The fifth episode of the drama series " The Reluctant Preacher " (Nippon TV, Saturday 9pm) starring actress Alice Hirose was broadcast on May 10th. At the end of the episode, Suzuki Aika (Shida Mirai), who was the homeroom teacher of Class 10 before Shizu (Hirose), is alone in a dark room muttering something about Shizu, which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 5, when Moriguchi (Ito Atsushi) suspects Urami ( Shota Watanabe) of putting up slanderous flyers about Shizuka, Urami denies it, saying, "Why would I do something like that?", and his dislike of Moriguchi grows. While drinking with Urami at an izakaya, Shizuka witnesses Seira (Okazaki Sae) being dumped. Seira, who is indifferent to her students, is shocked and becomes even less focused on her work. Meanwhile, suspicions emerge that 11 second-year students, including Shizuka's, were smoking a year ago. At the time, all 11 were in class 8 of the first year, so the responsibility falls on Seira, who was their homeroom teacher. Six of the 11 students are candidates for expulsion, as they are on the "forced dropout list," and Moriguchi plots to eliminate only those six.
Shizuka and Urami invite Seira to a bar to listen to her complaints about her broken heart. Then Aika, who Urami had called, shows up. Seeing Aika for the first time in a while, Seira asks for her help, and Aika says, "If it gets really tough...I think it's okay to run away anytime," and Shizuka is taken aback by her words. These were the same words Shizuka had once given to a client who was being bullied as SEE. Later, while drinking with Urami again, Shizuka learns from Urami that he is actually dating Aika.
Afterwards, Shizuka and the others try to persuade Seira to thwart Moriguchi's plan, but Seira uses Aika's words as an excuse to try to avoid the problem. However, the next day, Seira is told by Shizuka to "Just once, try to face the issue seriously and with all your might!", and at a meeting of the Parent-Teacher Association officials, Seira reveals that the school is planning to take discriminatory measures. However, in reality, all the Parent-Teacher Association officials have already agreed with Moriguchi's plan, leaving Seira speechless... and so the story unfolds.
In the final scene of the story, Aika is shown sitting in a chair in a dark room. She mutters the same words as the poster that slanders Shizuka, "Reimi Shizuka is a murderer...", then she looks up and says, "Isn't that right? Karen..." There, in front of her, is a portrait of Karen hanging up after her death.
On social media, Aika's last tweet has sparked heated speculation about her relationship with Shizuka, with comments such as "Is the girl who died Aika-sensei's sister?", "So Aika-sensei's sister died because of the words SEE?" and "Maybe the sign on the school building was also Aika-sensei's?". Also, since Urami is her lover, comments such as "Are the Urami-sensei couple trying to get revenge on Shizuka-sensei!?", "Urami-sensei, who knows Aika-sensei's situation, put up the sign at her request...", "If they are lovers, there's no way Urami-sensei doesn't know about Aika-sensei's dark side", and "Maybe Urami-sensei isn't stupid after all" were also gathered.
