I like Mizuhara, really I do. But it's chapters like this that remind me the supporting cast really carry the main cast. Speaking of supporting cast, whatever the heck happened to Mami? She just kinda disappeared. Did the author forget she existed? Did her character arc get resolved and I somehow forgot?
It'd be funny if Sumi somehow ended up winning in the long run. Like, he does get together with Chizuru but it doesn't work out so he calls up Sumi for consolation and ends up with her.
@Redheadgearhead I mean, I'm team Sumi all the way BUT even i admit this would not be a very satisfying story if that happened. This is one of those unspoken rules in storytelling that is almost never broken because of how unsatisfying it feels. Once a character gets established as the end goal, changing that ending so far into the story after so much has happened makes the bulk of the story end up feeling meaningless. It's like how in How I Met Your Mother they clearly state from episode 1 that Robin is NOT the waifu so then the audience spends the rest of the series excitedly anticipating the arrival of the true waifu only to find out at the very end that the waifu dies and he DOES end up with Robin....That shit just hurts.