Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru - 3

"A Battleground Over the Tears of a Childhood Friend"

I overestimated Eita; he's a true harem protagonist through and through.

Masuzu has become a little clearer herself; while she does have a sadistic taste for the torture she constantly practices on Eita and Chiwa, her club seems to be an attempt to get Chiwa away from Eita by getting her a boyfriend. Interestingly, that doesn't make Masuzu openly hostile to Chiwa, and they get along well despite the title of the anime; after this episode, however, I don't expect that to stay true.

After the cruel guitar incident last time, Masuzu has come up with another plan to get Chiwa to become popular. This time she wants to use the quirky appeal of Eita's chuunibyou, which, as bad an idea as that sounds, actually excites Chiwa and Eita (whose lid on his fun side is getting pushed aside more and more every week). They end up performing a bizarre skit in the classroom (in which Eita gets way too much into his character); while the act is misunderstood as a comedy, it does have the desired effect in boosting Chiwa's popularity.

Seeing an opportunity, Masuzu pushes Chiwa to confess to a popular senpai, but when she notices that Chiwa is too willing to confess so early, she senses something else is up. Chiwa probably wants to get rejected so that she won't have to give up on Eita, and when she doesn't get rejected, it's only a matter of time until her true feelings surface.

Unfortunately it's Eita's obliviousness that sets her off, and if I were Chiwa I would be upset as well. Seeing the person you like be happy about you getting a lover can't be very nice, though she's also at fault for pretending she isn't interested in him. There's a limit to obliviousness, but there's also a limit to waiting for things to fall into your lap, and Chiwa didn't act on her feelings soon enough.

On the other hand, Eita was admittedly insensitive; if you promise someone that you'll go to medical school for their sake, then you can't expect them not to care for you in return, and Eita was a fool for not picking up on all the clues about her feelings and hurting them by wanting to celebrate with her (even if he had good intentions). It gets worse, if possible, because even after she storms from his house in tears, he still doesn't quite get it, but romcom heroes are romcom heroes to the end, I suppose. As it is, I still don't think Chiwa has much of a chance with Eita, and though she may snap against him and Masuzu sooner than later, there's also another threat looming in the background in the form of another rival. Masuzu is going to have her hands full batting off Chiwa and this new girl, though her sadistic nature may just allow her to enjoy doing it.