The Black Eagles separated once the lunchtime bells went. A few of them went to the dining hall for food whilst others returned to their rooms to get changed into fresh clothes, Byleth was one of the latter. He'd opted to go to his room not just because he was wet, but also because he needed time to himself and to calm his own breathing.

'How you helped that poor girl, Bernadetta,' Sothis said. 'It was beautiful.'

A knock came at his door and Byleth opened it to find Dudley grinning up at him, holding a plate of cooked fish.

'I had some of the fish you caught cooked and thought I'd bring it over to you!'

'Thank you,' Byleth said. 'And thank you for your help today.'

Dudley shook his head. 'The pleasure is all mine! Y'know, rumours are rife around this place, and one of them is about that girl, Bernadetta, and how she's afraid of everything and gets easily panicked. Apparently not even Seteth could get her to be at ease. From sounds of it, you're the first person to manage to calm her down, and that's special.'

'Thank you.'

'Just speaking the truth! Say, from the amount of fish you caught you're clearly good at it! Do you want to go fishing again sometime?'

For the first time, he saw Byleth smile. 'That would be nice.'

It was late afternoon by the time Byleth walked back to the Black Eagles classroom. As he walked, he felt his chest tighten, a realization dawned on him.

This is my final session with the students before the mock battle.

He entered the classroom and all the students (except Caspar, of course) were already waiting for him. Just as they'd done the morning before, they turned and watched him walk up the centre aisle towards the desk, and just like the previous the day, they looked at him when he turned to face them.

At first glance, not much had changed since the previous day. His students had heavy bags under their eyes and some of them (Linhardt most notably) were slumped over the desk. Upon second glance, however, things had changed. Ferdinand's noble smile wasn't forced this time, and Petra sat up straight. Dorothea, although tired looking, looked relaxed. Linhardt, although looking as bored as usual, didn't look like he was going to fall asleep this time. Hubert looked as he always did, but Edelgard watched him with the feintest of smiles on her face. The most obvious difference, however, was that Bernadetta was sat with the rest class. She sat with Dorothea. Her face was pale and her eyes were puffy, but she wasn't trembling. Most importantly, she was looking straight into his eyes. She looked at him in a way he'd never seen before.

They were all looking at him in a way they hadn't before.

'Professor, I enjoyed two fish fillets for lunch today, both of which had been caught by you,' Ferdinand said, rubbing his belly. 'I thank you for your generosity.'

'It's just a shame you couldn't catch any yourself, Ferdie,' Dorothea said, winking at Byleth.

'One doesn't become an expert overnight, Dorothea, but I intend to dedicate myself to the art when I can, and perhaps one day I'll be as good at it as our professor.'

'I didn't catch anything, but it was fun to try, I must admit,' Edelgard said.

'Professor, can we make fishing a regular part of our lessons?' Linhardt asked. 'I found it to be a thoroughly educational experience.'

'I would like to remind you all that we have the mock battle tomorrow,' Hubert said. He glared at Byleth. 'Something that we have paid no attention to today. May I ask, are we going to use any of today productively?'

Byleth nodded. He'd thought carefully back in his room about what they could do, and only one thing had seemed right. He looked at Edelgard. 'Run through our plans for the mock battle one final time.'

Edelgard moved to the front of the room with the map and just like the day before, she went through everything, from the rules, their placement on the map, their different positions and responsibilities and the strengths and weaknesses of the two other Houses. The day before, listening to the plans had deflated the students, to the extent that he'd been sure that some of them had stopped paying attention altogether. Now, they all paid attention to Edelgard carefully, Linhardt included, and when she asked each of them to repeat their roles in the battle, they all spoke with an energy and focus Byleth hadn't heard from them prior. When Edelgard finished, she returned to her chair and Byleth realised that it was down to him again. The church bells would ring for dinner soon, he was sure, and the remaining time he had left in the class before the battle would finally be over. He looked at his students. He'd planned everything he'd said and done that day in advance, all the way up to Edelgard going over their battle plans a final time. This next part, however, was something he hadn't planned for. He took a deep breath in.

Sincerely try my best, he thought. He looked around the room again, and asked the question Jeralt always asked the mercenaries before an assignment.

'How are we feeling about the challenge ahead?'

There was a long pause and around the room he started to feel the same anxiety from before kick in. Even Edelgard's face started looked uncertain.

'We do seem to be faced with quite the challenge,' Ferdinand murmured.

'The other houses have prepared very well, I think' Petra said.

'Yeah... it's going to take everything we have to win tomorrow… especially when we're one down with Caspar not there,' Dorothea said.

'We will need to be at the top of our game,' Edelgard said.

'We have no chance, and I blame that on you, Professor.'

Byleth and the rest of the class turned and looked at Hubert. His lively eyes were ablaze. 'You have failed to prepare us adequately the entire week. When you first arrived, you did nothing, and then you disappeared under rather suspicious circumstances. You then reappeared yesterday and did nothing once again, Lady Edelgard and Jeritza had to do everything for you, and then you chose to waste our final day of preparation by forcing us to go fishing. We have not done enough training, we are not ready. We'-

'Enough.'

Byleth once again didn't shout but spoke loudly enough to make Hubert fall silent. The rest of the class snapped their heads around and looked at him. Byleth took two deep breaths in, counting from one to five and back twice silently, and then spoke.

'Your preparation hasn't been perfect because of me, and I apologise. Things didn't go well at first, I was not used to this, (he looked at Linhardt) and I could tell repeatedly that what Seteth told you about my illness is true, but that won't make it sound any less suspicious. I can't change what happened so my focus has been on using these final two days in a way that would benefit you all best (he met Hubert's eyes) fishing included.'

He took another deep breath, sensing that the dinner bells were about to ring. When they went, his time with the class would be over. He knew that what he said in those next few moments was important. He thought about his father leading his mercenaries.

They need to think they can do well tomorrow… they need something…-

And that's when he thought about Sothis and what she'd said to him the evening before when he'd been in bed. She'd said something that'd stuck with him.

… I need to try and give them something to believe in.

'I've seen enough from each of you to know we can win tomorrow. Don't doubt yourselves, you've worked hard, and you're more prepared, capable (he eyed Bernadetta) and brave than you think. And I promise, and swear on my life, I will not let you down. I will give my all.'

The church bells rang and a chill raced down his back. His time with the class was over. They could hear chairs scraping in other classes and the footsteps of people moving towards the dining hall, yet none of the Black Eagles moved an inch. For a long period of time, Byleth couldn't read their expressions, Hubert's included. They eyed him, and then Edelgard rose to her feet.

'The odds were against in Remire,' she said. 'We were heavily outnumbered against a huge bandit army, yet we killed them all and saved Remire village, in large part thanks to you. Without you, myself, Dimitri and Claude would all be dead. I support you, Professor.'

She moved a fist to her chest and then Ferdinand rose.

'I also believe in you, Professor, and you are right, we are more than capable of winning tomorrow. The odds may be against us, but that will only make our victory even sweeter!'

Linhardt rose with a large grin on his face. 'Professor, you will always be my favourite if you take us fishing.'

'I am trusting you, Professor,' Petra said, rising next. 'You taught me well today, and your saving of Bernadetta inspired me. I shall follow you tomorrow with all my heart!'

'That's the most important point.'

Dorothea rose to her feet next. 'I'm sure I'm speaking for most of us when I say we're not standing because of the tales of your prowess, but because of how we saw you treat Bern today.'

She put a hand on Bernadetta's shoulder. The girl didn't jump. Her head was down, but she wasn't trembling. She was afraid still, clearly, but was calm.

'Tomorrows' scary,' Dorothea continued, 'but everything after that is worrisome as well, because we could get caught up in real fights, where we could really be killed. It's going to be hard, and we need the right person to guide us and to keep us calm in those stressful times and what I saw today makes me want to believe you're that person.'

She put moved her fist to her chest, just as the others had done. Hubert continued to glare at Byleth, and he knew that the man wouldn't rise himself, despite Edelgard nudging him. He may have made an agreement with the man, but-

A chair scraped. He turned his head and saw Bernadetta push her chair back and rise to her feet. She, the one who'd slapped him out of fear when they'd first met, the one who'd been so scared of him that she could hardly be near him or even look at him, now held his gaze.

She looked at him and then moved her fist to her chest.