The seventh episode of the drama series " The Reluctant Preacher " (Nippon TV, Saturday 9pm) starring actress Alice Hirose was broadcast on May 24th. In the episode, Aika (Shida Mirai), who lost her sister to suicide, is shown venting her hatred for Shizu (Hirose) to Kyoko (Kimura Yoshino), which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 7, it is revealed that the person who posted the slanderous flyers against Shizuka was Aika, the girlfriend of Urami ( Shota Watanabe), a former teacher. According to Urami, Aika believes that Shizuka's words, also known as "SEE," drove her sister to her death. After hearing the story, Kyoko asks Urami to let her meet Aika.
Meanwhile, Shizuka was about to enjoy her first peaceful Sunday since becoming a homeroom teacher. After working up a sweat at the gym in the morning, Shizuka enjoyed lunch with Seira (Okazaki Sae). However, Seira told her that she may have left her wallet in the staff room, so Shizuka had to go to school with her. There, she somehow bumped into Seira's ex-boyfriend Yamazaki (Maehara Kou), who ended up hiding in the boys' bathroom. Furthermore, Oguchi (Noro Kayo) and Shinjo (Kote Shinya), who were at school, were having a difficult breakup and were facing a bloody scene. Meanwhile, Kyoko went to see Aika, who had a grudge against Shizuka... and so the story unfolded.
At the end of the episode, Aika reveals to Kyoko the circumstances surrounding her younger sister Karen's suicide. After learning that Karen had been bullied at school, Aika finds an exchange between Karen and "SEE" on her computer after her death, where she learns that SEE had advised her to "run away whenever you want." Aika is convinced that SEE's words were the trigger for Karen's suicide, and tells Kyoko, "I will never forgive Reimi Shizuka... She was the trigger for Karen's death. I will never forget the sadness and hatred I feel after losing Karen!"
On social media, Aika's words became a hot topic with comments such as, "Isn't she hating the wrong person?", "Hatred doesn't produce anything...", "It's just Aika's grudge," and "It feels like she's just holding a grudge and it makes me feel uneasy..." In addition, in the preview for the next episode that followed, Aika was shown storming into the school and screaming in front of Shizuka and the students, "Reimi Shizuka caused my sister to die!" and "She has no right to be a teacher!", which led to comments such as, "The counterattack is finally here... what's going to happen?", "It's coming to hell... it's scary," "I wonder if I can handle next week..." and "The preview made my heart flutter."
