Chapter 1

Byleth

When Byleth was born again, he remembered his past memories. Memories of his time as a mercenary, his time with his father, and most importantly, his memories as a professor for all the kids. They gave him the humanity that he didn't even know he had. Instead of crying loudly like an infant normally does, Byleth's first tears in his reincarnated body was like when he first ever cried: slow, quiet tears that expressed the sadness and grief of losing his father. Only this time, it was for all his students. Dimitri, Claude, Edelgard.

It was the final battle and Byleth was back on Gronder Field. But unlike the Battle of Eagle and Lion, instead of a battle with the winners being able to boast their victories, this battle was where the winners lived and the losers died. He didn't want to kill anyone on the opposite side of the war. Even though they were not in his house, they were still his students after all… And Edelgard—the vicious, cruel ruler—she was still his student. However, when her words caused his students to fall from their horses and crumple into the dirt one by one, he could not stand and watch.

Even as he plunged his sword into her body, he cried. Not just because of the body that crumpled before him, but also the bodies of all of his students behind him. His use of 13 divine pulses did not save them. If only I had trained them harder… No… if only I was stronger. He could only weep as he looked at the chaos surrounding him, knowing that he was unable to save them.

He laid Edelgard's body onto the ground gently. No matter her actions, no matter the hatred he had for what she had done, he still loved his student.

He closed his eyes and prayed. Sothis… I know you're inside me. Please… if you can hear me, please give me another chance to save them. I need… I need your power to save them.

And he used another divine pulse

Eisner Bereto. His name was oddly familiar to his first name, yet the one-year-old Byleth brushed it off as mere coincidence. His last name though—now that was definitely his father's last name. He, however, didn't know what his father in this world looked like because even before his eyes developed enough to see things clearly, he found himself with dozens of other children in an orphanage.

He has never set foot in an orphanage, but he has definitely seen many of them in his travels as a mercenary. Unsurprisingly, his caretakers were scared that he wasn't crying or needing much attention compared to the babies surrounding him. He could only groan at the thought of doing nothing useful in his time, such as learning the language. The soft words only confused him and he vowed to learn it as quickly as possible. After his short afternoon nap of course. Oh, how he now related to Linhardt.

When Byleth was 6, he already surpassed the other older children in the orphanage in terms of strength and intelligence. His strength was undeniable when he signed up for a week of free kendo classes, and he defeated all the children in the ages 6-12 group. The dojo master came to the orphanage a week later, only to tell him that he was now being adopted by him. People did not usually look at adopting him (not that he cared) because he was not "cute," yet Byleth shrugged and grabbed his things to live with the dojo master.

"You're now Yamamoto Bereto."

"No." Byleth looked impassively at his new 'father'

"W-what? No?" The master, his normally firm look cracked to show a shocked and angry expression. "You're refusing to take my last name? I adopted you, you brat."

"No." Byleth stared back while he was calmly kneeling on the tatami mat in the closed dojo.

"You're really refusing to take my last name?"

"I'm not going to change my last name. It's my father's last name."

The master looked at the boy incredulously. "I heard that you've never even met your father before… whatever." Seeing Byleth's unwavering expression, he sighed and scratched his already messy, long, gray hair. "If you don't take my last name, people won't know that I'm your father. Your name is already as foreign as it is. I guess you look foreign."

"I'll continue to treat you as my master. Please teach me sensei." Byleth gave a respectful bow and the master sighed again.

"You're going WHERE?" Master Yamamoto snapped his head out of the 2nd floor window of the dojo to see Byleth already 20 feet away from where he was talking with another student. Damn that boy was fast. But his ears were faster.

Byleth turned back towards him. His tall frame looked small from far away. "I'm taking the teaching credentials exam today."

"What about the competition that's ALSO today?!"

Byleth shrugged. "I'll be back before then." He continued to walk to the bus station.

"You brat! You need to warm up and not get other distractions in your head. You might lose!" Byleth, pretending not to hear him, continued to walk away. Slunking down, Master Yamamoto asked one of his disciples to get him some aspirin.

"So you didn't stop him?" Takeru, his most seasoned disciple, handed him a glass of water with an aspirin. "You act so tough around us, but you really do have a soft spot on your son."

"That brat doesn't even think of me as a father," Master Yamamoto cried. "He's an annoying little brat still. Maybe I should've brought him back to the orphanage all those years ago after he didn't take my last name."

"And yet you still kept him till now. And he's 22. You have to hand it to him though. He's been doing so well in competitions and you can't even teach him anything new. And he's been studying to be a teacher?" Takeru chuckled softly at his master's retreated form. "Who knows. He might not have even studied very hard."

"Yeah, sure…"

Byleth, although becoming a Kendo nationalist at the age of 10 and continuing to win every national tournament, managed to excel in his academics all throughout high school to get into Tokyo University without applying for an athletic scholarship. And when he got into uni… Master Yamamoto groaned. He got interested in fencing. FENCING. He put his dojo and his name to shame, that little brat. After some one-sided yelling and reminding Byleth of his promise to continue to train for kendo competitions while in college in exchange for college tuition, Byleth relented to fencing just once a week. Not that Master Yamamoto even needed to pay for Byleth's tuition. The boy's got tons of sponsors and all he does is buys gifts and grow flowers for the kids he tutors and teaches. Byleth relented because he's a good kid. Although, growing flowers and giving them to his students was strange, because Byleth pushed away any romantic advances after giving them such a present. He's a weird kid. Weird, annoying, but lovable kid.

Ryuji

When Ryuji heard that a new teacher was coming, he was both excited and annoyed. Maybe this teacher won't have some bias against him, but it's most likely that the other teachers told him EVERYTHING bad about him. He listened to the chattering around him. It sounded like someone said "He's a national champion in kendo! Kyah!" He grit his teeth. Great, just another Kamoshida as a teacher. Why's a guy like that even teaching? He must be a perv like Kamoshida, wanting to use his fame to get away with stuff like abusing students.

When the new teach came in, it was evident that this guy was foreign. Tall, handsome, angled face, and blue hair? That's not even normal. Ryuji thought, maybe at least he won't say anything about my dyed hair. How's this guy a Japanese Kendo champion?

"My name is Eisner Bereto. I will be your mathematics teacher." The girls were going CRAZY about the teacher. It was evident to Ryuji that this new teacher was a man of few words. Why's this guy a teacher?

.

Well, Ryuji was completely wrong. This new teach was the best he's ever had, and he was good in all the other subjects too. Like what the heck? Furthermore, it seemed like this teach also pissed off Kamoshida because he was another star athlete (and apparently still active) as well as a Tokyo U graduate. He probably encroached on Kamoshida's 'territory,' Ryuji laughed. How is such a guy even possible? Eisner-sensei wasn't even mean to him. He would give extra tutoring to people who needed help and would help Ryuji in all the subjects he struggled in.

Eisner-sensei was kind of quirky though. He would do tea parties and stuff with his students, and even invited Ryuji a few times! He also gives a lot of gifts to his students. For the first time in a long time, Ryuji enjoyed school, just because of one teacher. He did a double take, however, when he saw Eisner-sensei effortlessly carrying three giant bags of fertilizer up the stairs and to the roof. Ryuji saw a clutter of other gardening supplies on the ground on the first floor as he went downstairs. He pulled his sleeves up and crouched down to carry some of the pots that were lying on the floor. Might as well get some exercise in and help carry the supplies.

Haru

When Haru came to the roof one morning, she was surprised at the stranger tending to the bushels of flowers that were expertly grown. When she saw that the stranger's hair was blue, she gasped.

"Oh, are you the new mathematics teacher?" The stranger turned to face Haru, and stood up straight. He nodded his head while brushing off his hands of the dirt.

"Eisner Bereto."

"Uh, nice to meet you Eisner-sensei! My name is Okumura Haru." She looked at the flowers that were behind the quiet teacher. "I saw all those pots and new seedlings a few days ago and wondered who planted those. It's wonderful to see a fellow gardener!"

Byleth nodded and gave a small smile. He reached into his pocket, not caring about the dirt still left on his hands, and pulled out something.

"Here." He handed a beautiful floral admonment to Haru.

Surprised at the sudden gift, Haru was taken aback. However, not to be seen as rude, she bowed and accepted the gift graciously. "Oh, thank you, sensei! It is beautiful."

Byleth nodded again and went back to tending to the plants. Haru joined him, taking care of her own patch of plants that would soon grow to be vegetables.

Makoto

When Makoto first met the new math teacher, it was because the professor was talking to the principle when she came into the principal's office.

"Oh, Nijima-kun. This is our newest teacher, Eisner-sensei. He's a national kendo champion and Tokyo University graduate. I am so pleased that such an esteemed person would be a teacher at our school. He can no doubt help you with your college application process!" Makoto was pleasantly shocked that the new teacher was not only a famous kendo champion, but also a Tokyo U graduate that could help her get into her dream college. She was also surprised that he looked like a foreigner and had a foreign last name while still being a national kendo champion.

"Nice to meet you, Eisner-sensei. My name is Nijima Makoto." She gave a small bow and Eisner-sensei nodded back.

"Hello."

A man of few words, she thought.

.

The second time she met Eisner-sensei, she was shocked once again because he was privately tutoring the infamous Sakamoto Ryuji in the closed-off office.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I thought you guys were students that broke into this closed off office." She bowed, embarrassed by her mistake. Eisner-sensei waved her a sign of 'its alright' while Sakamoto gave her a greeting of 'hey prez.'

She turned away but she stopped before closing the door.

"I'm sorry sensei, but do you mind if I come to you sometime to ask about the college application process?"

Eisner-sensei nodded and replied, "of course."

Smiling, Makoto gave another small bow and continued on her inspection of the school campus. The endless work of being a student council president…

.

When she came to school, the next day, she didn't think that Eisner-sensei would be the one to invite her to talk so soon. Or, invite her to tea. The students who saw the invitation in her shoe locker clamored around her, expressing their shock and jealousy of getting an invitation to Eisner-sensei's coveted tea party.

Feeling a small bit of hidden joy of being invited to such an exclusive party, she spent the day thinking about her exciting afternoon.

As the bells rang for the final class period, Makoto calmly packed her school supplies while internally overjoyed. As a teacher for mathematics that she already took, Makoto and her classmates had little time to interact with Eisner-sensei. They were talking about him the ENTIRE day. It only made her feel a bit more special. It's not everyday that her classmates willingly came to her to gossip. She's interested in these kinds of stuff too!

When going into the office that she accidentally barged into yesterday, she was pleasantly greeted with a fragrant smell from the room. Mmmm it was a Sweet Apple Tea! The snacks that were laying tauntingly looked delicious too.

And Eisner-sensei, who she thought was a man of little words, started counseling and giving great advice on applying and getting into Tokyo U. His voice was soothing and his teaching proficiency was evident. The tea and biscuits were delicious and she was disappointed when the time quickly passed and Eisner-sensei told her everything she should know.

She knew it was time to leave, but before she said her goodbyes, she took out a small paper bag. "Eisner-sensei, thank you very much for your great advice today and the tea! I would normally bring something more, but I was surprised by your invitation today." She took out two mini cacti. "I grow these at home and hopefully you'll use them to decorate your office."

Eisner-sensei looked a bit shocked but gave a genuine smile that made Makoto slightly blush.

"Thank you Nijima-kun. I really appreciate it."

Kawakami

"Can I employ you to help me decorate my office and clean it every once in a while?" Kawakami turned swiftly at the sudden deep voice behind her and looked around the staff office to see if anyone heard what he said.

The new teacher has already gotten his own office, just like Kamoshida, but she sighed internally. It's not like she's some famous kendo master or a Tokyo U graduate. But this guy literally just got hired… this was unfair.

Raising her brow, she responded, "Hmm… only if you share the office with me," as a joke. She did need some money, but what kind of money could this fresh new teacher even give her? Also, why was he even offering her a job?

To her absolute horror, Eisner-sensei only nodded before grabbing her whole desk effortlessly from the staff office—books and all—and carried it to his office while she stared in shock.

To see the gawked faces of students when they saw Eisner-sensei's strength made her regret her choice of words.

Ann

When Ann first saw Eisner-sensei, she was looking impassively at Kamoshida dominating the teachers vs. students volleyball rally. Eisner-sensei was standing next to her side, looking at the game with a deep, intense glare.

"Well, are you going to stop trying to control the ball with your mind or are you going to play, sensei?" Ann asked in a playful tone and immediately regretted it when some of the girls nearby started whispering furiously behind her. No doubt about her 'flirting' with the teacher.

"How do you play this… volleyball exactly?" Eisner-sensei's serious tone made Ann taken aback.

"You… really don't know how to play volleyball?"

Eisner-sensei shook his head. "No, so I was concentrating on how Kamoshida-sensei was playing."

Kamoshida, while walking around the audience to get some applause during the break, heard Ann and interjected. "Eisner-sensei, are you really saying that you've never played volleyball before?" He smirked. "Come on to the court. I'll teach you the basics. I'm sure the students want to see you in action too."

Ann frowned at Kamoshida's arrogant attitude, sure that he will try to bully or beat up the new teacher. She started to interject, but Eisner-sensei started walking to the court. Kamoshida's grin grew even eviler.

On the court, Kamoshida directed Eisner-sensei to the opposite side of the teachers, saying that 'he's a beginner, so should be with the students' and some other crap. It was evident that Kamoshida was trying to humiliate Eisner-sensei.

"Here, try serving. With your kendo talents, I'm sure your serve should be like a regular swing of your sword," Kamoshida chuckled arrogantly.

Eisner-sensei grabbed the ball and turned to Mishima, who looked like he has been through a lot this game. "So I just have to throw it and not let it go past the white lines?"

Mishima looked shocked that the teacher was talking to him.

"Oh, uh, yes! And don't let it hit the net." Eisner-sensei nodded at his words.

The whistle blew and Eisner-sensei held the ball in his right hand. Ann looked at the unfair game dejectedly and hoped for some miracle, only to see Eisner-sensei throwing the ball and it flying through the air to smack Kamoshida's face. Just like he did to Mishima earlier.

The crowd fell silent as Eisner-sensei walked across the court to look at Kamoshida's condition. Kamoshida couldn't even hit it back! Ann laughed internally, but held it as Kamoshida seethed in anger at the new teacher, hitting his hand away and storming out of the gym.

Did she see a slight smirk from Eisner-sensei?

Ryuji showed up to the rooftop a long while after Akira, Ann, and Morgana came up to the roof.

"Sorry guys! I was held up by Ushimaru-sensei saying something about my hair" Ryuji gave a strained grin, scratching the back of his head.

Morgana voiced his annoyance with an annoyed grumble while Akira and Ann said that it was all right. They were studying for their math quiz for tomorrow anyways. Ann sighed exasperatedly, while Akira scratched his head in confusion.

Looking at the problem from their shoulder, Ryuji asked, "Wait why didn't you guys go to the study session being held by Eisner-sensei?" Akira looked at Ryuji with a confused look. "Oh wait, you guys have Inui-sensei for math!" No wonder Akira doesn't know about him. It sucks cuz he's such a great teacher. You should seriously go to him with any questions." Ryuji laughed at his good luck, while Ann looked at him with an annoyed glare.

"Whatever! I can always go to him for help anyways. He helps all students alike." Ann huffed while reaching out a hand to ask for Ryuji's notes that he got from Eisner-sensei.

"Ohhh is he that teacher all the other students talk about?" Morgana chimed in.

Ann laughed. "Yup! And he's the one who literally threw a volleyball into Kamoshida's deserving face."

"What I didn't hear about that from Joker!" Morgana looked surprised. "I'm surprised he could do that to a volleyball star."

"He has some crazy unbelievable strength… I think there was a rumor about him effortlessly carrying a 150 pound desk from the staff lounge to his office."

Akira was surprised at the revelation. "Is he the person who is a kendo nationalist and a Tokyo U graduate?" He was met with two nods from his friends.

"He's not mean to me, even with the rumors! He's awesome!" Ryuji grinned widely and excitedly shared all the great things that he has done for him.

Maybe I should try talking to him? Akira thought to himself.

When Kamoshida confessed his sins after changing his heart, Eisner-sensei did not join in with the other teachers yelling for the students to return to class. Rather, he stalked quietly and dangerously up the stairs while people were talking furiously among themselves. The student body snapped their heads to the stage again when Eisner-sensei lifted Kamoshida's whole body and slung his body behind him.

"E-Eisner-sensei! Where are you taking Kamoshida-sensei?" The principle looked gobsmacked and tried to stop Byleth.

Turning face and giving glare, Byleth responds, "To the police, of course."

Unsurprisingly, the papers the next day talked about Kamoshida, the phantom thieves, and the teacher who walked two miles with Kamoshida in his back to bring him to the police station.

The police were concerned that the teacher assaulted Kamoshida, but surprisingly found no bruises and let him go peacefully, albeit with shocked expressions.

"Ya know, we should get more serious about going to the gym and working out Akira." Ryuji huffed while Akira joined in chugging a gallon-full of water.

"Agreed. We're going to need more stamina to make sure we don't get tired as we did in Kamoshida's palace." Akira brushed away the water on his face while handing the jug to Ryuji.

The two were out on a hot summer's day, and just finished up their jog around the suburban streets of Yongen-Jaya.

"Should we try some other sports?" Ryuji pointed to the kendo dojo that was coming up as they were walking to cool down.

"Maybe. Kendo isn't really an aerobic exercise though, is it?" Akira did think that it might be helpful when handling his knife though.

Ryuji hmmed. But this changed when they saw Eisner-sensei's distinct blue hair walking out of the dojo.

"Oooh so you two are learning kendo now?" Haru looked at Ryuji and Akira

"Yeah, it's awesome! And Eisner-sensei sometimes teaches at Yamamoto Dojo. " Ryuji talked excitedly.

~Name and Location inputted.~

Morgana gasped, "Wait… was it just me or did that sound like the MetaNav?"

The group all reached for their phones simultaneously.

"Oh my freaking god." Ryuji gulped as he looked at his phone screen. "Uhh, guys I think I butt-opened MetaNav and I guess Eisner-sensei has a palace?"

"YOU BUTT-OPENED METANAV?" Yelled Futaba.

Ryuji nodded.

"AND EISNER-SENEI HAS A PALACE?" Yelled Ann.

Ryuji nodded some more.

Ann's shocked face was not the only one in the group.

"Are you sure that this is the same Eisner-sensei? I mean, we did just say his last name." Makoto gave a meek whisper.

"For Kamoshida, we just had to say his last name too…" Akira reminisced.

"That's very strange. From what you have told me, this Eisner-sensei is a very kind teacher, or am I not remembering it correctly?" Yusuke looked at the navigator with a puzzled look.

"Yeah, it's so strange…" Haru looked dejected. "He seems to be so different compared to other teachers.

Akira thought quizzically. "It might not mean that he is a bad person, but it shows that he has a very strong, distorted desire."

The group nodded in agreement.

"Lemme just…" Futaba continued to type away some code on her laptop while Morgana and Joker looked at the screen from the side.

"Wow, I'm glad that you're so good at hacking, Futaba," Morgana remarked.

"Hehehe, this is nothing," Futaba giggled. "It's hilarious how easy it is to hack some places though." The computer's screen changed. "Like your school principal's computer and your phone Akira."

Akira groaned. "Okay but you can do the same for Eisner-sensei's phone, right?"

Futaba nodded. "I'll most likely be able to." She looked at the files that were saved onto the principal's computer. "Look I can see your grades! You need to improve your math skills, Akira!" Futaba laughed as he grumbled that he'll study later.

"Putting Akira's grades to the side, did you find out anything about Eisner?" Morgana peered down the screen that had Byleth's teacher application.

"Yeah he put down his cell phone number here. Let me look it up." With some more typing, Futaba screamed in exasperation. "Did he seriously put down a landline as his cell phone number?"

Akira and Morgana furrowed their brows.

"Does he have any other information?" Akira looked across the computer screen carefully.

"He put another landline as his home number. What the hell." Futaba groaned. "Who doesn't have a cell phone nowadays."

It seems like this teacher doesn't.

"Sensei! So what do you think of kendo?" Akira asked Byleth during their short break.

Putting his hand to his face to make a thinking motion, Byleth responded, "Training? I need to always get stronger."

Akira prodded some more. "So I guess this place is like a training ground?" he pointed to the dojo.

"No," Byleth shook his head. "I have to think of training as a battle. I will never win without thinking that it is a battle. So a battlefield would be more of an accurate description."

Taken aback by his fierceness and overwhelmingly easy method to get the distortion, Akira just numbly nodded back in agreeance.

"I thought it would be harder to get information on Eisner-sensei because he's not the type to talk about himself, but the other students at the dojo were surprisingly very forthcoming." Akira looked at the other members.

"Let's gather all our information together." Morgana chirped from Akira's bag. "Master Yamamoto is apparently his adoptive father. "

"He's been doing kendo since he was 6," said Ryuji

"Well, he's told me that he sees the kendo dojo as a battlefield." Said Akira

"Wait, Akira. Did he really tell you that directly?" Ryuji was shocked that the teacher himself was not much of a speaker.

"Yes. I was surprised that he told me that, as well as because his tone was very determined."

"Well, let's try it." And opened up the MetaNav. "Battlefield."

Keyword incomplete

"Wait, it's incomplete? There's more?"

"School. Competition. Uhh… Arena. Stage. Grrr… ugh I give up."

"How long have we been doing this for, seriously?"

"Much too long. It may be a good idea…" Yusuke drawled out. "I've been thinking of improving my proficiency in my katana skills lately. Mayhap, I should join you two?"

"Sensei, I've heard that you're also a teacher at a high school nearby. Is this your first teaching job?" Yusuke, after getting some adjustments in his form by Eisner-sensei, quizzically asked.

Eisner-sensei shook his head. "No, I've taught some other high schoolers before."

"Oh," Yusuke looked surprised. "Where have you taught at?"

"Well, I've tutored, but I've also taught at a monastery."

Yusuke asks the important questions, for sure.

"A monastery? He doesn't seem to be religious. Can you even teach at a monastery if you're not religious?" questioned Ann.

"I'm sure you can, but I thought Shujin was his first teaching job. He's so young," Makoto remarked.

"We should try it though, right?" Haru's chipper tone brought them back from their musing and Akira took out his phone.

"Monastery."

Palace found.

"Damn, Eisener-sensei's distortions are strange," Ryuji sighed. "A monastery and battlefield?"

"Well, Joker? What should we do now?" Morgana asked.

"Let's go."