Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It is known to everyone that 80% of the world’s population has quirks with 20% are quirkless that are slowly dwindling with each generation as quirks become more stronger and complex. Those with no special abilities that were once the norm in the ‘pre-quirk’ era have now been considered a ‘lesser being’ or something that is stuck in the past by the world and are now considered a curse. But that is far from accurate. As there’s more quirkless than what is known to everyone, as they’re simply…hidden.

During the ‘pre-quirk’ era, there was a continent named Teyvat and was once considered part of the world. It is said that this was where a blessing known as visions originated. Those with vision are called Allogenes, people with vision are those that have received acknowledgement from the god due to their strong ambitions and convictions. They used to be a symbol of pride all over the world, until quirks started emerging.

No one truly knows how the emergence of quirks came to be. 

Ever since the first documentation of the first person to be born with a quirk which was the “Luminescent baby”, there’s been many debates how the birth of quirks came to be. Some say it was a gift of god, others believe that it is a virus or disease and others believe it’s just a natural human evolution. The latter which is the most accepted by everyone in the world as human DNA continues to bring complex and powerful mutations.

One day, due to unknown circumstances Teyvat suddenly has decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world once quirks start to spread and only people who are able to freely enter are those who are quirkless or have visions. The reason for this was lost to time in the outside world. After a few generations,the World Hero Association was established, it started to erase any history and knowledge about Teyvat from the public, they started to make up its own story, claiming that teyvat is ruled over by a bunch of cultists taking advantage of people, especially those who are quirkless. To make it seem that quirks are more superior and more powerful now that pro heroes begin to rise all over the world. At some point in time, from another generation, a vision hunt decree was established, hunting down anyone who has a vision. This led to many allogenes and their families as well some quirkless fleeing to Teyvat for their safety as the continent have fully been isolated after the decree, a lot of refugees are saved however, not everyone was so lucky.

But why? What’s the point of spreading discrimination and prejudice to the people of Teyvat? Why it is simple, it is part of our human nature to beat down anything that is different from them. Sure quirks were also like that at first but everyone slowly got accustomed to it after several generations so why can’t visions as well?

Well it’s because people from the higher ups want everyone to see that quirk is the more superior and stronger, especially now with the world beginning to revolve around the concept of ‘heroes vs villains’. As compared to quirks, vision has more versatility as they are free to manipulate the elements of their visions in any way they want with their only hurdle being their personal limit and imagination, they don’t have any such things like ‘quirk drawbacks’ or potential incompatibility with anyone who wields one. So it’s safe to say not only not only humanity wants allogenes gone because they want to be superior, but also they’re afraid of the potential that these visions have and the possibility of it being much more powerful than quirks, which is something the people with quirks can’t stand as they only want to be the only one on top.

But then, why didn’t the people of Teyvat aggressively fight back against their prejudices? Well it’s hard to fight back when your words go in one ear and out the other'. 

But of course this doesn’t mean Teyvat has fully given up on trying to reconnect with the outside world. As a year ago a mysterious ‘Hero school’ suddenly emerges in the hero world which is named ‘Teyvat Academy’. No one really knows how to get in or why Teyvat suddenly opened a hero school but forums on the internet start sharing theories and rumors. 

But that’s far from the truth of the purpose of this school; they're not just here to reconnect. But to prepare for the end…

The Potential End Of The Quirk Era.

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‘Why did I became the principal of this school…?’

Principal Dainsleif is currently looking over their emails, which mostly contains several reports of property damage and accidental arson, mostly because from a certain child, that makes him wonder if this is Celestia's second curse on him. But one email caught his interest.

It’s an email from the principal of UA.

They’re proposing a student exchange program for their ‘Hero student’.

Dainsleif wasted no time and immediately emailed the head archons.

Chapter Text

“You all should be aware by now of why I called all of you here…” Dainsleif says as he speaks in front of the Teyvat heads and the twin travelers who he personally asked to come along to this meeting. “So we finally got someone’s attention from the outside world?” Nahida asked with a smile. Dainsleif nodded and then showed the email through the TV for everyone to see “One of the hero schools from the outside world, offered a student exchange program where we can send 12 of our ‘hero students’ to their academy to study there”. This got everyone’s attention “U.A…? Oh! that one hero school in japan…they considered themselves one of the best hero schools out there…” Aether says as he and Lumine have been teleporting there a lot due to sudden spikes of people receiving visions there recently and bringing them into Teyvat.

“May I ask what their reasoning is for offering an exchange program?” Ei curiously asked who’s currently eating some dango (wait where did she get that-?) “They said it’s a good way to share cultures and a great way for us to build relationships…” Dainsleif answered, “Come on principal Dainsleif, you don’t seriously believe that’s their only reason for offering?” Mavuika says, crossing her arms smiling. Dainsleif shook his head and answers “Of course not, everyone in this room knows the outside world view of us”. The room's mood quickly turned serious, they knew all the outlandish rumors and names the outside world labeled them as ‘cheaters’, ‘quirkless freaks’, ‘cult’ and ‘villains’. “It’s quite obvious this is their way of looking for incriminating evidence of our ‘wrong doing’…” Neuvillette mused as Venti snickered at that “Ohhh yessss~ that we brainwashed our people and conducted intense, abusive training in our students! While twirling our mustaches like the villains we are~” that earned a few chuckles from the travelers, Nahida and Mavuika which lighten up the mood a bit although Venti got smacked in the head by Zhongli for his unprofessionalism “They have quite an active imagination not gonna lie” One of the travelers, Lumine says in amusement.

“they’re trying to play safe, it seems, well I for one am quite interested in the program” Nahida says with a smile as she stands from her chair so everyone can see her properly. “I’m quite curious about their hero society and its inner workings… and this a good first step for us to reconnect once again to the outside world”. “It will make our rescuing of quirkless and vision holders much easier than having to do this in secret if this program goes well and if UA goes along with us but if not it will still be a good exposure experience for our ‘hero student’ either way…Although the state of the humans there have gotten worse according to my informants” the tsarista says in thought.

“The recent refugees have told us that quirks have become more complex and powerful than ever…” Aether says as Lumine nods in agreement “the discrimination between them has gotten worse as well, not just for the quirkless but also for those with weak, villainous and mutated quirks… one of the vision holders we rescued was bullied and almost beaten to death by their peers for having a ‘villainous’ quirk according to them” Lumine says as everyone in the room frown from either sympathy or anger. “How disgusting…if they only knew the true nature of those quirks…” Ei says in anger. “We did tell them and that resulted in them declaring the vision hunt decree on us, remember? The outside world clearly told us that they don’t want to hear our tune…” Venti sighs in resignation. “The outside world already made their choice and the only thing we can do is to save those who are left and willing to hear the truth of their world…this is one of the reasons why we formed this ‘hero course’ after all” Dainsleif says with a melancholy smile “So then everyone agrees at participating in this program?” everyone nods as Dainsleif emailed back to UA.

“And now that’s out of the way… we can talk about more important matters” Dainsleif says with a more serious tone as the atmosphere has become tense “the abyss is starting to become aggressive once more…”.

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“Principal Nezu, with all due respect- BUT WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING!?!?” Vlad King yelled. The UA faculty were currently preparing for the entrance exams for their first years when all of the sudden principal Nezu decided to have a meeting. Nezu revealed to them that he’s been exchanging emails with the principal of Teyvat Academy and offered them a student exchange program.

Understandably everyone collectively loses their shit.

There’s barely any information about Teyvat Academy or even Teyvat as whole other than it’s located in the middle of the pacific ocean surrounded by strong storms that no one can bypass even with a quirk while there are been some heroes who attempted to entering through the storm they either comes back almost dead or was never seen again and there’s countless of rumors about teyvat being controlled by villains called “Archons” leading a cult in there so to hear its hero students are now coming here to their institution is nothing but alarming.

“I understand your concerns but I was under the order of HPSC after Teyvat Academy appeared a year ago. They have decided that this is their best chance at learning more about them and finding actual evidence of their wrongdoings… So 12 students and 3 of their teachers will be coming here in UA to learn alongside our upcoming 1st year students.” Nezu calmly says as he takes a sip of his tea, of course this does not sit well with everyone as even though the students from teyvat are probably misguided and brainwashed children, they’re more worried on what the teyvat’s teachers going to do while inside their school. “But why now? Why didn’t HPSC make a move earlier when it first appeared?” Aizawa asked as he can already feel this year is going to be a headache. “They have been trying to get information and a way to get through the barrier but they always come back empty handed until now, as HSPC have received information about Teyvat from an anonymous third party that they can’t ignore as according to them this will truly affect the hero society negatively” Nezu answers with a serious tone “And what did they learn?” present mic nervously asked as everyone leaned in, Nezu take a breath before answering.

“They learned that Teyvat has an ability to erase quirks.”

Chapter Text

Teyvat Academy is located on a sky island in the middle of Teyvat, this institution was built after the battle against celestia and abyss, this place symbolizes all seven nations uniting as one for the common cause to protect and prepare their people for potential dangers in the future whether it be an attack from the outside world or the abyss rising again in the surface. This is also where refugees from the outside world learn all they need to know about teyvat to help them with their immigration, a fresh new start if you will.

Both quirkless and vision holders in different ages can be seen walking around campus similar to the Akademiya. But how is someone from the outside world able to go to Teyvat if the continent is isolated from the rest of the world?

The answer is the Teyvat Academy’s ‘Hero course’ or what people in Teyvat called the Deliverers in training.The job of a Deliverer is to go to the outside world and bring those who are quirkless, vision holders or anyone willing to go with them to Teyvat, those that are in training are usually accompanied by the travelers when going to the outside world. If not that then they are in Teyvat to help fight the abyss that seeps to the surface.

How about we look at someone who was brought to Teyvat as an example.

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(A year ago…) 

Since when did my life become so dull and numb…?

Oh…right…because of my quirk…

Nakamura Minori, a middle school child with what people would consider a villainous quirk. Her quirk is called ‘deterioration’, she can sucks the vitality of any organic her body touches, causing any organic to wither and decay. Due to this her body has to be fully covered and unable to have any skin to skin contact on any living being. 

 Ever since she got this quirk all of her previous friends pushed her away and she’s unable to make new ones because everyone in her school called her a villain after they see her accidentally withering a whole batch of flowers within seconds with just a brush of her arm that one time.

Her parents, they barely treat her like their daughter anymore, they wished her quirk would help them get money by being hero to raise them out of poverty but that didn't happen and now they couldn't care less about her, especially after having her sibling, who got a better quirk than her, her brother can give vitality to organics.

Nakamura sees her mother hugs her younger brother saying that he’ll be an amazing hero once he grows up, she doesn’t remember the last time her mother hugs her or her dad give her a pat in the head like that. Now, they always look at her like she’s a stain in the family. She couldn’t bring herself to share how much she feels as every time she speaks her mind in front of them, it’s like she’s breaking their happy little bubble each time, reminding them of their mistake of a daughter.

She’s currently heading to Aldera high like usual, she’s currently in eighth grade and already wanting this day to be over. She can see a lot of the students avoiding her the moment they spot her while whispering behind her back.

“It’s that decay girl…”

“Seriously, why hasn't the school expelled that villain yet? She’ll be a danger to everyone here”

“Hey don’t be so loud…! I heard she can kill someone with simply a touch of her fingertips…!”

Since when was my entire being based on my quirk…?

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When Nakamura enters the classroom she sees her desk full of writing again. She pulls up some towels and cleaning spray from her bag to clean her table. It happens so often that she just started bringing cleaning materials to school as she knew the janitor wouldn’t give a shit about it after the first time it happened. After that she simply sat down and waited for class to start as she mindlessly fiddled with her gloves.

Once students start filling up the classroom, she can hear Katsuki Bakugou boasting about his quirk to his friends(?) who are praising him and saying that he’ll be an amazing hero someday, it’s annoying but she knows it’s just Bakugou’s friends being friends…or atleast that’s what it looks like…it’s been a while since she had friends so she’s not sure what it feels like having one anymore… 

“Hey hey Bakugou? How about you show that decay girl what’s up?” One of them says with a smirk. “Yeah yeah! Show that villain what you're made of! I heard they were terrorizing the garden at the back of the school last week!” the other one says which caught Nakamura’s attention, because that did happen but it was mostly accidental. She didn’t notice her sleeve had a cut so her skin ended up touching the plants there. 

“Tch! Why would I give a damn on some villain extra!? She’s nothing but a villain with a c-tier of a quirk! Not even worth my time!” Bakugou boldly says, deciding that she’s not worth his attention and focuses on someone else.

“I-I don’t think it’s nice to call someone a villain Kacchan-“

“HAH!? DO YOU THINK I CARE WHAT YOU THINK STUPID DEKU!?”

Since when did people have the right to call someone a villain just from their quirk…?

Nakamura just wants this day to be over…

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After school, Nakamura walks to the back of the school to the garden. “I’m sorry for withering you guys last week…” Nakamura mumbled, she knows that these plants are not the same ones she withered but she likes talking to the plants as it says that talking to it helps it grow.

Nakamura cautiously watered the plants, back when she was a child, she would enjoy holding, feeling the textures of the leaves and flowers of the plant while gardening and admiring the beauty of nature but ever since her quirk manifested she’s been unable to do it without the plants withering seconds later…

Why did she have to be born cursed…?

Oh…how she missed the feeling of touch…

The ability to reach out…

The ability to tell people what she truly feels…

Someone…Anyone…

Nakamura is about to head out until she hears someone calling for her “N-nakamura-san may I talk with you for a moment?”. She turns around and sees Midoriya Izuku, her classmate that is quirkless. “Do you need something Midoriya-san?” Nakamura asked her extremely neutral, almost dead tone makes Midoriya nervous, she didn’t mean to sound like that, it's just…she rarely talks to people.

“W-well I would like to apologize for what Kacchan said earlier…” Midoriya stammered as he bowed in front of her. Nakamura doesn’t really understand why he’s apologizing for someone else's behavior but simply goes along with it “It’s alright…I’m used to people calling me that with my quirk and all” Nakamura calmly says. “A-actually I want to talk about that…” Midoriya suddenly says which got Nakarmura’s attention ‘I-Is he…’ she wondered as a little hope sparks in her chest.

“I-I know some of our classmates been calling you a villain because of your quirk b-but-“

Maybe he can see it…?

Maybe…just maybe I can reach out and tell how I-

“I-I think you can be a great hero with your quirk! Not the villain people say you are!” Midoriya says with a shaky but determined expression.

Huh..?

…oh

Of course he’s just interested in my quirk… and its use…why wouldn’t he?

It’s always about quirks…

He’s just like everyone else…

Why did I expect that it would be different…?

Hahaha how silly of me to hope…

Midoriya started mumbling and telling Nakamura how to theoretically use her quirk in a hero setting. She let him mumble away, she’s not gonna hold a grudge on Midoriya for this. She knows that practically everyone in their class wants to be a hero so Midoriya probably assumes that she’s in the same boat.

Nakamura knows Midoriya is quirkless and that’s why he is so fascinated with quirks in the first place. If anything Nakamura feels envious of Midoriya, at least he can still touch living beings without the worry of withering them in the process.

“I-I think with enough t-training I think you’ll be a great hero! No matter what people say! Your quirk is amazing and can be heroic!” Midoriya says with such conviction that Nakamura can only smile. “Thank you Midoriya…that’s nice to hear…” Nakamura replied with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, fortunately, Midoriya simply smiled back in response, thinking he successfully made her feel better.

Your quirk is good for this…or for that…

Your quirk is villainous…

Your quirk can be heroic…

Heroes…villains…

That’s all people care about these days…

Since when did people have the right to say if someone’s quirk is heroic or villainous?

Why does that have to be the only paths we can take?

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After that awkward conversation. Nakamura took a detour route instead of going straight home and went to a park in the children’s playground and there she found someone interesting. She sees a girl with short white hair with blue streaks and their eyes having different shades of blue while wearing the most extravagant outfit, performing a little puppet show to the kids. “A street performer…?” Nakamura mumbled as she walked a little closer as she’s very curious. The performance is very charming and it lacked the usual heroes vs villains stories that are common these days.

Once the small puppet show was over Nakamura called over the girl after the kids started dispersing “Excuse me miss…” the girl looked at her and tipped her little hat with “Hello there! Did you enjoy my little puppet show? Charmed I’m sure~” Nakamura blinks in surprise, she can tell the girl is a foreigner with the outfit but didn’t expect the accent of the girl to be deep.

“You could say that… It’s rare for me to see any street performance that doesn’t involve any hero themes in it” Nakamura answers. The girl laughs “Why of course! It gets dull if all directors follow the same trend and use the same tropes over and over after all~ A director’s style and originality will slowly disappear then~” the girl says with a confident voice and laughs.

‘This girl is…very eccentric but she sounds so passionate too’ Nakamura thought “Oh I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Nakamura Minori” she formally says as the mysterious girl did a theateratical bow as she introduced herself “I’am Furina de Fontaine it’s nice to meet you” The girl now she knows as Furina greets her with a smile and they ended up getting along real quick.

They ended up talking for hours with Furina sharing her passion about theater. It was so infectious that Nakamura was able to share her love for gardening to someone after so long. There’s no quirk or any hero talk at all. For the first time in a long while, Nakamura’s chest felt light. When Furina accidentally brushes her hand Nakamura panics as she instinctively puts her hand on her chest, she’s wearing gloves but she doesn’t trust herself, she might accidentally hurt her new friend.

“Oh dear, are you uncomfortable to touch? I’m sorry…” Furina quickly apologizes as Nakamura shakes her head “N-no it’s not that…it’s just…” Nakamura looks away already mentally bracing herself for what’s about to happen. “It’s my quirk…any organic my skin touches withers…this is why I’m wearing sleeves and gloves you see?” ‘Here it goes…she’s going to call me a villain-‘ Nakamura thought.

“Is it painful..?” Furina asked, it’s a question that Nakumara didn’t expect. “I-I’m sorry if I’m overstepping you can tell me to stop but…you said any living thing you touched with your skin decays right? That must've been very hard for you…when was the last time you touched someone?” Furina nervously says as Nakamura just looks dumbfounded “You…don’t find me scary? Or villainous at all?” She asked as it’s now Furina’s turn to look confused and even more worried. “Why would I see you as villainous because of your quirk?… It’s like blaming you for something that is out of your control… you have been a total sweetheart this whole time we have been talking…” Furina says with a frown.

“I think it’s unfair to blame or labeled someone’s whole being for something they didn’t asked to be born with”

When Nakamura hears that, her vision starts to blur as tears start falling…

That’s…that’s what she wishes to hear from someone for so long…

All these years everyone just knows and cares only about her quirk…

But never cared to know about her…

Since the manifestation of her quirk is where her fate of being called a villain and being forgotten has been sealed. Well I guess today is somewhat different since one of her classmates called her a hero for change.

But Nakamura doesn't care about that…

She doesn't care about being a hero or even a villain. She…she just wants everything to stop…All this bullying…neglect…How people see her…see her nothing but just her quirk… just a decay girl…

Everyone says how villainous she can be with it…

And now how heroic she can be with it…

Without even wondering what she even thinks about it…? Don't they realize how much a pain this quirk is to her? Do they think she gets happy seeing things wither around with just a touch!? Don’t they know how much she wants it to disappear!?

“O-oh no my dear did I say something wrong!? I'm so sorry if I overstepped your boundaries I uh it’s just uh-“ Furina starts to panic. Nakamura can’t help but chuckle “no no it’s okay…I…I actually needed that…”

Maybe I can reach out…

“I…A lot of people don’t like me because of my quirk…both my classmates and my family…no one really bothered to ask me how I felt about it and just started being labeled as a future villain as a result… I tried to be good person and be seen more than just my ability but…no matter what I do, it will always be my quirk first and foremost for them…so I struggled to reach out and talk to anyone about it…so I really needed to hear that…thank you Furina” Nakamura says with a tearful smile which in turn making Furina tear up at her story.

“I don’t think those…those people deserve your attention with how ignorant they are! They don’t deserve your kind and nature loving personality at all!” Furina says, clearly moved by her friend’s story. Nakamura can’t help but chuckle at that as she realizes something.

“You know what…You’re right… I should’ve realized this sooner… after all, it’s right in front of me…”

The sky starts to darken as thunder can be heard…

“I think it’s about time to live without these people expecting me to become…”

Rain starts to pour…

“I’ll live my own life the way I want it to be…”

Lightning strikes in front of them, causing Furina and Nakamura to scream in surprise…

Where the lighting strikes lies an electro vision…

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“Furina!? Furina, where are…you…?” Lumine says as she sees the former hydro archon sitting besides someone. “Hey Lumine…I found someone…” Furina sheepishly says. “Furina I told you not to walk too far while I scout for heroes. What if some hero saw you? Neuvillette will kill me…” Lumine whispered and scolds her deliverer in training.

“I know, I know but hey I found someone in need of our help…” Furina says sheepishly “But I’m the one who found you though… Also, can you explain what’s going on here?” Nakamura asked confusedly. Lumine sighs when she sees the person have a vision “Okay…well my name is Lumine, me and Furina are from Teyvat…”. Nakamura eyes widen when she heard that, “You’re…from teyvat? The Teyvat? You two look nothing like those in our history books…they all claimed you guys are terrorists… that’s why the government and the rest of the world declared a vision hunt decree…”.

“Well you know what they say dear Nakamura ‘history is written by the victors’ but since you’re aware of that decree we don’t have to explain why you’re not safe here anymore now that you're a vision holder do we?” Furina says as she frowns.

“Wait… Do they still hunt…vision holders even today?” Nakamura says as she holds her vision, she might’ve just got it but she feels the need to hold on to it tightly after hearing that.

Lumine nods, “Yes some heroes does and it’s our job as deliverers to help vision holders like you seek refuge by bringing you teyvat with us but of course we might have to talk to your relatives about this-“ 

“N-no! They don’t need to know…I don’t think they’ll care…plus I think…this is the fresh start I needed…even if it meant leaving Japan…” Nakamura says as she knows she has nothing to lose. Lumine gives in after she sees the kid’s determined expression.

”Are you sure? This is a big decision…there will no turning back…”

”You already said I’m already in danger since I’m a vision holder now…there’s already no turning back for me…”

“Okay…but there’s also two more things you need to agree on…”

“And that is…?”

“You’ll need to let us cleanse you from your quirk once we get there… and to listen on what I’m about to share to you”

Cleanse…?

“Okay…but what do you wish to tell me…?”

“…Have you ever heard of the quirk singularity theory?”

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(Present day)

Nakamura Minori, a student from Teyvat Academy and an electro user. Ever since being transported here in Teyvat, the academy has been helping her a lot along with the other refugees with getting used to the world of teyvat and adjusting to being quirkless. With her case, being put on mandated therapy due to discovering that she’s been neglected and deprived of touch since she was 4 years old due to the nature of her quirk and her parents as well for being isolated and bullied for years by her peers.

Now she feels a lot better, she is still hesitant with affection as she sometimes forgets that she doesn’t have her quirk anymore but she’s improving. She’s currently all sitting with her classmates while eating and talking about the latest happenings in the school. “Hey hey guys did you hear? The academy will be joining an exchange program from a hero school in Japan!” Hutao says. “Are they going to our school or theirs?” Xingqui asked as he secretly placed all the carrots on Chongyun’s plate. “Theirs! I heard only the deliverers in training that are going to Japan” Hutao answered, causing everyone at the table to sigh in relief. 

“Oh thank god we don't have to deal with hero students, they can be so pretentious… which hero school was it?” A boy from Indonesia asked. “Hmm I heard from mister Zhongli it's UA?” Hutao says tilting her head confused when some of her classmates from the outside react in surprise “Oya? Why do you all look so surprised, is this school some sort of big shot or something?” She curiously asked as being a native in Teyvat, the name UA doesn’t mean much to her. “It’s one of the most prestigious schools in Japan! A lot of my old classmates want to go there…” A girl with a dendro vision replied.

“Hey Nakamura back me up here” Nakamura blinks in surprise, she’s still getting used to her classmates actually letting her join in conversations “Well my previous classmates are on the same boat, they all want to go UA… Ah! I remember having a classmate that stood out the most. He has an explosion quirk that's dead set on going to UA…something about wanting to be a number one hero…” Nakamura shares. “Only wanting to be number one? Where’s the chivalry in that? I thought the hero's priority is helping people?” Xingqui said frowning, “No offence, Nakamura but your old classmate sounds like a red flag.” her other classmates said.

“No offense taken, that guy was a douche in our class and looked down at everyone but with his quirk, UA is probably still going to accept him though considering my old school keeps his records clean…” Nakamura shrugged which made everyone at the table appalled. “Why are you so sure about that? Won’t his personality make the school not accept him?” Noelle asked with a frown. “I’m sorry Noelle, a lot of the hero schools only care about one thing…which is your quirk…the good your quirk is the more a person can be excused for their transgressions that’s how it works in the outside world” another girl from japan scoffed.

“Welp press F to the deliverers in training and their braincells then, their honorable sacrifice will not be forgotten” Hutao says as a lot of her classmates mumbled ‘F ‘before returning to eating their food and talking about other things.

Chapter Text

Deliverer (definition)

-a person who saves someone from a painful or bad experience

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Teyvat Academy offers many courses to choose from for the purpose of helping the people from the outside world to fully assimilate in Teyvat, those with visions while can also choose their own courses they’re mandated to take additional courses such as Weapon training, Elemental training and Battle training to help them how to properly use their visions in order to defend themselves from the many monsters in Teyvat.

‘Hero course’ also known as ‘Deliverers in training’ is one of the more recent course that was added to the academy and only exclusive to vision holders as its purpose is to further refine one’s skill, strength and teamwork capabilities as well to prepare them for the worst of what’s to come in the outside world and to bring the remaining quirkless and vision holders in Teyvat. The current batch of the deliverers in training are one of the first and was handpicked by the archons themselves, although they are planning to add an entrance exam soon for others who want to join for the course soon.

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Nahida is the homeroom teacher of the course as she oversees their training and regularly checks everyone’s wellbeing, next to her is Arlecchino, who is this course combat teacher. “Good morning everyone! We have an announcement to make!” Nahida greets everyone with a smile as she stands on the podium of the auditorium. “The academy has decided to participate in a student exchange program in UA academy from Japan!” Nahida says. Everyone starts murmuring either in surprise or caution.

Every single one of them have already gone to the outside world at least a multiple times by now but this is different, as they were hiding in the shadows every time they did their rescue missions, joining the program would basically have heroes breathing down their neck 24/7 and no one likes that.

One of them raised their hand “Lord Kusa- I mean Miss. Nahida, is everyone required to participate in this program?” A fox-eared man asked. “No only 12 students are allowed to join the program so we will be picking atleast 2 to 3 students per dorm.” Nahida answers as sighs of relief can be heard in the crowd.“However, in Mavuika’s request, all Natlan deliverers would not be participating in the program as you all are being called to handle and oversee the sudden spike of abyss activity resurfacing in Musk Reef. So please be ready for your departure” All the Natlan deliverers left the auditorium. “Lucky…” a tall man with blue hair mumbled.

“So here is the list of people we have decided to be participating in this program so please stand up once I call your names” Nahida says as she starts calling people’s names.

“From Mondstadt, Diluc, Kaeya and Jean.” A groan can be heard from Diluc and a laugh from Kaeya mostly directed at his brother’s misery of being picked.

“From Liyue, Ganyu and Yelan” Both of them nod, with a certain yaksha internally sighing in relief he wasn’t picked.

“From Inazuma, Heizou and Kazuha” Both of them calmly accepted that although the others from Inazuma are surprised by the choice.

“From Sumeru, Cyno and Hat guy” Both of them simply look at each other and nod.

“And Lastly, from Fontaine, Furina, Lyney and Lynette” Furina was surprised to be picked while Lyney and Lynette simply looked intrigued.

“In the next 10 months you all would be focusing on learning Japanese customs and Language as well furthering your usual combat, teamwork and stealth training. This program is very important as this will be the first step for teyvat in reconnecting with the outside world so let’s all work together and show UA what Teyvat Academy has to offer.” 

Everyone who were called all looked at each other and can tell that this would not be a fun time for them.

…

…

…

After training, Jean invited the students that will be part of the program to the Mondstadt dorm to hang out and talk about the program. “I don’t like this program at all” Diluc says, crossing his arms, “None of us are red, it’s clear that the hero commission in Japan is trying to get information about us” Wanderer rolls his eyes as everyone agrees. “From what I could tell the heads have plans outside of this program, considering that it made our course known in the outside world disguised as a hero course so it’s best we play along for now” says Heizou, who’s currently playing TCG with Cyno.

“Honestly, out of all the countries, why is the country with the most hero worship the first to reach out?” Diluc grumbled as he munched on the macaroon that Furina bought for them to eat. “Awww don’t be like that Luc~ look on the bright side, maybe you can now learn more about this Endeavor guy that keeps being compared to you~” Kaeya teased as the redhead rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry Master Diluc is being compared to who?” Ganyu curiously asked. “Well some of the students that were from Japan keep comparing Master Diluc from this Endeavor guy and keep debating on who is stronger because the hero has a fire quirk from what I heard” Jean explained, she’s also a little amused at the comparison. Diluc huffed, as he doesn’t really like being compared to a pro hero.

“I guess you could say both of you have a ‘fiery’ personality to compare…” Cyno says with a straight expression 

…

“Do you get it?”

…

“I tried to tell a fire pun, but I supposed it had fizzled out…”

…

“Do you get it?”

…

“Because-hmph!” Wanderer throws a pillow straight on Cyno’s face.

“Awful, never talk again” Wanderer glares.

“Well I for one am quite curious on how this program is going to go and it could be a good learning experience for all of us…” Kazuha calmly says as he’s one of the more open about the idea of the program. “I agree with Kazuha here…I’m more curious how the academy works from what I heard pro heroes are the teachers there” Lyney says, sipping his tea“Yes…Although I’m not too keen being put in the spotlight like this front of the heroes…I can already tell they’ll observe us like specimens” Lynette bluntly says while munching on some macaroons. “Well I’ll admit being put into the front like this is not my forte but this can be an interesting challenge to see how much I can gather from these heroes…” Yelan says with a yawn.

“I don’t mind the program either but I have to admit spending time in the outside world would be sooooo boring!…they don’t even have good stories to tell outside of heroes vs villains! it’s infuriating as a director! Don’t they have any sense of originality at all!?” Furina complained, crossing her arms. “Well they need their good ol fashion propaganda, they can't have the masses think of the heroes in a bad light after all~” Kaeya says, patting Furina’s back for comfort. “Hmph! and they think we’re the ones running a cult here…” She pouted. Kaeya chuckled “Haha I know right~? sounds to me like they’re projecting~”.

“And-and don’t get me started on how black and white their view is! I-I might not be the archon of justice anymore, but I still find their sense of morals a disappointment! Justice may be blind but never heartless!” Furina says while everyone murmured in agreement as all of them, being deliverers have seen multiple cases of injustice in the outside world from the people they bring here to Teyvat.

“Seriously…with all the shit the quirks caused to their society but still consider it the greatest thing that ever happened in humanity is nothing of sort of idiotic…” Wanderer sneered. “Maybe their brain has deteriorated for each generation because of their quirks…” Heizou cheekily says earning a few chuckles. “I mean it’s close enough to what the quirk actually does to them…” Jean says in thought, “To be honest I feel bad at how oblivious they are on what the quirks are doing to their body.”

“They already made their bed Jean…with how stubborn they are, they’ll lie in it until the day they die…” Diluc bluntly says as everyone nods in agreement.

The program will certainly be an interesting experience for them.

Chapter Text

Yagi Toshinori also known as All Might didn't know what to expect when Nezu called him over to his office, when he got inside he saw the principal drinking some tea. “Ah All Might  I'm glad you're able to attend” Nezu greets the number one hero with his usual smile “I’m only planning to relay all the information that I went through with the rest of the staff in the meeting you missed so this won't take too long” Nezu says as he offered All might a cup of tea.

Imagine Yagi's surprise when Nezu relayed all the information to him, that UA is having an exchange student program with Teyvat Academy. Yagi has heard of the academy once it was listed as a hero school by the WHA a year ago and caused quite a stir.“And so the Hero commission ordered us to investigate the matter and I figured we might get more information about Teyvat through their hero students by having them interact  with our upcoming first years…” Nezu says, sipping his tea. ‘That means young Midoriya will run into them…’ Yagi thought he didn't know how to feel about this program.

“Have you tried entering through the barrier before All Might?” Nezu curiously asked, “Well I had tried during my prime since I heard a lot of heroes attempted to do it… I even have my friend build a boat for us but the moment we entered the storm we almost got struck by a strong purple lightning that would’ve definitely destroyed our boat…before we got hit though, strong winds pushed us back …I didn’t want to put my friend in danger after experiencing that so I didn’t go further” Yagi answered as he can remember how it feels like his life flashed before his eyes at that moment and decided to focused on training and eliminating All for one first at the time since Teyvat was passive, “I see…how unfortunate” Nezu commented.

Yagi only knows Teyvat through history lessons back in highschool, that teyvatians were considered villains that are quirkless and started terrorizing all over the world when quirks starts to spread more, using an item called a vision that were provided by their leaders called ‘Archons’ and were subdued by heroes after WHA declared an order that was called ‘vision hunt decree’, soon after that nothing was heard in Teyvat ever again.

Teyvat reminds him of that old country that fell generations ago, which was North Korea, where it's under an authoritarian government and isolated from the rest of the world which has fallen thanks to the emergence of quirks. Yagi genuinely feels bad for the people living in Teyvat, full isolated and under rule by the archons ‘Who knows what information that was fed to them… ’ Yagi grimaced. 

“Hero commission has also received from an anonymous source that Teyvat has the ability to erase quirks completely” Nezu says, which made Yagi spit his tea and start coughing out some blood “Excuse me!? How!? Where did they get that information!?”.

“The commissioner didn’t say who or where they got the information but they’re very confident that it’s real and told me to further investigate it ” Nezu says with a grim expression. “If that’s true you don’t think that they’re erasing the quirk of the people living there so they don’t fight back?” All might say in worry as it would make sense on why they haven’t heard any escapees from Teyvat ‘But then again these Archons can give these visions so who knows…maybe they use those to keep people in line someway?… There's not much information about Visions besides that they’re weapons and some rumors’ Yagi thought, “that’s my current theory as I highly doubt that a continent's worth of population stayed quirkless for generations as quirks are a natural progression to human evolution after all…but we’ll know more once TA arrives” Nezu answers.

‘If Teyvat does have that ability WHA should probably know about it right??? considering they listed TA as a hero school…’ Yagi thought, his mind was racing at the implications of this information. “Have the commission told this information to WHA…?” Yagi asked with a worried expression.“they have… But they completely ignored it, saying that having only one source of information is not enough to confirm its legitimacy, they for some reason don’t want to look into Teyvat further which is why the HSPC have decided to take matters into their own hands…” Nezu says. “So where would TA be staying then?” Yagi asked, “Oh don’t worry about that, I already have Cementoss build a dormitory just for them to stay in” Nezu replied. 

“With the exchange program these students will see what the outside world truly looks like and be influenced by the next generation of heroes as well for them to see there’s a better life outside of Teyvat which in turn they’ll become comfortable and share us more information about Teyvat! Isn’t it quite brilliant~?” Nezu says with a laugh.

Yagi nods as he thinks that’s a solid plan ‘It is a hero’s duty to inspire and touch on people’s hearts in times of need after all…and I’m sure the future heroes can do just that…just like how young Midoriya inspired me’.

…

…

…

Mavuika alongside the other Natlan deliverers in training are at an island called Musk Reef located at the extremely far side of Mondstadt which is currently raining . She doesn’t understand why the abyss activity suddenly spiked in the area but nevertheless she’ll do her very best to eliminate all of them before they start to get closer to the mainland. “Here they come! Everyone get ready!” Mavuika ordered through the akasha as every Deliverer on the island summoned their weapons.

Soon after portals began to appear, multiple abyss mages, abyss heralds, hilichurls and lawachurls of different kinds began popping out of it. “Let’s ride!” Mualani yelled, summoning her shark and began to surf through the enemies while her sharky bites them with Mavuika, smirking and uses the opportunity to vaporize the remaining enemies that somehow survived in Mualani’s onslaught with her flamestrider. To be honest, while the abyss creatures are a lot, Mavuika knows she can eliminate them on her own but also she might accidentally destroy the whole island in the process if she do that and she doesn’t think Barbatos would appreciate it considering the abyss spiral seal is in the distance so she’s not taking her chances plus this another good training exercise.

“Farewell!”

“Hmph…bring it”

“Knock’em down!”

A lot of the deliverers in training start to group up. Ororon summoned his Supersonic Oculus and it began attracting the Lawlachurls in the area while shooting from a distance which triggers electro-charge to the surrounding enemies for support, while Xilonen and Chasca began skating and gunning down the enemies to the ground respectively, with Xilonen triggering crystallized reactions protecting both of them and Cascha who is triggering a lot of swirl reactions from her floating gun. 

“Excuse me! Coming through! Get back everyone!” Kachina yelled while riding her Turbo Twirly, passes by and does her burst, jumping up and strikes the hilichurls to the ground with her Turbo Twirly in the area before resuming into using her polearm to finish the remaining hilichurls.

Meanwhile, Kinich, Iansan and Varesa see Thundercraven Rifthounds start appearing through the cracks, “Let’s gather the wolves together…” Kninchi directly says as he starts lassoing the rifthounds in one place and begins shooting them with his dendro bullets while dodging its claws which triggers some blooms in the process, the two follow suit. “On my mark!” Iansan declares as she runs at high speed, electro comes out of her and stomps the ground, releasing a powerful wave of electro which knocks back multiple Rifthounds in Kinich’s shooting range.

Iansan sees a lot of the wolves are now gathered and she calls out “Varesa! Now!

“Fietena, grant me strength!” Varesa yelled, now with a mask as she jumps very high and starts hitting all the rifthounds in the vicinity with her feet as sparks of electro spread the area, while Kinich continues gunning down the remaining ones that try to escape in a distance. Mavuika sees everyone is working well as she continues to vaporize the remaining abyssal creatures with her claymore, the portals have lessened and the only ones left are the Thundercraven Rifthounds. Mavuika is just about to slice the rest into pieces but the wolves then do something odd.

The wolfhounds began going in the opposite direction.

“What the?” Mavuika can’t help but say out loud confusedly as she immediately orders the deliverers to stay in musk reef and rides on her flamestrider and follow the wolves to the ocean. “You’re not going anywhere!”. ‘Where is it going? Their direction…It seems like…it’s heading towards the barrier….?’ Mavuika thought in confusion, the abyss showed no interest in invading the outside world so why now…? Unless…

Suddenly a vortex of wind appears, sucking all the wolfhounds in one place. Mavuika wasted no time “Pyroclastic surge!” She yelled while jumping in the air while riding her flamestrider, hitting the wolfhounds from above. The impact causes a huge ripple in the ocean and changing the weather in the process, causing the rain to stop. “Sheesh Mav~ You might vaporize the entire ocean with that” someone says jokingly, Mavuika blinks and turns around and sees it's the anemo archon himself. 

“Barba-Venti…thanks for the assistance” Mavuika says as Venti simply giggled “It’s nothing~ I just happened to pass by and was curious how this small clean up you and your people are doing” Venti says as he flies next to his fellow archon “You know~ My knights can handle this operation right~?” he cheekily says. “W-well It’s just… Mondstadt seems extremely occupied with accommodating the refugees so I figured-“ Mavuika stammered as Venti chuckled “ehe~ I approved this operation remember? I’m just joking I know you’re just looking for an excuse to not have any of your children go to that exchange program”. Mavuika sighed “It’s not that I’m against the exchange program…it’s just…my people is still recovering from the abyss war and I still believe that’s it’s better for us to stay here and prepare for the inevitable disaster of the outside world…especially since now the Tsarista has her own plan for the outside world”.

“Seeing the rifthounds started to head to the barrier storm…my fears are being confirmed true… I’ll admit, I had been risky when it comes to my plans before during the abyss invasion in Natlan and considering how bigger and different this situation is…I want to be more prepared this time around” Mavuika says, frowning. Venti sighs “I can understand your worries and you’re not the only one who feels this way…not everyone is fond of the idea on trying to work with the outside world again…”

”But honestly though, we really need to practice this whole teamwork thing with us heads more, especially with tsar…She’s almost stubborn as that blockhead sometimes and that saying a lot” he playfully says trying to light up the mood. Mavuika chuckles “She can be extremely determined with her plans…I mean look what she did with the whole gnosis thing”, “That’s true…”  Venti says.

“I just hope she doesn’t go too far this time and keep one of her harbingers in tight leash…”

Chapter Text

Months quickly pass by as everyone is preparing for their voyage to Japan for the exchange program, normally they use the many temporary waypoints the twins hiddenly placed all over the world to traverse but they don’t want to accidentally reveal the location of these devices by using it in this occasion and they’ll be meeting with two of the UA faculty by the shore anyways so it’s better to use Beidou’s ship instead. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with Venti? I’m sure Mister Neuvillette wouldn’t mind having a last minute replacement” Nahida asked her fellow archon, “Nahhh it’s fine, plus if I’m there I highly doubt UA is  going to treat TA seriously, hehe I mean look at me! I still get mistaken for a student by the newcomers!” Venti playfully says, making Nahida giggle while he watches the students put their luggage on the ship while talking amongst themselves.

“I know…but you also have your own grievances about the outside world in regards to their freedom, no?” Nahida tilted her head, curiously. “I do…but is it really freedom if it was instigated by a god?” Venti rhetorically asked as his eyes briefly glowed. “Hehe you do have a point there…” Nahida says with a small smile although Venti can tell something is wrong.

“Are you perhaps nervous?” Venti calmly asked, “I suppose I’am, since I’m the one who made this idea in the first place…I’m just worried that this will be all for nothing and… what if all goes wrong? Especially with the Tsarista currently doing her own plans and…” Nahida says as she nervously trails off. Venti placed his hand on Nahida’s shoulder in assurance “Don’t worry Buer, you’re smart and if there’s any conflicts I’m sure Neuvillette and The knave will be there to back you up, heck even the students would not hesitate to help you…” Venti reassures his friend.

“Lord Kusanali! Everything is accounted for and is ready to set sail!” Beidou yelled as Nahida looked at her fellow archon for the last time “I’ll keep you and the other heads updated through the akasha once we arrive, farewell Venti” Nahida says as before she leaves Venti hold her hands and speak the following words.

“Hehe farewell dear friend, May the wind protect you and everyone in this journey” He gently says which calms the dendro archon’s nerves.

…

…

…

Aizawa aka Eraserhead and Sekijiro aka Vlad King waited by shore as ordered by Nezu to bring the TA students and teachers to UA that would be arriving today. So imagine their surprise when they’re met with AN ACTUAL FUCKING PIRATE SHIP AT LOCAL SHORE. ‘Is Teyvat’s technology THAT behind to the point they’re still using hardwood for ships!?’ Sekijiro thought in bafflement as this looks something he would only see in storybooks, meanwhile Aizawa was tense and annoyed. ‘Of course it's a goddamn pirate ship…What do I expect from the people from that continent that terrorized the world back then…’ Then he sees a woman with an eyepatch wearing that’s reminiscent of traditional Chinese clothing but not at the same time who went down off the ship after laying down a bridge.

“Hey! You two are folks from UA yeah? My crew are bringing down TA’s belongings. Mind telling me where can we place them?” The woman directly asked. “Well mind telling us who you are first?” Aizawa asked, narrowing his eyes, although the woman didn’t feel intimidated in the slightest “Hahaha! What's with the sudden hostility? But you’re right I should probably have introduced myself yeah?” the woman casually says. 

“I’m Beidou, captain of The Crux fleet and the owner of this ship, the Alcor” the woman now the two known as Beidou says with a toothy grin as she reaches out her hand. “The names Sekijiro Kan, pro hero Vlad King” he replied as he shook hands with the captain although he jolted and pulled away as he felt like his hand got electrocuted for a moment although he can’t tell if it’s because of the woman or not but the pirate is giving off an odd aura despite acting very casual around them. Aizawa who’s still on guard, narrowed his eyes “pro hero Eraserhead” he simply says not bothering to reveal his actual name which didn’t bother Beidou in the slightest. “It’s my first time being face to face with a hero, man if it were any situation I would offer you guys a drink but we’re on a tight schedule, mind showing us where to load the luggage?” Beidou asked with a grin, Aizawa found the woman obnoxious..

Beidou can tell Eraserhead is not amused so she just decided to talk to Vlad king about where to put the cargo as while he’s also on guard he’s at least more cooperative than the other who’s just glaring at her like a distrustful cat, she doesn’t exactly care for heroes or quirks in general as long it doesn’t affect Teyvat or her crew, at most she wouldn’t mind to try and fight one if given a chance just to test her strength but she knows it’s not the time to pick a fight.

While Beidou and some of her crew carried the luggage with Vlad King. Eraserhead sees TA teachers and students now coming down, out of the ship.

According to the digital files that UA has given, all 12 students are on the older side with the oldest are around their 20s while the youngest are around the same age as UA’s second year students. Which was extremely uncommon but not unheard off as other countries has an older age requirement for hero courses but this is the first time Aizawa sees the age range is wide in a single class ‘It makes sense if you think about it…early adulthood is usually around when the human body starts to physically peak and these quirkless, probably the only advantage they have to even reach the same potential as a first year student…’ Aizawa thought as he stared at students yawning and still half-asleep.‘We don’t have any information about their visions right now, while they were a pain to deal with according to the history books, quirks have evolved since then as long as we show them that they’re at a disadvantage if they cause any trouble’.

Another thing that Aizawa noticed is that despite having all the students listed as quirkless, there’s two that clearly have some sort of mutant quirk. A blue-haired girl who has horns while there’s another girl with light blonde hair that has cat ears. But before Aizawa can further question it, he sees the TA teachers call over the students and start telling them to ride the bus now after everyone is saying farewell to Beidou and her crew with one particular student taking a bit longer.

Vlad king and Eraserhead raised their eyebrows when they saw two adults and one child in front of them, “Greetings, you must be part of the UA faculty, yes?” The man with long white hair with blue streaks in a dark blue suit asked. “Err yes we are, pardon me but we’re told that there are supposed to be three teachers and you’re not allowed for any plus ones so is this child you two’s…?” Vlad king trailed off as he stared down at the child.

 Both of the two teachers stiffen but the child giggled instead “Oh there must’ve been some misunderstanding, I’m a teacher not their child and I’m much older than you think” the girl says but even with that the two heroes seem to doubt her. “May we get a move on? We’re wasting time as it is” the woman with a grey suit says, clearly not amused as the two heroes decided to drop it for now

…

…

…

The ride to UA is….tense to say the least.

Heizou can feel the tension is so thick and dense that you can physically cut through it with a knife. None of his classmates are in a mood to chat to each other that much as some are just looking through the window with indifference in their face or just sleeping, He can see the two heroes are briefly observing them every now and then at the front with one of them particularly looking at Ganyu and Lynette, which makes sense in their files they’re all labeled as quirkless but the two have animal features which would make anyone outside of Teyvat scratch their heads.‘I imagine they’re gonna try and convince those two that they have quirks later’ Heizou thought grimly as he knows the two will be uncomfortable by that.

To be honest, when the teachers revealed the list of students for the program it made his eyebrow raised. Ms.Nahida told them that they should try to communicate and connect with the students, which is fine even if Heizou feels that going to be difficult considering the false history fed to these hero students but if that’s what the dendro archon wants, why did they not pick people like Amber or Yoimiya? Won't it be easier to have more friendly and optimistic students?. But then again Ms. Arlecchino gave us orders to not reveal all of our cards in front of the heroes, meaning their occupation and their true strength. ‘I was wondering why they would pick I would argue the most secretive students besides Furina, Kazuha, Ganyu and Jean for this program, Amber and Yoimiya can be quite the chatterbox and they could barely keep a secret so it makes sense now they weren’t picked, but still the dendro archon want us to connect with the students of UA for some reason, in what way does she wants us to connect with them?’  Heizou pondered.

“The wind is less pure here than it is back home…” Kazuha mumbled snapping Heizou out of his thoughts, “is it? I guess the vehicles used here are polluting the air, mind telling me what the wind feels like to you Kazuha?” Heizou curiously asked, keeping his voice low. “It’s hard to describe it through poetry but for me…” Kazuha pondered.

“Is as if the anemo archon has abandoned this land…”

Chapter Text

After an hour or two, the bus arrived at UA.

“Is..that supposed to be an ‘H’ as in ‘H’ for heroes?” Ganyu said, confused, when she looked up and saw the humongous building of UA that looks like it’s made of glass after getting out of the bus. “Possibly, either way it looks ugly, there’s no art in it at all! And we are all staying here!?” Furina huffed while she had her salon solitaire to carry her luggage for her, “Kaveh would definitely be devastated if he sees this” Cyno bluntly says. The UA building is tall and has a more minimalistic look compared to Teyvat Akademy which is more akin to the size of an island and has more greenery as well multiple areas representing the different nations in some way.

As they pass through the UA gates, Jean uses their elemental sight out of curiosity as the atmosphere is so different from Teyvat. She noted how the elemental energy of their surroundings are almost nonexistent, ‘I can barely feel any elemental energy… it’s a miracle that the abyss hasn't bothered invading this place yet…’ Jean thought, frowning as while the grass and the trees were alive, it looked desaturated compared to back home, even Natlan has more life despite having the weakest leylines.

The two pro heroes note that the students are showing indifference and hints of dissatisfaction as they look around. ‘I don’t know how or what TA teaches them but I’ll make sure to hit them with the actual taste of reality all the same’ Aizawa thought.

Once they reached the dorms, the students began unpacking and talking about which room they wanted to take, while the three teachers followed the two pro heroes to the way of the meeting room.

…

…

…

Nezu looks intrigued upon seeing three people from teyvat entered the room, “Welcome to UA, people from Teyvat Academy. Am I a dog? A mouse? A bear? Who cares!? Because I'm the principal! You may call me Nezu” the principal greets them with eccentricity.

The child with green eyes smiled and stepped forward. “It's an honor to finally meet you, principal Nezu. My name is Nahida, one of the heads of teyvat academy as well the homeroom teacher of our hero students” Nahida says, bowing out of curtsey as she completely omitted that part that she’s an archon. Some of the pro heroes whispered to each other upon hearing that. “doesn't she look too young for-” Ectoplasm whispered to his colleagues but Nahida heard some of it “please don't be be mistaken, I'm a lot older than I look and I'm fully capable at doing my duties” Nahida formally says making some of the pro heroes looked a little flustered at being heard.

The woman in heels steps forward, “You may call me Arlecchino, I’m the ‘hero course’ combat teacher” Arlecchino says as some of the heroes can't help but feel tense with her presence as Arlecchino quietly observes them one by one.

Last but not the least, the man steps forward holding a cane “I'm Neuvillette, I am also one of the heads of the academy alongside Ms.Nahida. Although I mainly focus on teaching laws and ethics, I do assist in teaching elemental classes to our ‘hero students’ from time to time” Neuvillette says as despite his calm demeanor his presence holds a sense of authority.

“What do you teach in elemental class?” Aizawa directly asked, “It’s mostly about the study of elemental reactions as well how to better control the elements of a vision” Neuvillette calmly answered although when the heroes heard the word ‘vision’ the room’s atmosphere became more tense. “Right…the weapons that your archons gave you” Ectoplasm narrowed his eyes.  

Nahida frowns, she knows that it's impossible to convince them out of the false history that was told to them.”I know that our history between us has not been very…pretty, but… I still wish for us to cooperate with the outside world, just like it once was from the past” She says, “Dear~ do you wish for us to simply forget the villainous acts Teyvat has done in the past? A lot of people’s lives were lost during that…how can we be sure you won’t do something similar here?” Nemuri says with a smile but has a dangerous glint in her eyes. “Honestly it’s surprising that the world heroes association has not labeled you guys as villains considering the stuff your kind has done in the past” Snipe says, as the tension rose further between the two factions.

Both Arlecchino and Neuvillette narrowed their eyes but tried to keep their composure,“H-hey now, guys let’s not just jump the gun here we’re supposed to be collab-“ Present mic says surprisingly trying to be reasonable and diffusing the situation but was cut off by Eraserhead “They bring up a good point though considering your kind track record, how can we trust you won’t endanger anyone here during your stay?” he says glaring at the three.

“Pardon me, but it is your academy the one who offered-“ Arlecchino was cut off by Nahida who silently raised her hand which caused her to quiet down but she still glared at the heroes. “Of course I’m not saying for you to forget what happened nor do I expect you all to trust us immediately, that’s why we have this program in the first place correct? Acknowledge our wrongdoings is important in reconciliation and trust after all” Nahida answered, silencing the UA staff except for Nezu who chuckles “Of course, I believe we shouldn't dwell too much about the past and try to move towards the future”.

“You say that principal, but it is clear that your faculty is not fully onboard with the idea of working and fostering future students together” Arlecchino bluntly. “My apologies, it's just that my staff cares about our students' safety and can be very… determined…with their task but don’t worry, I’ll give them some talking afterwards” Nezu calmly says. 

“But for now let’s discuss about the rules and regulation that you will be following here in UA”

…

…

…

Meanwhile, the TA students are busy unpacking at their new dorm building.

Suffice to say they’re a little chaotic.

“Diluc! Do you have my bathroom supplies with you? I can’t seem to find mine…”

“Wha-!? Why the hell would I have it??? I literally told you to double check your belongings before leaving…”

“Ah yes about that-“

“Don’t tell me you’re able to remember bringing your beauty kit but not your other essentials!?”

“…In my defense I was drunk while packing-“

“I LITERALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO DRINK THE DAY BEFORE LEAVING-“

“Those two I swear…” Jean sighs as she’s trying her hardest to keep things in order while helping the others unpack, “Furina! One of your stupid pets is following me again!” Wanderer yells as he’s trying to shoo the seahorse, Furina dramatically gasps “Excuse you!? My salon solitaires is more than just a pet!” “I don’t care, just make it go away. I'm trying to unpack my stuff for archon's sake…” Wanderer retorted, rolling his eyes. Jean sees the commotion and tries to calm the situation “Alright you two settle down, it’s too early in the morning for you two to bicker and I’m already dealing with one already” Jean says as she can still hear the brothers arguing upstairs. Wanderer simply huffed and walks away “Furina, I know that your summons are really helpful for carrying your luggage but please unsummon them or atleast only leave one summon you know how chaotic your summons can be when left unattended” Jean politely requested as Furina frown and mumbled a small “fine…” as she unsummoned two of her salon solitaires only leaving the crab one to help with her luggage.

“Well those two seem lively today…” Yelan amusedly says as Diluc and Kaeya can still be heard upstairs, “Yeah…anyways, so what do you think of the dorm? It’s very different from TA’s if you asked me” Jean asked “Pretty spacious, but has a lot of bugs though” Yelan says as she placed a few small disabled eavesdropping devices on the table, Jean blinks in surprise “…they’re not even trying to be subtle”She says in disappointment. “You know they’ll be more suspicious of us right? What if they confront us about this if they find out it’s disabled?” Jean asked, frowning. “I doubt it… if they point this out to us then they’re basically outing themselves that they’re spying on us before they can even start the school year” Heizou says with a smirk while passing by as Yelan nods in agreement “the heroes are idiots but I doubt they’re that stupid enough to out themselves” Yelan added as she shrugged.

“By the way, where's Lyney and Lynette? I haven’t seen them since we started unpacking…” Jean asked, “They stealthily followed the teachers, most likely eavesdropping on the meeting and mapping out UA.” Yelan shrugged.

Meanwhile, upstairs Ganyu is trying to set up some plants she brought with her by the window but something went wrong. “Oh dear…” she mumbled, “Hm? Is something wrong Ms. Ganyu?” Cyno curiously asked as he was passing by Ganyu’s room. “Please just call me Ganyu and yes I suppose you could say that…” Ganyu says as she showed him one of the Qingxin flowers she took out of the container that immediately withered. “You see…Cloud retainer made these special containers pots for me that can imitate the warmth and humidity required for it to grow so I can grow and eat some but…” Ganyu trailed off as she glanced over to the withered Qingxin “I just…didn’t expect it to wither so quickly” She says. “How interesting…but it’s possible it is because of the lack of leyline energy in the area that causes it to wither…” Cyno theorized, “How unfortunate, I was hoping to grow more of these so I could eat them but I guess it’ll stay in the container” Ganyu says, frowning. “Perhaps we can buy some alternatives outside, it’s not the same as Teyvats but they do sell edible flowers here in Japan from what I could recall” Cyno suggested which makes Ganyu perked up “Oh! That’s not a bad idea, I was somewhat curious what some of the plants here tasted like”.

Ganyu told Jean that she’ll be visiting the mall to buy some seeds for her to grow which led to some of their classmates coming along, namely Cyno, Kaeya, Furina and Heizou tagging along with Ganyu to the mall mostly out of curiosity and also needing to buy some essentials.

Chapter Text

Evolution- a process that results in changes in the genetic material of a population over time. It reflects the adaptations of organisms to their changing environments and can result in altered genes, novel traits, and new species.

Quirk- (Kosei,"Individuality"), formerly known as a Meta Ability (Inō, "Extraordinary Ability") and for those who lived in teyvat they’re called ____ , it is a superhuman ability that a person can possess.

Quirks are considered a natural progression to human evolution by the majority of the world, it is simply a fact that cannot be disputed. While there are factions that believe that quirks are a disease or that quirks will slowly lead to humanity extinction, the population considered those beliefs or theories myths at best, while at worst, used as fear mongering during the emergence of quirks that should be forgotten.

But the people of Teyvat didn’t see it that way.

...

...

...

Musutafu has quite a lot of people all in different forms and sizes because of their quirks, the deliverers walk with the crowd as their visions hidden in their pockets. ‘I still find it hard to believe none of them questioned the nature of these quirks…what factors lead a person to evolve into having a toaster or a cactus for a head? They don’t even question why quirks can mimic their technology?? Great, now I sound like Albedo…’ Kaeya thought as he couldn't help it, thinking about it for atleast five minutes. It was just way too weird, even for him. He's really starting to wonder if Heizou is actually right that the quirks are slowly rotting non-teyvatian’s brains with each generation.

Meanwhile, Ganyu is using a map through her phone that the principal of UA provided for them to use during their stay to locate the closest local mall, while they probably won’t use it for communication as they prefer to use the akasha for that and she won't be surprised if the principal can easily hack through said phones to eavesdrop, but it’s useful in times like this atleast. As they walked through the busy streets of Musutafu they heard someone yelling “VILLAIN!” from the distance which causes multiple people, including the deliverers to turn around and see what’s happening.

A man around his 30s, dressed in loose clothing with dark red skin, and void-like pupils running with a purse at hand. “Did they seriously call a simple thief a villain?” Furina asked incredulously, the thief ran past where the deliverer was at. During this, Heizou noted multiple things now that the person was up close, even for a brief moment ‘look of desperation and possible signs of malnourishment’ he mentally noted. The man continued to run, clutching the bag desperately with some of the civilians pulling out their phones and cameras instead of trying to atleast slow down the man, “HALT RIGHT THERE! VILLAIN!” Someone yelled and landed right in front of the man who immediately freaked out upon seeing that it was a pro hero.

“OH MY GOD IT'S DEATH ARMS!!! THE PUNCHING HERO!!!” Someone yelled in excitement as the man narrowed their eyes and with no choice, used their quirk. The man’s body enlarged tremendously compared to its scrawny body earlier and grew another set of arms. cheers and words of encouragement as the white-haired bulky hero entered the scene and started trading blows with the thief such as:

“GO DEATH ARMS!!!”

“SHOW THAT VILLAIN WHAT’S UP!!!”

“BRING THAT SCUM DOWN!!!”

“They’re quite enthusiastic, I must say…” Ganyu mumbled, frowning at the people around her ‘Why are the people watching like it's a spectacle?’ She thought with a frown she and the others tend to avoid areas with high pro hero activity so this is their first time seeing a hero vs villain fights up close.

The deliverers in training try to leave the scene but they can't due to so many people blocking their path and watching the fight which is taking way too long for in their opinion. “Come on! just wrap it up already…!” Furina dramatically groans as the hero and villain are still trading blows, their strength are clearly equal to each other. “Man alive, Is using his fists the only move that hero knows…?” Heizou mumbled clearly disappointed as the fight would probably end faster if the hero used a different move other than punching directly in the face ‘Do pro heroes learn any police takedown moves or that knowledge was lost to these people as well? Then again these pro heroes usually prefer flashy moves…’ he pondered.

The man was able to grab Death arms with their four arms and threw the pro hero straight to a wall before attempting to run once more. But before he can fully escape another hero enters the fray, “IT’S KAMUI WOODS” Someone squealed nearby. 

Kamui woods lands in front of the thief blocking the way, “Robbery in broad daylight along with illegal quirk use? You’re nothing but pure evil” the pro hero says as he blocks the thief’s punches with his wooden tendrils. ‘They consider a simple robbery pure evil???’ A certain knight, general mahamatra and detective, feeling baffled that the wood hero has the gall to say such ridiculous words out loud in the open and worst of all, none of the citizens around them bats an eye on it, if anything a few of them start cheering even louder, agreeing with the pro hero's words. 

Then Kamui wood sprouts wooden tendrils and ties up the thief, ending the fight. “Finally…” Furina says in relief, as they're able to continue walking as everyone is still cheering for the heroes. “You know… Seeing a hero fight up close… is a bizarre experience to say the least…” Ganyu says “They treat the pro heroes similar to how people like praising the adepti” she mumbled. “The way those civilians yelled to that thief was…dehumanizing to say the least…” Furina says she has watched many trials during her time as an archon and while she deems a lot of crimes pure evil, robbery is not one of them, especially how most of the motivations behind it is because they desperately need food on the table whether for themselves or for others but clearly the hero society doesn't acknowledge such motive.

The outside world is nothing but baffling… 

.

.

.

A certain red-feathered winged hero flying close to the surrounding area where the teyvatians is at as he's currently talking to someone on an earpiece.

“Hm? Yeah, don't worry I spot them…No they haven't noticed me I'm still in the air and they're currently watching a hero fight…”

“Yeah yeah I know following them and try to gain information yadda yad-”

*WHOOSH!!!*

A strong gust of wind briefly blows Hawks away as he briefly had to balance himself as the person on the earpiece asked what happened.

“Nothing…it's just the wind…”

Hawks looked around and realized he lost sight of the teyvatians.

“Drats!...I lost them in the crowd…” 

Unbeknownst to him a certain wind god watches him from afar

Chapter Text

“Oh! Welcome back! You're just in time, me and Lyney have finished cooking dinner” Jean said, greeting the group as she sees the boys mostly carrying all the stuff they bought. “Lynette~! I bought some sweets for us to try!” Furina says, showing some cake slices she bought, making Lynette’s ears perk up at the mention of desserts. “Lynette! no desserts until dinner!” Lyney yelled from the kitchen causing her cat ears to flatten in disappointment.

“My my~ didn’t expect you guys to last almost the whole afternoon…did you guys go sightseeing or something?” Yelan curiously asks as she helps Ganyu organize the stuff they bought. “Not really… We were mostly stuck in the middle of multiple…‘Villain attacks’ as they call it so it took a while for us to leave…” Ganyu says, not used to referring to criminals in such a manner. “How many was it again?…atleast three…and those are attempted robberies in broad daylight… Hard to tell if they’re doing it out of desperation or attention, even a rookie treasure hoarder knows about being discreet” Kaeya says, stretching his arms after going numb from carrying stuff for too long. “Well either way…atleast you guys got back safely…” Jean says as she and Diluc place some plates and utensils on the table.

“Where are the teachers?” Cyno asked. “Oh…They have their own little building to stay in…but Ms. Nahida came by and  told us that we will be having a meeting later” Kazuha calmly answered as everyone finally sat down and ate as they talked to each other, with Furina being the loudest who is recounting what happened to their small trip earlier.

“By the way, one of the teachers from UA came by and handed me our uniforms along with our class schedule” Jean informed “Oh? What class were we put in?” Ganyu asked. Jean looked a little conflicted mostly because of the odd decision from UA “We were all put in Class-1A which are first years” She answered causing some of her classmates to choke on their drinks “Umm Jean… They do know some of us…are on the older side right?” Kaeya says, sounding a little confused. Jean sighs “Yes they are perfectly aware of that fact…”.

“Strange, I was expecting them to segregate us depending on our age range…” Cyno says. “Actually, me and Lynette overheard this earlier during their meetings with our teachers.” Lyney says, “They decided to put us with the first years, because UA believed that our strength is comparable to them despite our teacher's protest” He explained, clearly feeling insulted as Lynette simply nodded her head.

“They're that assured despite having not seen our abilities in action yet?” Diluc says incredulously. “That doesn't matter unfortunately, the moment they see that we're quirkless in our files we are automatically considered inferior in their eyes…” Heizou says, which caused a lot of them to collectively sigh in disappointment.

…

…

…

After dinner, everyone started cleaning up and getting ready to bed as they all know there’s a few things that needed to be discussed. Once their heads hit the bed, they closed their eyes and relaxed as they slowly began their slumber.

.

.

.

“Hello everyone, I apologize for interrupting your dreams tonight…” 

.

.

.

Everyone opens their eyes and sees they’re currently sitting on a large flower with tea and snacks in front of them. “I know we have already done this a few times before, but it still feels so surreal everytime…" Jean mumbled in awe, “Indeed, for someone who claimed to be the weakest of the current seven-er six, Ms. Nahida’s power over dreams is nothing to scoff at” Kaeya says amusedly as three of their teachers arrive. “I was expecting a more…formal environment for this meeting Ms. Kusanali” Nuveillete said. “I told you multiple times Nuveillete, you can just call me Nahida… as for the location…I just figured having a nice outdoor environment will calm down everyone’s nerves considering we will be living in a foreign land for a while” Nahida answered.

“Let’s just cut to the chase Buer, we all know that there’s more to this program than you wanting to rebuild relationships with the outside world” Wanderer says, “Ah…I see everyone noticed…” Nahida says sheepishly. “With all due respect Ms. Nahida, a few of the people you picked for this program aren’t really…the most social…” Heizou says, eyeing Wanderer and Diluc.

“I’am serious about rebuilding relations with the outside world though, but it’s more a…long term plan of sorts however, I seems to have underestimated how badly they have spread such misinformation about us” Nahida says with a melancholy smile. “So what exactly is your plan for this program Lord Kusa- Ms. Nahida?” Cyno asked as everyone silently leaned in anticipation as the dendro archon took a deep breath and answered with a determined

“I wish to reveal to them the true nature of their ‘quirks’.”

The students looked at the dendro archon in shock. “With all due respect Ms. Nahida but a worldwide announcement would break the contract between WHA and Teyvat, that’s the only reason why they haven’t done a worldwide attack on us yet.” Ganyu says, “We can’t even physically say or write it in any shape or form while in the outside world so how would we even be able to tell them? There’s a reason we have to use one of the outside world’s theories as substitute" Jean added. “While we can’t directly tell them… We can guide them into reaching the truth…” Nahida answered.

“Ms. Nahida, may I ask what brought you to do this? Despite knowing very well what their opinions are on us.” Neuvillette asked the dendro archon who sighs and conjured a projection in front of them “Months ago, one of the hexenzirkel members, codename B alongside her student, spoke to me in regards to the fate of the outside world.” Nahida says as the projection shows videos of people of the outside world doing their usual daily life, “They have informed me that they saw the singularity is coming way more faster than we have speculated, although they can’t pinpoint the actual date but with how bad it’s going be…they told me if this fate continues, Celestia will be involved” she says as the projection shows people’s quirks going out of control as some of the students stare in horror as the projection also shows multiple summoning of celestial nails from above. “They told me the reason for this is because of the Tsarista’s interference but they don't know how they did it.” Nahida explained.

“Father, do you know any of this?” Lyney asked, “No…I’m only aware that there’s a plan but the Director didn’t inform all of us so I don’t know how much progress they have gotten” Arlecchino answered. “But I do know that the Doctor and Childe are involved…” She says which causes everyone to look alarmed, having Dottere involved with anything is not a good sign. “Wait, Childe is involved?” Diluc says in surprise considering that harbinger is their classmate who is also a weapons teacher for the younger students in TA but suddenly had to be called back to snezhnaya a year ago and they haven’t had contact with him since “So this is what he’s been doing…” he mumbled.

“The Tsarista didn't give much information when I asked, she only told me that her two harbingers are currently residing here in Japan.” Nahida says “I see…so you wished us to find out what they’re planning? While we do this exchange program?” Yelan asked as Nahida nodded her head. “If that’s the case why can’t you ask the travelers to do it?” Furina asked curiously. “It’s because they’re currently on the other side of the globe and are handling other matters as we speak” She answered “I need to know what they’re planning as we might be able to use it to our advantage.”

“Yelan, Diluc and Kaeya.” The three perked up at the mention of their names, “I trust you three in searching Dottore’s or Childe’s whereabouts and asked about the Tsarista’s plan but of course make sure it doesn’t get away from your study and training” Nahida says as the three nodded. “Lyney and Lynette, search for any noteworthy information about UA through its students, I wish to know more on their way of teaching” Arlecchino says to the two as they nod in determination “Understood father” the twins said in unison. “The rest of you, please stay civil and keep your tempers in check with the students as they’re merely children. But of course do stand your ground and show to them that TA is not to be underestimated.” Neuvillette says as after a while they all closed their eyes and were given pleasant dreams that night.

Chapter Text

Today is the day…

The first day of the exchange program…

Everyone was told that there will be an orientation and was told to simply go straight to the auditorium. All of them are required to wear the uniforms provided by UA. However, while others like Jean and Ganyu have no problems with the outfit, some are not exactly happy with it.

“Do we seriously need to wear this?” Lyney asked incredulously as he lifted up the vest “For the fifth time Lyney, yes we have to, father says that the dress code in UA is quite strict so wear that vest already” Lynette bluntly answers her brother. “But it is soooooo ugly… this shade of grey is so not my style” Lyney whines as his sister simply rolls her eyes although her brother is not wrong though, the grey is quite ugly “We need to be early Lyney, we’re supposed to talk to students and build connections remember?” Lynette says as her twin dramatically groans and reluctantly wears the vest.

“Such a catastrophe of an outfit… If Chiori is here she’ll find this outfit’s color atrocious and tear it a new one, such a muddy color” Furina complained, She missed the uniforms of TA, at least she can somewhat modify the uniform to her preferences and has much better choices of color palette.

Others are indifferent and are trying to get used to their uniforms, “I’ll admit the color is extremely bland for my taste but I supposed it’s not too different from the standard knight’s uniform back home minus the armor…” Kaeya says as he’s currently trying to fix his tie, “It is a little stiff but it’s not too bad I supposed” Diluc commented as he puts on his gloves, “Of course you’re fine with it, the uniform is just as bland as your personality” Kaeya replied with a shit eating grin on his face, causing Diluc to angrily pull his brother’s hair in retaliation “OW! OW! OW! COME ON LUC! I JUST FIXED THAT-!”

…

…

…

While that’s happening, Wanderer went to the teacher’s building “Buer, here are the listening devices Yelan found yesterday” he says handing out the small bag to the dendro archon. “Thank you Hat guy, I'll have a talk with Neuvillete and Arlecchino on what to do about this, fortunately, there’s no listening devices in our building” she says “is there anything else you need?” Nahida added. “I told you to stop calling me that…but yes…there is something bugging me since last night that I've been meaning to ask” Wanderer says as Nahida silently motions him to continue.

“Why bother doing all of this Buer? Even without that astronomer's premonition, we all know that singularity will happen one way or another. So why bother trying to guide them towards the truth despite it’s clear that their kind would rather have their head stuck in the sand than admit that their so-called evolution is a curse in disguise. Do you really feel such pity for them?” Wanderer says, crossing his arms. 

Nahida pondered on how to word this properly “I…To be honest, this was quite a selfish decision I have made.” She says looking away “Being the god of wisdom, my duty is to guide every form of wisdom. The outside world has erased and twisted many truths causing their people to have holes when it comes to knowledge about us and about the true nature of their abilities.” Nahida says sadly. “Oh please, they’re already ignorant of the negative effects of their quirks on their society and refuse to do anything about it, what makes you think they'll be able to figure out the truth even with your guidance?” Wanderer retorted.

“I know, but for them to reach that state, to the point that Celestia has to step in, without knowing why, because of their ancestor’s ignorance and control over knowledge that impacted them until this very day… While Teyvat can withstand the impending doom, the outside world can’t… I know that many of them might still won’t listen like their ancestors did in the past…but I still wish to give them a chance to change their fate…” Nahida says as she looks up at Wanderer.

“And what if they weren’t able to find out?” Wanderer raised his eyebrow.”We'll….” Nahida hesitated before shaking her head, “No, I believe there will be some that will figure out the truth, not all humans here are as ignorant or as arrogant as their predecessors were, there’s a reason why we even have the deliverers in the first place, because we still believe they're not a lost cause yet” she answered. Wanderer sighs and finally accepts the answer as he leaves the teacher's building, once he was far enough, he smirks ‘She still wishes to give the outside world a chance despite the majority of them being full of ignorance and hubris eh?’ He thought amusedly. 

 “Heh…”

“let's see how long will this benevolence of yours last ...Buer”

…

…

…

The TA students arrived at the auditorium, a lot of them quietly sat down and silently observed their surroundings. At first, people like Yelan, Jean, Diluc and Kaeya  were worried that they would stick out like sore thumbs in the academy but fortunately a lot of the students in UA are around their height, some are even taller than them.

‘Must be the side effects of their quirks then…’ Yelan figures.

Meanwhile, Lyney and Lynette have used this opportunity to converse with some of the students and build connections since it’s still quite early. A lot of the students that arrived are fortunately pretty friendly, feeling the first day excitement and wanting to make new friends, although the twins have noted that there are also a lot students that look at the seats where the hero course students are with disdain.

“Well those guys look like they're in a sour mood, what’s up with them?” Lyney lightly asked the two students he’s been chatting with, a girl with mouse ears and teeth named Otsuka Tetsuo and a boy with slicked back hair named Chiba Daisuke, both of them are from the general course who apparently came from the same middle school.

“Oh, those guys? I heard they want to be in the hero course but weren't able to pass in the practicals so they all got dumped in the general course with us and are now being bitchy about it…” Chiba says with indifference “I heard that the practical exam was super difficult! Oooh I want to interview one of them so bad!” Otsuka squeaks in excitement, already having a small notebook and pen in her hands.

“You plan to be a journalist or something? I have noticed you writing down observations for a while” Lynette asked with interest as Otsuka’s eyes lit up “Mmhmm! I'm actually planning to join either photography or newspaper club if there's one” She says with a squeak.

“Wait! You two are from the hero course right!? What were the practical exams like!? Is it true that they used robots in the exam!?” Otsuka rapidly asked the twins with a bright smile on her face. “She really reminds me a lot of Charlotte…” Lynettee whispered to her brother who nodded in agreement.

“Ahhh I’m afraid me and Lynette aren't able to answer your questions, as we didn’t personally take the exam” Lyney answered, “Wait you two didn’t? No way, Did you two enter the recommendation exam?” Chiba asked with a low voice. 

“No we did not, we're foreign exchange students” Lynette calmly said, ‘I thought we’re keeping that part hidden???’ Lyney thought as he looked at his twin confusedly, Lynette simply glanced at him with a look that read ‘It’s fine’. Otsuka is about to ask a question but Lynette immediately raises her hand.

“I know you wish to ask more questions, Otsuka. But please understand that we prefer to keep being exchange students a secret for now, me and Lyney simply want to enjoy our temporary stay here in the academy and we’re worried that if word of where we’re from gets out, other students might get…intimidated by us from being in a different country…” Lynette explained, sounding sincere with a hand on her face.”Aww but I really want to know, you make it sound so mysterious…” Otsuka pouted before Chiba put his hand on her shoulder.

“Just let it go Otsuka, can't our first friends here in the UA be uncomfortable, yeah?” He says “That’s true, sorry about that I can get carried away when I get too excited for potential scoop” Otsuka says sheepishly with her mouse ears drooping downwards “Don't worry me and Lynette don't mind, we know you're just curious.” Lyney reassured with a smile. 

“But seriously,chill with the interview it’s literally the first day, curiosity kills a cat you know?” Chiba teased, “Heh! Well, fortunately I’m a mouse! Not a cat then!” Ostuka says with a smug smile on her face.

“Oh! Before we forget, let’s exchange numbers” Lyney suggested. “Good idea, we can check some of the clubs together after orientation” Chiba says as the four exchange numbers before Lyney and Lynette say their goodbyes and return to their respective seats. 

“Why did you reveal we’re exchange students? They’ll get scared if they find out we’re from Teyvat” Lyney whispered to his sister. “Because we need to build trust with them, I figured those two prefer honest and sincere answers” Lynette explained “Didn’t we lie since we didn’t tell where we’re from?” Lyney says, “Omission is technically not lying” Lynette simply answers as the twins sat back to their seats.

It’s not much, but it’s a start…

…

…

…

After a while the orientation starts with the TA teachers standing amongst the UA faculty, Nahida notices something as she looks around. ‘Where’s Sir Aizawa?’ She can’t help but wonder, She’s been told by the principal that they’ll be mostly collaborating together since they will be sharing both homeroom periods. 

Nahida glanced at her class and she noticed Class 1A is nowhere to be found as well, she can see her own class looking around, also noticing their absence. She lightly tapped one of the UA teachers beside him, “Sir Yamada? May I ask why sir Aizawa and his class aren't here with us?” Nahida asked with a whisper.

Hizashi Yamada also known as Present Mic glances at the empty seats before looking at Nahida smiling “Oh don’t worry about it, Sho is just doing his usual shtick with his students outside” He whispered back. “His usual? But his students are missing the orientation…” Nahida frowned, “Yeahhhh, but Sho always finds orientation very unnecessary so he always has his class skip it and do his own thing with them” Mic explained somewhat sheepishly.

Nahida can’t help but frown even more, she’s aware that orientation tends to be quite boring for a lot of people as it’s mostly to give basic information about the school but it also helps to give students a sense of belonging and ease to the institution by welcoming them. ‘I wonder what is sir Aizawa doing that he considers more important than this? Is he really allowed to do this? Nezu haven’t even took note of it’ She thought in curiosity.

She silently glances at the back and sees the number one hero, All Might sitting at the very back, with a strained smile on his face and sweaty palms resting on his lap. Nahida and the other TA teachers were introduced to him yesterday and would be working alongside the Knave during Foundational Hero Studies. Nahida can tell the hero is nervous but she can’t tell if it’s first day jitters or something else.

Nahida normally tries to refrain herself from doing this but she decided to read All Might’s mind. ‘Oh dear, I hope young Midoriya is okay… his homeroom teacher… Aizawa… It’s a hurdle that he has to face…’ the hero’s worries echo in Nahida’s mind.

‘A hurdle?’ Nahida thought confusedly as before she could get her answer from All Might’s thoughts the orientation was over and the hero immediately left the auditorium at lightning speed.

…

…

…

Nahida got her answer when she guided her class to their classroom with papers on hand, planning to help them write some information needed for the guidance counselor and health-check up.

“You’re all a minute late, such slowness is unacceptable in heroics” Aizawa says standing in the empty classroom with multiple gym uniforms on the desk. “Wear this immediately and then shove off to the P.E grounds” he bluntly said much to Nahida’s and her class’s confusion.

“Hold on, what's the meaning of this sir Aizawa? Where’s your own class?” Nahida asked with a frown. “I had them go home early” Aizawa answered as he pulled out another one of his jelly packets, “Home early? What about the guidance counselor meeting and health-check up?” Nahida asked incredulously. “It’s clear that you’re not familiar with how things work here miss Nahida, in heroics, we don’t have time for frilly niceties, it is simply illogical.” he says as he took away the stack of papers Nahida printed on the night before, much to her surprise.

Nahida frowns at his words “Illogical? While I understand that it might look unnecessary, but we still have a structure to follow-“ she says but was cut off by Aizawa. “I think you may have misunderstood something, Miss Nahida. While Nezu told you about UA’s reputation for freedom on campus for its students, he didn’t tell you that this ‘freedom’ goes for us teachers as well.” He says, looking down at the dendro archon.

“We may have been told to work together, but I would still have the final say on anything we would be doing, considering that this is still my classroom, you and your class are simply temporarily staying in it, anything my class does, your own class is obligated to do the same.” He added steps forward and leaned down, as if he’s trying to intimidate Nahida.

Cyno instinctively was about to step in but the others silently stopped him. Wanderer narrowed his eyes, observing the pro hero while holding down the general mahamatra. Aizawa looked at Nahida’s students with indifference and left the classroom presumably heading to the P.E grounds.

“Such uncouth behavior…” Ganyu mumbled with a frown, she knows that the teacher is unaware of Nahida’s status but if anyone from Sumeru saw such behavior towards their archon they’ll be enraged at the audacity plus his demeanor is just rude in general. “Why did you two stop me?” Cyno glares at Kaeya and Wanderer who’s holding him down the entire time, “Calm down, it's clear that the teacher is simply trying to tell Nahida that he’s still in charge despite this collaboration” Wanderer explained.

“Are you okay Lo- miss Nahida?” Jean asked worriedly, to which Nahida simply smiles reassuringly “I’m okay, for now simply follow his request and change to the gym uniform we can’t have sir Aizawa wait for too long,I’ll be heading to the P.E grounds to wait there as well…” she says. The class looks at each other, clearly doesn’t want to but in the end, they reluctantly took their gym uniforms. 

Nahida leaves first, heading to the P.E grounds, while walking, she mulled over her brief talk with Aizawa. During their first meeting when they arrived at UA, Nahida can tell that the homeroom teacher is quite hostile towards them just like the other teachers so she’s not too surprised on how he talks to her earlier.

What alarms her though, is when he says that the freedom extends to teachers as well, meaning that teachers can do whatever they want to their students. She has observed the Akademiya for 500 years during her captivity through the Akasha, she has seen the different changes when it comes to its education system across all levels. Usually giving teachers freedom on how they teach and basically doing whatever they want more often than not, doesn’t give the best results because most teachers would either be neglectful or extremely authoritarian towards their students.

What Aizawa says is already raising red flags in Nahida’s mind.

Chapter Text

If the uniform of UA is already ugly

Then its gym uniform they're currently wearing is even more horrendous.

Both Furina and Lyney keep complaining about the gym uniforms as they walk their way to the P.E grounds after changing. “Can you two stop whining already!? It’s just a uniform” Wanderer says in annoyance as their voices start to grate his mechanical ears, “You don’t understand our pain here! It's a travesty! Travesty I say!” Furina dramatically retorted as Lyney nodded in agreement. 

“This is literally the same blue you usually wear” Wanderer says pointing at her, “No it’s not! Mine is a different shade of blue and the patterning of this uniform looks absolutely ridiculous. You just don’t understand because you have no sense of style.” Furina huffs, putting her hands on her hips.

“Seriously Lyney, I understand that it looks horrid, but we have no choice but to bear it” Lynette says to her brother, crossing her arms with a deadpan expression. “But…But it's just so ugly Lynette…!” Lynette whines, teary eyed, making his sister roll her eyes.

The four continue to bicker while the rest just watch. “Should we…do something about this?” Jean hesitantly asked, “Nah, I think it's best if they get this out of their systems before we meet the hobo teacher” Yelan replied with a shrug. “I agree, don’t let them zipper up their feelings about this uniform.” Cyno says with a straight face, The others either snickered or cringed at the joke.

…

…

…

Aizawa waited for TA students and their teacher to arrive. If you asked his opinion about the program he found putting these clearly delusional and manipulated quirkless students in the hero course is illogical if Nezu wished to have them experience a normal life. But he knows it’s necessary as they need more information about Teyvat so he unfortunately can’t expel them and send them to the general studies as he doesn’t exactly trust the general teachers being information gatherers.

But that doesn’t mean that he’ll go easy with those brats, if anything it’s all the more reason for him to go harder on them. Being a pro hero is cruel and without quirks those TA students will inevitably fail, hurting themselves and others in the process and TA are instilling false hopes and delusions to these underdeveloped people who don’t know what they’re getting into.

He also doesn’t like that TA homeroom teacher, just from her demeanor. Those gentle types that coddle its students that they don’t learn anything that makes them into spoiled brats instead. He already saw those types of students in her class already, especially the one with heterochromatic eyes. So he needs to make sure to keep that teacher from spouting delusional nonsense.

He was given a brief run down about visions during the meeting, they were told that depending on the wielder it can be one of the seven elements as well they can store certain weapons inside of it, they didn’t exactly explain on how it is able to do that though.

But he understands that it is essentially similar to elemental quirks but it’s coming from a support item rather than a quirk factor. If you asked him, visions practically act like crutches, no wonder their ancestors lost in their terrorist attack when they were stopped by WHA centuries ago. Although, he’s not sure if his quirk work on those things it’s something he’ll have to test it out later. 

But right now, he’ll do whatever it takes to get their heads out of the clouds and break whatever false hope TA has fed to them.

…

Nahida arrived first at the P.E grounds seeing Aizawa waiting. “Your students are not here yet?” The pro hero bluntly asked, “They're still changing clothes, they'll arrive shortly” Nahida answered as she looked around.

“What exactly do you plan to do with my students?” Nahida curiously asked, Aizawa boredly looks down at her “I’m measuring their potential” he bluntly answers. ‘My students’ potential?’ Nahida thought as she looked at him in confusion, “How are you going to measure potential?” She asked, tilting her head. “A series of tests” Aizawa bluntly answers but Nahida can tell he’s getting annoyed by her constant questioning so she stops.

The two didn’t talk for a minute until Aizawa spoke up “I have something to ask in regards to two of your students” he says as Nahida already knows which of them he’s referring to, “I assume you’re referring to Lynette and Ganyu? Because I can assure you that they don’t have any quirks” Nahida answers as Aizawa narrowed his eyes.

“Then how would you explain their additional features? They show obvious signs of a mutation quirk” Aizawa says, crossing his arms while looking at her suspiciously, “There are numerous intellectual species that live within Teyvat besides humans, quite few of them have animal characteristics and among other things” Nahida answered with honesty as she moves a bit of her hair to show her elf ears that she hid “I myself is one of them” she added.

However, Aizawa is not buying that explanation “Do you seriously think I’ll believe such a fabricated story?” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, “This is not a fabricated story, I understand that it is hard to believe to you people from the outside world, but I’m speaking the truth. No one in Teyvat has quirks” Nahida says.

“And you think having multiple intelligent species is a more likely story?” Aizawa retorted, glaring at Nahida who simply smiled “Well…you people believed that quirks are a natural step of evolution to humans despite its rapid spread, who to say that there are other intellectual creatures that were evolved before that as well. During the pre-quirk era as you people call it, scientists researched and discovered other species of humans besides homo sapiens, so is it really hard to believe that there are other intellectual species that you people from the outside world don’t know about? But you people can accept that having a cactus for a head is from evolution?” She says.

Before Aizawa could talk back, Nahida’s students had arrived, so he decided to focus on his task.

…

“It took you all five minutes to change and get here, I expect better next time.” Aizawa says as everyone is wondering what this pro hero is planning. “You with the eyepatch, what’s your name?” Aizawa called out “Kaeya sir…” Kaeya says with a laidback smile that is making Aizawa feel annoyed already “Stand inside the circle over here” the pro hero says as Kaeya did just that.

“How far could you pitch a soft ball?” Aizawa asked, while Kaeya pretended to think for a second before making up a number since he never personally did this exercise before. “I’d say around 30 meters” he answers casually like he didn't just lie to his teeth just now. “Try throwing it but using your vision” Aizawa bluntly, “Sounds simple enough” Kaeya shrugged as he summoned his sword and infused it with cryo to shoot it to the sky with his icicle but before Kaeya could aim, his arm was suddenly wrapped from Aizawa’s scarf.

“What are you doing?” Aizawa suddenly says, narrowing his eyes, making Kaeya genuinely confused for a bit “trying to aim my shot?” He says as Aizawa lets go of his arm. “No weapons, I’m only allowing visions” Aizawa says, causing the class and Nahida to look surprised.

“Aizawa, using visions without a weapon is not safe-“ Nahida tries to protest but what is cut off by Aizawa. “Sounds to me that your students are heavily reliant on weaponry to even control these visions, here in heroics being a one trick pony will only lead you to death.” He says as he steps forward to her. “They can control it just fine but it’s not optimal for them to use it this way, the elements of the visions are very volatile and weapons help them to be even more precise with their attacks, using visions at its rawest form can potentially harm themselves or our surroundings” Nahida explained but it’s clear Aizawa is not having it.

“Then it only proves my point for them to get used to it. There’s a lot of heroes with elemental quirks and they don’t use weapons to control it, your students need to learn this to be able to keep up here in the outside world.” Aizawa says as Nahida just looks at him in disbelief as she shakes her head “Elemental quirks and Visions are not the same! Visions are very strong, unless you want guaranteed collateral damage a vision user is required to use a weapon” she says narrowing her eyes.

“All I’m hearing is that you’re not pushing your students hard enough. How do you expect them to keep up here in UA or the outside world for that matter if you just keep coddling and not pushing them to their limits?” Aizawa says as the class is just looking at him in disbelief at his words and talking back to Nahida that way who’s now frowning “I don’t coddle-“ she tries to protest.

“Enough, we're wasting time as it is, if you keep trying to hinder my job as a teacher then I’ll have to request nezu to not have us share homeroom period and separate you from your class” Aizawa declared making Nahida look absolutely in shock.

The class is in shock at hearing those words because it’s unbelievable that this teacher has the audacity to do such a thing despite this being an exchange program where they’re supposed to try and get along.The class is also trying very hard to physically hold back Cyno from attacking the teacher with his polearm while at the same time also holding Wanderer and Furina from grilling this teacher with words because they don’t want this situation to get even more worse.

“With all due respect but it was Nezu himself that told us to work together-“ Nahida tries to talk back but Aizawa cuts her off again with his hair now floating and his eyes now glowing bright red.

“Yes the principal has said that, but I know Nezu will understand my logic, especially once he sees how much you are holding your student’s potential down, the school’s motto is ‘Plus ultra’ to push your strength beyond the limit after all. Like I said before, we might be told to work together but I still have the final say with everything” he says with a glare.

Nahida has her eyes widened, but before she can even talk back Aizawa ignores her and returns to the test. The pro hero looks at Kaeya who now has a more strained smile on his face “So are we good to go now?” He asked even though on the inside Kaeya has a lot of colorful things he wants to say to this hobo of a teacher.

“Yes, just try not to use your weapon this time, you can’t be too reliant on it” Aizawa answered. Kaeya is glad that he can mask his emotions quite well or else he would’ve scoffed at the pro hero’s words but instead of summoning his sword again, Kaeya focused and summoned cryo on his hand and shaped it like his sword just to annoy the teacher who sighs in disappointment of him sticking to his weapon in a way still.

‘If I knew this is what we’re doing I would’ve worn my gloves today’ Kaeya winced as the coldness of the ice sticks to his skin while he holds it. He throws the ball upwards, aims with his ice sword and hits the ball with an icicle, the ball that is now pierced with an ice flies high while the device on Aizawa’s hand beeps and shows a score of ‘405 meters’.

“As I was supposed to say earlier before being interrupted by your teacher, that before anything else, one must know what they’re capable of” he says as he shows the score to the class “These tests that you will be doing such as softball pitch, standing long jump, 50-meter dash, grip test, sustained sideways jump, upper body exercises and toe seated touch. Not sure if you have tackled these exercises before in Teyvat but this is what you’ll be doing for today” he announced.

“This is a rational metric that will form the basis of your ‘hero foundation’ during your stay here in UA” he says. When the class hears that, they all look unimpressed, they genuinely don’t see how this would be their foundation when all they’re doing is using their vision in unconventional and limited ways even though a vision can do more than that.

They all just want this day to be over…

…

The test began with a 50-Meter dash, most of the anemo users having high scores by making themselves light as the wind with Wanderer being the fastest because of his flight, followed by Yelan with only a second difference and Lynette being third and so on.

Aizawa was surprised when Yelan and Lynette disappeared and reappeared at the finish line, he asked Nahida on why despite her class having the same element some used it quite different “The way a vision works depends on the users themselves” she answers with an unreadable expression, she mostly been quietly observing. 

Aizawa is glad he got the teacher in line for now.

In grip strength test, while a few did the test normally, all anemo users just used pressurized air in their hands, they made sure to not destroy the equipment but just enough to get a high score, although Wanderer intentionally destroyed his just to intimidate the teacher. Cyno had his malfunction with his electro vision, Furina had one of her summons do the test for her which gets them an above average score “You’re so strong Mademoiselle Crabaletta! I’m proud of you!” Furina clapped her hands while her summon was happy from receiving praise

The rest of the trials went almost the same, with anemo having the most opportunity to use their visions so they have higher scores, while a few of them had to be a little more creative with it like how Ganyu and Kaeya usage of ice by making a bridge for long jumps while Furina and Yelan uses hydro bubbles for sideway jumps for example. 

Thankfully they know how to hold back because if any of their elements have touched during the whole exercise it would result in an array of explosive elemental reactions.

‘Hmm I suppose not all of them are a lost cause…’ Aizawa can’t help but admit that these vision users have some potential. ‘Although, I can’t say the same for one,’ he thought as he glanced at one student in particular. The class immediately noticed who the hobo teacher was looking at. “Well it's clear Mr. Hobo over there is not happy with your performance” Kaeya teases his brother. 

Pyro is a very strong element but it’s not as easy to control without a weapon which can result in the user getting burnt in the process, not to mention having it in contact with the other elements around them would be a disaster. 

Diluc is pretty straightforward when it comes to using his vision, mostly infusing pyro onto his claymore to make his attacks more powerful, he doesn’t do much transformative stuff with it besides making his flames shape like a bird from time to time compared to Lyney. So he’s been doing all the tests normally, getting above average scores at some of them with strength alone.

Kaeya won’t be surprised if the hobo teacher targets Diluc later because he didn’t use his vision even once, hell Furina and Lyney were also being glared at earlier by the hobo teacher but it lessens after Furina was able to have her summons do some of the test and Lyney using his magic tricks just to make his moves flashy even if he’s doing it normally ‘that teacher must’ve thought that’s part of his vision’ Kaeya figured.

Diluc huffed in annoyance “I honestly don’t care, I just want this day to be over” he grumbled. To be honest he doesn’t see the point of this test on how would this be their basis of being ‘heroes’. “Don’t we all? Even Ganyu and Jean just want this to be done and over with” Kaeya sighed.

…

Once it’s time for the last test, which is pitch ball. All the anemo users throws the ball using compressed air with Wanderer flying high before throwing it, Yelan summons a hydro arrow and shoots the ball to the sky, Ganyu summons cryo to the ground to hit the ball, while Kaeya said he’s already satisfied with his previous score so he’s not doing it again.

When it’s Cyno’s turn though, he sees that he has no other options, he transforms a part of his arm when he’s in his Pactsworn Pathclearer state. Crackles of electro releases from his arm as mysterious tapes wrap around it, Aizawa looks in shock when he sees that Cyno threw the ball with all his might ‘That power, there’s no way that’s from a vision…why did he not do something like this during the other test? Is he not taking this seriously and was holding back the entire time?’ Aizawa thought, annoyed.

“You, have you been holding yourself back during this whole test?” Aizawa asked, Cyno fought back a sigh and put on a stoic expression “I’m simply controlling my output sir” he answers. “Tch, this was supposed to measure your potential. If you hadn’t held back I would’ve scored you higher. You're not taking this seriously, next person” Aizawa says.

‘None of us have taken this whole thing seriously this entire time…’ some of them tiredly thought.

Diluc is the last person as he walks to the circle with Aizawa now obviously glaring at him. He holds the ball but before he can try to throw it the hobo teacher talks again, “You’re also not taking this whole thing seriously” Aizawa says with a menacing aura.

Diluc holds himself back from rolling his eyes “You didn’t even use your vision the entire time, you must think this must be a waste of time for you huh? Because it’s not graded so you didn’t bother to lift your finger?” Aizawa said but Diluc just kept his stoic expression even if he’s being talked down to right now by the Hobo. “How can you be expected to climb to the top if you don’t put an effort into it?” Aizawa continued.

“Aizawa that’s enough! Diluc has pyro vision, without his weapon he’ll burn himself!” Nahida says now looking upset. “This is why we’re having this test, I’m teaching your class to not be dependent on support items” Aizawa answered boredly. “If your student will not be taking even a simple test seriously then I might request to transfer him to general studies” he says ‘I can afford to lose one TA student to look after if it means setting an example for these brats’ he thought.

Nahida’s hands are shaking as she clenches it “This is not teaching! What you’re doing is inappropriate use of authority!” She says as Aizawa simply smiles “Oh please, I have full freedom on how I teach them” he answered, “It’s clear that you’ll keep intervening despite my warning, I’ll request Nezu to have you transferred-“ he says but was cut off by the sudden burst of flames.

“HAAAAAAAAA-“ Diluc’s arm raised and erupted in flames as the fire would then crawl to his hand and form a bird, like a small version of his signature move.

“HAH!” Diluc throws the ball that is now on fire and shaped like a bird. He winced as his arm was somewhat burnt, “Was that enough to satisfy you?” Diluc asked glaring at Aizawa who looked somewhat surprised before returning to his deadpan expression. “Hmph, so you aren’t a lost cause as I thought, see miss Nahida, this is how you make them improve and go beyond” Aizawa says as Nahida ignores him as she's more worried about her student’s burned arm.

“His arm needed to be treated!” She says at Aizawa who simply shrugged “Diluc go to the nurses office” he simply says and hands Diluc a slip. 

Jean suddenly walks next to Diluc. “I’ll help him walk to the nurses office sir” she says and didn’t wait for Aizawa's approval, Jean feels no respect for him after his display today. Aizawa didn’t care as he fiddled with his device for a few minutes, “We’re not waiting for them to return so just tell them about their scores later” he announces as he press something in his device and a hologram pops up as it shows:

1st: HAT GUY

2nd: YELAN

3rd: LYNETTE

4th: CYNO

5th: LYNEY

6th: JEAN

7th: HEIZOU 

8th: KAZUHA

9th: GANYU

10th: KAEYA

11th: FURINA

12th: DILUC

.

.

.

‘??????’ The class looked at the chart in absolute confusion but Aizawa didn’t seem to care. “And with that it's over, I had your curriculum sheets at the back of your classroom, so just go there and take it” he says as he simply takes his leave.

…

‘I can already feel this year is going to be a headache, teaching some problem children and delusional quirkless students as well investigating more about Teyvat’ Aizawa internally groans but before he can enter the building Nahida calls out to him. 

“Hang on sir Aizawa!” Nahida runs towards him.

“What now?” Aizawa asked not even bothering to hide his annoyance.

“The rankings you showed weren't based on their scores,” Nahida says, narrowing her eyes as she steps forward “It was based on how they used their visions wasn't it?” She says. “Hmph whatever gives you that idea?” Aizawa asked with full disinterest in the conversation.

“I kept up with all of my students' scores as you announced them and the rankings weren't in line with the scores they got” she answered. “And?” Aizawa lazily tilts his head, “And? And!? I have failed to see the point for you to go out of your way testing my students, you even have one of them burn his arm just to satisfy you!” Nahida says as she glares.

“I was testing their potential if they got what it takes to be in the hero course and a pro hero in general” Aizawa says crossing his arms “With all due respect sir Aizawa, I fail to see what kind of potential you’re looking for with my students. Potential is an abstract thing and cannot easily be measured by a simple test. All my students have their own specialized skills and your test fails to give them a proper opportunity to show it” Nahida says glaring even further.

“All I’m hearing is you simply trying to protect their feelings again, I’m giving them a taste of reality that your students clearly need” Aizawa says “If you're going to keep whining just take it to the principal, I need my sleep for my patrol later” he says fully ignoring Nahida now.

Nahida stands still for a minute, that teacher, she doesn’t trust him with his students at all. ‘If this is how he’s treating my students, I can only imagine how he is treating his own. I won’t be surprised if the reason he had his students skip orientation, giving them a similar test like this one. I wonder if he scored his students the same way too.’ Nahida thought, just thinking about it makes her feel angry, livid even, almost just as angry she was with the sages back then.

She snaps out of her thoughts when she noticed that she accidentally made the plants around her grew a few inches.

Nahida takes a few breaths to calm herself, before going to the faculty office to look for her fellow teachers to talk about what happened today.

Chapter Text

What is a hero?

Is it someone who fights for the weak?

Or someone who only compliments that they seek?

Is it someone who is tirelessly looking for a cure for a disease?

Or someone who can’t handle the tiniest of critique?

A certain bard walks around as he recites his poem, underneath the moonlight’s ethereal glow. With a lyre in hand, he gently plucks its strings as a gentle melody can be heard in the middle of a sandy beach. 

Venti has no reason to wander in the outside world similar to other archons after what happened. However, he couldn’t help but shed a tear as he watches the outside world outside of the cage that they have built for themselves in the past centuries.

Sometimes he wondered if he had made the right choice for these humans.

Some of the Archons did warn him that they’re more trouble than they’re worth.

Especially with what was happening at the time.

For centuries he wandered through their lands, watching the outside world regrew without the archon's aid. He would've been proud that they’re able to stand on their own feet like they claimed they would, if they didn’t revolve their whole worldview and life into quirks and became arrogant with it.

After all, foundations that are made of simple sticks and stones will inevitably corrode and fall.

‘Time to write another tale but what should I write this time…’ He pondered as he strum another melody in his lyre, trying to write a story.

One day, when the world was in disarray.

A flock of birds of different kinds asked for the anemo archon’s aid.

They showed him extremely colorful wings that grew overnight.

They claimed it was beautiful and magical

They wished to share it with their flock but the other Archons told them to stop.

‘But surely Barbatos will agree, you always allow us to do as we please’

But the Anemo archon disagrees and says.

‘Silly birds these are not magical you see’

‘These are merely paints covering your wings’

“No those lines won’t do…” Venti muttered as he continued to walk around. After a while, he gives up and sits on the ground as he mindlessly watches the waves hitting the shore before slowly retreating back into the ocean. Venti sighs as he looks up at the true starry night sky.

He wonders how his children are doing in the exchange program in UA.

He knows the three can handle any bullshit that the outside world can throw at them. With Jean’s professionalism, Diluc’s unmovable resolve and Kaeya’s ability to stay composed, their strong personalities may even moved a lot of the students there. He’s confident that his children will do just fine, he’s the one who chose them to be in this program after all. 

But still, that doesn’t mean he can’t still be worried about them. Considering the hero commission and UA will watch over them almost 24/7, he even had to blow one of the commission’s lackeys away that were spying on the kids the other day.

Oh well, he doesn’t mind looking after them from afar to make sure the Hero commission doesn’t do any funny business to his students.

To be honest, Venti is itching to go to UA itself just to check on the students, especially his children, but he knows Neuvillette and the Knave wouldn’t be pleased barging in unceremoniously, especially with UA breathing down their necks. “Oh well~ I could always count on the wind to tell me” Venti casually says as he closed his eyes and let the wind murmur its tales.

~ ~ ~ !

“THE UA TEACHER DID WHAT TO MY CHILD-“

Strong winds howled throughout Musutafu that whole night.

Chapter Text

Midoriya walks through the hallways, now starting their actual first day of school. 

‘Yesterday was so nerve wracking, there’s still a lot of things I need to improve but I won’t give up!’ He thought in determination. Midoriya was so deep in his thoughts he hadn't noticed Uraraka, “Good morning Deku!” She says, accidentally startling him “G-g-good morning U-Uraraka!” Midoriya stammered ‘I-I can’t believe I-I was greeted g-good morning by a girl!’ he thought feeling extremely flustered and happy.

“Man, the strong wind last night made me soooo nervous that school would be canceled! But I’m glad it didn’t!” Uraraka says, doing little light skips as they go through the hallway. “The wind was so strong I worried the windows at my apartment wouldn’t be able to handle it… What about you Deku? I hope it wasn’t that bad on your end” She asked as she looked worried.

“O-oh! Well it happened while me and my mom were eating dinner, but we’re okay” Midoriya says. It was quite a surprise when it happened that my mom thought someone broke into their house when the windows burst open, but still, the weather reports didn’t say it was going to be extremely windy last night and the news report this morning claimed it only happened in Musutafu last night, not in the surrounding cities apparently, like completely contained in Musutafu. I wonder if it’s from someone with very strong wind quirk, if there’s a pro hero with a quirk like that it could really help rescuing people with fallen debris-

“Deku, you’re mumbling again” Uraraka says with a gentle smile, snapping Midoriya out of his thoughts.

“A-ah! S-s-sorry! I-It’s a habit” Midoriya stammered, to which Uraraka simply chuckled.

“Anyways,I’m so excited that we’ll have a proper first day this time! I can’t wait to meet our other teachers!” Uraraka says as Midoriya nods in agreement, they weren’t really able to see the other teachers since sir Aizawa had them do a quirk apprehension test instead.

He knows that his hero journey won’t be easy, but he won’t give up! All might give me his quirk so he can become a hero and a successor so he won’t let his idol down! 

He’ll face his challenges head on! Plust ultra!

Midoriya enters the classroom with newfound determination.

.

.

.

“YOU ALL MISS THE FIRST DAY! SUCH TARDINESS IS UNBECOMING OF A HERO!”

“But aren’t you the folks that skip orientation?”

Huh?

Midoriya sees Iida lecturing two students he didn’t see yesterday. One of them is a boy with burgundy hair and olive green eyes while the other has white hair with a red streak on one side. Actually, now that he noticed, there seem to be more people compared to yesterday.

“SIR AIZAWA HAD US DO A QUIRK APPREHENSION TEST! WHICH YOU TWO AND THE OTHERS DIDN'T ATTEND BECAUSE YOUR ABSENTS! IT'S IMPORTANT TO PRACTICE PUNCTUALITY!” Iida says as he does the chopping motion repeatedly with his arm. “Ohh, I think these students have no idea” the one with olive eyes says to the other who calmly nods in agreement “I think none of them knows” the boy with white hair replied, completely ignoring Iida.

Midoriya sees his other classmates from yesterday looking confused as well.

“WHERE DID YOU EXTRAS CRAWLED OUT FROM HUH!?” Bakugou can be heard screaming and a few popping sounds of his explosions can be heard. “Geez, simmer down will ya? It’s too damn early for you worms to be yelling” A boy with dark purple hair says in annoyance.

“HAH!? THE FUCK YOU SAY LITTLE EXTRA!?” Bakugou yelled at the boy who showed no interest in him, “He says, stop barking like the feral dog you are” says the girl with heterochromatic eyes to which the boy snorts as the two watch Bakugou shout more profanity at them.

“Pardon me, but you two are in the way”

Midoriya and Uraraka are both so confused that they were startled at the voice. “S-sorry!” Both of them apologized as they saw two people with light blonde hair who looked quite identical. The two walked inside, ignoring all the chaos that is currently happening.

‘Just who are these people…?’ Midoriya wondered, as he and Uraraka sat in their respective seats. He noticed some of his classmates were murmuring to each other as they noticed some looked older and could be mistaken as upperclassmen ‘maybe they’re third years that got lost…? No! Wait, I shouldn't think like that! They might be our senpais for all I know and I’m assuming they’re dumb!’ He thought frantically.

The other hero students besides Iida and bakugou who are busy doing their own shenanigans to these mysterious students, are confused and hesitant to ask any of them as some look quite intimidating, but after a few minutes one of them finally speaks up “Pardon me, but I have to ask…umm are you perhaps an upperclassman?” Yaoyurozu asked a tall lady with blonde hair.

“Huh? Oh no, we’re not from here… Did sir Aizawa not inform you all on what’s happening?” The blonde lady answered with a frown, “Not inform us of what?” Yaoyurozu asked in confusion ‘Is this another surprise trial of some sort from sir Aizawa…? Won’t be surprised considering what happened yesterday, but still...’ She thought worriedly.

“It seems sir Aizawa didn’t inform you that UA is participating in an exchange program” A childlike voice suddenly spoke up causing everyone to look at the door.

Midoriya sees a small child, who has white hair with green streaks, she also has long ears akin to an elf and is wearing formal attire that gives her a feeling of professionalism which is quite a contrast to her childlike appearance.

“Umm… Hey little girl are you perhaps lost or-“ Kaminari is about to ask but he was cut off by a boy with white hair and tan skin “Good morning miss Nahida” the boy greeted with a straight face causing a lot of confusion within class-1a because what do you mean miss??? That’s a child!

Nahida simply smiles and walks up in front “Good morning everyone, my name is Nahida, supposedly, me and sir Aizawa was supposed to facilitate this homeroom period together, but unfortunately, sir Aizawa is currently at the infirmary so I’m the only one supervising you for this period” she says as some of the students frown.

“What happened to him? Is he hurt?” Mina asked worriedly.

“It’s something that happened during his patrol last night, he didn’t specify on what happened but I can assure you he’s fine, he simply needs rest” Nahida reassured her but internally she knows exactly what happened since…

…

(Earlier this morning…)

Nahida and the other two TA teachers are sorting out the papers they need to file in when suddenly…

The door opens and the UA faculty sees Aizawa who looks more tired and has a messier appearance than yesterday as his hair even has some leaves sticking on it. But the most alarming thing is one of his arm is casted.

“YO SHO! WHAT HAPPENED TO YA MAN!? YOU LOOK MORE SHIT THAN USUAL!” Present mic asked loudly causing some of the faculty to wince but they can tell he’s worried “Shut up will you” Aizawa says with a glare briefly activating his quirk before walking past him and head straight to the coffee machine, he’s clearly in a bad mood.

“B-but seriously Sho what happened to your arm?” Present mic asked again as Aizawa didn’t bother to look at him “I got it while I was doing patrol don’t worry about it” he simply says as he continues to make his coffee.

The three TA teachers on the other hand can sense something more to it as they can see remnants of anemo all over the man’s body via elemental sight, especially on his injured arm.

Out of curiosity, Nahida silently reads Aizawa’s mind as she looks for answers.

‘Dammit…! It was supposed to be a simple investigation on why triggers suddenly being less in demand for Villains but that stupid wind happened last night, threw me off and had the villains I was chasing for answers escaped’ Aizawa thought in anger as this would mean more work for him later.

‘And after that, during another villain chase, someone got a lucky hit on my arm with pressurized force or whatever that was…That healer last night wasn’t able to even fully heal my arm, whatever that attack was almost completely shatter my bones’ he thought while glaring at the coffee he’s grinding. ‘And to top it all off, this windy weather made me unable to sleep with how loud it is howling at my apartment…just my fucking luck’.

Nahida frowns after reading that, she can really hear Aizawa’s anger from his thoughts. Just from the events from yesterday and the sudden mysterious wind last night, Nahida has a good idea on who caused it and internally sighs.

“I think you should go to the infirmary sir Aizawa” Neuvillette suddenly says to which Aizawa responds with a glare “Later, I have some hell spawn to look after” he answered “No offense Aizawa but you look absolutely terrible and definitely in no condition to teach, you need to go to recovery girl” Midnight says, leaning against the wall.

“I can supervise the homeroom period for Class-1a by myself for today, so sir Aizawa can properly heal and rest” Nahida says with a kind smile, although a tiny part of her is glad that sir Aizawa won’t be joining for today’s period.

Aizawa seems to not like that idea though as his expression darkened “Absolutely not-“ he tried to protest but was grabbed from behind by Present mic.

“That’s a great idea! Thank you for covering for Sho here miss Nahida!” Present mic says already dragging Aizawa out of the faculty office despite the other’s protest

…

Nahida can see that Aizawa didn’t even bother informing his own students about the program judging by their confused and wary looks. “You see, UA has offered an exchange program to Teyvat Academy and-“ Nahida says but chaos immediately erupted the moment the name of the school was uttered.

“TEYVAT ACADEMY!?”

“THE SCHOOL THAT MYSTERIOUSLY APPEARED A YEAR AGO!?”

“ISN’T TEYVAT RULED BY VILLAINS!?”

“THE HOME OF THOSE TERRORIST CENTURIES AGO!?”

“HOW COULD UA COLLABORATE WITH VILLAINS!?”

*WHOOSH!*

A gust of wind suddenly blows behind them, startling everyone besides the TA students.

Class-1a turns around and sees it’s from the boy with dark purple hair “You will get your answers once all of you shut up alright? Just let Bu-miss Nahida speak” The boy says glaring at them as they quiet down.

‘Whoa…does he have a wind quirk…?’ Midoriya wondered as he’s itching to pull out his notebook but restrained himself as he needed to pay attention.

“Thank you, as I was saying, UA has offered an exchange program to Teyvat Academy in hopes for us to begin reconnecting with the outside world, so for this school year you all will be learning and collaborating together” Nahida says, she can tell the students are still wary. “If you have any questions, please raise your hands, I’ll try to answer with the best of my ability” She says as immediately, multiple hands were raised.

“The one with glasses, Tenya Iida yes?” Nahida says surprising everyone that she already knew their names.

“Miss Nahida, is it true that Teyvat is ruled over by villains? Is this exchange program a way to get help from heroes under the Archon’s noses?” Iida asked, “That’s a misconception, there’s no villains ruling in Teyvat and like I said this program is to help Teyvat to reconnect to the outside world” Nahida answered.

Nahida points to another student. “But aren’t you ruled over by Archons? Aren’t they villains?” Ojiro asked while frowning, “Archons are not villains, I understand that it’s hard to believe because of what was taught in your history books, but they’re more akin to a figurehead” Nahida answered. She's purposefully omitted that part where archons are gods, which might be a bit much for the children to comprehend right now.

“I-Is it true that Teyvat majorly consists of quirkless people?” Yaoyurozu asked. “Yes, but It’s more accurate to say that no one in Teyvat has quirks” Nahida answered, shocking everyone in class.

“WHAAAAAAAAAT!?” They all yelled in unison.

Midoriya is in disbelief because there’s no way ‘T-they’re all quirkless! B-but that would mean these students are-!‘

“HAAAAAH!? SO ALL OF YOU ARE JUST SOME QUIRKLESS EXTRA! ” Bakugou yelled as small explosions popped in his hands.

Nahida narrowed her eyes “Yes we’re quirkless, but I prefer you refrain from calling my students that” she says sternly despite her childlike voice.

Bakugou ignores this and growls “OH PLEASE YOU THINK I’LL LISTEN TO SOME D-TIER VILLAIN LIKE YOU!? YOUR KIND IS JUST SOME WEAKLINGS WHO THINK THEY’RE HOTSHIT JUST BECAUSE THEY HAD A SHITTY SUPPORT ITEM! WE ALL READ THE HISTORY WHERE Y’ALL GOT YOUR ASS KICK! YOU THINK YOU SCARE ME!?” He yelled.

“It is not my intention to scare nor intimidate you, but I won’t tolerate any form of discrimination here in my class, I’m giving you a warning. Sit down and refrain from using your quirk outside of training, Bakugou Katsuki” Nahida says, crossing her arms. Some of the TA students see Nahida’s eyes briefly glow green.

However, Bakugou did not back down “HAH!? YOU THINK I’LL LISTEN TO YOU, RADISH BRAT!? YOU’RE NOT EVEN OUR TEACHER! I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU’LL GET VILLAIN!!!” He yelled and is about to attack Nahida with her explosion but Nahida keeps her composure as her hand briefly glows.

“NO BAKUGOU DON’T-!“

“K-KAACHAN!”

“MISS NAHIDA-!”

But before can Bakugou do so he was immediately wrapped with blue strings that he’s struggling to get out of “WHAT THE FUCK???” He shouted as the string tightened.

“I suggest you seize this behavior at once” the tall lady with dark blue hair says as everyone can see she’s holding the strings that’s wrapped around Bakugou “if you don’t, I’m afraid things might get…unpleasant to you…” she say with an annoyed expression at Bakugou who only growls in response.

Midoriya stared in shock alongside his other classmates ‘W-what is that string made off!? It’s not a quirk isn’t it…? I-if they’re quirkless does that mean it’s from their vision…?’ He thought.

Nahida was briefly surprised by her student’s interference but she quickly recovered “Bakugou, I may not be your actual homeroom teacher, but I don’t think sir Aizawa will be happy once I inform him on what transpired this period while he was temporarily gone so I request you to behave or there would be consequences” She says, crossing her arms, she figured if he’s strict at her students, that means he’s also strict on his own students right?

Fortunately, that’s enough to have Bakugou sit back down as the lady let’s him go, but he’s still glaring at Nahida while grumbling “Fuckin cheaters…”.

Nahida internally sighs in relief and checks her watch “Well, we still have a few minutes, so let’s have some introductions!” Nahida says as she smiles “TA please stand in front and introduce yourselves by name, vision and I suppose a little fact about yourself if you want” She says as some of them grumbled on having to do this, but they still obeyed as they walk in front.

‘So they’re TA students…? And they’re apparently quirkless…just like I was…but the villains have given them these visions, support items that were used to fight against pro heroes and wreak havoc in the past…I have so many questions about this… I need to write this down…’ Midoriya thought as he pulled out his notebook so he could write down their names and vision.

TA students briefly look at each other as if silently debating on who goes first until one of them starts.

“My name is Jean Gunnhildr and I wield an anemo vision, if you have anything you wish to know about Teyvat, you can come to me and I’ll try to answer them as best as I could” Jean says, her demeanor reads as someone who’s sure of oneself.

“Uhh question, what the heck is anemo?” Sero curiously asked, 

“Oh! You see a vision can be one of the seven elements, for anemo it means wind” Jean answered, “So having a vision is like having an elemental quirk?” Kaminari awkwardly asked. “Yes and no, there’s a lot of things a vision can do that a quirk can’t, it will be better explained once we start our training so you guys can see it” Jean says as she can see some confusion and skepticism from the UA students.

Before someone else ask arises, a man with an eyepatch continues the introduction “Kaeya Alberich, my vision is cryo which is Ice and I’m a pirate~” Kaeya says with a playful smile and confusion erupted again from class 1a as they’re asking questions but barely can understand it with how much they talk over each other 

But before Kaeya can answer, someone with red hair whacks him in the head.

“He’s lying, don't mind him… I'm Diluc Ragnvindr, my vision is pyro which means fire and…my favorite drink is grape juice” Diluc says a little awkward at the end, “Which is still very unromantic by the way” Kaeya replies, dramatically sighing to which Diluc responds with rolling his eyes and Jean sighing at their antics.

“Call me Yelan, my vision is hydro which is water and I like taking naps whenever it is possible” Yelan casually says while yawning, her lazy demeanor has irked some of the more stricter UA students.

“My name is Ganyu and I use a cryo vision, similar to Jean, if you have any inquiries about Teyvat you can also come to me” Ganyu says. 

“E-excuse me! D-do you have a quirk?” Midoriya asked while stammering and holding up his notebook as he noticed the girl had horns on her head.

“Oh…n-no I don’t have a quirk” Ganyu says, frowning.

‘Are they not aware of the existence of mutant quirks…? It would make sense since they were isolated after all…’ Midoriya wonders, “But you have horns on your head…that means you have signs of a mutant quirk. Maybe it’s a goat quirk or a deer or-” he says.

“I c-can assure you none of us have any quirks…” Ganyu says as she clearly sounds uncomfortable, “But-“ Midoriya is about to say more but was cut off by someone else introducing.

“The name’s Shikanoin Heizou, I wield an anemo vision and I like solving puzzles and cases” Heizou casually says, some of the UA students note that his name sounds Japanese which confuses them as aren’t they from Teyvat?

“My name is Kaedehara Kazuha, I also wield an anemo vision and I like reciting poems in my spare time” Kazuha says, he gives off a very calm demeanor that some students can’t help but also feel calm upon hearing his voice.

“I’m Cyno, I wield an electro vision and I have to ask…” Cyno says with a serious expression making almost everyone look in anticipation.

“What did the sushi say to the bee?”

Eh?

“Wassabi” Cyno answered as the UA students were stunned from the sudden joke and collective groans can be heard from the TA students apart from Nahida and Kaminari who were chuckling and found it funny.

“Wanderer, that’s all you’re getting from me” Wanderer says, crossing his arms which didn’t sit well with Bakugou who has a deadly aura while grumbling something along the lines of “Cheaters…looking down at us…” which was promptly ignored.

“Feast your eyes! For I’am Furina de Fontaine! I wield the power of hydro!” Furina says with a dramatic bow as Aoyama’s eyes sparkle even more than usual upon hearing her introduction.

“The name’s Lyney, I wield a pyro vision and I’m a magician” Lyney says as he makes a card appear and disappear from his hand, surprising some of the UA students “And this is my sister Lynette, she wields an anemo vision and is also my assistant” He says to which Lynette simply bows.

“Before anyone asks, yes my ears and tail are real and no it’s not a quirk” Lynette bluntly says as she notices the green-haired kid that asked Ganyu earlier is about to ask again.

Nahida thanks them and has them return to their seats.

“Now that introductions are over, I do understand that a lot of you are wary of our presence, but I still hope that you all learn from each other in the coming months” Nahida says as she finishes just in time as present mic enters the classroom as it’s the start of the first period.

Everyone in Class-1a is very wary of their sudden temporary classmates, they are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that they're also quirkless, especially Midoriya.

Midoriya has so many questions running through his mind, like why would UA offer an exchange program to a villain faction like Teyvat? Why do two of the students keep claiming they don’t have any quirks despite signs of mutant quirks? And is there more reason on why Teyvat Academy accepted this exchange program than just wanting to get along despite everyone knowing about Teyvat’s villainous history?

Midoriya has decided he needs to ask All Might about it.

Chapter Text

After the homeroom period, Nahida walks to the hallway as she heads to the principal to talk to the principal to bring up some concerns in regards to the teachers that they’ll be working with and the listening device.

To be honest she’s not sure if the principal would be willing to hear her out, considering what she learned yesterday about some of the practices in this institution.

…

(Yesterday…)

Nahida returns to the faculty dorms feeling quite drained from what happened with Aizawa and spotted Neuvillette and Arlecchino are sipping some tea while reading through some files.

“Welcome back Nahida” Neuvillette greets her as Nahida simply smiles and heads to the fridge for some juice. Him and Arlecchino immediately sense that something is wrong as the dendro archon is unusually silent as she sips her fruit juice.

“I take it the first meeting of class 1a didn’t go well…?” Neuvillette gently says as Nahida sighs, her shoulders hang down and sits next to him, “No… In fact, I didn’t even get to meet them today because their homeroom teacher had them leave early” Nahida answered as she recounted the events that happened to the two of them, who looked disappointed. 

“What exactly is he trying to prove?” Neuvillete sighs as he pity the dendro archon that she will be working together with such an illogical man.

“Hmmm…Underground hero: Eraserhead, with a quirk that temporarily disables someone’s quirk within eyesight, this is him, yes?” She says as she sends out the file to the dendro archon through the akasha.

“You already collected information about them…?” Nahida mumbled in surprise as she opened it, “it wasn’t so hard, besides Eraserhead, the rest of the hero course and support course teachers are limelight heroes, basic information about their abilities and achievements can easily be found online.” Arlecchino answered as she sent the rest of the files.

“Although, I had my children and Yelan hack into UA’s mainframe to get more information” Arlecchino added as she took a sip of her tea. “Impressive that they’re able to do this in such a short amount of time” Neuvillette says as he reads some of the other files.

“They claimed that this world is using an outdated system and it wasn’t hard to bypass” Arlecchino says, although, personally she’s not sure how big the gap is when it comes to the technology between the outside world and Teyvat considering Fontaine, Sumeru and Snezhnaya always look for ways to make innovative technology but atleast she got the information she wanted.

Nahida reads the file through the Akasha, her eyes widened as she read a certain line of text that was enough to almost spit her drink “He has expelled 154 students!?” She says in disbelief, not even her professors from the Akademiya have expelled this many students!

“Not quite” Arlecchino says as she puts down her cup “He would expel those he deems have no potential, then he’ll quickly enroll back in the hero course” she explained as she narrowed her eyes, staring at her cup of  tea “Despite that, their marks still remain in their record”

Nahida is speechless, she knows in Japan culture having a mark is practically a death sentence as it’s almost impossible for them to get a job because of it. So Aizawa may have brought those students back, but once they graduate and are not under the protection of the school anymore then… 

Oh archons… Is that why he tests his own students? To look for any reason to expel them? Why? It’s like trimming a fledgling’s wings before it can even learn to fly properly! Or pulling a rug under a baby that is taking its first step! Why would he-

Nahida snaps off her thoughts when she feels a hand on her shoulder as she sees Neuvillette “Are you alright…?” He asked as Nahida slowly nodded, “Yes, I’m sorry, I just feel…troubled about this…” She said, taking a few breaths to calm down.

‘Quite an understatement…’ Arlecchino thought as she briefly glanced at the potted plant that used to be small and is now reaching the ceiling.

“I suppose we’re having similar problems miss Nahida” Arlecchino says, making Nahida perk up “Oh right! You’re paired up with All might yes? Have you talked about your lesson plan for tomorrow?” She asked.

“Yes… But I don’t approve of his plan as there’s a lot of things that can go wrong with it” Arlecchino says, sipping her tea “I told him to scrap the idea entirely but he’s very adamant about it as he clearly doesn’t trust me taking charge of the class” She sighs 

“In the end, I was only able to have him change certain things about it instead, he’s intimidated by my presence hence the hostility” Arlecchino says. “It seems we have a long way to go before earning their trust, if they even allowed us to earn it that is” Neuvillette says.

…

Nahida frowns as she recalls that conversation.

The three of them can clearly tell that the faculty is making sure that they have as much control as possible when it comes to teaching the class because currently, if they want to do any major activity in the class they would need approval from the UA teacher they’re working with.

It’s understandable considering they need to abide by this institution’s rules since they’re not from here and they don’t have jurisdiction but it’s another when they always deny any feedback and show hostility to the point that no collaboration is happening at all.

She sighs, They probably think something along the lines of not wanting to influence their students with our archon or teyvat ways or something like that, but at the same time they’re looking for information about Teyvat, even going as far as to put listening devices into the students’ dorm.

Nahida knows this long-term plan is not going to be easy trying to guide them to the truth of their world but she has to admit that she underestimated the amount of patience that she needed alongside her fellow teachers and students to pull this off.

Nahida knocks on the principal’s office, after she heard a muffled “come in” she went inside.

…

Nezu is sitting on a couch, arranging something on the table.

“Ah miss Nahida, what can I do for you today?” Nezu asked as Nahida walked inside “Good morning principal Nezu. You see me and my colleagues have certain…concerns that we would like to bring up” She formally says.

“Well how about we talk this over with a cup of tea?” Nezu offered as he poured over a cup and gave one to Nahida to which she accepted as she sat down on the couch.

Nezu’s existence has interested Nahida ever since she got here in UA, being the god of wisdom, intelligence quirk has always piqued her interest whenever she saw one.

According to the files the knave gave her, Nezu is an animal that was granted an intelligence quirk through experimentation which declared him the most intelligent creature on the outside world because of his high IQ.

Despite the composed and polite demeanor the principal is displaying, Nahida can see blankness in his eyes but not in a way that there’s no thought behind them. But rather, one that is similar to when an animal assesses whether something is a threat or not, an instinct that can be seen in predators. Combined with his unnatural intelligence, Nahida can guess that the principal is over analyzing her movements because of it.

Nahida can’t help but wonder what the principal thinks of his own quirk, to be given with such free will of thinking and intelligence that he normally wouldn’t have, to constantly think and curb his natural instincts to fit with human society, she wonders if it’s a blessing or a curse for him.

“Now then, what can I do for you, Miss Nahida?” Nezu asked as he sipped his tea, “Me and my colleagues have some concerns in regards to some of the teachers we’re working with and something about the dormitories” Nahida answered.

“Oh? What seems to be the problem with your co-teachers?” Nezu tilts his head.

“They've been…uncooperative with us” Nahida answered with a frown.

“…May you elaborate on that?” Nezu asked, setting down his cup.

Nahida told him about the vision apprehension test that Aizawa did yesterday, including his threat he made to her as well as harming one of her students during his test, she also mentioned Arlecchino’s experience with All Might in creating the lesson plan as well. 

“We wish to get along with your faculty principal but it’s difficult if they continue to show such hostility before we can even begin to communicate, it’s like combining oil and water…” Nahida sighs.

“I see… My greatest apologies, I’ll be sure to have a talk with them about this later” Nezu says with a smile. “Thank you, besides that…there’s something that I’m quite curious about in regards to the loose structure of teaching here in UA, principal” Nahida says as Nezu’s ears twitch with interest “Oh? do go on…”

“It’s something I learned when I found a certain file by the faculty about Aizawa” Nahida says with a white lie as she stare down at her cup of tea “It stated that he has expelled over a lot of students since his stay here in your academy and I wish to understand why you’re allowing such a thing to continue” she says.

Nezu chuckles “Ahh quite an unexpected question, but if you wish to know…” He sips his tea “I suppose it looks off putting to humans when it comes to Aizawa’s teachings but I believe it provides unique results”

Nahida frown “…I don’t believe I quite follow” 

Nezu smiles “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out here miss Nahida, sometimes in order for the little ones to learn that lesson and to survive is exposing them to some cruelty, if Aizawa deems a brief expulsion is the most optimal teaching of such a lesson then I’ll allow it” He says in an almost chipper manner.

”A lot of his students that was under him have prove to be quite dependable and always on guard which is quite needed in heroics these days” Nezu says, smiling amusedly.

But Nahida senses something else in that smile…something more…animalistic and sadistic. “…I see, thank you for clarifying this to me” Nahida simply says with a smile, tightening the hold of her cup.

“However, I don’t exactly approve of such methods towards my students. I understand that besides trying to reconnect to the outside world that we also need to understand your culture and practices, I know you mostly put us in a supervising position for us to learn about your methods here, but after yesterday, I wish to have some way to discipline my students under my own terms, not just under Aizawa or needing Aizawa’s approval.” Nahida says as she sets down her cup.

“Haha but that would defeat the purpose of your students learning what is like in UA and heroics in general, no?” Nezu tilts his head. “I’m aware, but me and my colleagues agreed that we need to draw a line somewhere so to speak, the physical and mental wellbeing of our students under our care is top priority” Nahida says.

“But is it too early for such a thing? We're barely even starting the semester for such decisions. I already plan for two of my teachers to be reprimanded for their earlier behavior if that’s what you’re worried about” Nezu says with a smile.

“It’s not just because of that…” Nahida says as she pulls out the small bag of listening devices and sets it down the table to which Nezu’s ears twitch at the sight of it.

“My students found this during their first arrival at the dorms and reported this to us the next day” Nahida says with an unreadable expression despite her childlike eyes and smile, Nezu simply smiles as she continues to speak.

“We are aware that this program doesn’t have the most noble of reasons, we are aware you’re looking for information about Teyvat Academy or Teyvat in general by spying and observing our actions” Nahida says, not breaking eye contact with Nezu who’s mouth twitches briefly.

“Quite an accusation, don't you think miss Nahida? We’re heroes, we don’t stoop so low to do such underhand tactics like that” Nezu says but now there’s a certain glint like that of an animal being threatened. 

“We’re not as naive or primitive as you might think principal, a lot of pro heroes have attempted to know more about us by trying to go past the storm around Teyvat” Nahida says her expression continues to be unreadable.

“Haha… Then what do you propose then miss Nahida? Tell me, what is your next course of action…?” Nezu asked as his smile widened, almost sounding amused but for Nahida, it’s akin to an animal baring its fangs as a warning.

“Simple, we humbly request equal control in the class alongside the teachers we’re working with, a proper collaboration this time and if any of our co-teachers wish to punish our students it needs our approval first. Do that and we won’t have to release the information that your school spies on students to the public” Nahida simply says with a smile which was enough for Nezu to look puzzled.

“…that is all…?” Nezu slowly asked.

“That is all…” Nahida smiles.

Nezu stayed quiet for a few seconds “Very well…I’ll inform Aizawa and All Might about the changes then after school” he says back to his usual smile. “Thank you for hearing us out, principal Nezu.” Nahida formally bows as she starts to walk out of the room.

But before she leaves through the door she said one last thing

“I hope your investigation on us proves fruitful” she says in a cheerful tone as she leaves a stunned Nezu alone in his office after hearing that.

Chapter Text

Furina has never felt more glad for lunch break, she’s so close to banging her head on the desk. 

To be fair the subjects today are not bad but it’s sooooo boring and some don’t even make sense! I mean seriously what is the point of Modern Hero Art History!?

English class is the only subject Furina likes, that pro hero, Present Mic has atleast made the lesson entertaining even though it’s quite loud and she already knew the stuff they were learning already.

The most amusing thing that happened in Furina’s opinion, is watching Cyno and Wanderer having an aneurysm in real time during science.

Furina can’t blame the two, she and the others are extremely stumped by just how different it is. Cyno even attempted to correct the information but the pro hero just gave him a sympathetic look and said that this is how it actually is even though Cyno specializes in elemental science.

Furina and the others know how different the technological and scientific advancements are between the outside world and teyvat in general but this was too much, even for them, especially the two that studied at the Akademiya.

The information was either outdated or completely wrong, it’s like they’re learning in reverse and because of that all of them got low scores on the pre-test earlier. She’ll never forget the pity looks some the hero students gave them from that, it made her blood boil.

Well atleast it’s lunch break so she didn’t have to think about that anymore.

“Lady Furina! Wanna go have lunch with us?” Lyney asked as Lynette walked beside him. “Hmph! I told you there’s no need to call me that anymore…” Furina says crossing her arms, “Hahaha Apologies, I still haven’t broken that habit” Lyney says, sheepishly, it’s not everyday you would have the previous hydro archon as your classmate after all.

Suddenly, Heizou walks up to them “Mind if I tag along with you guys?” He asked.

Lyney shrugged even though he’s a little confused “Sure, why-“

“Great! Let’s go so we can get the good seats” Heizou says, hurrying his walk with the others following him in confusion.

“Hey! What’s with the sudden urgency!?” Furina asked the detective who simply chuckled. “Let’s just say a certain bush kid was coming” Heizou shrugged, he knows it’s a little rude but with how that kid’s questions earlier, he’s the type to go over people’s boundaries whether it’s intentional or not.

“I see, thank you Heizou, I did notice that boy has been staring at me from time to time during class as well hearing his mumbling in regards to us and Ganyu, he seems to still think it’s a quirk” Lynette says, she genuinely doesn’t want to deal with that.

“I did notice his staring too, it’s very strange how fixated he was with it. Seriously, I know they don’t have the concept of other intellectual species but they should start to consider that maybe quirk is not the answer to everything, then again they never questioned h-q-quirks existence or how it appeared at all” Lyney sighs in annoyance and feeling protective of his sister.

“Come on! stop thinking about those oblivious hero students for now, let’s hurry to the cafeteria. I'm hungry” Furina says.

“Very well lady Furina” Lynette says with a smile.

“I told you guys to stop calling me that already!” Furina pout.

Lyney and Heizou chuckled as the conversation turned into a more lighter tone.

…

Midoriya was saddened when the group of TA students walked fastly away from him. He wanted to invite them to go to the cafeteria together. He had so many questions he wanted to ask about them, especially the one with cat ears. “Well aren’t they just rude…we’re just about to ask to sit with us for lunch” Uraraka says in annoyance as she remembered when one of them glanced at Deku and immediately went away as she eats her food. 

“I still can’t believe that UA is willing for these potential villains to be inside the school and put us in danger!” Iida says, furrowing his brows in anger “I-isn’t calling them villains a bit much Iida? I don’t think they’re that dangerous…” Midoriya asked, frowning as after all, he was once quirkless and he can’t even get a hit on Kaachan at all but then again they had those vision things...

“Yeah, aren't they quirkless? Besides the one with horns and cat ears I think. They do have this support items but that’s about it..” Uraraka says in thought. “S-still! We need to stay vigilant around them!” Iida says while doing a chopping motion with his arm as Midoriya and Uraraka look at each other.

“We understand that Iida considering they’re from Teyvat and all, but you seem to be more worked up by this out of all of us…” Uraraka says tilting her head while Midoriya nods beside him. Iida stammered a bit “O-oh is that obvious…” he says, fixing his glasses.

“I suppose I can share this to you two as we are friends and a reason to be more cautious around the people of teyvat…” Iida trailed off as the two leaned in anticipation.

“You see, my family had a history with the villains, the archons” Iida revealed with a serious expression.

“What!?” Both Uraraka and Midoriya shouted in shock.

“W-what happened!? Did your family have a physical confrontation with the villains!? What do archons look like!? Did they have quirks or-“ Midoriya asked excitedly as Iida and Uraraka sweatdropped, “A-AAAH! I’m sorry! I got too excited to know!” He quickly apologized once he noticed the two were staring.

“It’s alright, you see my family pass this story for generations to always reminds us not to trust anyone from Teyvat, especially the archons” Iida says as he continues “It was during the time people still call quirks as meta ability, apparently those terrorist, the archons, would abduct people that are not quirkless and bring them to Teyvat, never to be seen again, my family said a lot of families got separated by their loved ones because of it” He grimaced.

Uraraka and Midoriya look in horror “That’s awful! How could they do such a thing!?” Uraraka cries. “We don’t know, but one of my ancestors had his wife taken from him because she had a quirk, only the husband and their son remained. Which kicks starts my family’s heroic legacy, becoming a vigilante and soon after that, a pro hero” Iida says, he sounds proud at the end part.

“So what did the archons look like? Did your ancestors fight them?” Midoriya asked in curiosity, already bringing out his notebook. “According to my family, our greatest ancestor fought one of the archons” Iida says, pushing his glasses up as he began describing.

“They said the archon had braided hair and wielded a spear. That villain and my great ancestor fought and won, while it cost him his leg, he was able to save a lot of people that day…” Iida says as Uraraka and Midoriya listen in awe.

“Amazing! I can see why you don’t like them now Iida, what happened to your ancestors is horrible!” Uraraka says, frowning. Midoriya nods in agreement ‘that was awful… I mean I already heard how awful Archons are in history class during middle school on how they terrorized worldwide but hearing a personal experience that was passed on makes it sound worse’ he thought in grim.

“I still don’t understand how could UA just let them in like this…” Iida huffed in annoyance. “W-well maybe we can ask some of the teachers after school together?” Midoriya suggested before stammering in embarrassment “O-o-only if you t-two want to of course! Y-y-you guys don’t have to do it if y-you don’t want to of course!“ he frantically said.

“I don’t see why not!” Uraraka says with a smile.

“Yes! It is imperative that we get our answers and share them with the rest of the class as soon as possible!” Iida says in determination.

Midoriya smiles, it actually feels nice having friends now that he has a quirk.

…

Lyney and Lynette planned on continuing with talking to the two gen-ed students they met yesterday as they messaged the two through their phones saying they saved seats for them and have some additional friends with them being Furina and Heizou.

After a while the two gen-ed students arrived “Thanks for saving a seat for us guys! Are these your classmates!? Hi I’m Otsuka Tetsuo!” She says with a smile, Furina seems to like her energy as she greets back. “Not gonna lie I was getting worried if our conversation yesterday was gonna be a one time thing but glad it’s not, you’re definitely more chill to talk to than my classmates…” Chiba said.

The two gen-ed briefly exchanged names with Furnia and Heizou, after that they just have a normal conversation, like sharing what their likes and dislikes are for example. With Otsuka and Furina getting along really well as they both have a thing for listening to drama and gossip.

“I was wondering where you two went when the school gave us time to look over the different clubs here” Chiba says looking at Lyney and Lynette as they both grimaced when they remember what happened yesterday.

“The class1a homeroom teacher decided to drag us into a physical test” Lynette says, clearly not pleased. “Which was entirely ridiculous by the way! It wasted so much of our precious time…” Furina says as the others nod in agreement. 

“Geez, physical test on the first day huh? Well I suppose that’s the hero course for you” Chiba shrugged “Well either way even when the two of you are there the clubs wouldn’t let you guys join” he added, making the TA students confused.

“Huh? Why is that..?” Heizou curiously asked

“Apparently Hero course students are forbidden from joining any clubs” Chiba answered.

“SERIOUSLY!? Awww I was planning to check if there’s a drama club in here too” Furina says saddened by this revelation. Otsuka and Chiba looked at each other before frowning “Yeahhh about that…I don’t think any of the drama club’s members would be happy with a hero student visiting…” Otsuka says feeling bad.

“Eh? Why?” Furina tilts her head. “Right, I don’t know how it is in your country but…And the hero students have no idea about this but basically half of the students at this school hate them”  Otsuka says, catching the TA students’ attention.

“Wait, you mean what you said yesterday? About how almost all of the general course students that failed the entrance exam for the hero course hated the hero students that passed, right?” Lyney says, frowning.

“Oh dude it’s much deeper than that” Chiba says, as he feels bad for them.

“Yup! Yup! Since I have joined the newspaper club, my senpai’s given us the full rundown of the social hierarchy in this place” Otsuka says as she pulls out her notebook and begins drawing a pyramid chart.

“For you see at the very top is the hero students, the face of UA, always been put on a pedestal and are oblivious to the social hierarchy inside the school. A lot of them think that they’re the protagonist, especially those with flashy and powerful quirks according to my senpais” she said, writing down the word “hero” on top of the chart.

“In the middle are the support course students, probably the only course that the hero students interact with. They’re the side characters that support the protagonist, they’re more on the neutral ground though we mostly saw those students either in their respective clubs or their workshops but they’re alright, mostly keep things to themselves” She wrote down “support” in the middle.

“And at the very bottom is the business course and the general course, with the latter being considered the worst out of the four courses” She wrote the words “Buis/Gen-ed” at the very bottom of the chart. “Huh? Why? Doesn't the business course just have more math than the other?” Furina asked confusedly. 

Otsuka chuckled “True, but the Business course's main gimmick is to promote heroes so in a way they’re similar to the support course, a side character supporting the main cast that is the hero students, but there still some business students hates the hero students oddly enough” she said but her expression then turns a little grim.

“Gen-ed however is considered the very bottom of the barrel. The students in this course majorly consist of people that failed the hero entrance exam, there’s some that went to the business course but this where they mostly go” Otsuka sighs “In a way this course is basically where all the ‘rejects’ go, only a few students really want to be in there like me and Daisuke for example” she said as Chiba nods in agreement.

Heizou chuckles “I see~ So all those that failed the hero entrance exam are jealous of the ones that passed, the jealousy then slowly turned to animosity throughout the school year until another set of first years enters and the cycle continues, did I get that right?” He says in fascination.

“There’s more reasons to it but that’s the gist of it yeah” Chiba shrugged.

“What’s the other reasons?” Lyney asked curiously.

“It’s the way they present themselves and how absent they are, there’s probably more but that’s what we understand so far” Chiba answered.

“Okay, but why is being absent considered a bad thing?” Lynette asked because it doesn’t make sense. 

“Some of the students considered it as sign of arrogance, not everyone is aware that hero students can’t join on clubs or not required to join school events so in their jealous minds the students that passed the hero exam are acting high and mighty, that they’re living in the good life that they no need to join in some mundane activity with background characters or something like that” Chiba shrugged.

”Honestly, they’re acting entitled. We have this classmate with purple hair and eyebags I forgot their name but he just wouldn’t shut up about the hero course everytime one of us tries to befriend him. There’s more people like that in my class but he’s the worst one” he sighs in annoyance.

“And that could continue for the whole highschool years with the students? For three years?” Lyney asked, feeling somewhat surprised at how deep this grudge and jealousy can go.

“Yup! Yup! According to my senpai’s the hero course of second and third years are mostly absent because of work studies so they’re barely on campus and it doesn’t help that when they are in campus, they mostly talk about their feats they did” Otsuka says “Well that explains why the hero course building is so quiet” Furina mumbled in realization. “That’s also why there’s almost no interesting stories about the hero course at all in the newspaper club” Otsuka pouted.

“Literally none?? So there’s no rumors?? How??” Furina says in surprise with how much the two gen-ed describe the student’s animosity you would think there’s a lot of rumors about the hero students circulating in the school by now to trash talk them. 

“I know! It’s unbelievable when I heard it, but apparently they can’t find anything interesting about them without trash talking and the newspaper club doesn’t want to boast about the hero course achievements because real media already does that, so my club wants something unique” Otsuka says, letting out some sad mouse squeaks as Chiba pats her back to comfort her.

“Then, how about we help you with that?” Lyney suddenly suggested with a smile.

“Huh?” Otsuka tilts her head.

“We’re going to have hero training after this and if anything interesting happens we can record for you, within reason of course” He says as Otsuka’s eyes light up. “Really!? You can do that oh thank you! Thank you!” She says, squeaking in excitement in between her words.

…

Lunch is over and the four TA students start walking back to the classroom. While Furina and Lynette talk about what they think of the food in the cafeteria, Heizou asks Lyney something.

“Okay, be honest with me here, what's the point of you wanting to be on good terms with students outside of our class? What are you planning now?” He curiously asked as Lyney chuckled “Well, at first it was simply to have a good idea of how the school works in the students perspective but now hearing about how the hierarchy in this place, I’m now thinking a long term plan that can possibly help on putting Teyvat in a good light even just a little bit” Lyney says with a smile.

“If we can’t get on UA teachers good graces perhaps with the school’s students instead~?” He says playfully.

“Oh? And I suppose it will be at the cost of the hero students’ reputation then?” Heizou guesses.

“Unfortunately, I mean it’s already low as it is according to them, we simply need to have the rest of the students think that we're different from the hero students, but I still need to figure out how yet without exposing our origins” Lyney shrugged.

“Well, depending on how this hero training is going to go then you might not need to do much” Heizou says with a smirk as the blonde douche kid that attacked the dendro archon comes to mind.

Oh well they just have to wait and see…