Right on the feels.... I do agree with Kaede though. Even with the people we hold the dearest and we now never to forget them, them remembering us is a whole different thing
In case people are still confused by Mei's phrase "Like my father", remember that she wrote that she wants to marry her father when she was a child.
Also, she confessed out loud to herself in chapter 50.
Btw, comparing father to a guy in quite a few romance themes means that they consider them to be as reliable or close as their father. Not sure if this Japanese troupe or common in all roms.