Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Magic of Tennis ❯ Separating the Boys II ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Notes: It turns out there aren't any technical rules broken in this part, but it's the thought that counts...right? Heh. Did I mention that humor is the hardest thing for me to write? I end up with subtle and ironic instead. Hopefully it's still interesting. I like interesting. :)

Magic of Tennis

Part Six: Separating the Boys II

The Great Hall was filled with more talking than usual. The wide variety of magically filled platters were largely ignored by students and guests alike. They had more time for their evening meal than they typically did and were taking advantage of that. Dumbledore had hoped the guests would be welcomed by his curious students. By all rights, he should have looked reasonably happy with the excitement brimming from the four tables. Instead, his gaze shifted between two of the Houses in particular, a troubled frown clouding his face.

"They're all in Ravenclaw and Slytherin," Dumbledore finally remarked. He turned a curious look on Lupin, who was seated beside him. "This isn't at all what I expected."

Lupin wasn't sure how to respond because he couldn't tell from his Headmaster's expression if Dumbledore were dismayed or amused or intrigued - or amused because his dismay left him intrigued. Dumbledore was nearly impossible to read. He had a tendency to flash flighty smiles and speak with careless tones at the most inappropriate moments. Lupin wasn't about to say it aloud, but he almost reminded him of those two genius muggles with their amicable personalities and scheming minds.

"Do you think the Sorting Hat made a mistake?" asked Lupin.

"Surely not," said Dumbledore. "No, it's far more likely that I've underestimated them. I had hoped for a more even distribution, yet here we are with a majority of them in Gryffindor and not a wand among them."

"With so many of the wands in Slytherin, it's bound to cause problems between the two," said Lupin. "Should we provide some of the ones in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor with wands? They can't participate in classes without a single one of them having one."

Dumbledore looked over the tables again, a thoughtful smile pulling at his lips. It wasn't often things didn't go exactly as he expected them to. The sorting had gone as far to the left of his expectations as possible. He'd planned things out so carefully and yet...he had no idea where he'd gone wrong. How very unusual.

"We could provide more wands," said Dumbledore, "but only to the ones who were originally invited. That would place one wand in Hufflepuff and yet another in Ravenclaw. Hardly the best solution to this dilemma. No, I think a better course would be to have more combined classes for the time being."

His gaze caught on the Slytherin table, where one of the Japanese teens had risen to cross and speak to a teammate at the Hufflepuff table, completely unconcerned with the horrified expressions the students there were giving him. He went so far as to sit down and distress rippled over the entire table of Hufflepuffs. Dumbledore's smile grew slowly wider.

"Yes, combined classes...just the thing..."

Lupin shot a frantic look at his Headmaster, unnerved by his tone as well as his smile. He promptly looked away again. Dumbledore knew what he was doing. He had to. He was Dumbledore. Of course he knew what he was doing. There was no reason to feel as if icy fingers were scritching their way down the back of his neck. No reason at all. Really.

Dumbledore let out a pleased little 'hmm' and Lupin had the sudden urge to hand in his resignation.

Over at the Gryffindor table, a young girl by the name of Hermione Granger was busy explaining to a squirming Jiroh why it was inappropriate for him to even think of getting up during the evening meal. She was in her third year at Hogwarts and had thick, almost fuzzy, brown hair and a clipped, intelligent tone. She also had a tendency to memorize every book she read and repeat passages to any so foolish as to sit still and listen to her. Jiroh didn't look like he'd be sitting still for long.

"There are no rules against it," Hermione was saying, with a terse frown, "but it just isn't done. It doesn't matter if you're friends or even relatives. Once you're sorted into a House, you stay with that House unless it's a combined class or a free period. No one gets up during meals, certainly not to visit the other tables. Why, Parvati," and here she waved to a pretty dark-haired girl a few seats away, "has a twin sister in Ravenclaw, and yet she'd never dream of trying to sit with her. It's simply not appropriate."

"I live with her at home, anyway," Parvati shrugged, flashing a smile down the table at the cute, but clearly uninformed, Jiroh. "If I need to talk to her here, I can wait till the weekend or catch her in the halls."

Jiroh squirmed a little and flashed another look over his shoulder at the other tables. His eyes widened and he abruptly whipped back around. He didn't even bother to argue with the bossy girl. Instead, he sent a frustrated pout at Sanada, who happened to be sitting beside him.

"Shishido's sitting by Ohtori," said Jiroh. "How's it okay for them and not me? I don't even wanna sit, I just wanted to talk for a minute. How am I supposed to know when we're meeting in the morning if we all have to stay apart tonight?"

Sanada stared at him for a long minute. As one of the last to be sorted, he'd come late to the explanation about Houses, class schedules, and the supposed tennis courts set up across from something called a Quidditch...thing. He still wasn't sure if they were referring to a physical building, a field, or even a game. All he'd heard was that the courts were by this thing, to the side of the castle, and that they'd be able to use it as much as they wanted since tomorrow was Sunday and a free day.

"We should follow their customs while we are here," Sanada ended up saying, despite his own misgivings.

He didn't like lecturing one of Atobe's players. He liked the idea of Kirihara being cut off from the team and in the close company of Atobe even less. Still, he had to maintain a dignified presence or his entire team would likely disintegrate into chaos. If he didn't follow the customs of the place, none of them would.

"Why?" Jiroh pouted. "The magic's cool, and that," he grinned up at the sky for a moment in helpless admiration, "is way cool, but making us split up is stupid. Why should we get to stay in a tower when 'tobe's group sleeps in a dungeon? A dungeon! That's crazy! And now I can't even talk to him? What if he gets mad at me? What if I get lost tomorrow or I fall asleep and no one can find me to wake me up?"

"We can probably assume the others have heard about these courts," said Sanada. "Even if they make plans to meet up for practice in the morning, we'll all be going to the same place. There's no need to discuss plans within the individual teams."

Tachibana was sitting on the other side of him. He nodded in agreement and looked at Hermione. "If there's a curfew at night, is there one in the mornings?"

The girl started to answer, but was cut off by Niou, who was waving a wrist at his vice captain from across the table.

"My watch is going nuts," Niou smirked. "No clocks in here, either. How do these guys tell what time it is, anyway?"

"Oh," Hermione blinked, shaking her head at the boy. "Watches won't work here. No muggle devices work properly at Hogwarts. There's no electricity, and batteries die or misfunction. It's no use, really. I had a solar calculator that worked for a week once, but even that started messing up eventually."

That got a wide-eyed look from Marui. "You're kidding, right? Something like, say, a battery operated razor is just gonna stop working here?"

"It'll stop, or it'll misfunction, assuming it works at all," said Hermione.

Marui and Niou exchanged a pointed look. Then the redhead started laughing. Their eyes sought out a certain bald tennis player two tables away.

"Jackal's gonna have a fit," Marui laughed. "The last time he tried doing it by hand, he looked like he got his head caught in a garbage disposal.

Niou turned a smirk on Ishida, who was seated to his left. "I'd bet anything he'll be slinking up to you asking for an extra bandanna to hide the peach fuzz before the week's out. You just know this is going to kill his game."

"Don't say that," Marui blurted. "We'll get around it, even if I have to hold him down and shave his head myself."

Niou snorted. "Then he'll really look like a garbage disposal got ahold of him."

"Kabaji's good with a razor," said Jiroh.

The two teammates blinked over at him, and Jiroh fidgeted. He suddenly became very interested in eating the funky food he'd picked from the platters on the center of the table. When he spoke again, his eyes were locked on his plate.

"Atobe won't let anyone with a beard on the team, so Kabaji's been shaving his face since he was fourteen. He's really nice, and they're at the same table and all. He'd be happy to help out, if a person asked him..."

"That's great," Marui beamed. "Thanks!"

Jiroh grinned and promptly choked on a big gulp of something thick and sweet and spicy. His eyes bulged and he barely managed to swallow it down instead of spitting it out on his plate. He jerked away from his cup, waving an accusing finger at the jug he'd gotten the stuff from.

"What the hell is that? It tastes like...like pumpkin or something!"

A small, almost chubby little dark-haired boy by the name of Neville looked up. He was surprised to find Jiroh's horrified question, or accusation, directed at him. So far, Hermione had been doing most of the talking with the boys seated around him, talking past him as it were. This was the first time any of the Japanese teens had so much as looked at him. He wondered faintly if Jiroh was asking him because he was still upset with Hermione's lecture about not leaving the table during meals. She meant well, but she did come off too strong when it came to rules.

"It - it is pumpkin juice," Neville said slowly. "We always have pumpkin juice with meals..."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Neville admitted. "We just do."

"Weird..."

"I like it," Marui beamed.

"You would," said Niou, rolling his eyes. "You like anything sweet."

Tachibana glanced over at them. He'd been listening to Tezuka's team discuss that Quidditch thing with two boys across from them. Now he leaned back and caught Kaidoh's attention, gesturing for the boy to pass a jug down the table. He set it between Jiroh and Niou and smiled at the Hyoutei boy's wide grin.

"It seems they've added a few things we'd be more familiar with to their normal meal," Tachibana explained. "Tea?"

"Please," sighed Jiroh. "Too much sugar gives me nightmares."

"So much for a match made in heaven," Niou whispered with a smirk, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from a scowling Marui.

"So this Quidditch is like basketball," Momoshiro was saying, a little further down the table. "Except with the snitch thing you can finish the game any time you want?"

Harry, also known as Harry Potter, Potter, or The Boy Who'd Lived, gave a quick nod. He was the same height as Echizen, with messy black hair and round glasses over bright green eyes. The most notable thing about his appearance was the jagged lightning bolt scar on his forehead. So far he'd managed to keep his best friend Ron from blurting out why that scar was so notable. It was sort of nice to be surrounded by people who had no idea he was famous, even if they were muggles who had no idea about anything to begin with.

"Sort of," said Harry. "There are three goals with Quidditch - there's the audience stand and then a goal on the other three sides of the field. We use two balls, too. The one the Chasers use to score points is the quaffle, that's the ball the Keeper has to keep out of the hoops. Then there's the bludger. The Beaters hit that with bats to keep the other team's players from scoring."

"Sounds more like American football," said Eiji. "Instead of tackling people, you hit them with a special ball. Egh...I don't like contact sports like that."

Momo grinned over at him. "And it's all done flying around on broomsticks, so it's even worse if you get hit and you fall off. Can you imagine playing tennis on a broomstick? So much for the Moon Volley."

"Na, na," Eiji waved. "There's no way. You'd have to fly so low there wouldn't be any point of flying except for the lobs and smashes. And that's what jumping's for."

"I don't get the scoring," Momo said, turning back to Harry. "What's the point of having all those people if the only ones that matter are the Seekers? They can finish the game as soon as it starts, right?"

"It's because we play by seasons," a red-haired boy spoke up. "It's accumulative. If you finish too soon, that 150 points you get from catching the snitch might not be enough-"

"-for the team to actually win the season," an identical red-haired boy finished. "It's all about the points. It doesn't matter how many games you win if you don't have the most points in the end."

Fred and George Weasley were twins with an unnerving habit of finishing each other's sentences and switching identities. They were in their fifth year at Hogwarts and were both Beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They were about Eiji's height, with reddish orange hair and freckled complexions - classic Weasley features. At the moment they were sitting next to their little brother Ron for the sole purpose of getting a good look at the visiting foreigners. Dumbledore planned to have the group following the less advanced students in their classes, so chances were they wouldn't see much of them during the day. It was such a shame, too. Having a bunch of unwitting muggles around was the perfect environment in which to cause mischief.

"But, still," Momo frowned. "If you catch that snitch thing as soon as the game starts, the game's over without the other team scoring anything. Automatic win."

"It's not that easy," said Harry. "The Golden Snitch looks like a little bug. It flies around the field, and it's really hard to see."

"Yeah," said Fred, or maybe it was George, "the Seeker's important, but don't go giving Harry here a big head. He'd be smashed up in a minute if it weren't for us keeping the bludgers off him."

"Hmm," Eiji smiled. "I just want see the flying. Think they'll let us try that? Nya! Ochibi-chan! You'd look so cute on a broom!"

He leaned over to grab Echizen, rubbing his cheek on the top of the squirming boy's head.

"We'll get you one of those witches hats and you can fly around Momo's head going, 'mada mada dane.' So cute!"

"Iya da," Echizen muttered sullenly. His eyebrow twitched at the funny looks the strangers were giving him and his senpai. He was very glad he hadn't gotten trapped between Eiji and Momo. One of them was bad enough.

A few seats down, Kamio was wincing from the overly friendly advances of two girls and one Yamabuki regular. Surprisingly enough, the girls were worse than Sengoku. The last time he'd seen him around females, the guy had practically been drowning in his own drool. Now he seemed content to just grin at the pair and wink now and then.

"The stairs turn into a slide if a boy tries to go up them," giggled the one who'd introduced herself as Lavender - like the color, Sengoku had responded with a grin. "Boys can't sneak up to the girls' dorms."

Kamio smiled weakly and didn't bother explaining he'd had absolutely no intention of trying. Sengoku probably appreciated the warning, though.

"The boys' dorms are up the other stairs in the common room," said Parvati. "I hear they prepared two extra rooms for you guys, but I don't think they planned to have so many in one House. Usually we don't have more than five people to a room."

"And the girls' dorms are just like the guys' dorms?" asked Sengoku, with a sly smile. "How do you know?"

"Oh, there's nothing to stop us from going into the boys' dorm," Lavender giggled back. "Girls are more trustworthy than boys, after all."

Kamio did his best not to choke on his food. Girls were? Since when? Was it an English thing? Ever since their team started competing, half the girls at Fudomine had turned into rabid hunters. He'd been cornered by more than one of them, and he knew for a fact Shinji had gotten jumped enough times to seriously consider hitting them in self defense. It didn't matter if they were older or underclassmen, determined fangirls were scary. He turned in his seat and sent a very worried look over at the table next to theirs. He was relieved to see the girls there were safely occupied with Seigaku's smiling tensai and Rikkaidai's captain.

Cho Chang, an Asian girl in her fourth year at Hogwarts and Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, was currently explaining things to an attentive Fuji. He'd reacted strangely when she first told him about the Houses, but now he listened with a calm smile. It was a shame he'd settled down so quickly. She hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of his eyes since he started smiling.

"I'm sure they'll have schedules for you by tomorrow afternoon," said Cho. "Our team has the Quidditch pitch reserved in the morning, so you can come watch while you wait. That tennis court is just on the other side."

"Our captain will probably want us to practice first thing in the morning," said Fuji. "Even with this trip, we still have a National competition coming up soon. Perhaps another time."

"I don't think you'll be able to meet before breakfast," the girl frowned. "No one goes out that early, even on the weekends."

"It's not against the rules," said Oshitari, who was sitting on the far end across from the girl.

"Well, no," Cho admitted, "there aren't any rules against it. But no one does it. Unless you go out really early, you'd end up missing breakfast. You wouldn't be able to practice, anyway, if you went out in the dark."

"No electricity," Fuji smiled, "no lights. I take it magic can't be used to solve that sort of problem...?"

"We haven't learned anything that advanced," said Cho. "You could use a spell to light up a room, but not an entire field."

Oshitari sent a dismissive look at the girl and turned his full regard on Fuji. "Atobe will settle it if necessary."

"He did do rather well against that ghost," Fuji smiled. "I take it you two know quite a bit about this school?"

"Hearsay, mostly," Oshitari shrugged. "I have relatives who've graduated from here. It doesn't look like the place has changed at all since then. Atobe has a better connection. There are still tricks to using these things," he pulled out his wand with a frown. "Just knowing the names of the spells isn't enough."

Cho frowned at them. "You have to wave your wand a certain way for each spell. But how would you know the names of spells? If your family went here, they shouldn't have told their muggle relations anything at all. That's forbidden."

Oshitari didn't even blink an eyelash at her. "We'll be sitting in on classes, so it shouldn't be difficult to pick up the motions. Anyone who can do higuma otoshi should be dexterous enough."

"Is that a challenge?" asked Fuji.

"If it were?"

Fuji let his eyes open in a glinting smile. "I'd look forward to learning a few things. I wouldn't want my dexterity called into question."

"Indeed," said Inui.

The two tensai turned to him, both noting the notebook he had opened to the side of his plate. Fuji's expression settled into a knowing smile.

"I understand that wizarding students here have a formal dueling procedure," said Inui. "I'd be happy to research it and deliver equal information to the both of you, to ensure an even duel. It would be a matter of who is the quicker learner. Though my initial data tells me Fuji has an 85 percent chance of winning regardless, as he has never lost a one on one competition of any kind. Excepting one pool game against Echizen, which can be disregarded due to a certain lucky pocket..."

"And every practice and ranking match I've ever played against Tezuka," Fuji smirked. "How could you leave that out?"

"I only considered serious competitions," said Inui.

"Ah."

Oshitari sent a smoldering look at the data player and pushed away from the table. The Asian girl opened her mouth like she was about to protest his intentions. He turned before she had a chance. Custom or not, he knew for a fact there was nothing to stop students from moving about during meals, providing they did it quietly and without causing trouble. That was the problem with these students. They couldn't interact with other Houses without causing trouble because that was the main reason they ever interacted - to cause trouble. So childish.

Gakuto flashed a wide smile when Oshitari took the seat between him and Atobe, the same seat Shishido had abandoned a few minutes earlier.

"You didn't last long," Gakuto laughed.

"I seem to have gotten myself into a wizarding duel with Seigaku's tensai," Oshitari drawled.

Atobe turned a sharp look on him. "Why?"

"It wasn't intentional," said Oshitari. "I was merely discussing the way magic is done here with the use of wands. Their data player took it as a dueling challenge. I have no intention of putting myself into a situation where I might be hexed by a rival player."

"Would you win?" asked Atobe. "If you dueled?"

"Of course. But he would be in no condition to play afterward. If I did that, it would imply I'm incapable of facing him in a real match and sought to disable him beforehand. I refuse."

Gakuto sighed in disappointment. "You should be more underhanded, Yuushi. You'd have a lot more fun."

"Ah," Oshitari smirked, flashing a look at his partner. "But the point of being underhanded is not to get caught."

A young boy with slicked-back blonde hair sitting across from them was following every word. He gave a slow nod at Oshitari. "You're the Ravenclaw, then? You could do anything in that house and they'd never expect it. They're nearly as bad as the Hufflepuffs."

Atobe sent a look from the boy to Oshitari. "This is Draco Malfoy. His father is quite renowned."

"As much as your grandfather," Draco returned, with a sly nod to Atobe. "My father contacted me the moment Dumbledore came up with this idea. We were expecting your entire team to be placed in Slytherin. But having a few in the other Houses should prove...useful."

"I thought so," Atobe smirked.

Oshitari acknowledged Draco with a nod and turned his attention back to his satisfied looking captain. "It appears Seigaku will be meeting on the courts first thing tomorrow morning. I expect the other teams will do the same."

"That should be interesting," said Atobe. "But Gakuto tells me you have reservations about your House?"

"My being there won't be useful if I self destruct within the first week. It depends on the rooming assignments."

Atobe sent a marveling look at the table Oshitari had been sorted to. He'd known the teen for years. The only players on the team with more patience than Oshitari were Ohtori and Kabaji. He couldn't help but wonder at the person who could shake him up so easily.

"Is he really that bad?" drawled Atobe.

"Yes."

"Don't get caught. I intend to take advantage of this trip."

"I know," said Oshitari.

Over at the Gryffindor table, Jiroh was getting more antsy than ever. That made two of his teammates who'd switched seats. He just knew Atobe expected him to come over before the meal was finished and they were all separated for the night. Normally he'd have just gone without thinking twice about it. But he was supposed to get along with these people, make them think he was a good, easy-going kid, just like them. And he was easy-going. He wasn't good, exactly, since he did get in trouble for falling asleep a lot, but he didn't do it on purpose. He wanted to get along, especially with Marui in the same group. He just didn't like making his captain mad at him. Then again, he didn't want to spend a lot of time with people who glared at him like he was a traitor, either. No matter what he did, he couldn't win. It really wasn't fair. Oshitari got to visit, so why not him?

"That's two, huh?" Marui sighed, knowing exactly why the usually sleepy boy was now twisting in his seat like he needed to go to the bathroom. "Hey, Sanada. Why don't you let me go tell Jackal and Akaya about us meeting first thing in the morning? I'll come right back, and this guy here can go see his captain without getting the brunt of all the glares. It is pretty stupid for them to make him feel like his captain's a leper and all. Though, them calling Akaya evil is pretty funny. I'll give them that."

"Not fair," Niou sighed. "I wanted to be the one to tell Akaya the kids here think he's a leper. You just known he'll be twice as bad once he finds out they already think he's trash."

Neville's eyes widened and he flashed a look at Hermione's profile. She wasn't paying any attention to the guys on his side of the table, but he was sure she'd have taken insult from the way they were twisting her words.

"It's not that we think your friends are bad," Neville said, frowning at Niou. "It's the House they're in, not them. The Slytherins always start problems. Some of them even bully people and hex them in the halls. Plus, well..."

None of them had mentioned anything about Voldemort or Death Eaters, not to the foreigners. Neville didn't want to be the one to do it. So he couldn't exactly explain that every Death Eater people knew about had come from the Slytherin House. Every single one except the escaped convict none of them wanted to mention at all. Sirius Black had come from Gryffindor. No one wanted to talk about that. But all the others were Slytherin to the core. If that didn't make the House a breeding ground for evil, he didn't know what did.

"I'm sure they have a reason for their bias," said Sanada.

He started to turn down Marui's request, but he was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder. He frowned when he saw who it was. Tachibana frowned even more.

"Shinji?" asked Tachibana.

"Switch tables with me," Shinji said to Sanada. "Your captain wants to talk to you. He wouldn't say why, but since I wanted to come over here anyway, he said to tell you to switch tables. You should go sit by him. He's too nice and I think that Luna girl is hitting on him. He must not get hit on very often, or maybe it's because she's so much younger than him. He looks a little uncomfortable..."

"Excuse me," said Sanada.

Niou laughed when their vice captain immediately got up and went over to sit between Yukimura and a little girl with dirty blonde hair and a dreamy smile. She couldn't have been more than fourteen. But any potential threat against their captain...

"That's it," grinned Marui. He hopped up and tugged Jiroh to his feet. "Let's go see your captain, too, ne?"

Jiroh flashed a wide, almost worshiping, smile. "You're so cool..."

"Aren't I?" Marui beamed.

Niou rolled his eyes and flashed a smirk at Shinji, who'd taken Sanada's vacated seat. "Was that kid really hitting on Yukimura?"

"I think so," Shinji frowned. "She was talking about those monsters we saw earlier. Then she started talking about death and weird stuff, and petting his hand. I think he just didn't know how to ask her not to without hurting her feelings. Unless he didn't really mind and he was just using that as an excuse to get his vice captain to go sit with him. He looks a little sly like that, so he might have just been acting uncomfortable."

"That sounds more like Yukimura," said Niou. "He's so got Sanada whipped."

Shinji gave a slow nod and turned to his own captain. "Everyone at that table is planning to meet first thing in the morning. Are we doing that, too?"

"Yes," said Tachibana. "For now just stick with whatever the other teams in your House do. You really shouldn't have come over here, though. It's bad manners."

"I know," Shinji shrugged. "I just wanted to, and Yukimura-san asked me to, so I decided to go ahead and do it. It was a good excuse, not that I needed one. I never agreed to this."

"What do you mean?" asked Ishida. "Agreed?"

"The invitational tournament was different," Shinji frowned. "I had to go because Tachibana-san couldn't, and we had to follow the rules there because we're tennis players. This is different. I never agreed to be here by myself just because a hat told me to sit somewhere else. They never said anything about splitting us up. I didn't even want to come here, and I know that woman with the hat is the pervert who sent those letters and got me in trouble that time. I recognize her name. She got me grounded for a month, and now I have to have her for a professor? I didn't agree to that. And it's not fair that I have to listen to some hat. It lied, too. It said I wasn't motivated, but I am. I hate losing. I shouldn't have to be by myself when the rest of my team gets to be together here, just because a hat says I'm not motivated enough. It's not right. I never agreed to that."

The muttering wasn't nearly as quiet as usual, and it was coming way too fast, clear evidence of distress. Tachibana winced and did his best to calm him down. He wasn't as good at it as Kamio was, but he'd learned to recognize the warning signs. An agitated Shinji was nearly as dangerous as a silent Shinji.

"Here," said Tachibana, "eat something. We'll work it out."

"There aren't any empty seats by Kamio," Shinji frowned.

"I know. We'll all practice together first thing in the morning."

"I don't like it," said Shinji.

"I know."

On the other side of the room, Marui left Jiroh chatting happily with his captain and went to hover over Kirihara. He was surprised when the boy didn't even notice his arrival.

"Oi, Akaya, wake up. What's the matter with...oh. Whoa. That's freaky."

There was a ghost sitting a few seats down from Kirihara. Marui had seen one at his own table earlier, but it had been chatting with some students just like it was a real person. That know-it-all girl had called him Nick, Nearly Headless Nick. Marui had just been glad the ghost was see-through so it couldn't pick up stuff like toilet paper. The ghost that had attacked them had been visible, like an ugly squat little man with a snickering voice. The thing sitting at Kirihara's table was like something out of a horror movie. It was silent and covered in bloodstains, almost surrounded by empty seats.

Grim eyes turned on Marui, and the redhead gulped. That certainly explained why his normally bold and trouble making teammate was sitting absolutely still with his head bowed, eyes tight shut, and his hands in fists at his sides. Retribution for being an evil little brat was all good and well, but even Kirihara didn't deserve to be abandoned with that. He was a cute evil little brat, after all, and Marui rather liked having him around. Marui promptly drug Kirihara out of his seat.

"Come on, Akaya," Marui whispered, a weak grin spread out over his face as that bloody ghost continued to stare at him. "Let's, uh, let's go talk to Jackal. Yeah, that'll be fun. Come on, there's no point sitting here with - er - by yourself. Yeah...let's go be sociable. Heh..."

The bloodstained ghost, also known as the Bloody Baron, head ghost of the Slytherin House, and the only creature aside from Dumbledore that could shut Peeves up with a simple look, turned to watch the two beat a hasty retreat. Then he turned his grim, cold, stare back to the unfortunate boy sitting across from him.

Mizuki froze and wondered how he'd ended up across from the ghost while his captain was all the way on the other end of the table. If Fuji had been asked, he might have explained about karma. As it was, Mizuki was left to wonder, fidget, and hope the gathering ended very, very, soon.

.-.
TBC

Next up, tennis, exploration, and magic.