[ A gift, was it? From Cyrus -- or the Time Stream, technically -- and Shez can't say he's come to fully understand the complexity of their universe in all of its intricate minutiae, but he does come to a similar conclusion as Byleth has: ]

So there's another Shez out there who thinks of a Byleth as his most special friend, huh?

[ Well. Special is definitely one way to put it, somehow both meaningful and ambiguous enough to pack the full extent of the relationship between them-- as themselves, and their multiple counterparts across infinite timelines. From bitter enemies who managed to bury their hatchet, executioners meant to snuff the life out of each other, or even vessels for deep-seated grudges running much longer than either of them has been alive and conscious in their world, the truth is there may be no universe in which they are just two ships passing in the night; for better or worse, there was always a touch of destiny about them.

(Maybe Arval has rubbed off too hard on him.)

His gaze drops back to the whistle in his hand, and though the memory of what they experienced back in that carnival still haunts, he smiles. ]

I dunno about you, but I like these guys much better than anything we saw in those mirrors. Remember that?

[ It's as rhetorical a question as it can be; he doesn't think anyone could forget, Byleth least of all. ]