Episode Seven: The True Nature of This Feeling ―September 2032―

“Do as you wish. If that’s what you want to do, Kinugasa-kun, I shan’t stop you.”

Wataru looked visibly startled, or perhaps unsettled.

But I felt the same way.

“Sensei… are you… willing to give up teaching?”

　To my question, the teacher didn’t break her expression, answering in a flat voice as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“I couldn’t possibly call myself a teacher if I couldn’t protect even one student.”

—Oh, bloody hell.

I instinctively sensed it: all the blood in my body boiling, every cell stirring, an uncontrollable emotion welling up inside me.

　I was now utterly, hopelessly moved.

On the surface, she seemed to simply carry out her duties as a teacher dispassionately. Yet the resolve she possessed was far stronger than I had imagined, the polar opposite of me, who couldn’t even muster the resolve to face my own feelings.

Thank you, Sensei, for teaching me what it means to be brave, and for showing me the true nature of this feeling.

Hey, Sensei. …I’ve made up my mind.

　Kō, who had been staring blankly, snapped out of it and let out a curse.

“…Is that so? Is Meisa really that important to you?”

“She is important. She’s my student. And of course, so are you, Kinugasa-kun.”

Whether finally worn down by the teacher’s utterly unchanging attitude no matter what he did or said, Kō frowned, let out a heavy sigh, and looked at me.

“…Are you sure? I reckon you’ll have a hundred times more trouble than me.”

“It’s fine. It’s what I wanted.”

I doubt the teacher understood the exchange between Kō and me.

But that’s alright. A perceptive teacher isn’t the sort of teacher I know.

“I want Meisa to be happy. That’s my genuine, unadulterated feeling.”

“Thank you. I also want Kō to find someone else he likes.”

“But I won’t be cheering you on.”

“Yeah. I intend to manage on my own.”

“…No matter how hard I tried, Meisa never liked me. …I hope you learn the hard way, Meisa, that romance isn’t something you can force through your own efforts alone.”

　With that, Wataru turned his back on me and the teacher and walked away.

“…I’m glad you managed to persuade him somehow. Are you all right, Uehara-san? Did you get hurt?”

Like melting ice, the teacher’s voice slowly eased the tension that had been stretched tight within me, along with my fear of Wataru.

Relieved that the problem I’d been carrying with Wataru had finally ended, I was on the verge of collapsing to my knees.

　But I put on a brave face before the teacher. I didn’t want to cause any more worry or trouble.

I lifted the corners of my mouth, lowered the outer edges of my eyes… all that was left was to sound cheerful.

“Thank you for coming, Sensei. You really saved me.”

I should have managed the usual Uehara Meisa response perfectly. Yet the teacher leaned in close, peering at my face, and said in a gentle voice.

“Please don’t force yourself to smile.”

The teacher gently touched my cheeks, stiff from the forced smile. Then, with that same finger, she touched my lips, which had begun trembling without me noticing, and traced them softly.

“I am, after all, an adult. …You were frightened, weren’t you? It’s alright now.”

I thought I would break.

It felt as though all the things I’d kept bottled up inside, the lid, or the dam, or whatever you’d call it, were melting away from the spot the teacher touched.

I couldn’t hold it back. I couldn’t bear it. They became the easily recognisable phenomenon of tears, spilling from my eyes.

“…Sensei, I…!”

It wasn’t just tears that overflowed.

Something so precious I cherished even a single blink,
something that made my heartbeat grow louder just hearing its voice,
something that made my heart tighten just thinking about it,
something that made me happy just being touched, the true nature of this feeling was,
an emotion I couldn’t manage alone, an emotion given to me.

　What had been near certainty now asserted its existence with clear contours.

My heart rejoiced at this first-ever feeling, and I decided to report it to the person before me first.

Sensei. I think I’m in love.

I finally understood. Thanks to you, and no one else.