High Impact || Genshin Impact H.S AU

Chapter 4.3

Sayu stood on her tippy toes, peaking through the door window. She was left at the door by Soraya, expected to enter alone and join the class. Yet Sayu found herself frozen in place, nervously watching as the other kids played around.

She wanted to join but she didn’t know if they wanted to play with her and that alone made her scared. Her guts were wracked with worry and doubt, emotions she wasn’t familiar with.

She peaked her head high up the door window, looking at the classroom. She saw kids making paper volcanoes, drawing, and playing with fun toys that Sayu wanted to play with. Yet her feet stayed still.

Then she realized the teacher had caught her attention, seeing her through the window. She squeaked, crawling into a ball to avoid detection.

She could tell her plan had failed as she heard footsteps, large grown-up Ines coming for the door. Using what she learned in Inazuma, she quickly dashed to a hiding spot.

The teacher opened the door, looking glancing up and down the hallway for Sayu. But Sayu stood behind a trashcan, using her small height and the shadows to blend with it.

The teacher grunted and went back into the classroom. Sayu let out a breath of relief, grateful for her teachings. She walked away from the trashcan, stepping lightly to avoid detection. She went back to her position behind the door, tip-toeing to peek through the door window and examine the classroom.

Inside the classroom she saw the teacher standing at the front of the classroom, seeming to be lecturing about something. Sayu pressed her ear against the door, curious about what the teacher is talking about.

“Now class, we’ll be having a new student soon, so be nice and get them a warm welcome,” the teacher said. Sayu felt her stomach curdle. She never liked too much attention on her plus being nervous in a new environment, it just made it worse for her.

She took a step back, looking around the hallway. All she saw were beige brick walls and children’s artwork. It felt foreign to her, used to living in wooden walls and seeing grass and blue foliage all the time.

Her body shakes a bit, the feeling of unknown beginning to take a new turn and overwhelm her. She remembered the day she was told that would be leaving, the pain of it hitting down.

“Sayu darling where are you?” her mother cried out to the forest behind their house. She was as usual hiding and finding a nice place to sleep, being one of her favorite pastimes. Her ears perked up when she heard her mother, sensing her presence in the forest.

“Over here mother" Sayu yelled out, high up in a tree. Her mother saw her up in a tree and she seemed to have paled a but.

“Sayu get down here!” her mother yelled. Sayu did as commanded and was able to slide down the tree with ease. Sayu also heard her mother whisper something g as she slides down, something along the lines of “I regret… your grandpa… teaching you”.

Sayu approaches her mother and she follows her into the house where her father was sitting in a wooden chair, reading. Her mother joined her father and sat in a chair nearby. Her mother cleared her throat and her father stopped reading faced Sayu.

“Now Sayu, we’re going somewhere new, a place we’ll call home," her father said. Sayu turned her head, confused.

“But our home is here," Sayu said, pointing to a wall of the house she lived in since she arrived in the world.

“Not for long darling," her father said. Sayu was confused, unable to understand what her father was saying, let alone process it.

“Okay father," she said, having neither questions nor understanding. She left her parents and went back out into the forest, crawling the trees and sleeping away from her reality.

But reality came nonetheless and Sayu spent the last few weeks packing and saying goodbye. In her mind she always thought of it as a family vacation, an explanation to feel better about leaving.

It almost cracked and failed when her grandparents cried and hugged her for the last time, but it persisted, as she giggled a B while they hugged her.

Now, it felt too real for her, her reality hitting too hard for comfort and she wanted to sleep. Standing there, she looked at the door, unsure of what to do next. Going inside to Sayu would mean acceptance but leaving would give her a chance to prevent reality.
She gulped, turning away and about to run before she got caught.

“Hey there you are!” the teacher said.

Sayu froze, confused and frozen. The teacher grabbed her hand and dragged her into the classroom where the face of dozen-plus children filled her vision. Some glanced and looked away, some linger their stare at her, curious and so many more ignored her.

Her grandpa always said to be a ninja, you must be able to have people ignore you, so she felt a sense of relief at the one who ignored, seeing it as familiar invisibility.

Yet some kids still seemed to be curious and persisted in interacting with her. Sayu felt frozen and scared, her heartbeat beating like an engine. So, using her instincts, she grabbed a nearby pile of papers and flung them in the air. The papers distracted the kids and she dashed away, looking for a hiding spot. She found an empty cabinet big enough for her, so she jumped onto a table, and hopped into the cabinet with no one looking.

She took a breath of relief, hearing the kids get confused fused, and wonder loudly where she was. In the darkness of the cabinet, she closed her eyes and went to sleep, escaping her situation and aiming to dream of her homeland.