"I can't do tomorrow's presentation."
Mira murmured quietly.
"Again?" Hiyori asked with concern.
"I've prepared, but... I just can't picture myself standing there."
Sora closed their notebook and looked at Mira. "Do you want to run away?"
Mira nodded. "I want to escape. But I know I shouldn't."
"Is escaping bad?" Sora asked quietly.
"What?" Mira was surprised.
"Avoidance behavior is a psychological defense mechanism. It's not necessarily bad."
Hiyori added, "But Mira, you look like you're suffering."
"Yes. The problem isn't escaping itself, but how your self-evaluation drops after escaping."
Mira pondered. "I blame myself for running away."
"That's the paradox of avoidance. You gain short-term relief, but long-term, your self-evaluation decreases."
Sora drew a diagram on the whiteboard.
"Fear → Avoidance → Temporary relief → Decreased self-evaluation → Next fear is reinforced."
"A vicious cycle..." Mira murmured.
"But," Hiyori said, "escaping is also protecting your heart."
"Exactly. Avoidance is emergency first aid to prevent your heart from breaking."
Mira asked, "So what should I do?"
"First, don't blame yourself for choosing to escape," Sora answered.
"Don't blame?"
"Avoidance is defense. Accept yourself for choosing it. Then, think about the next step."
Hiyori said gently, "A small step is enough."
"A small step?"
"Not the whole presentation, just the first sentence. That alone means it's not avoidance."
Mira brightened a little. "Just the first sentence..."
"It's called gradual approach," Sora explained. "Not everything at once, but approaching the fear little by little."
"But what if I fail?"
"Failure is data. It becomes material for the next challenge."
Hiyori laughed. "Sora doesn't fear failure, do you?"
"I do fear it. But I'm training myself not to link failure with my worth."
Mira asked, "How?"
"Failure is the result of action. It's separate from my worth. I repeatedly tell myself this."
"Cognitive restructuring," Hiyori added.
"Yes. It's practice in changing thought patterns."
Mira was silent for a while. Then, she said quietly,
"Tomorrow, I'll try saying just the first sentence."
"That's enough," Sora said.
"What if I want to run away?"
"You can run. But before that, just one sentence. That's your challenge."
Hiyori smiled warmly. "We'll be watching too."
Mira looked a bit relieved. "Even if I choose to escape, I won't blame myself."
"And you'll challenge yourself in small ways," Sora nodded.
"That's the way to escape from avoidance."
The three left the club room with a small hope for tomorrow.
Escaping is sometimes necessary. But if there's a small step beyond that, it's not escape—it's strategy.