Genshin Highschool AU

Chapter 7

(Picture is not mine! :P)

(Time skip 4 days)
Aether POV:

There were 3 more days until school began. The campus was starting to really fill up with people; there were now some other people in their dorm building, including some emo guy named Xiao, the girl with the horns-who turned out to be named Ganyu-and a guy named Chongyun, who really liked popsicles. They all got along pretty well, which already made it a huge upgrade from Saiaku High School. But as he laid in bed, there was only one thing he could think of. Venti, the band and choir teacher-I remember hearing his voice somewhere else. I think it was at the Windblume Festival some years back, there was a guy playing the harp and telling some story of Barbatos and Dvalin. But that's not possible, is it? That was like over 8 years ago, and it doesn't look like he's aged a year. Ah, whatever. On second thought, should I take his class? I've always wanted to learn how to play saxophone, but Saiaku didn't offer band as an elective. Is it too late to start learning now? I better decide quickly, the elective sheet is due today. He looked over his list again. Michita Academy had some normal electives to choose from, but there were also some really weird ones, like "Weapon Mastery" and "Self-Defense". Oh well. He signed up for both of them. "Weapon Mastery" was taught by Master Aoi, and "Self-Defense" was taught by Ms. Kaze. And after some thought, he decided to sign up for Band as well. I better go turn this sheet in to the office now, he thought, jumping up from his bed and changing into his tennis shoes.
 It was pretty chaotic outside the dorms. Chongyun was screaming and running away from Xingqiu-another 11th grader-who was laughing and waving a chili pepper around. A white-haired girl with opal-like eyes was running after them, trying to put an end to Chongyun's suffering. Some tall ginger guy was being bullied by literally 10 different people. And a whole lot of other stuff was happening in the background too, such as Albedo trying to wave off a dark blue-haired guy who was following him around. Aether shook his head at how chaotic the students were. He started walking towards the main building, which was basically a really tall tower with a clock. 
Inside, a cat-eared-haired girl(he couldn't really tell if they were actual cat ears or just a hairstyle)was spinning around like a little kid on a chair. The moment she saw him, she jumped up and cleared her throat, as if saying "You saw nothing".
"Hello, I'm Keqing, an office helper. The assistant principal and principal are out right now. If you have any important matters to discuss with them, you can write it down and put it into that box right there. Otherwise, I can answer your questions," Keqing said very quickly and formally. Probably part of the student council too, if this school has one.
"I, uhm, wanted to turn in my elective sheet for this year," Aether said.
"Okay, just put it into that box right there," Keqing pointed at a blue box filled with elective sheets. They still haven't made the schedules yet?
"Thanks," Aether said, slipping out of the office. Keqing either ignored him or didn't hear him, since she was already back at reading some book about...visions? The picture on the front showed some kind of gem with a symbol on it, surrounded by gold. He then realized that the majority of students at the Academy carried those around. Maybe they were some sort of club item? Oh well, probably didn't matter.   
Somehow, things were even more chaotic when he stepped outside. The same dark-blue haired guy looked like he was asking for Albedo's autograph or something, while the poor guy was trying to run and read his notes at the same time. The earlier ginger was now being bullied by at least 20 different people, and a girl with golden-blonde hair was handing out sparkly sticks or something. And none of the teachers were really trying to stop anything. I guess this is normal then.
"Hey there! I'm Xiangling, and I was wondering if you wanted to try this dish I just made!" a girl said, smiling. Something about her reminded Aether of Paimon, for some reason. Maybe it was because they both had the same sparkle in their eyes, or their obvious love for food. "And don't worry! It's not poisoned!"
"What?" Aether asked. Why would she think I'd think it's poisoned?
"Oh, uhm, there was that one time where Layla accidently gave Thoma some bad miso soup. Apparently, she mixed up poison ivy and seaweed!" Xiangling exclaimed. Aether gulped. Guess I know who to never trust with making food. How do you mix up poison ivy and seaweed? Then again, Lumine mixes up sugar and salt all the time. Still remember that one time she dumped a packet of salt into my coffee, thinking it was sugar.
"That's interesting," Aether said.
"Anyways! Here, have a bite!" the chef exclaimed, shoving the bowl of fish at him. It looked really spicy, and Aether didn't have a fondness for fish, but he took a bite anyway. 
It was spicy.
"I added extra Jueyun chili!" Xiangling said happily. That's why! I feel like my mouth's on fire! How much did she add?! I mean, it does taste good, but I'm gonna drain the campus of water now!
"It's a bit too spicy," Aether replied. His face was all puffed up and red.
"Oh! Sorry! Here, have some bread, I'll go adjust the recipe a bit! Thanks!" Xiangling said, handing him a piece of bread and bouncing away. "Oh, almost forgot the fish!" she snatched the bowl back from him. "Thanks!"
"No problem," he mumbled. No one really seems mean here-except for those people bullying that ginger guy-but they didn't really seem to mean any real harm. Just have to remember to never trust Layla with just about anything. But still, I'm kind of curious why everyone seems to hate the ginger guy. Did he do something wrong? Or is it because he's ginger? 
(3 day timeskip bc why not)
I hate waking up early again, Aether grumbled, rubbing his eyes. At least no school uniform. I thought that a school like this would have a school uniform for sure, but it turns out that the principal supports the idea of making decisions yourself, according to Albedo. He got up from bed and checked the time. 7:00 AM. School would start in about 45 minutes. He grabbed some random clothes from his closet and tossed them on. But when he looked in the mirror, he found that he was wearing a bright orange shirt with bright orange pants. Nope. Not gonna work. I'm 100% gonna get bullied if I wear this. He reached into his closet again, and pulled out a pair of jeans. Better than going to school looking like an oversized orange. 
Next was his hair. It was an absolute mess. If he were to brush it normally, yanking and all, he would probably lose half of it. Maybe Paimon was right when she said I should cut it, he sighed, grabbing his brush. It took at least 10 minutes to get his hair smooth. Then he put it up into a braid, because why not. Also he didn't want to look like genderbent Aurora. 
He rattled his bottle of, ehm, medicine. It was half-empty, meaning that he would have to ask where the nearest pharmacy was soon. Whatever, should still last a little while, he thought, shoving one down his throat. No matter how many he swallowed, he still gagged and coughed everytime.
With about 30 minutes left, he stepped out with his backpack on his shoulders. The thing weighed about 2000 pounds. By the end of the day, he was probably going to end up even shorter than he is right now. Just in case she still wasn't up, he knocked on Lumine's door. 
"Go away, I'm changing," she mumbled from inside.
"Alright, I'll wait," he said, completely ignoring the "go away" part.
Lumine stepped out a couple minutes later, her hair a mess that she hadn't bothered to fix. Luckily for her, her hair was short, so all she really had to do was comb her fingers through it a couple times. They headed down to the first floor, bumping into a couple people along the way. 
"I just realized something," Aether said.
"What?"
"We have no idea where to go for breakfast." 
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well, we have 20 minutes. It'll probably take that long to find our classes."
"Paimon would kill us if she ever found out."
"No need for her to know," Lumine said, grinning evilly. 
"Alright, well then, what's your first class?" Aether asked, digging around in his backpack for his schedule sheet.
"I have Self-Defense."
"Awww, I signed up for that class too, but I have it, like, 3rd period. I have ELA first period."
"Do we have any classes together?" Lumine asked, frowning at her own sheet. 
"Let's che-Oomph!" Aether stumbled on a step and almost rolled down a whole floor. "Don't laugh," he said, glaring at Lumine, whose cheeks were all puffed up.
"What's happening?" Albedo questioned, appearing out of thin air behind them.
"Ah!" Aether yelped.
"Aether almost fell down the stairs," Lumine said, then she took of running and laughing. 
"Did not! You get back here!" Aether yelled, running after her. 
"Reminds me a bit of Klee and Diona," Albedo mumbled. 

Aether chased Lumine until he couldn't run anymore. Lumine had the stamina and speed of a god or something. Luckily, that landed him right outside the 11th grade core classes building. He headed inside, and it looked more like a 5-star hotel lobby than a school in there. Who's funding the money for the Academy? Or maybe the principal's just really rich, Aether thought, looking around like a little kid. Oh shoot, gotta find my class. I have 13 minutes, but I'm still probably gonna end up late. All the times he was late for class before flashed before his eyes. I can't let that happen again! I must get to class on time, no matter what! He clenched his fists in determination and started walking forward, only to trip on his untied shoelace and actually fall down. That didn't happen.
10 minutes later, he was lost. Why does this always happen to me? I have no idea where I am, and I'm about to be late. He sighed in defeat. Then someone poked him in the shoulder. 
"Uh, hey, do you need help? You look kinda depressed," it was the blue-haired girl with fake-or-real horns, Ganyu.
"Oh, no, I'm fine. Wait, actually, do you know where Ms. Yae's room is?" Aether asked.
"Oh! I was heading there myself! Just follow me," she replied. I am saved!
"Okay, thank you!"
Ganyu led him through the maze of a building(it was also really tall)to the room he had been looking for for the past 10 minutes in less than 2 minutes. 
"Thanks again!" Aether said, smiling at her. Ganyu smiled and looked down. 
Inside, the room was decorated in a very, uhm, unique way. The chairs were all in the shape of a fox tail for some reason, and it was all pink. 
"Class starts soon, children! Sit where you like," a voice said from the desk. Ms. Yae. She was sitting behind a pink teacher's desk with a bunch of books on it.
Not a second after Aether sat down, the bell rang. At least he got to class on time, ehe. 
"Okay, hello everyone, and welcome to 11th grade ELA! I'm your teacher, Ms. Yae, but more of you may know me by my pen name, Kadenokouji Kenzaburou."
Wait, what?!

_____________________________________________________________

Happy 2023!