The first episode of the drama series " The Reluctant Preacher " (Nippon TV, Saturday 9pm) starring actress Alice Hirose was broadcast on April 12th. At the end of the episode, a student Kaito (Mizusawa Rintaro) utters a certain word to Reimi Shizuka, a teacher of Class 10 of the private Meishin Academy, played by Hirose, which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In the first episode, Shizu, a 28-year-old who has been living as a NEET at her parents' house for two years for some reason, is persuaded by her mother Kanako (Keiko Horiuchi) and her friend Kyoko Kago (Yoshino Kimura) to reluctantly return to society. Despite her reluctance, she becomes the homeroom teacher for Class 10 of the private school Meishin Gakuen, where Kyoko is the principal.
Meishin Gakuen, a prestigious preparatory school with a long history, has seen a sharp decline in applicants due to the times, and the school reform committee, led by vice principal Shinjo (Kote Shinya), has set out a policy of "maintaining a reasonable distance from students, not getting angry, not praising them, and not giving them advice." Shizuka also greets the students in a harmless manner, but they look down on her, and no one listens to what she has to say.
However, Shizuka, who hates to lose, loses her temper and tells Hina, the leader of the first-string girls, "Shut up, you brat," making Hina and her friends her enemies. Then, Ayaka (Toyoshima Hana), who is being bullied by Hina, comes to Shizuka for help, saying, "Please help me," as if she thought Shizuka was a champion of justice... and so the story unfolds.
In the story, Shizuka later resolves the bullying issue between Hina and Ayaka through a "lecture". Then, as Shizuka is walking through the school, Kaito, a student from class 10, is lying in wait for her on the stairs. As Shizuka is about to pass by after saying "goodbye," Kaito calls out from behind, "Are you a teacher?" Hearing his words, Shizuka turns around without thinking and looks at Kaito.
On social media, there were many comments speculating on Kaito's words. Comments like "I'm really curious about that last 'Is it Shi?'", "Shizu-sensei's Shi? Have the two known each other for a long time", "I wonder if he's referring to the name of Shizu's social media account or something?", "I thought he looked like he knew the teacher", and "Is that what she calls Shizu? Maybe he knows Shizu-sensei?" were all gathered.
