The eighth episode of the drama series " The Reluctant Preacher " (Nippon TV, Saturday 9pm) starring actress Alice Hirose was broadcast on May 31st. In the episode, Shizuka (Hirose), who was slandered as a "murderer" by former teacher Aika (Shida Mirai), is depicted "lecturing" herself in front of her students, which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 8, Aika blames Shizuka for her sister's death and grows increasingly resentful. However, Shizuka, who never imagines that Aika resents her, begins to become aware of her role as a teacher and actively interacts with the students. Meanwhile, Aika suddenly appears in the classroom of class 2-10 and, in front of Shizuka, declares to the students, "Reimi Shizuka is... a murderer." The classroom is thrown into chaos by Aika's bombshell statement. Shizuka is stunned to find out that Aika is the older sister of Karen (Sugawara Satsuki), who committed suicide. Aika then becomes excited and distraught, saying, "I will never forgive you! You are not fit to be a teacher!"
Afterwards, Aika was taken to the conference room and blamed Shizuka, saying, "Did you take responsibility for your words? You became a teacher because you didn't? I can't forgive that!" and "You started talking arrogantly to my precious students! I can't forgive that!" Shizuka, whose heart was pierced by Aika's words, asked in tears, "What can I do to make you forgive me?" Kyouko then ordered Shizuka to explain to the students in her own words, and she bowed her head and asked to wait just one day... and so on.
In the same episode, Shizuka stands at the podium the next day and reveals that she used to post her daily thoughts online under the handle name SEE, and about Karen. When Ayaka (Toyoshima Hana) points out to her that "it's still strange to go on to kill someone after that," Shizuka agrees, saying, "I think so too."
Then, she prefaced her speech by saying, "I'm going to lecture myself for blaming myself," and, with her back to the students, shouted, "I have no right to share my thoughts with others, so I don't interact with them! Do you think that's atonement? That's just self-satisfaction!" Shizuka added, "My true atonement is not to seal away my words. It's to save children who are suffering like that child," and pleaded, "Please let me remain a teacher of this class!"
On social media, many people were moved by Shizu's heartfelt lecture to herself. Comments such as "It brought me to tears," "It really touched my heart, I could cry," "I was captivated by listening," and "Shizu Sensei's words really brought me to tears" were posted.
