"Here he is, Lady Rhea!" Anna cried as she and Ananias burst through Byleth's door. "Your substitute for the day!" Anna spread her hands out and presented Ananias as if he were some prized animal being shown off at the local fair.

Ananias's eyes widened in surprise as he turned to his cousin. "Substitute? You didn't tell me anything about being a substitute."

"Nor did you tell us who it was you were planning on give the role to," Lady Rhea said with a sigh.

Anna blinked. "O-oh, right. Heh heh. Sorry." She cleared her throat. "Lady Rhea, Captain Jeralt, Cyril, Professor, may I introduce you to my distant cousin, Ananias!"

Said people's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! I was not aware that you had any male siblings."

Jeralt's eyes narrowed as he held his chin and quickly looked Ananias over. "Hmm, well, 'cousin' does give a little bit of leeway. Let me guess, you're cousins by marriage, right? Not by blood?"

"Um, no," Ananias answered. "By blood, actually."

Jeralt's eyes widened again in disbelief. "By blood? Huh, is that so?"

Anna nodded. "Yep!" She then stood behind Ananias, reached from behind, and pinched and stretched his cheeks. "He's our little miracle. Even if he sometimes doesn't believe that."

Rhea smiled. "I see." She turned to Byleth, who had been laying in bed the entire time. "I suppose you and the professor have that in common then."

Jeralt's eyes narrowed at Rhea as Ananias stepped forward to get a better look at the professor. "He doesn't look too good." He turned to Rhea. "Did something happen to him?"

Rhea shook her head. "No. Thankfully, it just appears to be a case of the common cold."

"The common cold? Then wait, how long would I even have to sub for him then? Because I'll say it now, I'm not exactly qualified to teach anything, especially in a fancy place like this."

Jeralt folded his arms and smirked. "Don't worry. The kid doesn't get sick too often, but when he does, he's usually right as rain the next day. I can assure you, one good day of rest, and he'll be back to teaching those brats of his in no time."

"If that's the case, then maybe I should substitute for the professor instead," Cyril suggested.

"No offense, kid, but you've arguably got less teaching experience than this guy."

"But you just met him!"

"And?"

Cyril frowned and turned to Rhea. "Lady Rhea, please, let me do this! All of the students at the Officers Academy already know me and wouldn't it be a load off your mind to give the position to someone ya already know instead of someone ya just met?"

Rhea chuckled. "I see your point, Cyril, but I'd rather you stay here and attend to the professor."

"But -"

"Please, Cyril. Stay here and help nurse the professor back to health. With how busy everyone else is at the Officers Academy at the moment, you're the only one I can ask to do this."

Cyril gasped before giving Rhea a determined nod. "Well, alright then! Don't ya worry, Lady Rhea! I'll make sure the professor's back on his feet in no time. Heck, by the time I'm done with him, he'll be back on his feet by the end of the day!"

Rhea chuckled. "Having him return to good health by tomorrow will suffice, Cyril. Thank you." She then turned to Ananias. "Ananias, was it?"

Ananias straightened at her gaze. "Y-yes, ma'am, er... Lady Rhea?"

Rhea smiled at him. "Am I correct to assume that you will help us today?"

"Um," Ananias scratched the back of his head, "I could... if you really need me."

"Oh yes. We could certainly use the help, especially on such short notice."

"Well, um, are you sure?"

Rhea turned to Anna. "Do you trust him to do the job?"

Anna nodded and gave her the thumbs up. "I'm sure it's something he could handle. Especially if it's only a one-time thing."

"B-but am I really qualified for the job?"

"Don't... worry," Byleth said with a cough. He pointed at his desk. "I've already prepared my lesson for the day. Follow along with my plans and you should be fine."

"Man, this guy must be really under the weather," Ananias thought. "He sounds half-dead already."

"Well," Ananias said, "if everything has already been laid out for me, then I guess I can do this. Just for today though."

Rhea smiled and gave him a bow. "Thank you. The goddess has truly blessed us with your aid."

"Um, yeah... right."

After Rhea left, Jeralt roughly slapped his hand against Ananias's back and said, "Welp, good luck, kid. You're going to need it. Those brats of his can be a real handful when they want to be."

Ananias's eyes widened as Jeralt left. "H-he's exaggerating, right?" he asked his cousin.

Anna placed one of her fingers onto her face as she thought. "Well, they definitely have a lot of personality."

Ananias sighed. "Don't like the sound of that," he muttered.

"Hey, no chickening out, mister!" Cyril said. "Lady Rhea trusted ya to sub in for the professor and you agreed, so you've got to do it! No if, ands, or buts about it!"

Ananias groaned as he ran one of his hands down his face. Just what had he signed up for?

"Good morning, Professor!" Annette cried as she led her house into class. "So, what lesson are we going to learn tod-," Annette gasped and blushed. "O-oh! You're not the professor."

"Um, yeah, I'm not," Ananias said. "I'm, uh, filling in for him today."

Mercedes frowned. "Filling in? But why? Did something happen to him?"

"In a way. He's sick. Nothing too serious."

"Huh," Dimitri said, eyes widening in surprise. "You know, as silly as this might sound, I've never entertained the notion of our professor being bedridden before."

Ingrid chuckled and nodded. "Agreed. He always seems so unflappable. He just gives off the impression that nothing bad would ever really happen to him. Or at least, nothing too bad that he couldn't handle."

"Maybe after class, we should check up on him," Ashe suggested. "Being stuck in bed with nothing but sickness to keep you company isn't very fun for anyone."

"Oh, that's a great idea, Ashe!" Mercedes said. "Maybe we should bring him a get-well gift while we're at it. It'll double as a token of our appreciation towards him and all he's done for us throughout the year!"

Sylvain coughed. "Oh man, I think I may have caught what the professor's got! Maybe you could give some of that love and appreciation to me too?"

"Cease this, Sylvain," Dedue chided. "Do not trouble our substitute any further by adding your tomfoolery to his list of responsibilities."

"What exactly are you responsibilities anyway?" Felix asked, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes at Ananias as he awaited his answer.

"W-well, um," Ananias checked his papers, "according to your professor, we're going to be reading a few things and then you're going to do some assignments for him to review with you when he gets back."

"Ah, so basically just busy work then, right?"

"I-I mean, I'm pretty sure you're still learning something new, but... um... from a certain point of view, yeah."

"Right," Felix scoffed. "'A certain point of view'."

"Felix, must you be so rude?" Ingrid asked.

"Yeah, Felix," Sylvain said. "The guy's just doing his job and you've only just met him. Coming off a little strong, don't you think?"

"Humph, the only reason why I come off as 'too strong' is because our 'teacher' here is clearly too weak."

Ingrid glared at him. "Felix!"

"What? Are you going to defend him now? Just look at him. He clearly doesn't know what he's doing."

"Well, I've never seen him in at the monastery before," Ashe said. "And judging by everyone else's reactions, no one else has seen him before either."

"Right!" Annette said. "This could be his first time subbing in for someone. Are you really going to fault someone for having first day jitters, Felix?"

"Considering the fact that our actual professor didn't display such pathetic mannerisms on his first day? Yes, I will."

Dimitri sighed. "Felix, please. Must you really bully our teacher so?"

"I don't want to hear it from you, boar."

Dedue stepped forward. "Felix -"

"Whoa, whoa!" Ananias said. "Time out! It is... way too early for this. Look, I don't know what started this... whatever this is, but let's just agree to move on and start over, yeah?"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Mercedes said. "Come on, everyone. Let's give each other another great first impression!"

"Fine, you first," Felix said. "The material you're assigning us. Do you even know a thing about it?"

Ananias scratched the back of his head. "Um, well, not really."

"And that's all I needed to hear. I'm out of here."

"Felix, stop!" Ingrid cried, stopping Felix in his tracks. "What gives you the right to judge our teacher so harshly and to treat him with such disrespect?"

"His answers and my time," Felix answered. "You heard what he said. He doesn't know a thing about what he's going to be teaching us. At the very least, it'll be the blind leading the blind, and I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in wasting my time like that. I'm going to the training grounds. My time would be much better served there than here."

"But the material he's going to give us is based on what our professor wants us to learn!" Annette argued.

"Then I'll learn it on my own time, not with this guy breathing down my neck."

"H-hey, I wasn't planning on being that type of teacher with you guys."

"Well, you clearly weren't going to be a good one." Felix turned to his fellow classmates. "Look, if you want to spend the day making this guy feel better about himself, then be my guest. I'm just saying that I've got better things to do. Like training. See you around."

Sylvain sighed. "And there he goes."

"Honestly, the nerve of that guy." Ingrid turned to Ananias. "We, um, apologize for his behavior. If it's any consolation, he's kind of like that to everybody. Not just you."

"R-right!" Ashe said. "Don't take it too personally. He's a decent person, deep down. He just takes a while to warm up to people, that's all!"

"How much warming up are we talking about here?" Ananias asked.

"It's different for everybody," Mercedes said. "It's honestly up to him, really."

Ananias sighed. "First class and I've already got a walker. We haven't even gotten anything done yet."

"Do you want me to go after him?" Ingrid asked.

Ananias shook his head. "No, it's fine. Based on what I've been told, this should only be a one time thing. Him missing one day of class shouldn't be too bad."

"Still, the way he treated you was uncalled for," Dimitri said. "Is there any way we could make up for it? Any way at all?"

"Honestly, I just want to get this over with, so let's just, you know, get started and whatnot."

The Blue Lions looked at each other, clearly dissatisfied by this, but eventually nodded their heads and took their seats.

"Okay, so, first thing's first," Ananias looked the professor's notes. "You'll continue learning about tactics in regards to extreme weather conditions on page 52 and by page 60 you'll be discussing what you've just learned as a class before doing an assignment." He quickly skimmed through the professor's notes. "And it looks like your professor didn't leave any notes about what specifically he wanted to discuss. That is... not good for me."

"Um, excuse me, may I see those notes, please?" Annette asked. Ananias nodded and gave them to her. "Hmm. Wow, he really didn't say, did he?" She then gave him a reassuring smile. "Well, that's alright! I've already read ahead, so I can help lead an open discussion about it, if that's okay with you."

Ananias blinked in surprise. "Oh, um, yeah, sure. Discuss away. A-after doing the reading, I mean."

Mercedes giggled. "Wow, Annie! Looks like you've just got promoted!"

Annette giggled. "Who knows, maybe I'll be a teacher myself someday! Now, who wants to start reading?"

Ananias sat down and watched as the Blue Lions taught themselves the material that he was supposed to be teaching them. As much as Felix's words had hurt, there was no denying that there was some truth to them. This class was doing just fine without him, arguably better than if he had tried to lead them. He couldn't help but feel useless.

"Is this what my entire day is going to feel like?" he asked himself.

"Hey, Linhardt," Caspar whispered. "What are you doing?"

Linhardt placed a finger in front of his lips and shushed him. "I'm gonna try and leave. Cover me, won't you?"

Petra, who had seated herself right next to Caspar and could see and hear the entire thing leaned toward him and whispered, "Are you about to make the ditch?"

"What? No, I'm just... making an executive decision about my education. That's all."

"And that decision being?" Caspar asked.

Linhardt looked around to make sure it was still safe for him do dawdle like this and answered, "Look, no offense to this guy, but he's clearly just following the script the professor gave him. I figured, since he already told us what class today was going to be, I'd just go out and catch up on some sleep."

Petra tilted her head. "But you already sleep in our class regularly."

"I know that! But our sub seems like a decent guy, so I don't want to hurt his feelings sleeping here."

"Is abandoning the class considered less rude than sleeping?"

Linhardt shrugged. "Not sure, but that's a risk I'm willing to take." He turned to Caspar. "If he notices that I'm gone, just tell him that I just went to the bathroom or something."

Caspar glared at him. "Seriously?"

Linhardt nonchalantly raised two thumbs up. "Thanks, man."

"Hey, wait!" Caspar hissed. "I didn't agree to anything yet!"

Hubert cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir. But I believe one of our students is attempting to blindside you with his sudden absence."

Ananias looked up from the book he was reading and looked around. "Huh?" He then spotted Linhardt kneeling and crouching down near Caspar and Petra's desk. "Hey, what exactly are you doing there?"

Linhardt sighed, sheepishly scratched the back of his head, and stood up as he gave Hubert an exasperated frown. "Seriously, Hubert? You had to rat me out like that?"

"You are the rat trying to scurry away undetected," Hubert countered.

"Well, it's not like I was trying to get away with stealing something."

"No, you were just trying to disrespectfully skip class," Edelgard replied, folding her arms and giving him a stern look.

"I do it all the time," Linhardt lamely argued. "Why make a big fuss of it now?"

"Because we are our teacher's first exposure to the Adrestian Empire," Ferdinand said. "Do you not feel even the smallest iota of responsibility to make a good impression, at least for the empire, your family, or Edelgard's sake?"

"Oh, come on, he's just a messenger. How bad could one bad impression be?"

"Well, that depends," Dorothea remarked, crossing one leg over the other and folding her arms. "Do you really think so little of one lowly messenger's opinion? Hmm?"

Linhardt raised his hands. "Now, wait just a minute, Dorothea! You know that's not what I meant!"

"Hard not to interpret it any other way," Dorothea pointedly said.

"The wrath of a single man, no matter how low-born, could cause serious consequences," Edelgard said. "Your flippant carelessness in that regard is troubling, to say the least."

"W-wait," Bernadetta said. "W-wrath? I-is the teacher mad at us?"

Ananias turned to look at her. "Wha - mad? Who said I was mad?"

"Eek! He really is mad at us!" Bernadetta cowered beneath her desk. "Oh! Please don't be mad at Bernie!"

Ananias's eyes widened as his jaw dropped slightly. "No one's mad!"

"Oh?" Petra said. "So you are not angry by Linhardt's skipping?"

"W-well, I'm not happy about it, but -"

"Oh, come on, teach!" Caspar cried. "If you're going to lead the class, than you need to punish anyone who isn't following the rules! There'd be no point to them otherwise!"

"W-well, yeah, but -"

"Are you not feeling up to the task, sir?" Ferdinand asked. "Because if not, then I'd be honored to mete out the punishment for you in your stead!" He got up and placed one of his hands over his chest. "You have my word, my ability to give out disciplinary action and punishment will be nothing but fair and just!"

Ananias's eyes widened even more at this. "N-no! No one is punishing anyone!"

"So... I'm off the hook?" Linhardt asked.

Ananias shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "No! You... just give me a moment, will you?"

"Are you intending to punish him now?" Hubert asked. "Because if so, then I'd advise that you make the punishment a good one. Linhardt has a reputation of never truly learning his lesson in this regard."

"Hey!"

Ananias let out an exasperated as he rubbed his temples. "Okay, just... you don't want to be here, right?"

Linhardt glanced to the side before shrugging his shoulders and answering, "Um... I guess not?"

"Then that's your punishment. You just... stay here."

Edelgard gave him a disappointed frown. "Is that all? You're just forcing him to take the class he should already be taking in the first place?"

Caspar nodded. "Yeah, not going to lie, it sounds like Linhardt's kind of getting off scot-free."

"Come on, Teach, you can do better than that," Dorothea said. "Ladies don't think too kindly of men who can't put their foot down when they need to."

"Oh?" Ferdinand said. "Then I suppose my willingness to enforce disciplinary action made a positive impression on you then?"

Dorothea sighed. "Not now, Ferdie."

"Weren't we just reading the book a few moments ago?" Ananias asked. "How did we get here?"

Petra gave him a confused look. "By foot, yes?"

Ananias let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ah, there's our much talked about substitute teacher for the day!" Alois cried as he, Catherine, and Shamir set their food down and took seats beside Ananias in the dining hall, who felt too tired and miserable to eat and had just been sitting there with his head down and his face being covered by his arms.

Ananias peeked from behind his arms and asked, "Much talked about, am I?"

"Yes!" Alois said with a laugh. "The students seem to quite like you! You must be quite a natural if this is truly your first time!"

"Oh, they like me, do they?" Ananias once again buried his face into his arms.

Alois frowned. "Oh? Why so glum, chum? Aren't you happy to hear such a positive response?"

"Just because they like him doesn't mean they like him for all the right reasons, Alois," Shamir said. She turned and studied Ananias's tired state before commenting, "You really weren't made for this, were you?"

Ananias glanced at her. "That obvious, huh?"

Shamir frowned. "You couldn't be more obvious if you tried. Have the students really been that bad to you today?"

Ananias shook his head. "No, it's not that, it's just...," he squished his face between his hands and groaned, "it's all just... a bit much."

Catherine chuckled. "Yeah, they're pretty outspoken, aren't they? Takes a really special type of person to keep up with everything they throw at you. I'm guessing as a messenger, you've never really had to deal with something like that, huh?"

"Oh, is this the messenger substitute I've been hearing so much about?" Flayn asked, quickly taking a seat next to Ananias. "Good day to you, sir! My name is Flayn."

Ananias glanced awkwardly at the others at the table for a moment before saying, "Um... hi, Flayn. I'm... Ananias."

Flayn gasped. "Oh, I see! I had heard that you were related to Anna, who is famously known for coming from a family predominantly made up of women. How clever of your mother and father to give you a name similar to Anna while also respecting the opposite gender that you were born with!"

"Um, yeah, it was... very clever on their part."

"Flayn," Seteth sternly said as he looked down at her with a disapproving frown, his arms crossed. "Please, do not pester our guest with your questions."

Flayn pouted at him. "And pray tell, why not? Is it not natural for someone who has barely left the monastery to ask questions about the outside world to someone who has traveled all across it?"

Seteth sighed. "That is not the point." He turned to Ananias. "Please, forgive my little sister. She can sometimes be ignorant to the state of others."

"I see. And how exactly am I being 'ignorant' today, brother?"

"No offense, Flayn," Shamir said. "But he wasn't exactly in the mood to answer questions before you came."

"I... no, I'm fine," Ananias said with a sigh. "I'm only here for today anyway, so if she really has a lot of questions for me, then it's really now or never."

Flayn let out an excited gasp. "Oh, do you really mean that?"

Ananias nodded. "Yeah."

"And you are sure that I'm not bothering you in any way by doing so?"

"I'll, um... power through it."

"Ah, well, if that is the case -"

"Well, what do you know!" Manuela cried, pushing Seteth, who had been standing behind Ananias, out of the way and placing her hands onto Ananias's shoulders. "Our handsome man of mystery also happens to be an absolute gentleman!" She winked at him. "Let me guess: you coming from a family full of girls and women helped you learn how to treat a woman right, is that it?"

Ananias blinked at her in confusion. "Um, yeah, I guess that'd be at least part of the reason."

Hanneman let out an exasperated sigh as he walked up to the group. "Manuela, please. He is only here for the day. Are you really intending to have your heart broken in record time?"

Manuela glared at him as she wrapped her arms around Ananias's neck and possessively hugged him. "Buzz off, Hanneman! The early bird gets the worm, or in this case, the man."

"Um, Manuela, if we are talking about early birds, then it is I who is technically earlier than you," Flayn pointed out.

"Well, technically, we were the earliest out of all of you," Alois said. "But we barely got a word out of him before everybody swooped in!"

"Oh, you three weren't going to say anything important to him anyways!" Manuela argued. "And no offense, Flayn, but if you wanted to learn more about the outside world, then you could easily just ask any of us about it."

"But he is a messenger!" Flayn said. "Think of all the incredible places he has been! The unique deliveries he has made! The wonderful adventures he has had!"

"They're really not that great," Ananias muttered, slowly losing air from the death-grip Manuela had on his neck.

"And humble too!" Manuela let him go and squeezed between him and Flayn. "Hey, how about you and I have a little date before you leave, hmm? If things go well, you might be more inclined to stay!"

"Manuela, this is ridiculous even for you!" Hanneman placed a hand onto one of Ananias' shoulders and said, "I apologize for my associate's behavior. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, she seems absolutely committed to resist any and all change."

"Hey!"

"If you wish, I can get her out of your hair for you. I have become quite adept at it, if I do say so myself. All I ask in return is that you tell me what you know about your sibling's crest, the Major Crest of Ernest."

Ananias gave him a funny look. "Crest? I don't really know anything about that."

Seteth's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't?"

Ananias turned to him. "Should I?"

Hanneman grabbed his chin. "Hmm. How very strange. I suppose that is another similarity you have with the professor."

Ananias's eyes widened as he turned to Hanneman. "'Another similarity'?"

Catherine laughed as she took another bite of her food. "Yep! I can tell just by looking at you that you and the professor are cut from the same cloth!"

Ananias turned to her. "That cloth being?"

"Stoic, simple, and surprisingly stupid!"

Ananias's jaw dropped slightly. "B-but... you barely even know me!"

"Trust me," Catherine twirled her fork at him, "I've got a good eye about these kinds of things."

"Ignore her," Shamir said. "She's not always the reasonable type."

"Okay then," Catherine said. "Since you're the more reasonable one, what cloth would you say he was cut from?"

Shamir looked Ananias over for a moment before sighing and going back to her food. "Stoic, simple, and stupid, I guess."

"Ha! I knew it!"

"I thought you were trying to defend me!"

"I was trying to comfort you," Shamir corrected. "But then Catherine decided to call me out and I figured I wouldn't leave the question hanging. Not when you've got your last class to worry about."

"Oh?" Alois said. "And which class would that be?"

Shamir turned to him and answered, "The Golden Deer class."

Everyone in the group besides Ananias winced and groaned nervously. "A-are they really that bad?" Ananias asked.

"Oh dear," Manuela said, rubbing Ananias's arm comfortingly. "For you... yes."

Alois laughed. "Ha ha ha ha! Dear! I get it! Because it's the Golden DEER House and you called him DEAR! Good one, Manuela!"

Manuela frowned at him. "I wasn't trying to make a joke, Alois."

"And this is technically no laughing matter," Shamir said. She turned to Ananias. "Hey, if you want, I could take over your last class for you."

"You'd do that for me?"

Shamir shrugged. "Sure. I'm already pretty much done for the day, so taking over for you wouldn't be too much of an issue."

Ananias thought it over for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "No. I'll just... tough it out, for consistency's sake, at least."

"Ha ha!" Alois slapped Ananias's arm. "Good man! You take those Golden Deer and hold them by the horns!"

Upon hearing this, Ananias felt nothing but dread. The Golden Deer house couldn't be as bad as everyone was making them out to be, right?

"Eh, I don't know, Teach," Raphael said. "I still think muscles should factor in to this scenario."

Ananias sighed. "But the textbook says -"

"I know what the textbook says. I'm just saying that even if the battalion was taken off guard, if everyone in it had some really serious muscles, then that would mean that they'd have a bigger chance of survival, that's all."

Hilda rolled her eyes. "Muscles aren't everything, Raphael."

"But they're a pretty big thing, don't you think?"

Hilda leaned forward in her seat as she glared at him. "Yeah, no. I don't care how big those muscleheads are in that thick head of yours, if they don't have even a shred of fighting prowess, then they're as good as gone."

"Exactly!" Leonie cried. "Captain Jeralt didn't become a legendary captain through sheer strength alone, but through his tactical mind, skill, and knowledge! A battalion relying solely on strength is doomed to fall, whether in this scenario or another one."

"Huh, I don't know," Raphael said. "Captain Jeralt doesn't really come off as the tactically minded type. He seems more like the muscle type! I mean, have you seen his muscles?"

"How dare you belittle Captain Jeralt's skill like that!" Leonie said, slamming her hand against her desk and standing up from her seat. "If you had actually spent any meaningful time with him, you'd know that he was so much more than that!"

"We're not talking about Captain Jeralt!" Ananias cried. "We're talking about the problem that the textbook is telling us to solve and nothing else!"

"No offense," Lysithea said, "but one could argue that the oversimplified problem the textbook is presenting us is actually detrimental to our learning of tactics, rather than helping. After all, in real life, the scenario being presented would be nowhere near as clear cut as the textbook tries to make it out to be."

"Yes, how very disappointing," Lorenz said. "You would think that, in regards to educating the nobility, the monastery would spare no expense in getting the very best in study material. I must make sure to rectify this oversight."

"Just you though, right?" Hilda asked. "Because, I hate to break it to you, but I'd really be of no help to you in that regard."

Lysithea frowned disapprovingly at her. "Must you continue playing the inept ingenue?"

Hilda gasped. "'Playing'? Why, I'm not playing! Right, Marianne?"

"H-huh?" Marianne asked, Hilda's question having pulled her out of her thoughts. "O-oh, um... I guess?"

Leonie frowned as she placed her hands onto her hips. "You don't even know what we're talking about, do you, Marianne?"

"O-of course I do! It was... about the textbook, right?"

Lorenz sighed. "We have long since moved on from that subject, I'm afraid."

"O-oh."

"A-are...," Ananias said, pointing at her, "are you falling asleep in class?"

Marianne's eyes widened in surprise before shaking her head. "What? N-no, I would never do that. I just... have a lot on my mind, that's all."

Ananias pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "So you're another student who has other things they'd rather be doing or thinking about?"

"W-what? No! I didn't mean -"

"Hey!" Hilda cried, slamming her hands against her desk. "What's with you picking on Marianne all of a sudden, huh?"

"What?! I'm not picking on her!"

"Sure sounds like it to me!"

"N-now hold on one moment!" Ignatz cried, quickly moving in-between them and raising his hands to signal them to calm down. "Let's just calm down for a moment, alright?" He turned to Hilda. "Hilda, I don't think our teacher is picking on Marianne. I think he just suspects that Marianne is like Felix and Linhardt from his earlier classes. That would explain why he's so high strung about having another problem student in his class, that's all!"

"Humph! Well he should learn to get to know Marianne before unfairly judging her like that! Because if he did, he'd know that Marianne is anything but 'another problem student'!"

"Well, he doesn't!" Leonie countered. "And with how out of it Marianne can be sometimes, can you blame him?"

"Hey, whose side are you on?!"

"Hilda, please...," Marianne said, meekly grabbing one of Hilda's arms. "It's my own fault for getting myself into these kinds of things. You don't have to keep defending me like this."

"But I want to!"

"Glad to see your friend's opinion matters to you," Lysithea dryly said.

Lorenz sighed. "Honestly, Marianne. Someone of your station should really put more effort into avoiding messes such as these."

Marianne bowed her head. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry."

"Um, maybe we would all be better off changing the subject?" Ignatz suggested.

"Yeah, things are getting pretty intense," Raphael said.

Ananias sighed. "Alright, fine! Let's just... get back to the problem, shall we?"

"Oh yeah! The problem!" Raphael looked down and read the problem again before asking, "So how much muscle is in our battalion again?"

Leonie groaned. "We've already been through this, Raphael! Muscle doesn't matter! Not nearly as much as skill or tactical knowledge!"

Lysithea's eyes widened in surprise. "What? I thought that we had agreed that the problem was an unrealistic waste of time!"

"No," Lorenz said. "We agreed that the textbook was horribly out of date and that it would be my responsibility to replace it with a better one."

Marianne looked around in confusion. "Um... what exactly did we agree on again?"

"It's... um... well... we sort of agreed on a lot of things, really," Ignatz said.

"Except for the fact that our teacher was unjustifiably mad at Marianne!" Hilda pointed out.

Ananias ran his hands down his face and groaned in dismay as the Golden Deer continued to argue amongst themselves. Claude, who had been sitting back silently in his seat this entire time, looked at him and said, "Sorry about all this. As you can see, we're quite the rowdy bunch."

"Do you do this with your professor too?" Ananias asked.

Claude smiled and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

Ananias stared at him in disbelief for a moment before saying, "That doesn't make it right!"

He shrugged. "Well, that all depends on what your definition of 'right' means."

Ananias groaned louder at this, burying his face into his hands as he slumped down to the floor.

"Oh, Professor!" Anna said as she and Byleth ran into each other in the hallway. "Look at you! The day hasn't even ended yet and you're already back on your feet!"

Byleth smiled and nodded. "Yes. It turns out that everyone was right. All I really needed was the proper rest and care in order to get better again."

"I see. And how was the medicine I gave you? You think that had anything to do with it?"

"Um... perhaps?"

"Sounds like a positive review to me!" Anna took out the bag of medicine from her pocket and chuckled. "Now these babies will go flying off the shelves, once everyone knows that they've already been tested and all that!"

Byleth frowned. "Wait... were they not before?"

Anna winked at him and placed one of her fingers against her face. "Not by me they haven't!"

"Honestly!" Sothis said to Byleth. "This woman may be more of a threat to our lives than our actual enemies are!"

"Oh, hey Cuz!" Anna cried, waving to Ananias as he dejectedly walked toward them. "How did your day go?"

"Fine," Ananias hoarsely answered.

Byleth studied him for a moment. "Are you alright? You look as if you have gotten sick yourself."

Ananias nodded and rubbed his forehead. "That's one way to put it." He looked at Byleth. "I take it you're all better now?"

Byleth nodded. "Yes. Thank you for all of your help today. Hopefully my students did not cause you any trouble."

Ananias looked long and hard at Byleth for a moment before saying, "You know better than to say that."

Anna winced. "That bad, huh?"

Ananias shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe I'm just not made for this."

"Still, if my students caused you any grief, then I'll be sure to address their behavior with them tomorrow."

Ananias shook his head. "Don't. It was only for a day and I really didn't do that good of a job leading the class anyway. Let's just all move on and forget this ever happened, yeah?"

Byleth and Anna looked at each other, concerned. "Are you sure?" Byleth asked.

Ananias nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure." He sighed as he groggily scratched the back of his head. "I mean, no teaching experience, no people skills, and no backbone? I really had no business being here in the first place."

"Well, at least let us compensate you for your trouble then," Byleth said. "Go and find Seteth. He should be able to give you what you are owed."

"Yeah, thanks." Ananias then slowly began his search.

Anna looked at Byleth and bit her lip. "I should probably go with him," she whispered. "For his sake."

Byleth nodded. "I understand." As he watched the two of them walk off to go find Seteth, he folded his arms and thought, "What a strange fellow."

"No more strange than you," Sothis said.

"Oh?"

"Honestly, when it comes to teaching, you could've easily turned out like him when you first became a professor."

Byleth thought it over for a moment. "Yes, I suppose I was initially afraid that I'd end up like him on my first week of teaching. I'm still surprised I haven't, really."

Sothis chuckled. "Perhaps he is more you than even you are. Or perhaps this is a sign that you are more than you expected yourself to be? Regardless, I am glad that you are not like him. I could not imagine having to stomach being in close proximity to you if you were like that every day."

Byleth frowned. "Thanks... I suppose."

"You really had a hard time, didn't you?" Anna asked as she and Ananias continued searching for Seteth, Anna searching more diligently as Ananias continued walking as if in a daze.

"It's just not for me. Though based on what little I've seen of the professor, I'm surprised he can take the grind."

Anna chuckled. "Yeah, I was pretty surprised myself when I first met him, but he fills the role nicely, it seems."

"Humph, what a weird guy."

Anna smirked. "YOU'RE a weird guy."

Ananias shrugged. "Not as weird as him."

Author's Note #1: I couldn't think of any way to include the Ashen Wolves, Jeritza, Tomas, and Gilbert into the story, though to be fair, this story takes place pretty early in Three House's timeline and it would probably be out of character for some of them to go out of their way to interact with Ananias anyway, so I personally think it's fine. Sorry if you're disappointed about their exclusion though.

Author's Note #2: I have a poll on my profile for the next character I will be focusing on. You can either choose between Lumaria (Flavia's daughter), Tan'bay (Say'ri's son), Zephyra (Emmeryn's daughter), Tenk (Tiki's son), or Lana (Ananias' daughter during the Fates chapters). You can choose your top two choices on this poll.