"Why am I here?"

A steaming cup of Almyran pine needle blended tea rested daintily atop the porcelain saucer, its scent bold and rich. Felix's favorite, in fact. Somehow the professor always knew. But despite the flawless tea selection and pleasantly mild breeze wafting through Garreg Mach monastery's courtyard, Felix wanted nothing more than to spring up from his chair and tear off to the dining hall instead.

So much for kitchen duty. I should've known this was going to be one of those days…

All his best attempts at slipping away were foiled at every turn. If it wasn't choir participation with Mercedes, it was sharing a meal with Ashe, and now tea time. Almost as if the professor knew he had his own agenda and was determined to intervene at every possible opportunity...

"—cute monks?"

Byleth sat opposite him at the wicker table, his own teacup catching the mid-afternoon sunlight off its gold-gilded rim. He looked at Felix expectantly.

"What?"

"Hm."

Despite missing the first half of Byleth's comment, the ending was stupid enough that Felix decided it wasn't worth dignifying with a request to repeat. His professor's attempts at making conversation only left Felix feeling even more agitated than before. "What kind of a question is that?"

Byleth stared back wordlessly and sipped his tea.

Is this some kind of silent challenge?!

"Heh. I get it now. I should've known. I've been underestimating you, haven't I?" Felix drank from his own cup and returned the stare. "You've been dictating my every move since I left the infirmary. You're planning something, aren't you?"

"Overcoming weaknesses takes work," the professor casually answered.

"Weaknesses?!" Felix banged a fist on the table. The teacups rattled threateningly, but not one drop of tea was lost. "Then I was right. This is about our recent mission. Maybe if you didn't constantly get in my way, I'd be off training instead of entertaining another one of your tea parties! With your talent, anything less than sparring is a waste of time."

A fresh wave of embarrassment washed over him. Waking up in the infirmary was not the kind of victory celebration he was anticipating. It wasn't enough to suffer an embarrassing moment of weakness from falling ill, now the professor was rubbing salt in the wound by filling his free time with idle nonsense.

"What are you really up to, professor?"

Byleth closed his eyes and deeply inhaled a cloud of steam from his teacup. The twittering of spring larks atop the nearby gazebo started to sound more like jeering taunts as the seconds slipped by without an answer.

"I've been given a clean bill of health and was properly discharged from the infirmary. It won't be happening again," Felix added.

More silence.

No. That's not it. If this was about strength, the professor would be saddling me with extra training.

"Weaknesses, huh…"

Up until recently, the explanation for his bewildering weakness was simple. But now things weren't so simple. His mind wandered back to the earlier morning's choir activity, Mercedes's knowing smile, and her delicate voice.

"I've never heard of such magic."

Mercedes had no reason to lie. Her words were utterly transparent with no room for ambiguity whatsoever. Even as Annette's best friend, Felix knew she had nothing to gain from covering up any sort of magical foul-play. Sylvain was right all along, which in a way felt even more pathetic.

The entire thing was ridiculous from the start. How could he be so foolish to imagine that Annette of all people would be malicious enough to use antagonistic magic on her own comrades? No matter how much she yelled at him, Felix knew she didn't have a single vengeful bone in her body. Besides, it didn't make sense. Why would she insist he forget her songs, then bewitch him into being unable to forget?

Because it wasn't magic to begin with.

Things would be easier if it was some kind of bizarre magic, because then Felix would have a familiar obstacle to retaliate against. Falling ill during battle was embarrassing enough. And every time he dwelled on that embarrassment, a different sort of embarrassment would creep up alongside it. Annette's song played through his head like a countermelody in sync with the drumming of his pulse whenever she came to mind. It wasn't even her songs anymore. Just the sight of her red hair flashing through the halls was enough to leave him feeling disoriented.

But that was irrelevant, and thankfully wholly unknown to the professor. Allowing himself to get distracted—without the convenient excuse of magic—was infinitely worse than the embarrassment of winding up in the infirmary. This was a new sort of weakness, possibly the very same weakness Byleth had in mind when assigning him today's tasks.

Choir participation, shared meals, tea time...what's the common thread?

Byleth looked up from his teacup as if sensing the unspoken question. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"I told you. I want you to harmonize better with the others."

Harmonize.

The memory of Mercedes's gentle, yet uncomfortably observant gaze was immediately replaced with the vision of another face, this one cheery and bright. Annette's smile as she sat next to his bed in the infirmary, her head bobbing back and forth as she pieced together her newest song, all the while blissfully oblivious to his watchful eyes and attentive ears, her soft melody weaving a story of lemons and honey, and maybe something more under the surface...

"—potential training partners?"

Another question from Byleth went partially unheard. This one actually sounded worthwhile. Felix frowned. "What did you say?"

"Can you think of any potential training partners?"

"Annette."

Her name tumbled out before Felix had a moment to even consider it. Byleth's face remained blank, yet Felix felt his own grow uncomfortably warm. The professor's indifferent reaction only made Felix's accidental suggestion feel even worse. The birds singing from the gazebo were definitely ridiculing him now if they weren't before. He hated it.

More silence.

"What. You don't think I can do it, is that it? Because of our last mission?"

Does he think he can continue challenging me by staying silent? Is this amusing to him?

"Tch. I see what you're playing at. You think I'm weak, and you're trying to pair me with others. That's what this morning was all about. Crests, lineage, knighthood...trifles. Skill and survival are the only things that matter. But if you're so convinced this is what I need to overcome my weaknesses…"

Byleth nodded encouragingly.

"Fine then—!" Felix slammed his hand down atop the table a second time. The dregs of his tea sloshed and splattered. "I accept your challenge. I'll be the adjutant this time. That's what you wanted, right?"

The professor slowly chewed on a macaron from the tray of sweets without answering.

That same disconcerting sensation that was becoming all-too familiar over the past several months settled back into place, nestling itself somewhere between his heart and rib cage. Beneath Byleth's cool, collected gaze, Felix felt as though his professor could see straight through him.

I don't know if this is what the professor wants.

...But it's what I want.