Admiration

“…I can’t comprehend what’s happening at all.”

As if voicing everyone’s doubts, Stella asked me.

Unlike our open conversation from moments ago, her voice carried a slight distance now.

That was the tone she used.

“I want to believe such a thing couldn’t exist, Teacher Ophelia. But your reaction concerns me too much. It’s as if…”

She seemed to want to say it truly appeared I possessed that strange power called hypnosis.

“…I apologize for doubting you, Teacher Ophelia. What do you think? There’s no way that criminal’s words could be true, right?”

Stella trailed off apologetically, as if feeling guilty for suspecting me.

She seemed determined to dismiss our seemingly familiar interaction as coincidence and label the self-proclaimed terrorist’s claims as a criminal’s nonsense.

If I laughed it off saying I couldn’t possibly do such things, she’d likely apologize immediately.

“Why would you even ask that? Of course such nonsense couldn’t be true. Hypnosis? Hah, be reasonable.”

“Just considering all possibilities.”

“…”

What should I do?

Should I naturally laugh it off, saying hypnotic abilities couldn’t possibly exist?

That might let me easily escape this predicament.

…But what then?

What would I do after escaping this situation?

That bastard moved as if determined to take his anger out on me.

Even while captured by students like this, he’d keep blatantly signaling that I’m behind this incident.

To stop that, I need to immediately escape and subdue him.

But if I leave now to chase him, their suspicions will turn to certainties.

The seeds of doubt had already been sown.

Even if dismissed as lies, the fact that he and I acted like acquaintances would be accepted as undeniable proof of some connection.

Knowing a terrorist who attacked the academy? Of all people?

However I navigated this crisis, they’d clearly view me with suspicion.

…Should I use hypnosis after all?

“…Teacher Ophelia?”

I shook my head at the sudden thought of using hypnosis to erase students’ memories of recent events.

That might extinguish the immediate fire.

But the academy was currently under active attack.

Hypnosis isn’t omnipotent. If it were truly all-powerful, he couldn’t have interpreted my hypnotic suggestions and played this trick on me without violating them.

Nor could he have kept running his mouth against my hypnosis when we first met.

While I could make people mistake what they see or perceive it as something else, maintaining such illusions against reality long-term was impossible.

Erase the students’ memories right now?

Of course, they’d completely forget that person’s existence. I could make our conversation disappear.

But memory erasure through hypnosis isn’t true erasure – it’s closer to sealing.

It’s merely deceiving eyes – making the nonexistent seem real or vice versa.

The fact that this encounter happened remains reality. “Erasing” their memories through hypnosis is essentially sealing brain memories.

Initially, they’d live forgetting his existence per my hypnosis…

But with such a major incident occurring, clearly the academy and whole world would be in uproar.

Students would then start sensing discrepancies.

That face… haven’t I seen it somewhere…?

The moment such thoughts emerge, everything becomes uncontrollable.

Like old chains breaking, memory shackles would gradually come undone.

…Under these circumstances, I have no choice but to brace myself.

“Ahaha…”

An absurd mistake left me speechless.

Regret washed over me at the thought of never seeing these children again.

A laugh escaped me, mingled with complex emotions.

I achieved everything I wanted, but never imagined it would end like this.

I resented my past self who carelessly used hypnosis during those days.

“Yes, I did it.”

“Right, Teacher Ophelia would never… what?”

“I said I’m the mastermind.”

The thought that I wouldn’t witness these students’ happy futures firsthand was unbearably sad.

Honestly, I wanted to grab that bastard by the hair right now, screaming and shaking him.

They say long tails get stepped on, but I never imagined it would happen like this.

Was hypnosis too convenient an ability? I used it too carelessly.

“…I must have misheard. What did you say?”

“I said I orchestrated it.”

If I denied hypnosis’s existence here, I could keep living alongside my beloved students.

Whenever students felt curious, I’d just hypnotize them again.

…But I didn’t want that.

That would require constantly hypnotizing students.

“What nonsense…”

Why did I possess hypnotic abilities yet refrain from abusing them with students?

Because I wanted them to achieve their happy ending through their own strength.

I didn’t want them forcibly controlled by hypnosis.

So I hypnotized them as indirectly as possible.

To help them stand on their own.

…After all this time, I couldn’t toy with their minds just because I was in trouble.

What I loved were students who thought and acted independently, not figurines moving at my whim.

“Stop joking.”

“Do you think I’m joking?”

I knew well how much the students liked me.

So even if I truly had hypnotic abilities, I could act like it didn’t matter.

But I shouldn’t.

Orca, Leo, or Eileen might be fine, but Stella and Anastasia would suffer.

Though Edwin leads the Bright Light Society, thanks to his actions, others would think I’m behind it.

Why not dismiss it as the terrorist’s nonsense?

Because Stella and Anastasia’s current positions were too precarious.

Still lacking solid foundations.

In this situation ripe for complaints, any excuse to attack them – whether true or false – would deal a blow.

The person named as mastermind by the terrorist attacking the academy.

If Stella, who suddenly gained succession rights, tried protecting such a person, backlash would be inevitable.

Anastasia wouldn’t fare better either.

Given her public reputation barely suppresses the church, her damage might exceed Stella’s.

I didn’t want to become an obstacle to the students’ futures just to protect myself.

I wouldn’t force it through hypnosis out of selfishness when clearly only harm would result.

Merely revealing my hypnotic ability would make them try embracing me. Their attempts to believe in me showed that.

Then I should remove myself.

A painful decision, but also for their futures.

After coming this far, I couldn’t bear their futures becoming uncertain because of me.

Originally, I was like an impurity here without knowing why I remained.

Even without me, they’d manage fine.

“Lies.”

“It’s not a lie.”

“We’ve gotten along well until now, Teacher. …Weren’t we close?”

Orca stared blankly at me while muttering.

It hurt. But was also necessary.

I curled my lips into the most villainous smile possible.

“Who knows? Were we ever truly close?”

“What?”

“Who’s to say your protective feelings toward me aren’t my manipulation?”

I glanced around.

For the confused students, I resolved to leave the academy stage.

Anyway, the main story already concluded. Edwin would die according to my hypnosis.

Only epilogues remained.

Then this impurity needn’t linger among them.

“Are your current feelings toward me even real?”

“I… admired your kindness.”

“Did you?”

“…I once thought I wanted to become someone like you. To help bottom-feeders like me. Was that hypnosis too?”

Seeing Orca’s tone gradually coarsen, I realized time was short.

Orca had a hot-tempered side. A little more provocation would unleash her anger.

…So she admired me. I hadn’t known.

Had I been that important to Orca?

Perhaps she dreamed of becoming a teacher because of me.

“Have you been deceiving me from the start! Even those feelings!”

“…I never meant to deceive? Simply, no one here truly understood what kind of person I was.”

Quietly, I recited lines from a manga I’d once read.

“Admiration is the emotion farthest from understanding.”