"Teacher! Stay with us, Teacher!"
The first to act was Yamada-kun.
He rushed to the Teacher's side as she crumpled from her chair and checked her condition.
Tears streamed down her face, her eyes wide open, her breathing ragged and irregular, her body convulsing in time with it.
She was desperately trying to keep breathing, but the pained look on her face suggested she was falling into hyperventilation.
Yamada-kun lifted the Teacher's upper body and began casting healing magic.
But in this world, healing magic could only mend damaged tissue—it couldn't cure illness. Whether hyperventilation counted as an illness was debatable, but one thing was clear: healing magic wouldn't fix it.
"Step aside."
She pushed past Yamada-kun, who could do nothing but cast healing magic and call out to the Teacher, and peered into the Teacher's eyes.
Then she activated Evil Eye.
She made it produce the opposite effect from its usual one.
Her Evil Eye normally had the power to terrify whatever it looked at. That meant it worked directly on the target's psyche. She'd never tried it before, but if she could induce fear, then in theory she should also be able to restore calm.
When the Teacher met her Evil Eye, her whole body convulsed violently once.
But after that, the major convulsions stopped.
That said, her breathing was still ragged, and the smaller tremors hadn't let up.
"Teacher, stay calm. Take a deep breath."
She spoke slowly and gently, careful not to stimulate the Teacher's mind any further.
The Teacher obeyed her words and breathed in.
"Now, without rushing, slowly breathe out."
She wove her words carefully—clear and reassuring, yet calm and measured.
"Breathe in... breathe out... breathe in... breathe out..."
By guiding her through slow, deep breaths, the Teacher's condition gradually began to stabilize.
Throughout it all, she held the Teacher's hand tight.
Her breathing had steadied, but the tears kept falling in a steady stream.
And perhaps from crying so hard, the occasional hiccup-like tremor still wracked her body.
Her face was a soggy mess of tears and snot.
She wiped it with her sleeve.
But it just kept overflowing again from wherever she'd wiped.
For a while, the Teacher kept crying.
Because the Teacher was an Elf whose body grew slowly, she looked younger compared to the other Reincarnators.
If you only went by appearance, there would be nothing strange about seeing her bawl like this.
But to the Reincarnators, it must have been a shocking sight.
Because unlike the other Reincarnators, the Teacher was the only adult.
Contrary to her appearance, when you combined her previous life and this one, she had lived longer than any of the Reincarnators.
To see that adult falling apart like this with no regard for dignity or appearances—they surely never could have imagined it.
She hadn't imagined it either.
"It's okay. It's okay."
She wrapped an arm around the Teacher's small back and gently stroked it.
"You haven't done anything wrong."
She said it slowly, making sure it sank in.
"Risking your life to fight for your students—there is no way that could ever be wrong."
At those words, she noticed Kudou-san awkwardly averting his gaze.
Her eyes were fixed on the Teacher, but she was always passively aware of her surroundings through clairvoyance, so she'd picked up on it without even trying.
From Kudou-san's behavior up to now, she knew he had his suspicions about the Teacher.
But Kudou-san didn't know just how desperately the Teacher had struggled, fighting to save the students.
And he didn't know that when the Teacher had learned the Reincarnators were gathered for
As for the latter, she had misjudged it too.
She never expected the Teacher to collapse.
She'd been convinced the Teacher would be fine, even after learning the truth.
"Potimas was certainly despicable. But Teacher, you worked hard for everyone's sake without a single lie—there's no way that was wrong. Besides, look—we're all alive and together, aren't we?"
She spoke gently to the Teacher, whose sobbing hadn't stopped.
In reality, it was true that the Teacher had been used by Potimas. But even so, many Reincarnators had been saved by her.
This world was harsh, unlike Earth.
She'd lost count of how many times she'd nearly died, and the vampire kid and the oni kid were no different.
Even so, they'd simply been lucky.
It wouldn't have been strange if they'd died.
The same was true for the other Reincarnators—unless you were born into a privileged few like Yamada-kun, you were always living right next to death.
Perhaps without the Teacher's protection, not even half of those present here would have survived.
And it was precisely because every last Reincarnator had gathered at this Elf village that they'd been able to defeat Potimas without a hitch.
Everything had worked out in the end, so the Teacher had no reason to torment herself.
"Th-that's... not it!"
The Teacher screamed through her tears.
"I couldn't... save them! I... I couldn't... save them!"
It was the kind of wail that made you think this was what true grief sounded like.
She was crying, her voice broken and halting, never loud.
And yet, why did it ring so deep?
Certainly, there were people who weren't here.
Sakurazaki Kazunari.
Kogure
Hayashi Kota.
And Natsume Kenta.
Besides Hasebe-san, who was bedridden, there were other Reincarnators absent from this gathering.
Reincarnators they would never see again.
The Teacher apparently felt responsible for their deaths.
There was nothing she could say about that.
But she thought that guilt was misplaced to begin with.
Their lives were their own.
And so were their deaths.
She didn't think the Teacher needed to bear responsibility for those deaths.
The Teacher might believe she could have saved them, but there were things people could do and things they couldn't.
Trying to save everyone was an arrogant way of thinking.
Unless you were omniscient and omnipotent, saving everyone was simply impossible.
Even she couldn't do it.
After that, the Teacher kept crying like a small child.
Why couldn't she save them? What was it all for?
She murmured these things over and over, like she was delirious.
After who knew how much time had passed, the Teacher finally stopped crying.
But her eyes were vacant, devoid of any spark of life.
"
Kushitani-san, who had been silently watching things unfold until now, spoke to her.
"The Teacher looks exhausted, so I'll put her to bed. We shouldn't put any more strain on her. I'll keep an eye on her, so go ahead and continue your conversation."
The suggestion was exactly what she wanted to hear.
Leaving the Teacher alone right now wouldn't be good.
Ideally, she'd like to watch over her herself, but ditching this situation to nurse the Teacher couldn't be called the best option.
Kudou-san and the others had complicated feelings about the Teacher, and she couldn't just leave things be with all that unresolved.
On that front, Kushitani-san had only recently arrived at this Elf village and should be able to look after the Teacher without getting emotional.
She was also one of the few Reincarnators who could hold her own in a fight, so there was no one better suited for the job.
The vampire kid was out of the question, and the oni kid was technically a boy, so he probably wasn't suited for nursing the Teacher.
"Can I leave her to you?"
"Leave it to me."
Kushitani-san lifted the Teacher into a princess carry.
After exchanging a glance with Tagawa-kun, Kushitani-san carried her up the stairs.
Kushitani-san was reliable—leaving it to her should be fine.
Even if, in the worst case, the Teacher tried to take her own life, Kushitani-san should be able to stop her.
After the Teacher and Kushitani-san left, an awkward silence filled the room.
After seeing the Teacher in that state, there was no way they could fail to understand how seriously she had worked to protect the Reincarnators.
Led by Kudou-san, the Reincarnators who had been under her protection had been blaming the Teacher.
Perhaps now, after seeing the Teacher like that, they were feeling guilty about it.