Jelair thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Having white pupils didn’t automatically mean one possessed the Byakugan.
However, as Jelair leaned closer and examined his reflection carefully, he confirmed that those pale silver eyes—slightly larger than ordinary human pupils—were indeed the Byakugan.
Like many anime fans before transmigrating, he had once assumed that the Byakugan meant even the pupils were solid white in real life.
Only after becoming a member of the Hyuga clan did he learn that the Byakugan possessed normal anatomical structures, including pupil color.
It was just that the color was a very pale silver, or rather gray—so faint that it was hard to see clearly from a distance.
This made it easy to distinguish between clan members who had awakened their Byakugan and those who hadn’t.
Unawakened members had darker pupils, closer to normal gray.
Once awakened, the color would gradually fade into pale silver.
*But this makes no sense,* Jelair thought.
*This is a world of magic, without chakra.
Besides, the Print family has lived in Europe for generations and has no connection to Japan.
How could I have the Byakugan?*
Instinctively, Jelair formed a hand seal and tried to extract chakra.
*Holy crap!*
*What is going on?!*
*You can extract chakra in a world of magic?!*
Feeling the energy flowing between the cells inside his body, Jelair was so shocked his hair practically stood on end.
He wasn’t mistaken.
Jelair could distinctly feel countless cells slowly extracting energy, refining his body and nourishing his eyes in the exact same manner as in his previous life.
Yet he still couldn’t wrap his head around it.
If he could use chakra, did he still have magic?
In other words, if the energy inside his body was chakra, where was his magic?
Was it really like those old forum debate posts suggested—that magic originated from the soul, and as long as the soul remained intact, one could use magic?
That made even less sense.
He wasn’t the original Jelair; his soul had changed.
Logically, magic shouldn’t exist for him anymore.
Yet he had just received an acceptance letter from Hogwarts.
Could it be that when the owl set off, the original host wasn’t dead yet, but starved to death halfway through, allowing Jelair to possess the body?
Since no one notified the school to stop the owl, it flew over anyway, meaning the acceptance letter was actually invalid now?
Or did magic exist within the physical body, making it essentially similar to chakra?
Jelair pondered for a long time without coming to a conclusion, eventually deciding to give up.
Whatever.
If he could go to Hogwarts, great; if not, so what?
With chakra available, his personal safety was guaranteed.
At worst, he could rely on his skills to become a police officer or a mercenary in the future.
With that thought, Jelair decided to let it slide and prepare to leave the bathroom.
Suddenly, his movements stiffened.
*Wait a minute…
I have the Byakugan right now, and chakra was automatically nourishing my eyes just now.*
*So…
SO!*
*Don’t tell me I have the Caged Bird Seal too!*
Jelair whirled around, lifted the hair off his forehead, and stared into the mirror.
Unsurprisingly, Jelair’s heart sank.
The teal mark on his forehead, flanked by cloud patterns on both sides—it was unmistakably the Caged Bird Seal.
Jelair cursed internally.
*What kind of joke is this?
What kind of terrible transmigration is this?
It’s great to give me the Byakugan, but why bring along the Caged Bird Seal too?!*
However, he relaxed a moment later.
There was no Hyuga Main House here, which meant no one could trigger the curse seal.
Having the Caged Bird Seal here was no different from not having it at all.
He let his hair fall back into place and examined his appearance in the mirror.
He looked somewhat like a Eurasian mix.
An oval face with a slightly pointed chin, a high nose bridge that gave him a distinct Eurasian look, and thin lips that were slightly cracked and bleeding from starvation.
His skin was deathly pale, and his dark blue-black hair had grown long enough to touch his neck from lack of grooming.
Combined with the pale Byakugan, he looked a bit like a young vampire, Jelair thought silently.
Still, not bad at all.
He looked like a handsome kid—just a bit gaunt and emaciated because the original host had given up on living.
Jelair was quite pleased.
The Hyuga clan had plenty of good-looking men, and Taka Hyuga had been a handsome youth himself.
Turning into Jelair, he was still very good-looking.
Good-looking people always enjoyed certain privileges.
For instance, if he ever got into trouble in the future, hopefully the Hogwarts professors would go easy on him for the sake of his face.
Leaving the bathroom, Jelair returned to the study to look for more information about the original host.
After searching for a long time, Jelair let out a slightly disappointed sigh.
He really shouldn’t have held high expectations for a minor family—especially one that had fled to the Muggle world for refuge.
Pure-blood wizard families weren’t all wealthy like the Malfoys.
Take the Weasleys, for example, who had many children.
Or the Print family, who lacked any business talent.
Jelair only found a single general store registered under his father Lawrence Print’s name, located in a quiet corner of Diagon Alley.
It had been reasonably managed, generating a modest income of nearly a hundred Gold Galleons per month.
But that was all before the Dark Lord’s rise.
Afterward, to go into hiding, Lawrence had handed the store over to an old pure-blood wizard who had graduated from Ravenclaw.
The old man was a pure-blood, unmarried, childless, and entirely unremarkable—someone the Dark Lord had zero interest in.
In the early years, the old wizard managed the shop quite well, keeping a low profile and avoiding trouble.
However, due to the political climate, the store’s monthly income still dropped to around sixty Gold Galleons.
Knowing the environment was dangerous and feeling somewhat irresponsible for fleeing, Lawrence struck a deal with the old wizard: 80% of the store’s profits would belong to the old wizard, while the remaining 20% belonged to the Print family, temporarily kept in the old wizard’s care.
Yes, the Print family—this was a safety net Lawrence had left for Jelair.
He didn’t believe the Dark Lord could rule the magical world forever.
He firmly believed the Dark Lord would fall one day, and Jelair was destined to return to Hogwarts for his education.
When Jelair went to Diagon Alley to purchase school supplies, he would receive the funds kept by the old wizard over the years to cover his living expenses.
And, as Lawrence had anticipated, he and Anne might not live to see Jelair reach school age.
Anne was a Muggle-born witch; the Death Eaters would never tolerate her.
Jelair was moved by Lawrence’s deep, devoted fatherly love.
He had arranged everything and done everything possible to protect his family.
Regrettably, he had died right before the break of dawn.
Jelair put down the ledgers and the letter of instructions Lawrence had left behind—which served almost like a last will—his heart feeling heavy.
He looked around.
The study didn’t contain much.
After hiding in the Muggle world, Lawrence had found a job with Anne’s help, working conscientiously to support the family.
Because of this, the study held several files from Muggle companies, though that job had been forcibly abandoned years ago when the Death Eaters targeted them.
Despite that, Lawrence had earned a fair amount of British pounds, which, aside from daily expenses, had all been left to Jelair.
Looking at the photo of Lawrence and Anne hanging on the wall behind the desk, a surge of complex emotions welled up in Jelair’s heart.
It was the lingering grief left behind by the original host.
The Death Eaters’ pursuit had come too quickly; Lawrence and Anne hadn’t even had time to imprint their memories into a magical portrait.
All Jelair had now was a static photograph: Lawrence holding Anne, Anne holding little Jelair, a family of three smiling happily.
Jelair took down the photograph, planning to ask the professor who visited tomorrow to copy and shrink it so he could take it with him to Hogwarts.
As a son, he had to act like one.
He couldn’t take over the original host’s body and money without showing filial piety to his parents.
Suddenly, a piece of parchment fell out from behind the photo frame.
Jelair picked it up and glanced at it, his pupils shrinking instantly.
[Research and Solution for the Caged Bird Seal]