Chapter Text
"What is your name?"
Collei stared at the man with a kind but questioning look very confusedly. She couldn't understand what he was saying. It sounded… Inazuman?
When she didn't give him an answer, he looked to his colleague, exchanging a few words before smiling gently at her again. She fidgeted with her skirt, trying not to look too awkward. When she sensed that the man's attention wasn't on her—not completely on her at least— she took the liberty to look around. Everything was somehow so bright and dull at the same time.
The walls were shiny, something strange she noted, and the lights rivaled the sun's brightness. The table she sat at was solid, cold, pure metal. Collei wondered how much it must have cost. She glanced back at the man, specifically his clothes. They looked so…advanced to say the least.
The door opened, and Collei tried not to jump. In came a tall woman, her hair tied up in a ponytail. Her were sharp, but held a kindness in them. It reminded her of Master Tighnari. The man and the woman talked for a bit, and Collei tried to understand what they were saying. She couldn't.
The man got up, moved his chair and allowed the woman to sit next to him. She settled herself quickly, her hands clenching together with both of her thumbs equal on top, and turned to Collei with a harmless smile.
"Hello, my name is Satou Kouki. What is your name?"
Collei gasped, "I can understand you!"
Immediately after, Collei cringed at how loud and enthusiastic she sounded. She shrunk into herself, and cleared her throat. The woman—Satou, Collei filled in— smiled brightly, turning to the man and saying something to him. She was gesturing to her to the detective, but Collei couldn't understand her anymore.
A few seconds later, they stopped discussing with each other and turned their attention back to her. Satou's hands took up that strange clenching position again and Collei could understand what she was saying.
"Yes, you can understand me because of my quirk." Collei tilted her head as she continued, "It's called Polyglot, and it allows me to understand and speak with the person I'm talking with! Sorry for interrupting our conversation earlier, can I ask again what your name is?"
"My name is Collei." She delivered, cheering inwardly for sounding strong.
Satou nodded, testing the syllables out in her own tongue, and it sounded kind of like "Korei." Collei noticed that her hands were unclenched again, and came to the conclusion that it had something to do with her…quirk? By grasping her hands in that odd position Satou could understand what was being said? It sounded like an Inazuman light novel concept, to be honest.
They continued their discussion, she introduced the man next to her as Detective Tsukauchi. They asked her where she was from, how old she was, and if she had any parents or guardians to contact.
"I live in Gandharva Vill, in Sumeru with my Master Tighnari. He's been taking care of me and teaching me for a few years now, so I guess you could call him my guardian."
Satou's smile stayed in place, but Collei could see the growing apprehension in her eyes. She didn't understand Collei. Fear in her heart started again, something she didn't even notice was calmed down.
"And—I don't know how old I am I. Fifteen..? Or maybe sixteen?" She has a birthday, yes, but not really a year. When she was…taken, many of the kids that were with her—including herself—forget when they were born. For years since she was separated from her parents (now a small figment of her memories) to her arrival at Mondstat, she couldn't care much about small things like how old she was. It was only after she got to Sumeru and received Amber's first letter that she started to care.
That was what got Satou and Tsukauchi to stop questioning her, and look at each other. They spoke in that Inazuman-like language again, and Collei was at a loss for words.
"An effect of a quirk? Memory loss or some kind of delusion?"
"Perhaps, I've never heard of any place like Gandharva Vill or Sumeru before."
Satou nodded along, "She's speaking a language similar to Arabic and English, but I have no idea what it is."
They fell silent, leaving the girl in a state of awkwardness. Both of the grown-ups in front of her had such complicated looks, like when Master Tighnari was called to meet another person who ingested too many hallucinogenic mushrooms after being lost in the woods for several days.
(It was an oddly specific scenario, but you wouldn't believe how common it was.)
"Do you know how to get home?" Satou asked, causing Collei to jump.
She fidgeted with her fingers, bending and extending her knuckles.
"I don't know." She bit her lip, not looking up. "I was just patrolling my route—because I'm a Trainee Forest Ranger you see—and all of a sudden this portal opens up a few meters next to my usual route. I went to investigate because there's another portal that leads to this area with a very strong monster and I didn't want anyone to stumble in it and get hurt. So, I went to investigate! But… instead of being teleported somewhere in Sumeru…I ended up here."
Silence.
Collei felt her eyes start to burn up, she didn't even know why. She wasn't an easy crier, quite the opposite actually, but something about dumping her story on these two strangers had her feeling vulnerable. She expected to be able to home, because even if that portal was one-way, there would still be a route or someway to get her back to Gandharva Vill.
But she ended up in a city, far more advanced than anything she could think of, even from people's description of Fontaine. Gone were the smells of nature and the grounding feeling of the woods. Here, there were barely any plants around, and the air smelled horrible. And even with the few plants—weeds and flowers—they were so small. They didn't even resonate with her, and Collei's control over her vision was not as advanced as Master Tighnari's or Mr. Kaveh's.
"I just want to go home…" She weakly concluded.
Almost immediately, Satou leaned forward to comfort her. It looked like she wanted to hug Collei, but couldn't because of her hands. Good, Collei wasn't sure how she would react if she was touched right now.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, baby. We'll try to get you back. Do you think it was because of a quirk? What else do you remember?"
Steeling herself, she asked, "What is a quirk? You've said it before, but I don't really understand what it is. Is it some kind of power?"
The two adults looked at each other again, but this time not even trying to mask their shock.
"A quirk is—you see—" Satou stumbled over her words, as if she didn't know how to explain it. "It's something we're all born with. At least, most of us. It's a kind of…power? Yes! A power we are born with, and can inherit from our parents."
Power?
Memories of pain and a deep, dark purple flashed through her eyes. The burning sensation of drowning briefly filled her lungs.
"Can you recieve a quirk?"
All of a sudden, Tsukauchi stiffened. It wasn't obvious to the normal eye, but Collei was used to watching for the minute changes in people's expressions. Searching for distaste, disgust, or hatred.
"No?" Satou said.
"Then I don't have a quirk." However, she started untying the small green orb attached to her waist. "But, I have this."
Gently, she put her Vision on the table. It glowed brightly, pulsating with an elemental hymn. Even more than it was in Teyvat because of the weird lack of elemental energy in this place. They probably wouldn't know what it was, if the lack of element energy told her anything. "This is my Dendro Vision. It's an acknowledgement of my ambitions, or that's what Master Tighnari said."
Tsukauchi reached out for it, and Collei's hand jolted. The movement caught his eye, and he asked, "Can I see it?"
Satou relayed his words over to her, and she nodded meekly. With gentle hands, he picked it up like it was fragile glass that could break with any motion.
It wasn't, Collei was sure of that. She herself has dropped her Vision several times, and despite its glassy look, it was anything but breakable. And, from what Master Tighnari told her, there was someone in Liyue who researched the durability of their own Vision by putting it through a lot of tests, like through fire and similar destructive events. (It wasn't an official research publication, what Master Tighnari said. Just word of mouth.)
After a few moments observing it—holding it up to the lights, weighing it in his hand, tapping it with his nail—he gave it back to Collei, nodding his head in thanks. Collei offered it to Satou, who politely declined. The detective wrote something down, before continuing their conversation.
"Do you know where you are?" He asked, which was translated by Satou.
She shook her head.
Satou told her, "Currently, we are in Musutafu, Japan."
"Japan?" Collei repeated. She's pretty sure that wasn't any country in Teyvat, no matter how Inazuman it sounded.
"In Asia? The continent on Earth?" Satou tried, but Collei shook her head.
"I'm not in Teyvat anymore?"
"Teyvat? What is that?"
And all of a sudden, everything made sense. Subconsciously, Collei had an inkling she wasn't in Teyvat anymore. It made a lot of sense; the lack of elemental energy, the weirdly advanced everything, and the concept of quirks. It was all something she didn't want to believe, but everything added up.
But what could she do about it? She didn't have any special powers that could get her back to Gandharva Vill. The portal that got her in this Japan disappeared before she could regain her bearings.
What would Master Tighnari do?
He would collaborate with the locals and exchange information, at least that's what Collei thinks he would do. Maybe there was someone with a quirk that could get her back to Sumeru? She hoped there was because she didn't like this world all too much. It was too smelly.
What would she even say? All the light novels she's read have had people keep their existence from another world secret, but Collei already said a lot that might get them suspicious. Besides, she's on a different world right now, so that means she doesn't have any allies.
If she choose to withhold information, that didn't guarantee her to not be watched, if they even allowed her to be let go.
(And…she doesn't want to be alone anymore. She's gone on that path before, but she doesn't anymore.)
Steeling her resolve, she told them, "I don't know how to get back to my home, Gandharva Vill, in Sumeru, on Teyvat. So…I need help. There was a portal that got me here, so maybe there's a quirk—" she cringed slightly "—that can get me back?"
Satou was at a loss for words.
"Tsukauchi-san…" She said, relying the young girl's words over. The man's eyes widened, and he exhaled deeply. His hands cupped his face as a great tiredness overcome him. This time, everyone experienced the awkward silence.
Collei resumed her fidgeting with her fingers. Her hands had a new flexibility to them after her Eleazar was cured, but when she didn't exercise them for a while, they would turn stiff. Her body still felt the after-effects of the disease, she wondered if there was anyone here that was able to help her with them.
Tsukauchi sighed once more before speaking, "First, we'll find a place for her to stay. She says she doesn't know how to get back, right? So, we have to find someone willing to house her for some time, possibly long-term if it comes to it."
Tsukauchi intertwined his fingers together, propping his chin on top on his knuckles, continuing his statement.
"Even though Collei-san looks old enough to take care of herself, we'll still need to monitor her. Besides, she's in a place where we don't recognize the language she speaks and she doesn't know ours. We will need a translator for her to be able to communicate."
Satou relayed his words over to Collei, and she nodded meekly. It made sense; even if she didn't want to stay in this world, she had no other choice. Might as well find somewhere to settle in the meantime.
"But Tsukauchi-san," Satou started with a concerned tone. "Who will house her? My quirk can allow me to understand what she's saying, but I don't have a foster license. It'll be hard to find another language-based quirk, let alone someone willing to take her in."
"About that…"
The next day, after spending a night at the police station (which was surprisingly more comfortable than she expected), Collei was led into an extremely compact, metal vehicle. A car, she learned. She was slowly learning more Japanese, with Satou using both her quirk and her native tongue to teach Collei basic words. Her pronunciation could use some work, but that was to be expected.
The car reminded her of the pictures she's seen of Fontaine's aquabus. But it was faster, and driven on land. It was also driven by a cat-man, something she desperately tried to keep her reactions polite. Tamagawa-san—the driver and police officer—was quiet and professional. Again, it reminded her of Master Tighnari, leaving her feeling a little homesick.
To distract herself, she watched the world speed by in the car windows. Everything seemed both dull and bright at the same time. The buildings were either white, gray, blue, or black. The only colors that stood out were on signs and banners. Collei wished she could read the signs, some pictures of food flashed by and she assumed they passed by many restaurants and cafes.
The dinner they served at the police station was good, something she was confident was Inazuman in at least the way it tasted. (She's also had worse, but Collei's not going to mention that.) Collei just wanted to use her time and explore Japan before she missed out on it when she went back. If they can even get her back, her mind helpfully supplied.
Eventually, the large looming buildings started to shrink, being replaced with shorter, more home-y looking ones. Still, they were all large looking and very clean and sterile. Then, it shifted again. This time, the houses were more spaced out and very rich-looking. Even though she didn't know what Japanese culture dictated what was rich and what was not, she knew what wealth looked like. Collei tried not to gape, but her jaw dropped regardless.
Sooner or later, they stopped at the entrance of the largest house of all. This time, Collei didn't bother hiding her bafflement.
Satou noticed her expression and chuckled softly. After waving Tamagawa-san away, she said, "Big house, I know right?"
"D-Do you live here?"
"Oh, heavens no! I don't nearly have enough money for a quarter of the grass here, let alone this entire mansion. "
"Then who…?"
Satou knocked on the looming doors, which automatically opened after a few seconds. She smiled at Collei, "You'll see!"
The doors opened to a large hallway, the floor lined with a long, red velvet carpet. It all looked like a storybook, to be honest. Dead center of the carpet was a small white thing walking towards them.
No, not a thing. An animal? In a suit?
Was that a dog or miniature bear?
Satou walked up to the dog-bear-thing and bowed, greeting it politely. It only left Collei in an even deeper sense of confusion.
Turning back to her, Satou introduced, "This is Principal Nedzu, who'll be taking care of you while you're here!"
"Hello there, Collei-san! It's a pleasure to have you in my care!"
Huh?