Meihua

Meihua is the femslash ship between Raiden Mei and Fu Hua from the Honkai Impact 3rd fandom.

Pre-Main Story
In the "AE Invasion" manga, Fu Hua attempts to save Mei from being captured by a Welt Joyce clone. She carries Mei bridal style though gets rendered unconscious trying to escape. This prompts the 3rd Herrscher to wake up and take control of Mei's body, holding off the Welt Joyce clone until Kiana rescues them. Later, in "Moon Shadow", Mei thanks Fu Hua for saving her by making some Shenzhou recipes. She scolds Kiana for stealing the snacks she made for Fu Hua.

Elysian Realm
Mei enters the Elysian Realm to get answers about the Honkai, and meets simulations of the Previous Era Flame-Chasers. She's initially taken aback when meeting Hua's sim for the first time, who only has past memories and doesn't recognize her. Mei asks if Hua will be able to remember something, though Hua replies that she resets her memory regularly. Hua says she does this to make her she stays herself, and so that her perfect memory granted by her ICHOR doesn't influence her. Mei concedes that this was probably a good choice.

Mei and Hua have various unlockable dialogues about the Realm, Previous Era, other Flame-Chasers, and Hua herself. When Mei asks if Hua would protect the next era of humanity for thousands of years, something Fu Hua did indeed do in the Current Era, Hua replies that she can't imagine such a heavy burden and that she'd inevitably fail; Only Kevin would be capable of such a thing. Mei inwardly tells Hua that she can do it to, and has done better than Kevin. In their third dialogue, Mei asks Hua about a picture of Hua and Captain HIMEKO she's looking at, though apologizes if she's asking something too personal. Hua explains that a reset must have went wrong and she has no memory of the picture now. Mei assures her that she'll tell her if she finds any clues, though Hua says there's no need. In their sixth dialogue, Mei reveals that she knows the real Fu Hua, and that she became a hero. Hua questions if Mei just saw a different world from Su's divine key, and says that she has a long way to go before becoming that version of herself. Mei replies, "Alright… but at least you showed me how you became the Hua I know."

To The Flawless
After Mei enters the Elysium Everlasting and Elysia reveals herself as the 13th Herrscher, she decides to talk to other Flame-Chasers to get more information. Hua tells her that she wasn't aware of this part of the Realm, and that Aponia must of had a good reason to keep it secret. When Mei asks about the 13th Herrscher, Hua hesitates and states that Mei should wait for Elysia to explain, as she has a very shallow understanding of the situation. Hua advises her to talk to other Flame-Chasers and the two bid goodbyes.

The evening before Elysia plans to reveal the full truth about the 13th Herrscher, Mei encounters Hua. They talk about how they appreciate Elysium Everlasting having a day-night cycle reminiscent of normal life. Mei asks why the MOTHs rejected the Flame-Chaser system. Hua shares that the MOTHs approved five people, including herself, to form the Flame-Chasers as a compromise. Hua states that Eden is much more qualified than her, though Mei urges her not to belittle herself. The scene ends with Hua speaking of Elysia's effective leadership of the Flame-Chasers despite all of them not agreeing with each other. Mei and Hua continue their conversation late throughout the night.

In the aftermath of the sim Elysia's death, Mei talks with other Flame-Chasers for information, trying not to break the news to those who aren't yet aware. Mei asks Hua what happens to erased memories, to which she replies that those are gone forever. Mei then asks what happens if she erases of her memories at once. At Hua's inquiry, Mei states that she can't share what's happening, though she won't hide that she's hiding something. Hua accepts this and answers that if all her memories are erased, then all traces of her existence will disappear from the Realm. Mei thanks her and leaves. Su notes to her that Mei is very trusting towards Hua.

When Mei tries leaving the Elysian Realm, she instead is met with another trial with stronger monsters. She faints, and Hua is the one to save her. Since Mei is unable to lead the Realm, Hua leads her to Kalpas, who is lashing out.

Later, Hua meets with Vill-V, Mei, and Pardo, who plan to look in each other's memories to scope who's innocent of deleting Elysia and Kevin's sims. Mei and Pardo go into Hua's memories, seeing the awakening of the 7th Herrscher, and Hua talking to Elysia about Mei. She then sees the night Elysia died, where Hua is simply basking in the peaceful atmosphere of the night. Mei muses that this is the type of life Hua should have had. She seems relieved that Hua was uninvolved with Elysia's death. Then the memory abruptly conjures up to Su and Hua, moments before, finding that Mobius is dead. Back in the real world, Hua explains the situation further and leaves to inform the others. Mei tells her to be careful.

Echo of Stigma
Mei and the real Fu Hua reunite once Fu Hua wakes up and joins the rest of the group on the moon. They greet each other with "long time no see" and report their situations to the rest of the group. Fu Hua reports that Kevin has left the moon to start the next step of Project Stigma, which Mei inquires about. Senti replies that Kevin only came to the moon to flaunt his powers, though Mei refutes that that's not something he'd do. Wanting to avoid an argument with Senti, Mei makes eye contact with Fu Hua, who reasons that Kevin must have wanted something from them. Later, once Bronya fixes the Stargate, Mei comments that Mobius and Ato were the ones in charge of building it. Fu Hua sighs in reminiscence and confirms Mei's statement.

Cooking with Valkyries

 * In the opening of Season 1, Mei and Fu Hua are seen shopping together.
 * In the opening of Season 2, Fu Hua helps Mei cook. They're also seen talking together as the cast walks outside.

Manga

 * In "AE Invasion", the 3rd Herrscher in Mei's body smears some of Fu Hua's blood on her lip.
 * Both Mei and Fu Hua blush when Mei gives her some homemade Shenzhou snacks in "Moon Shadow".

Chronicles

 * At the beginning of "Dilemma Dreamland", Fu Hua and Mei are both checking on Bronya in the ward. Fu Hua encourages Mei to get some rest while she waits for the principle.

Quotes
"Me? Mei is far better than me. I don’t pay that much attention to the flavors, and I hardly cooked before..."

- Fu Hua, Cooking with Valkyries Episode 7.

"Mei, I think I can understand the story about that Class Monitor you told me now. I understand the emotions that she… that “I” had at that time. Thank you for helping the future me. As for the past… It has long become a part of the future, right?"

- Hua's farewell to Mei, Chapter 31.

Fanon
Although Fu Hua and Mei didn't have many notable interactions until the Elysian Realm was released, the ship grew to become very popular. It is currently the 9th most written ship for Honkai Impact 3rd on AO3, beaten by its variant Fukimei, which is the 6th most written ship.

Maiqo and Negom on Twitter have drawn many fanarts of Meihua and are known as the ones who popularized the ship. Meihua was mainly shipped for the sake of shipping two attractive girls, though people also were interested in how the two would interact since they don't interact much in canon. Since both Mei and Fu Hua are popularly shipped with Kiana, nearly every Meihua shipper ships the poly ship Fukimei as well. Most Meihua fanart and fanfics are smut with Mei being the dominant one, and works often headcanon Mei as trans too. Fluff for the ship became more popular once the Elysian Realm was introduced to the story, where Mei encounters a past version of Fu Hua who is more timid and unsure of herself. It also allowed fans to explore a more emotional part of ship, since Mei canonically got to know Fu Hua better throughout her dialogues with Hua.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TWITTER

Trivia

 * In A Post Honkai Odyssey 2, the main character can give Mei a Jingwei plush, which is often associated with Fu Hua. When he does, Mei smiles at it faintly and says it reminds her of an old classmate.

Variations

 * Fukimei refers to the ship between Raiden Mei, Kiana Kaslana and Fu Hua

Notes and References
