Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru - 7

"They're Only Summer Classes, But They Too, Are A Battlefield"

It's not a harem without the resident tsundere character.

It's a bit late in the game, but we finally get the final member of the cast in Ai Fuyuumi (Ai Kayano), the jealous hall monitor with a childhood crush on Eita.

Interestingly enough, this is what I was expecting Hime to be like, though without the tsundere nature. Ai is determined to shut down the troublesome Maidens' Club, though her motivations aren't exactly pure. She's essentially jealous of the girls surrounding Eita, who she hasn't had the courage to confess to, but she's too proud to admit it. Therefore, when clever and cruel Masuzu catches a whiff of weakness about her new rival, she drives her into a corner (with Chiwa's help) and gets her to lie about having a fabulous college boyfriend to defend her honor. Unfortunately for Ai, Eita hears everything, and being the oblivious lead that he is, he believes her word for word.

Masuzu, however, does not, and I have my doubts that she isn't completely aware of the fact that Ai lied at her insistence and that she likes Eita. Her presence is very subdued in this episode, but her influence is certainly felt everywhere (Eita's ringtone for her is hilariously appropriate and ominous) as she, deciding to drop the girlfriend act in private and behave "like a bitch", gets Eita to try and scope out her enemy while he attends summer courses. Really, Masuzu is almost like a spider waiting patiently at the center of her web for her prey to fall into her hands and this time she's determined to stop Ai from shutting her club down (whether or not she's aware of Ai's feelings toward Eita is another story). Of course, Eita doesn't just blindly listen to his troublesome girlfriend, but he doesn't have to go looking for Ai before she and Kaoru, her own osananajimi, try to catch his attention.

While Kaoru is being an amazing friend by trying to set A-chan up with Eita, I do have to wonder if he hasn't considered the fact that Eita is already going out with Masuzu. Considering that the relationship is meant to keep men away from her, Kaoru would surely be aware of this (unless Eita told him it was a sham and I don't remember if he did). Still, he does his utmost to get Eita to notice Ai, though she digs her own grave by letting her tsundere personality constantly get in the way. Even more unfortunately, Chiwa, who is animalistically belligerent toward her (I never noticed she wears a collar until this episode; not very subtle, is it?), shows up and causes her to defend her boyfriend lie to the last. Now I don't particularly like the tsundere stereotype, but at least Ai is a side character; she's unlikely to get too much of the spotlight in the remaining half of the series. It's rather uncomfortable to watch her fall victim to her own pride (it always is, for tsunderes; I don't get why it's such a popular trope) so I'm hoping this wraps up quickly.