After an uneventful day at work, Sensei finds himself walking alongside Imani on the way to their bar. As they walk in silence, he finds his mind wandering, and as it wanders he reminds himself of how undeserving he is of quiet moments like this. Despite this, the moment continues, and Sensei assures himself everything will be fine even if today must, once again, be another complicated situation in his rapidly complicated life.
Imani breaks the silence and the two begin to banter back and forth about how boring of a person Sensei is. While he feels he's perfectly adequate, Imani jokes that if he keeps being so dull he'll be forced out of their friend group. She demands to be entertained by him and threatens to quit if he refuses, and he jokingly bits her goodbye, only regretting that they never made out. Imani, still scarred from her last performance, thinks he isn't missing much if his standards are like Rika's, but asks him not to talk with her about these topics, only to learn that he already did. While she chastises him for his lack of empathy and agency as a teacher, her phone begins to ring. Listening in, Sensei deduces that whoever is calling is Rika when his own phone starts ringing, and he picks it up to hear Wakana calling.
She immediately informs him that they’re being set up, as both Rika and Osako have chosen to forgo appearing at the bar tonight to help push Imani and him closer together. After she clarifies that she didn't inform the two about their recent discussion and that she tried to stop them, Sensei thanks her for the tip and says goodbye. Imani ends her call at the same time and now, somewhat embarrassed, makes awkward small talk before the two decide to remain quiet until they get some drinks.
As the two finish their walk and take their seat, Sensei assures himself that he can handle the tension tonight will bring – He is, however, unsure if the same is true for Imani. A lack of knowledge about her makes the faith he places in her shaky and while he longs to know more about her, he can feel that tonight will be about him instead.
Imani begins to speak again, asking him if he feels as awkward as she does at the moment. He denies this, prompting her to ask if it's because he already has someone who keeps his world knotted up. She clarifies that, while knots are traditionally seen negatively, they can also imply safety and security, something Sensei definitely has dating an idol. From there, Imani's words begin to lead in different directions as she struggles to keep focused on a particular topic – She talks about her tendency to go with the flow and how she believes people can't be boiled down to their moral choices in any particular setting. Sensei's thoroughly confused by these seemingly unrelated topics and tries to find the ties to Niki, which Imani admits doesn't exist since her mind's just constantly getting stuck on different things at the moment.
The topic shifts, and Imani asks directly about the relationship between him and Niki. He takes note of her nervousness and wonders why it is she's become so obsessed with someone like him. Moving on from these thoughts, he bluntly informs Imani that he's in love with Niki, causing her nervousness to ramp up. Despite the clear discomfort on her face, Imani tells Sensei she's happy he has someone who cares so much about him, asserting he deserves that love even when he questions it. He asks if she can claim to have someone who loves her like this, and she points at her behavior to showcase that, if she ever had someone like that, she didn't have one for a long while.
In the end, the topic is ended by awkward silence, and Imani goes to get another drink.
Imani Affection
Futaba Fukuyama
Rika Rokuhara
Wakana Watabe
