Lucia’s reason.

Leo heard the front door opening, and as Lucia announced herself, he and the rest of the girls, Seina included, waited for her sitting silently around the dining room table. When Lucia came in, the scene must have been more than a little unsettling.

“…I take it you didn’t like the surprise?” she asked with a small, wry smile.

“Why even keep it a surprise?” Seina asked. “Caused more trouble than it was worth, I’d think.”

“Yeah, I thought it’d be more fun. Hindsight is one hell of a thing, isn’t it?” Lucia chuckled and sat with them. “Your faces say I have some explaining to do.”

“Please.” Kaede nodded. “People asked us questions all day and we didn’t know what to tell them.”

“Well, then I’ll have you know this is all your fault,” Lucia said. “I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for you all.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” Valerie asked.

“That if you weren’t such an interesting bunch, I’d never had considered going back to working at a school.”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “Elaborate, please.”

“You know the Gift I have. I can read people’s emotions, even if they try to hide them. Suffice to say that a good majority of people are a bunch of hypocrite assholes. Fake smiles and politeness when it suits them, condescendence when they think themselves above you, fake kindness hiding the intense desire to see you fall. You’d be surprised at how many are like that. And when those looks are directed at you for no discernable reason, you start to question whether the effort you’re putting in is even worth it or not. Students ignore you and talk shit behind your back, your colleagues criticize your methods and questions why you’re put in a higher position instead of them. No one truly cares about others. They only care about themselves.”

Seina narrowed her eyes and looked down at the table. Some of those words seemed to have hit close to home for her.

“That’s what I believed for a long time until I came to this island.” Lucia sighed, then smiled at Leo. “You were the first to make me question things, you know? I had to believe you were putting up an act, but it turns out you really do care about other more than you do yourself. Then I had to start wondering if you were just a weirdo or if I’d been wrong this entire time.” She looked at the rest of the girls. “Turns out I wasn’t ENTIRELY wrong. By nature, we all care about ourselves more than anyone else. But recent events have made me realize that, even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean we’re unable to compromise. So yeah, it’s because of you all that I decided to give teaching another shot. My CV is not particularly amazing, though, so I have to start from the bottom.”

“That’s amazing to hear. Truly,” Leo said. “But did it have to be our school? There’s another one in town, you know?”

“Please, Leo. Of course I know that. But yes, it had to be your school. Not because you’re all there, but because… Well, don’t take it personally, but it IS a worse school.”

Reiko groaned and shook her head. “It’s not WORSE. It just has a lot less money…”

“Less money means a lower pay for the staff, and underpaid employees are never happy, making for sloppy work,” Lucia argued. “You’ve seen it, right? Times when your teachers just can’t be bothered to do more?”

Leo remembered they were all too happy to let him take all midterms in a day if it meant they didn’t have to watch him more than necessary. And they didn’t really help him, Angela and Valerie much when they entered school without even speaking the language. So yeah, he couldn’t argue against what Lucia was saying.

“Wait,” Angela said. “So you want to work at our school because it’s worse? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Of course it does,” Lucia said, smiling confidently. “Would you participate in an MMA tournament full of amateurs you’ll beat up in two seconds?”

“Oh. Okay, I get you.”

“You’re losing me,” Kaede said.

“She doesn’t want an easy job,” Valerie explained. “You never learn anything from doing what you already can do. You can only grow by pushing your limits.”

“I suppose I can understand that,” Kaede nodded.

“That’s pretty much it.” Lucia shrugged. “Besides, the contract was already signed before we started to date officially. There was nothing I could do.”

“We could’ve kept it secret…” Leo said.

“And let you leave me out of dates? No sir. Better to cause a little uproar for a while than let you neglect me for half a year.”

“…You’re being a little dramatic,” Seina said. “Though it’s not like I don’t understand. I’d be mad if I was the only one who had to keep it a secret, too.”

“Speaking of… It hasn’t caused you any issues? You know, with your fans?” Reiko asked.

“Nobody knows yet,” Seina answered. “I’m mostly out of the public eye since I’m only working on that radio show and I don’t have a manager. I’ll start over next year, and if I make the fact that I’m in a relationship public from the start, it shouldn’t make too big a deal. I still want to keep his identity a secret, however.”

“That might be for the best,” Lucia agreed. “We don’t want reporters here talking about us, do we?”

There was unanimous agreement there.

“Okay then. Thanks for explaining that,” Leo said. “And I meant what I said. I really am glad that you’re giving this another shot. I don’t know how much help I can be without causing you more trouble, but I’ll try as best I can.”

“I’m the one in a position to help,” Lucia laughed. “So be sure to come to me if you’re getting bullied at school.”

Leo laughed with her. “Sure, sure.”

He stood up and went to the kitchen. With that out of the way, he was starting to remember he was hungry. It was time got get dinner ready.