, the redhead struggling to keep them from spilling out of his arm.
“Don’t worry.” The kid giggled, easily plucking all the candies and treats from Chuuya’s arms as he placed them on the counter. “ My treat.”
The girl at the counter took one look at the bandaged youth and the paper he pulled out, nodding at the crest on the paper and tallied up the items, waving her wand as they began to stack neatly and orderly in a paper bag.
“What’s that?” Chuuya asked, trying to peek at the paper.
“My identification! Carrying galleons and knuts and sickles is so bothersome, so this is credit! They just charge it to my family’s name and then go to Gringotts and it gets pulled out from there.”
“So like a credit card with extra steps?” Chuuya wondered, making a mental note to ask about this later.
“I don’t know what a credit card is.” The boy answered honestly, a simple smile on his face. “Hey, you speak Japanese but don’t look Japanese. Do you like, live in Japan?”
“I do,” Chuuya said, thanking the woman and grabbing his bag, rolling his eyes when the kid shoved his hand in and took some boxes of candy. “I thought this was for me?”
“Who knew chibis were so greedy,” the boy laughed, walking away from Chuuya’s angry swat. “I live in Japan too! But I live in a wizarding community so you probably have never heard of it before. If only you weren’t a short little angry boy, I’d invite you to come over.”
“You don’t have many friends do you?” Chuuya asked, scowling at the kid and hitting him once with all his bags. “I hope we don’t run into each other a lot at Hogwarts.”
“You’re so mean!” The kid pouted, popping three tiny chocolate candies into his mouth. “After the amazing things I showed you today?”
“Whatever,” Chuuya scowled, brightening when he caught the back of his mother in front of a store. “That’s my mom so I should get going.”
“Oh.” The boy looked to where Chuuya was pointing and frowned. “Well, if you have to go. What’s your name?”
“It’s Chuuya. Nakahara Chuuya.”
“Chuuya? Chuuya…Chuuya!” The boy said his name a few times and grinned, “I’ll see you around little Chuuya!”
“Stop calling me small, you jerk!” Chuuya yelled, waiting until the bandaged boy turned around and walked back the direction they came from before heading to his mom.
“Oh there you are,” Fuku said, eyeing his bags and the brand new outfit. “Looks like you were busy?”
“Something like that,” Chuuya mumbled, pointing at his mom’s small bag. “That’s all you got?”
“They said they could send the books by owl! Isn’t that exciting? Your dad also chose delivery, how convenient right? All that’s left is….” She looked at the list, mentally scratching out what they already picked up. “Oh, your wand.”
Chuuya grinned widely, fingers tightening against the handles of his bag.
“What are we waiting for?! Let’s go!!!”