Ashen Demon

17

"Amnesia."

 Shinobu delivered the news to Byleth personally before breaking it to Dimitri, who is still laying in bed and talking with Tanjiro after going through a checkup.

The moment Dimitri said those words, an uneasy feeling started to pool within Byleth as she noticed he wasn't fooling around with her. Then again, he was terrible at making jokes and doesn't take pleasure in messing around.

When she asked him what he remembers before passing out and about the others, Dimitri simply looked increasingly lost as seconds go by. Sensing something is wrong, Shinbou drove everyone out of the room so she can examine the male.

Some time has passed, and Shinobu came out and gestured the mint-haired woman to follow her to her personal office.

 Byleth felt her breath hitched upon hearing the diagnosis, her fears pretty much confirmed. She really hoped that wasn't the case, but it was plain obvious as day based on how Dimitri is behaving.
 
"He must have suffered a great deal of force in the back of his head, which not only caused him to go unconscious but also forgetting his memories." Shinobu tells her, boring a look of genuine sympathy on her face. "So far, he only remembers his name. But nothing else, unfortunately."

 "I.... I see..."

 The Insect Hashira can tell she looked very hurt that her close friend/former student lost his memories and doesn't recognize her. The reunion isn't exactly as how she expected, but no one would expect it to be all joyful and emotional every time. But to have a friend suddenly be amnesic is something not a single person would want to deal with.

 Contrast to how Byleth normally is, for her to appear disheartened is something that Shinobu hated to see.

 "It's not going to be easy, Byleth. For him to be able to remember his past and his relation with you would take a very long time, perhaps even years. The memories he lost do not come to him easily."

 "I'm... aware of that."

 In fact, it was a sick twist of play for Byleth. She is not one to treat amnesia like it was nothing, but with how Dimitri is now it would be like as though Byleth sided either Claude or Edelgard once more. And that it was the first time they've meet way back before Byleth became a professor and became one with Sothis.

It was difficult at first to pretend she knew nothing of him, when she knew many things about him.

 From his likes and dislikes, what he is most passionate about, his ideals, his goals for the future of his kingdom, the troubles he had trusted her with for keeping it to himself for so long, to his inner demons. Everything about him that she knew, to the point she can pretty much read him like an open book.

But for the sake of not raising suspicion of how she knew so much given her ability to reverse time, she has to act like a professor guiding and teaching the students.

 But it won't be like that in this case.

 For the sake of not overwhelming him, she would have to take things slowly with the crowned king. She would have to act as though this is their first time meeting once more, starting everything from ground zero once more. The progenitor goddess believes she can handle this, even though it pains her that she is truly a stranger to Dimitri currently.

 "May I suggest one thing?"

 Byleth looks at Shinobu with a questioning look.

 "It's best to slowly introduce him about our career and the world of demons as you spend time with him here and there, given this place is completely foreign to him. It would cause immense stress if he finds out about the existence of man-eating demons." She advises her with a stern expression, and Byleth was quick to agree to that.