Ananias sighed. "Now what exactly am I supposed to do with this?" he muttered.

"Hello, Ananias," Sakura greeted. She then noticed something and asked, "Oh? What's that bag that you have in your hand?"

Ananias bowed respectfully to her. "Lady Sakura." He then held up said bag and answered, "If you must know, it's full of sweets."

Sakura's eyes widened in both excitement and surprise. "A-a bag full of sweets? Really?"

Ananias nodded. "Yeah. Or at least," he opened the bag and peered inside, "that's what I've been told."

"What? Y-you don't know?"

"Well, I got it from an old lady after I helped rescue her cat from a tree. She gave me this bag as a reward and said that it was filled with sweets, but I don't know. They don't look like any type of sweet I'm familiar with."

Sakura held out her hand. "May I have a look?"

Ananias shrugged before handing her the bag. "Sure. Why not?"

Sakura opened it and looked inside. "Hmm."

Ananias folded his arms. "Well? What do you think?"

Sakura took out one of the so-called "sweets" and closely examined it, her eyes narrowing as she brought it closer to her eyes. "Well, they do look a bit unimpressive on the outside, but see that? That's definitely sugar. And the texture definitely reminds me of that of bread."

Ananias let out a low and impressed whistle. "You really know your stuff, don't you?"

Sakura blushed. "Oh, it's nothing, really. Anyone with a basic knowledge of baking would say the exact same thing."

"Well, clearly, I don't have that. So, do you know what it is?"

Sakura frowned and looked back down at the sweet in-between her fingers. "That's just it. Based on appearances alone, I'd say that it reminds me of a sweet known as mochi back in Hoshido, but even mochi doesn't look quite like this."

Ananias gravely nodded. "I see. Well, maybe we should go find Rowan or Lianna and ask them."

"W-what? S-should we really bother them over something so trivial?"

Ananias blinked for a moment in confusion. "Well, I mean, for all we know, it could be poisonous."

"Poison coated with sugar and covered in bread?"

"If that's what it takes to poison somebody, then yeah. Maybe."

"W-well, maybe we should just find out ourselves!"

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "'Find out ourselves'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, let's just start by squeezing it first. If these things really are filled with poison, then we should be able to tell, right?"

"W-wait! In that case, shouldn't we bring this bag to people who actually deal with this kind of stuff?"

"There's no time, Ananias! It's now or never!"

"Since when?!"

"Alright, here I go!"

"Lady Sakura, wait!"

Sakura gasped. "Oh, Ananias look at that!" She excitedly held it up for Ananias to see. "It's cherry! They're filled with some sort of cherry filling!"

"A-are you sure?!"

Sakura nodded excitedly. "Oh, definitely! I'd recognize the smell, look, and feel of cherry filling anywhere!"

"D-do you make a lot of cherry filling?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, but I've definitely eaten it enough to know it when I see it!"

"B-but still, it could just be poison made to look like cherry filling!"

"Alright, then let's test that out!" She gave Ananias one of the many "sweets" from the bag. "Here, I'll eat this one and you'll eat this one."

Ananias glanced at the thing in his hands for a moment before giving Sakura an absolutely flabbergasted look. "What?!"

Sakura nodded with a determined look on her face. "We have to! It's the only way!"

"Lady Sakura, what's gotten into you?!"

"Okay, on the count of three," Sakura said. "One..."

"Wait!"

"Two..."

"Stop!"

"Three!" And just like that, the two of them plopped the things into their mouths and ate them.

Ananias closed his eyes, fully expecting something bad to happen, only to experience a sudden burst of sweetness and flavor. "Mmm?!"

"Oh my gosh!" Sakura gushed. "It really is cherry filling! And not only that, it has to be one of the sweetest cherry fillings I've ever tasted!"

Ananias swallowed the rest of his treat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Y-yep. That was... definitely a cherry flavor that we just tasted."

Sakura took another one from out of the bag and threw it into her mouth. "Oooo, and another one," she plopped another one into her mouth, "and another one," and another, "and another one! This bag is full of sugared dough filled with sweet cherry filling!"

Ananias licked his fingers. "Yeah. Dough's a little weird though, right?"

"Oh, what texture is this?" Sakura mused, placing another sweet into her mouth as she thought. "It's on the tip of my tongue. Baked? Toasted?" She then gasped. "Fried! It's fried! It's fried dough coated with sugar and filled with cherry filling!"

"Uh... okay. Glad we finally got that sorted out. And by the looks of it, we're not sick or dead yet, so it definitely isn't laced poison, so -"

"We can eat it, right?" Sakura asked.

Ananias anxiously gulped at the sight of her. "Um, well, you can, if you want. I'm not much of a sweets guy, so -"

Sakura gasped. "R-really? You're really giving all this to me?"

"Um, yeah, sure."

Sakura frowned. "Um, you don't look too sure."

Ananias sighed, pushed the bag towards her, and said, "I'm sure."

"Oh! Thank you, Ananias! I'll be sure to make it up to you!" She then started devouring the sweets at breakneck speed.

Ananias couldn't believe what he was seeing. He honestly didn't think Princess Sakura had this in her. "You... really like your sweets, don't you?"

Sakura blushed as she covered her mouth, chewed her sweets, and nodded. "Y-yes. Admittedly, I just can't help myself when it comes to sweets. I just love them so much!"

"Well, to each their own, I guess."

"Oh, well, what's your favorite food, Ananias? As a thank you for the sweets, it'll be my treat!"

Ananias shook his head. "I don't really have a favorite food."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "W-what? Really?"

Ananias nodded. "Yeah. Honestly, eating to me is a kind of a chore."

"R-really? You really don't feel anything for any kind of food you eat?"

"Should I? I mean, no matter how well something's made, it'll all pretty much taste the same, right?"

"Well, yes, but even so, someone who loves something will still find a way to love and appreciate it."

Ananias frowned. "Yeah, I don't think I have one of those. Food or otherwise."

Sakura let out a horrified gasp. "B-but that's terrible! There must be something in life that you're passionate about, isn't there?"

Ananias shrugged. "Honestly, the closest thing to passion that I've ever had was becoming more like my mother and her siblings. But when I finally realized that that could never happen, I gave up on that and moved on."

"To what exactly? What's your new passion for nowadays?"

"I don't know. Not being useless?"

"Ananias! That's a terrible way to live! You can't live your entire life trying NOT to be something! You have to live FOR something, like how me and my siblings live for each other."

"I appreciate the concern, but our situations are a bit different, don't you think?"

"Not at all! In fact, I think the two of us are actually quite similar in some regards. The two of us were both surrounded by such amazing people, we couldn't help but want to be just as amazing as they were. But I learned that even though I could never be like them, I could support them with my own unique talents, with things that only I could do. Ananias, why don't you let me help you find yours?"

"Humph. Really? You'd do that just to pay me back for a bag of sweets?"

"It's not just for the bag of sweets. Consider it as thanks for being such a good friend."

Ananias stared at her for a moment before letting out a small chuckle and smiling. "As a friend, huh? Well, if that's what you really want, then I guess I won't stop you. But I'm warning you, I've been trying to figure this out for years. It's definitely not going to be easy."

Sakura smiled back. "Nothing ever is. But for a friend, it'll definitely be worth it!"

Dual Special #1:

Ananias: Looks like we're up, Sakura.

Sakura: Together, we'll be stronger!

Dual Special #2:

Ananias: I'm going to need some help over here!

Sakura: Understood! Help is on the way!

Dual Special #3:

Sakura: I need your help, Ananias!

Ananias: Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Dual Special #4:

Sakura: We can do it, Ananias!

Ananias: If you say so, Sakura!

Author's Note: The next Warriors supports will be:

7. Owain

8. Marth

9. Lianna

10. Chrom