Faith

Tails had a good memory; it came with being a genius.
Really, f you pressed him, he'd admit that he wasn't all that much brighter than anyone else.
He just remebered everything he learned, that was all.
He could easily remember the first time he'd ever thought of her as a girl, rather than just a fellow student.
Walking home with friends, on a da when she'd been absent.

"It's not like I feel anything towards her..." He insisted, a blush colorng his chheks, but for a moment, he wondred why he was protesting so much.
What struck him most about her-more than her tendency to get lost or her short attention span or her fetish for anthropomorphized fruits-was her unshakable faith in him.
She'd always belived in him, as far back as he could recallm and she wasn't shy about saying it, either.
Whatever Tails wanted to do, he could do.
He would do.
She belived it with a vehemence that was astounding.

And when she cheered him on, despite himself, he very nearly belived it too.

His feelings hadn't changed overnight.
It felt that way, in that moment when he finally figured it out, but really he knew they had been changing all along and he'd only just realized it.