I still enjoy the story but at this point Mai is like an industry plant, and with barely any marketing. We're just supposed to want her to win out based on....?
Is it really any wonder that many are supporting actual developed character relationships over empty pinning for someone we essentially don't know, based on a non-crush from when they were basically toddlers?
The setup and choices of this manga have seemed suspect the more it's become clear that we really are supposed to view Mai as an end goal, rather than a catalyst. "I Won't Sleep With You for Free," is almost the same type of story but handles this specific issue much better.
I do feel like introducing nanao, while positive in the short term, kinda went too far and is detracting from the entire idea of the lesbian brothel escapades the story was built around.
This has been my feeling as well.
Can you really call Mai an industry plant when she is the literal driving force of this story? Bear in mind that everything Asumi has done in this story, from Chapter 1 onwards, has been for the express purpose of meeting Mai. Going to brothels, getting her job with Nanao (and, by proxy, becoming Nanao’s FWB), none of this story would have happened if not for Asumi’s desire to meet Mai and figure out her unresolved feelings. In that way, Mai could almost be looked at not as a character, but as some sort of force that is driving the story along.
I also think Nanao’s whole story has had an important role in the story. This whole arc has basically demonstrated that Mai has become something of an emotional “block” for Asumi. You have this almost perfect relationship with a young, cute girl who is madly in love with Asumi. Just about anyone would jump at that sort of relationship, but Asumi seemingly can’t emotionally commit to it while Mai still remains unmet. It’s the sort of baggage that can, if left to fester unresolved for too long, can destroy relationships. Meeting Mai, then, has become less a matter of falling in love with a specific girl, and more a step that Asumi must take before she can allow herself to fall in love. I think that’s what the author was trying to tell us in this chapter.
Either that, or I’m just over analyzing porn.