Empathy aside, as a mature member of society, Shizuka Hiratsuka actually knew—
There was something wrong with the phrase, "Is it wrong to like someone?" Yet she could not find the words to refute it for the moment. After all, in her eyes, adolescence was precisely the age when people were full of longing for love. Even she herself had once... Ahem, never mind that.
In short, what if being too realistic hurt Doma? But what Sogo Doma said made the hot-blooded female teacher realize that he was far more rational than she had imagined.
"There's nothing wrong with liking someone. But if you use liking them as an excuse to hurt others, can that still be called love? If it can, then all I can say is that it's cheap love..."
"Sogo!" As Shizuka Hiratsuka's thoughts ran wild, Toshiro Hijikata gritted his teeth and said, "Who was it that was just standing up for Kondo Isao?" He had clearly been pushed over the edge—he had even called him Kondo Isao. Just moments ago, he had still been calling him Master Kondo!
Not just Hijikata—even Otae did not know whether she should speak up. This guy called Sogo would snap at her one moment and help her the next. She simply could not figure him out!
"Mr. Hijikata..." Fortunately, Sogo Doma had never counted on others. Just like in the Service Club—if Utaha Kasumigaoka had not been there, then as for Yukinoshita and the others, those who knew, knew. Take the current situation, for example. He spread his hands and said, "Standing up for the gorilla doesn't mean I think what it did was right..."
"Then what are you standing up for?" Before he could finish, before Hijikata could even speak, Otae could no longer hold herself back.
"It's simple."