High Impact || Genshin Impact H.S AU

Chapter 7.1

“I OBJECT! People cannot jump that high according to the Sumeru encyclopedia,” Yanfei roared, holding a large encyclopedia to her opponent, Keqing who was visibly caught off guard.

“Ah, shoot,” Keqing said in defeat, leaning forward and reading the highlighted part in the heavy encyclopedia. She sat down in defeat, confident a few minutes ago only for Yanfei to tear down the rich girl's argument. Yanfei smiled softly, departing from Keqing and walking back to her side of the room where her teammates were clapping and cheering her on.

“Keqing, do you have a rebuttal?” Eula said firmly.

“No,” Keqing said, her voice muffled from covering her face, trying to hide her hurt from being defeated so quickly.

“Okay,” Eula said. She smacked her gave aggressively against the table and announced, “that concludes the argument of ‘Can humans scale to the summit of Dragonspine', opponents won,”, then tapping the gavel against the table again, concluding the match.

“Nice job everyone,” Eula then added, more softly while smirking, her eyes drifting to Yanfei's team.

Yanfei beamed, proud of herself for succeeding at the argument. She had to spend a few hard nights trying to find the factual evidence from good sources but in the end, it was worth it. She smirked smugly, lifting her chin a bit while glancing down as Keqing was being comforted by Ganyu.

“Yanfei you’re not a villain, cool the evil vibes,” Xingqiu said, patting her back despite seeming concerned. Yanfei only laughed, baffled and amused at the comment.

“I’m not being a villain, I’m just,” Yanfei paused, thinking of the right thing to say. “Basking in the defeats of my enemies,” she said slowly.

“That’s schadenfreude,” Xingqiu said, rolling his eyes. Yanfei giggled and proceeded to leave the small table where her teammates resided during the debate for debate club.

“I can’t help but wonder if that’s your uh tenth win this semester,” Xingqiu said, recalling previous club debates.

“Twelfth win, you're forgetting the back-to-back arguments regarding whether peanut butter and jelly is healthy,” Yanfei reminded, continuously moving around the debate club room as Xingqiu followed.

As usual, he was waiting for Yanfei to be ready to leave the club room, having to witness the girl scramble around, picking up random materials and papers that were hers yet she kept leaving behind. A habit she claims was fine and denies even when she loses an important piece of evidence for an argument or even when it’s her phone.

“Ah yes, the two times we argued about and you were on different sides each time, winning both times, I remembered,” Xingqiu said.

“Hehe, Keqing lost two times that week,” Yanfei said. At the moment, she was moving from desk to desk, making sure she didn’t accidentally leave a homework assignment or any materials on the desks.

“Poor girl,” Xingqiu muttered. Yanfei looked back and saw the purple-haired girl being carried by her girlfriend. In the dark corners of her heart, it stung with an unfamiliar pain that she kept feeling recently. She shook her head, ignoring it.

Focusing on what she was doing, she realized she almost forgot her phone.

“Ack!” Yanfei cried out, grabbing her phone from a nearby desk and putting it in her pocket for safekeeping.

“Alright let’s go,” Yanfei said, moving towards the door with her backpack in tow. Xingqiu followed along.

“So how are you spending your Friday night?” Xingqiu asked, walking alongside the girl.

“Oh, the usual, studying,” Yanfei said quickly, eyeing down the hallway and trying to remember if she left anything in her locker. Xingqiu scoffed, clearly not pleased with the answer.

“But it’s FRIDAY! You got to do something other than studying,” Xingqiu exclaimed, spreading his arms around as if it would convince Yanfei otherwise.

“Well yeah, but also I have a test soon that I need to study for, it could determine my grade,” Yanfei said.

“It’s a vocabulary quiz for English, it will barely affect your grade,” Xingqiu deadpanned.

“It’s still a grade! I should prepare,” Yanfei retorted. To Yanfei, no test or homework is too small to ignore and not study for. Otherwise, she could falter and get low grades, grades that could determine her chances of getting into the best college to become a lawyer.

“Yanfei, you have been here for only a year and yet you've barely acknowledged the town, only studying inside your house,” Xingqiu said. Yanfei looked down at her phone, ignoring Xingqiu’s comment. To her, the Genshin District was irrelevant, a mere town that just more than happened to have the biggest and most exclusive high school in all of Tevyat.

When she was invited to join the town, it set her ablaze, giving her dreams of being the best lawyer in Liyue a real chance. Her dream college was the Sumeru Academia law school which rarely accepted those outside the Sumeru nation, refusing schools that don’t follow the Sumeru curriculum.

Yet Genshin District was made an exception, having students get accepted into the Sumeru colleges.

So, in the long run, spending time around the small town seemed irrelevant and useless when she could be studying and trying to compete against the intense breed of students that are the Sumerians.

Having everything she needed, she dashed out the doors of the school. Her quick paves vegan to make Xingqiu have to run instead of power walk behind her.

“Yanfei!” Xingqiu cried out, voice laced with concern. Yanfei for once stopped moving. She sighed deeply, knowing that Xingqiu mean wells, being one of her few friends that she made during her duration at the school.

“I just don’t want you to regret anything,” Xingqiu said. Yanfei sighed again, understanding the concern. Her dad kept mentioning it as well to her, fearing that she was too cooped up in her room or the library studying.

Turning around and seeing Xingqiu’s face, his eyes filled with worry, and his eyebrows knitted into a frown. She gives a half-smile, hoping to reassure the boy.

“it’s really fine Xingqiu, I’m good,” Yanfei said, giving a thumbs up. Xingqiu sighed, defeated clearly, knowing the full extent of Yanfei’s unwavering will.

“Alright, well if you wish for a break, I’ll be with Chongyun, Xiangling, and Hu Tao at Wanmin restaurant,” Xingqiu offered, as the last chance.

Yanfei tensed at hearing Hu Tao, feeling an odd feeling creep into her heart, making it pound. She couldn’t tell if it was stress or not, wondering if she’ll need to consult a therapist again. 

“Okay,” Yanfei said, her voice still. She wasn’t confirming nor denying the boy's offer but she knew she wouldn’t be eating out tonight.

Xingqiu nodded as a car drives behind him, the engine humming. Inside was his best friend, Chongyun, steering. Yanfei waves goodbye as Xingqiu pops into the car and drives out of the parking lot and off to Wanmin restaurant likely.

Yanfei deeps exhale, tired from a somewhat emotionally exhausting conversation for herself. Turning around, she goes to her car, driving herself from only to study, never leaving her house at all that weekend.

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