Breaking Masquerade of Heroes

Chapter 6 ~ A Competition and Another

"Got everything done! HAHA!" Byleth laughed. The heroes looked over at him in confusion. He appeared incredibly sleep deprived but soon he opened a curtain. It was a rack filled with all the outfits people were going to wear to the wedding.

Alcryst asked, "Are you... okay?! What the heck caused you to just do an all nighter?!" Byleth looked at him and just rolled his eyes. He started handing out the outfits to everyone. All of them were examining it and saw how relatively high quality it was.

"Despite you not getting any sort of sleep... you did a rather fantastic job at designing these clothes!" Furina complimented. Byleth looked at everyone. There was murmuring, and he was nervous. Unsure of whether or not they liked it or not.

Kirby cheered, "These outfits are super cool Byleth! If only you actually PRIORITIZE YOUR SLEEP!" Byleth looked at everyone as all of them were agreeing with the sleep comment.

"Okay look, you guys want me to sleep but the wedding is a high priority! I just need to get these done or else something bad will happen and I will NEVER succeed in the end."

"You do realize not having sleep is part of the reason why something bad WOULD happen?" Sonic asked. Byleth looked at him as Sonic had his arms crossed and he was tapping his foot. "I'm being as honest as I can be. Byleth you need to get some sleep or else something is going to happen to you in the long run."

"Shuichi doesn't-"

"Don't you DARE bring me into this conversation..." Shuichi grumbled. Byleth looked at him and at everyone. People were all sorrowful after realizing how much it took just to bring these outfits to life. Byleth grabbed his head and then just turned away slowly. He hugged himself as the heroes continued to still watch him.

"This was for all of you... and you hate me for it?!"

Mario asked, "When did we-a say we hated you!? We do not!" Byleth grabbed his head as Shuichi walked over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Listen to me Byleth, you GOT TO LISTEN TO ME!" Shuichi shouted. Byleth stared at him in fear as Shuichi took a deep breath. He put his hands down and took a deep breath. "You have to make sure you're healthy. We get you're competing against the best fashion designer on Dawn and our sponsor. But you won't EVER be successful if you continue to damage your health."

Byleth asked, "And you're the one to be talking to me?! You never sleep when it comes to cases!?"

"You think that staying up to design clothes and staying up to solve a crime are the same?!"

"YES."

"NO IT'S NOT!" Shuichi slapped Byleth across the face. The heroes were all shocked at the events. Byleth grabbed his face and sucked his teeth in pain. Shuichi looked at him and put his hand down. Just thinking to himself of what he did. "I apologize... I shouldn't have done something as irrational as that-"

"Forget it... you clearly don't understand me. Nobody in this forsaken world UNDERSTANDS ME!!" Byleth screamed. He ran up the stairs as the heroes watched him.

Marianne asked, "Why is Byleth always acting so irrational!?"

"It's because he's sleep deprived. I doubt he would continue to act like this if he wasn't..." Sonic muttered. The heroes looked at him and went to look upstairs. Byleth slammed his door shut and he was panting a lot. Byleth looked at the door and slid down against it.

Byleth muttered, "This place is one horrific nightmare. No matter what I end up doing, someone is going to bother me for it. I have to beat Rowan... I need to beat them..." Byleth took a long sigh and looked back at the clothes hanging on the clothing rack. They were still old designs but he had a soft spot for them. Byleth continued staring at the clothes and looked down upon himself again.

Byleth put his hand to his head and took another long deep breath. Byleth set his hand down and heard a call coming in. He looked at his phone, it was Chrom. "Hello?"

"Hey Byleth! Hope everything is going okay back there!" Chrom giggled. Byleth smiled after hearing Chrom's rather happy tone, "I just wanted to call in since Shuichi didn't answer his phone and neither did Furina. You're the only one who answered haha..." Byleth's smile then disappeared after hearing those words.

Byleth asked, "You called them first?"

"I mean isn't it obvious? They're my closest friends of course! So I would want to call them early to see if they're gonna answer! But they didn't..." Chrom explained. Byleth kept staring at the clothes and holding a tight grip on his phone. Feeling himself getting strangely really tense, "Look, you're my best friend as well. But you're always so busy which is why I don't want to bother you as much. I hope that doesn't mean you think I hate you. I don't. I can assure you that."

Byleth muttered, "It's fine... it's whatever. I don't... care at all." Byleth put his hand to his mouth and didn't have anything else to say. He took a deep breath and then set his hand down. Byleth was shaking and he took a few deep breaths.

Chrom questioned, "Byleth? Are you okay!?"

"I-I'm fine. I just have a lot... going on..." Byleth muttered. He put his hand to his mouth. Taking a deep breath and straight up, ending the call. Byleth stared at his phone. Questioning what was going on with him. He didn't know how to handle the situation. His phone started ringing again, Chrom was calling back. Byleth continued staring at the phone and canceled the call.

Byleth got up and went right to his desk. He started sketching another design and was murmuring some things to himself. Thinking about how to be successful and how he will be better than Rowan. Byleth continued sketching and soon that was done. He walked off to start sewing the design. He was working on the outfit and adding as much detail to it as possible. People came over and tried checking in on him, but he was too focused.

"I need to beat Rowan, I need to beat ROWAN!" Byleth yelled. Byleth continued working on the outfit more and more. He saw how flowy the dress was becoming. Still stitching on all the small details. Soon the dress was coming together more and more. Byleth continued on with the dress. Then he heard another knock. He finally decided to answer it to see what would await him. "Hello?"

"It's Furina, Byleth. Chrom called to see if there was a reason why you hung up on the phone call?" Furina asked. Byleth stood there staring at the door and just didn't respond. "Byleth, are you there?"

"Furina come inside," Byleth muttered. Furina opened the door as Byleth shined a light on the dress. Furina froze as she looked at it.

Furina asked, "W-What?! What...? How did you manage to do this?!" Furina was completely down-founded. The dress was filled with an ocean pattern attached to it. It looked like a ball gown dress but there were a lot of frills added to the bottom of it. Byleth walked over and did a quick adjustment to the dress. Then he showed it to Furina. "Why did you make this?!"

"I wanted to show Rowan my dress skills. The competition is tomorrow. I made this last moment but... I don't have a model that is going to work for this dress. You're the best fit for this dress. I even designed a hat," Byleth explained. He showed Furina a fascinator hat with a lot of decorations in it, "Look. I know you aren't fond of this, but I need your help. Please Furina..."

Furina replied, "Yes... I'll do it for you. Okay? Only because I feel bad about what happened earlier." Byleth looked up at Furina and smiled at her softly. Furina smiled back, "You need to get rest NOW. You are not staying up a second LONGER!" Byleth looked at her and just sighed. Admitting his defeat, soon Furina left the room. Byleth got dressed to get to sleep and stared at the dress one more time.

Byleth sighed, "I hope this works..."