Chapter Text
Collei helped Satou regain her bearings, looking between her and Nedzu questioningly. Was UA really that grand to bring out that extreme of a reaction out of her teacher? (Was Satou her teacher? Collei felt like she had grown past the "translator" aspect of her job, but what would she be otherwise?)
Nedzu nodded, answering Satou's question. "Who else would I invite? I know very well that humans can't exactly live comfortably to always be cooped up in one house, no matter how big it is."
The girl tilted her head, glancing at Satou's still frozen expression. She turned her eyes back to Nedzu, "But you take us out on mall goings every week?"
"Outings," The man gently corrected her, "That is true. What if I just want to show off the prestige of my job? The amount of power I control?" He grinned mischievously.
A small huff, "I see. When will we leave?"
Nedzu hummed, "Less than an hour from now. About…hm, eight sharp?"
Collei shrugged. She didn't exactly have an opinion on the matter, where ever Nedzu said they'd go, they'll hop in the car and arrive there. Her routine was pretty well-established, and the idea of something new excited her a little bit. Collei mulled the thought over in her mind.
Going to Nedzu's school was probably like helping Master Tighnari with his lectures at the Akademiya, right? She had some experience with helping the scholars around, sometimes even showing off her expertise at the field when needed. Of course, she was also enrolled in some classes, so she often headed to the Akademiya for her own classwork. It wouldn't be that different, right?
Beside her, Satou seemed to recover from her stupor. "I'm going to UA…I can't believe this."
Once again, Collei stared at Satou with a questioning look. "What's wrong Satou-san? Are you okay?"
Satou waved her off with a small smile, "Yes, I'm fine. It just seems so unbelievable at first to hear that I'm able to come with you to UA."
"But, you're my translator? Why wouldn't you come?"
Satou laughed, "True!" She looked down at her hands, wringing them absentmindedly. "I never would have expected that I would be able to visit UA before. I actually tried to go to UA when I was younger. Failed the second exam, ha! I settled for the high school near my house at the time."
Collei's eyes widened, and she realized that this was her first time hearing something truly personal from Satou. She leaned in, eager to hear more despite her somewhat somber tone. "Why UA?"
"Ah, you know that dream that all kids have to be a hero in the future." Satou blinked, as if coming out of her haze, "You might not understand, but I wanted to be one of those heroes. However, I knew my quirk wouldn't help much in the active battlefield, so I signed up for the support courses."
She shrugged, an amused huff escaping her mouth, "I ended up failing the tests, going to a different high school, and ending up as a translator. Not that I regret anything, but it's pretty funny to think about it."
Nedzu hummed along, his expression pleasant. Collei stole another glance at him, which he caught rather fast. A harmless shrug met her gaze.
"But…yeah! Thank you for this opportunity, Nedzu-san." Satou looked at him, a small smile on her face.
"It is no problem with me. If you just told me about your dreams, I would have scheduled an appointment to UA sooner!" He replied. Turning to Collei, he said, "You should get your stuff ready. You don't have to bring much, but I imagine that you want to take things like a notebook and pen around."
She nodded, excusing herself to her room. When she arrived, Collei picked out a small shoulder bag, stuffing it with a hand-sized notebook and small pen. Although she had a separate space for items, a perk of having a Vision, she doesn't think that would really fit in with this world. Best to hide it away for now, or at least not bring too much attention to it.
When she was ready, Collei went back to the kitchen, finding Nedzu and Satou quietly washing the dishes. She blinked, swearing that there was a little bit of tension in the woman's shoulders, but way too much relaxation on Nedzu's part. Another blink, and it was gone.
"I'm ready to go," Collei said, bringing the attention to her. They met her with small smiles.
UA was large, but not as big as the Akademiya. Although, it spanned over a larger area than her school back home. The Akademiya was built into a large tree, using it as a base and for its walls, reinforcing the inside with tile and stone.
The school she was facing right now, however, was made of glass. A lot of glass. That itself was a luxury; clear glass of this caliber was expensive. In this quantity? You would have difficulty even dreaming about it, let alone seeing it in reality.
Yet here it was, a building that looked like it was made entirely of glass, reflecting the sunlight as if it wanted to catch the attention of everyone walking by. The sky's reflection made the windows look blue and have copies of the clouds, but they were probably also tinted so it wasn't completely see-through. A building made of completely clear, see-through glass sounded…breakable to say the least. Collei tried picturing what it looked like, but the image in her head could only come up with a house with no walls, leaving the inside utterly exposed to the world's eyes.
Collei shook her head of the thoughts, focusing on keeping her two legs upright. Whenever she got distracted, sometimes she would trip over her own two feet.
Nedzu led them into the building, passing through the gates by holding a small card up to a plastic device. She squinted, was that his ID? The small picture of Nedzu helped confirm her question. It was probably a security thing. The Akademiya was open to all, and its students often carried weapons of their own—like herself—as a habit. Their only security was the guards placed on the outside to either make sure no one was stealing or keep suspicious people out. The students themselves were capable of self-defense if anything were to happen. Mostly.
They walked down the path leisurely. Idle talk with Satou showed that the lady was very excited to be in this school, and they haven't even been in the building yet!
Collei opened the door for her teachers, smiling politely. Nedzu led them upstairs, riding an elevator. Now this was something Collei was familiar with. The feeling of rising through the air as the ground went up was something she's experienced before. Though, the space was a bit small and made her slight claustrophobic.
The group entered Nedzu's office first. It was neat and organized, but nothing really stood out. They left after around ten minutes—Nedzu only needed to grab a few papers—and went into the teachers' lounge.
The small animal-man was immediately met with cheerful greetings and calls for his name. At least, one or two cheerful greetings. From where she stood behind the door, Collei could see about five teachers sitting around. The teachers who called out were the loudest of the bunch, both in appearance and voice.
The first one was a man with long blonde hair tied up into a slightly messy half-up, half-down hairstyle; sharp, triangle-shaped glasses; and a grin that seemed permanent on his face. His eyes, slightly covered by orange-tinted lenses, were sage green. He had a small pencil mustache that was pulled up by his smile.
The second one was a woman with an untamed kind of hairstyle, with tufts of hair poking out in spike-like shapes. Her eyes were a cool, ice-blue that reminded her of Nilou's. Except, whereas Nilou's eyes were gentle and wide, this woman seemed to hold a sleek, sharp look that was enhanced by bold make-up.
Between them was a man who was the complete opposite. Unruly—not in a controlled way like the woman's—black hair sat on his head rather dejectedly, curtaining part of his face before he lifted his head to look at Nedzu and them. When he did, Collei could see his half-lidded eyes that were complemented by deep eye-bags. He nodded towards their group, respectful but nothing out of the top.
The next teachers Collei couldn't really see that well because their backs faced the entrance. One man had broad shoulders and spiky, silver hair. Like the raggedy guy, he faced the door to greet Nedzu, and Collei could see part of his face. He had red eyes, with an under-jaw jutted more outwards to show off his lower canines. His eyes and hair color reminded her of Cyno, serious during work but completely, decidedly not outside of it. He was sitting next to a shorter stature woman, whose hair stuck out the most compared to the rest of them.
The reason why? It was distinctly two-toned, blonde roots with black ends, something that Collei had never seen before. Yes, her teacher had green highlights, but that was attributed to his slightly less human ancestry. Dehya, a warrior she's met a few times now, had lighter brown, almost blonde bangs because they were sun-bleached from how much time she's spent outside. The next person that she could think of with two-hair colors was the Dendro Archon, who was, how can she put this, the Dendro Archon.
Anyways, the woman seemed to be eclipsed by the man's size. But she still held a confident aura like the other teachers, who were also heroes she presumed, that were in the room.
Collei sat politely in an empty sofa, next to Satou and Nedzu.
She listened to the teachers talk about future lesson plans and ideas for field trips. She took notes while they were conversing, hoping that she didn't seem too weird. They—the other staff members—surprisingly took her and Satou's presence in stride. Was Nedzu that predictably-unpredictable?
Then, all of a sudden, the door burst open, banging against the wall and bouncing back before it was stopped by an even larger man than the one with silver hair. Collei tried her best not to jump at the sound, then at the sheer size of the man. He looked like her entire height was his wingspan! It was very hard not to flinch!!
Next to her, Satou started to sparkle. Her eyebrows lifted up in delighted surprise, a sort-of smile, sort-of open-wide, jaw-hanging taking shape on her mouth. From her throat was a strangled squeal, as if she could scream right but it would be impolite to destroy the eardrums of everyone else in the room.
Collei looked at Nedzu for help, a silent askance in who was the new man who just entered and shook up—both metaphorically and quite literally—the whole place. Then, out of morbid curiosity, she looked back at the man.
His hair was blonde like the other teacher in the room, but styled in an odd way that had two large tufts of hair sticking straight up like antennae. His clothes clung to his figure as if they were going to burst out at any second, highlighting his toned muscles. The most outstanding feature was the pearly white teeth displayed in a wide smile.
"I am here!" The man declared, "To discuss the lesson plans!"
Nedzu smiled, "Welcome, All Might," Collei took note of his name, categorizing it as those "Hero Names" she's heard before, "You are a bit late though, but I'm glad you're here regardless!"
The man posture suddenly weakened as he bowed meekly, somehow shrinking onto himself, which was a bit silly seeing the man—All Might, Collei corrected—towered over everyone in the room. "My apologies," he said, "There were a few villain outbreaks on my way here,"
None of the teachers blinked at that, which Collei was extremely dazed at. Multiple criminal outbreaks? Casually? And that was normal? Even Fontaine doesn't get that much crime in a single day, and they have a whole, very populated underwater prison!
Collei blinked, zoning back into the teacher's conversation.
"Our annual USJ fieldtrip of course, is still on the schedule. However, with the rise of villain attacks lately, I want to reschedule it,"
Several people nodded thoughtfully at the suggestion.
"What if we make it earlier in the year? Before the sports festival?" The woman with the two-hair colors spoke up.
"You mean late April?" Nedzu clarified. The woman nodded.
"USJ is usually after the sports festival to reinforce the risks using quirks in the field, but if we make it earlier in the year it will enhance the students' understanding of their quirks even further."
Nedzu nodded, "I see. I'll get a new date as soon as possible. Anything else?"
An awkward silence descended onto the group, or at least Collei felt it was awkward. She forced herself to stop fidgeting with her pen, sitting still. It was then that someone—the burly man with silver hair—decided to take pity on them and ask,
"Pardon me, but Nedzu…Who are they?"
Finally! Collei hated that they pretended she didn't exist while the teachers talked amongst themselves. Just because she had done it before didn't mean that it hurt any less. Although… Collei meekly looked up, All this attention is way too much!!
All eyes were on the two of them, and though Collei didn't look at Satou to see her reaction, the girl knew that her companion was also feeling the same pressure. Her gaze flickered to Nedzu, who was grinning for gods' sake.
"I'm glad someone finally asked! You know, it would have been nice to introduce them when we first got here, but I figured it would be nicer to wait until everyone was here!" The teachers sweatdropped, looking nervous. "Who knew that our discussion would talk all of the attention off of our guests!"
Nedzu turned to them, nodding politely, "My apologies! I should have taken initiative to introduce my fellow staff members before we continued. It must have been very jarring to be thrown to the side like that."
Collei smiled, her mouth twitching. She scrambled to find her words, gesturing wildly, "It is okay! We knew that you all were busy, no problem!"
"We can always introduce each other now," Satou said, coming in to save her. With a smile, she said, "First impressions, while important, can't always dictate our next interactions."
"She's right," The woman with the ruly hair said with a grin, "I'm Kayama Nemuri, and I also go by Midnight when I'm on hero duty. This man next to me," she gestured to the scraggly man who merely grunted in response, "is Aizawa Shouta, an underground hero called 'Eraserhead.'"
"Aw man, Nemuri, I wanted to introduce Shouta." The other teacher sitting with them whined before smiling warmly, "I'm Yamada Hizashi, also known as Present Mic!"
The rest of the teachers took turned in introducing themselves to her. Collei nodded respectfully with every one, smiling slightly and silently testing the syllables on her tongue. Then, it came for the two to introduce themselves. Collei waited for Satou to start, and it was only after a few moments of silence that Collei decided to look over to her. Only to find an encouraging look being sent her way.
Satou…wanted Collei to go first?!
She scrambled for her notebook, flipping to the page titled, "Introduction and Greetings!" and stood up like they had.
"H-Hello," she stammered out, her eyes flickering from the page to her crowd several times, "My name is Collei. This is Satou, who is my translator. It is a pleasure to be in your care!"
After finishing her little part, she wanted nothing but to collapse back into the soft cushions of her chair. But Satou was still standing, and looking at her really kindly, so Collei persevered. The woman in question nodded, "As Collei said, my name is Satou Kouki, and I work as a translator. Before being hired to be Collei's personal translator, I used to work with a police force and other more general areas of work."
She watched the teacher's expressions, all ranging from politely thoughtful to no reaction at all.
"Ah, my apologies for being rude but…why did Nedzu invite you here?" It was the small, split hair woman—Kurose Anan, Pro-Hero Thirteen, her mind filled in—who had said this.
All eyes turned to the rat-bear-man, who had a wicked grin on his face. His eyes glinted menacingly, shining while he was draped in the shadows. "Because Collei-san is going to be attending UA as my ward, with Satou-san as her assistant!"
Collei's jaw dropped. Attending UA? She knew she needed to learn about the world here, but she didn't consider that she would be able to do it at an actual school! Collei kind of thought that she would forever stay in Nedzu's home-y "little" house, but thinking about it now, she probably would have been driven insane.
Her gaze lifted up to the teachers sitting around them, looking as shocked as her. Oh no, if she was attending UA, did that mean they were her teachers now? Collei cursed internally for not paying attention to the discussion the staff had earlier, since apparently now they applied to her. She bit her lip, wringing her hands and trying to imagine the future attending a sleek school with hundreds of other students.
The decorations of UA weren't all that ornate, but they still held a prestigious aura. It felt like one wrong step would make the place feel dirty; Collei didn't belong in such a place.
Voices started to fill her head, but she forced them down. Collei closed her eyes and started to center herself, trying to use the therapeutic techniques that Master Tighnari had taught her when she first arrived in Sumeru and had a bad day.
When she reemerged—which was only a few seconds thankfully—the teachers were talking again.
"But Nedzu…" This time it was Kayama Nemuri that spoke up, "How is that going to work? What course is she going to be enrolled in? Support? Gen ED?"
Nedzu pretended to think it over, "Hmm…How about all of them?"
Another spark of disbelief resonated throughout the room. The teachers sputtered while Collei herself froze.
All of the classes? All of the classes? How was that supposed to work??
"Oh! Not in a literal sense though," Nedzu gratefully explained, "Collei-san, as I mentioned earlier, will be considered as a ward of UA. She'll have a special schedule that rotates from day to day. We'll experiment with it to find one that works well, but for now, I'm looking at helping her learn how to read and write in Japanese."
The staff looked mildly curious at the last statement.
"She doesn't know already?" The scruffy one, Aizawa Shouta, asked.
Suddenly, the room's tension thickened. Nedzu's posture seemed to shift, turning into something more threatening despite his small form. Even Satou had turned serious. Collei tried to steel her face, following their example even if she didn't know why.
"I hope you all can keep this under wraps for now," Nedzu began with a small smile, "If this were to get out of the room, it would be ill-advised."
It seemed like the teachers understood judging by their critical expressions. Nedzu nodded to himself, satisfied.
"Collei-san is not from this world."
For the third time in the span of ten minutes, the room was visibly taken off guard. Nedzu continued, "She is searching for a way back her world, Teyvat. While she attends UA, we will search for a way for her to get home. If any villains find out about her origins, UA can also protect her."
"Nedzu this is—" All Might jumped in for the first time in the discussion, visibly strained. "Just…how are we going to achieve this?"
"Great question!" He paused for dramatic effect. "I don't know!"
Everybody collapsed at his bluntness, and Collei felt like her goal of going back home was more out of reach than ever. She felt a nervous, exasperated smile form on her face. What else was she supposed to do in this moment?
"But I will find out."
Collei blinked, not processing his words. When they finally arrived in her head in an understandable language, Collei whipped her head up to stare at Nedzu. He stared back with a level gaze. She gaped, mouth hanging open. A warmth bloomed into her chest, right around where her heart was. She looked down, feeling the smile on her face become shyer and more genuine.
Nedzu sounded so sure that he could find a way to get her back. He always seemed like the world couldn't touch him, that it would bend at his word. If Nedzu said that he would find a way to Teyvat, then there must be a way.
Collei believed in it.
The meeting, after a few kinks in the road, was over quickly. Though the teachers tried to rationalize Nedzu and his absurd goal, he didn't back down. In fact, he seemed to threaten the teachers slightly, like if he didn't see them at least try to help her there would be consequences.
"Sorry for my rude behaviour back there!" They were the first out of the lounge, talking idly as Nedzu led the discussion. "I knew I should have introduced you to them first, but I was hoping they would take some initiative."
"No, no! It's fine, they were probably nervous," Satou replied with a smile. "I would be too, I don't have the guts to ask if my boss brought in new people to ask who they were. I would probably do the same thing and wait for them to be introduced…" She laughed quietly.
"Would you like a tour?"
Collei looked up with slight interest. It sounded fun, and would be helpful in the future. The two agreed to the tour, and Nedzu led them around the floor they were on first.
"We won't have enough time to go around the entire campus—which is disappointing because I would have loved to show you two the mock cities!—but we can go around most of the building."
She nodded along to what he was saying, taking the time to look around and absorb every detail. When they entered a classroom, she was slightly surprised to see how cramped it was. There was barely enough room to walk between the aisles, and the desks were small. Her eyebrows scruched slightly, they weren't seriously expecting her to work in a space so tiny, right?
Next, they toured the more unique classrooms, like home economics and the support classes. Here, there were a multitude of devices and machines that Collei recognized from pictures and some she didn't. Her hand reached out to touch one before she realized herself and jolted away.
"No, it's fine, you can touch."
Collei turned her head to the teacher she didn't know was in the room, completely distracted by her awe and curiosity. It was a short, skinny man with long reddish hair that covered his face. Despite half of his face being covered, Collei could see the small, gentle smile on his face.
"What is it?" Collei asked, running a gentle finger over the surface, tracing its curves and juts. It looked like an arm-warmer, similar to what she usually wore, except made of cool metal.
"A stabilizer for shaky hands," He answered, coming up to point at a certain point, "This part here is what senses the extra, unnecessary electrical signals and neutralizes them. It's a prototype as of now, but I'm hoping to patent it and make it available to the public."
Collei let out a fascinated ooh. The man led her around and showed her around his lab, explaining various tools and inventions he had around. Some he let her touch, others he advised her to keep away cautiously. As Collei was trying on a device—a small ring that let out a holographic screen that functioned like a smart watch (she filed the word away for later to search up)—Nedzu called out to her.
"I see you've met Maijima-san," He said.
Maijima Higari, manager of the Support Course Development Studio. Also known as Excavation Hero: Power Loader.
"When he's not building support gadgets or doing rescues, he's inventing tools for the community," Nedzu grinned, "We're very proud to have him on our roster."
The teachers exchanged some pleasantry, with Collei politely jumping in when she could. She learned that Maijima's impact on UA, how the school's support course ran smoother with his guidance. He also learned more about his complaints about the costume designs he was usually sent to build and how he had to refuse the urge to improve them more than a few corrections for better flow.
"They need a lot more than 'flow,' I can tell you that," He said. Collei snickered under her breath.
As they were leaving, Collei absentmindedly played with her hands. Her finger brushed over a ring, and then she promptly remembered that she didn't come in the building wearing any jewelry.
"Oh shoot—" She exclaimed, swiveling around much to Satou and Nedzu's surprise. She dashed to the door, "I'm so sorry!"
Maijima blinked in surprise—well, not really, she couldn't see it, but Collei felt like he did—when he saw her coming in again. In her hand was the piece of tech, stretched out to the man like an offering. It took everything Collei had to not slam the smart-ring into his hands out of embarrassment and shame.
"Oh, you can keep that," He said turning around and rummaging into one of the drawers, "It's finished and needs testing. You can be the first one."
Collei blanked. Maijima handed her a couple of papers that Collei flipped through. They were the rough sketches of the smart-ring, what ideas generated its creation, and other things related to it. The last page was the final draft with its general uses.
"Huh," Collei said. "You actually want me to keep this?"
"Yeah," He nodded, "I needed a tester and you seemed trustworthy. Of course, you won't try to reverse-engineer it and mass-produce it for the public, right?"
Collei shook her head, waving her arms frantically in front of her. "No, I wouldn't!"
She wouldn't even know where to even start taking it apart if she did.
Maijima smiled, "Then you can have it. Next time we meet, tell me what you've been doing with it."
Collei stared at him, finding nothing malicious about his act. Her mouth curved up, "I will. Thank you!"
Now, Collei actually managed to walk out without any difficulties. No teachers staring after her in muted disbelief, no almost stolen rings. She met back up with Nedzu and Satou who were waiting at the corner of the hall for her to finish up.
The sun wasn't even setting when they were walking out of the building. The time spent inside felt both really long and somehow went by in the blink of an eye. She looked back at the school—her future school thoughtfully.
"Did you enjoy the tour?" Nedzu asked.
"It was fun," Collei replied mildly. It got interesting during the meeting, but she liked meeting Maijima in his workshop-classroom space. Collei twisted the new ring around her finger, smiling slightly.
"Well, I don't have anything else planned for the day. Is there anything you ladies would like to do?"
Collei shook her head, suddenly feeling drained from all the social interaction. It was more than she's had the entire time she's been in this world.
Satou smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I have to go somewhere else later." She glanced at her phone, her eyes widening, "Right now, actually. I'll see you two tomorrow!"
The two watched as she hurriedly paced away from them, pulling her phone to her ear. She seemed awfully busy nowadays, but Collei never pried.
Nedzu looked up at her, "Guess we're going home!"
"Can you help me read Maijima-san's notes on his ring when we get there?" Collei had already started translating in her head, but hadn't written anything down yet. Learning how to use it would be so cool.
"Of course," Nedzu smiled. "I would love to pry it open and figure out its inner workings!"
Collei hoped he was joking.