The final episode of the drama series " The Reluctant Preacher " (Nippon TV, Saturday 9pm) starring actress Alice Hirose was broadcast on June 14th. With the school forced to close due to the leak of the "forced dropout list", Shizuka (played by Hirose) delivered a "godly sermon" to the students at a school assembly, which caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In the final episode, a student named Wakisaka (Mamoru Hagiwara) leaks a list of students who were forced to drop out in an attempt to frame Shizuka. The school is inundated with calls from parents and the media demanding an explanation. The teachers, overwhelmed with what they're doing, end up pretending they "knew nothing" in order to avoid upsetting the students. Shizuka, feeling guilty, ends up telling a lie in front of the students to get out of the situation.
However, the situation becomes even more complicated. Moriguchi (Ito Atsushi), who made the list, falls for Wakisaka's trick and confesses in front of the camera that "I was the one who came up with this plan." The video is uploaded to social media, causing a public uproar. The press swarms the school. Kyoko (Kimura Yoshino), the principal, makes up her mind and promises to explain and apologize to the students at a school assembly, but Shizuka, who cannot explain it to the students in her own words, is left feeling uneasy.
Meanwhile, Wakisaka appears in class 10 and berates Shizuka and the school for lying to everyone. This stirs up anxiety in the class, and the classroom falls apart. Kyoko collapses from overwork, and the school assembly is postponed. Meishin Academy is forced to close temporarily. With the school facing a crisis, Shizuka happens to meet Miyazawa (Yoshida Haruto), who was expelled from the school. Miyazawa says that Shizuka's words saved him, and encourages her, saying that the students of class 10 are waiting for her to say more.
After that, all the students of class 10 suddenly came to the classroom. Shizuka was surprised, but after listening to the students' thoughts, she appealed to the vice principal, Shinjo (Kote Shinya), to hold a school assembly... and so it unfolded.
The next day, a school assembly is held in response to Shizuka's appeal. As all the teachers look on, Shinjo acknowledges the existence of the list and apologizes, but Wakisaka, taking a video on his smartphone, questions whether the other teachers are not responsible. Suddenly, Shizuka yells, "Shut up, brat!" Shizuka goes up on stage and tells Wakisaka, "Spread what I'm about to say uncut!" She explains that what Shinjo said was the truth, and that the other teachers resisted the plan and tried to prevent any expulsions.
Shizuka tells Wakisaka, who insists there is no evidence, "You have no choice but to make them believe you," and explains that trust is important in choosing the truth from information that has no proof or basis. She goes on to say, "I think trust is the emotion that people build up between each other, that we want to believe. Look at the person, not the information!" and "If you have trust, you can believe in it when you're in trouble."
Wakisaka continued, "So does that mean the students in class 10 trust you?" Shizuka responded, "I think they do. Because I've lectured you so many times," and declared, "The most important thing in a lecture is trust." Then, when Shizuka said, "I want you to trust us, the teachers," the students in class 10 all replied, "We trust you."
On social media, Shizuka's lecture and the bond she shared with the students of class 10 was met with a flood of emotional responses. Comments included, "I was moved," "I was captivated by what I heard," "Trust is important. What a great thing to say," "It really touched my heart," "Class 10 is seriously the best," "The bond with class 10 - I cried," and "The trust between the students of class 10 is just too strong."
