I lol'ed at Aya who tries to act all adult like, and even asks Erika for lessons on how to seduce a romantic partner into having sex... and then it turns out that even a hug is too much for her.

Huh, so she's trash... and then you give her deep and passionate kisses?

Nostalgie de la boue?

The ending kinda ruined it for me. It was a great premise that could've even spawned a series, with a couple of genius lady scientists who divide their time between timestop/timeslip accidents and yuri! And instead we've got... uggh.

^ Yes, most likely. Also she's trying to make a point that she is a strapping adult (while Tianli isn't) and, as the op said, she seems to believe that having not-serious passing flings with cute randoms is a very mature thing.

PS: One thing I'm going to remark is this: it's fucking unbelievable how HOT the moms are! I knew already that Iwami Kiyoko could draw super sexy teenagers, but damn, those moms! It's to a point that I just don't care if they are good moms or bad moms, were I in the position of the child we would need Taiyaki to write the story of what I would do.

I lol'ed at the Taiyaki reference. :)
I agree that both moms are smoking hot and surely Siggy F had in mind moms like these ones when he posited Oedipus complex. Wow! You can almost forgive Fuuko's mom's bad attitude since she has that kinda looks.

^ I'm puzzled too. Perceptive vs. oblivious? What do they mean?

But it's not just "missing person is found," but "missing adolescent returns after 7 years completely unchanged physically and mentally."

Sounds like a hoax to me. :-P

I mean, this one seems a little unclear to me? You could interpret it as "Mask groped Kaoru and Kaoru is thinking about it later in the bath" but it also feels like it could be read as "Kaoru fell asleep in the bath and had a smutty dream about Mask."

But I mean, that could just be my brain struggling with the 180 this ship did a few installments ago.

Yeah, I got a little of that ambiguity myself. I think it's real, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it's not.

A lot of people are wondering the same thing. It's understandable.
First, because it's a brutal change for Mask who had established a little while ago that she was happy being friends with cute nicknames and everything.
Second, because it doesn't make sense. If she felt a strong attraction to Kaoru the moment she saw her it just doesn't make sense the way she responded to her advances.
Third, because Kaoru had already dreamed this kind of thing before. All of this is suspiciously extremely similar to a daydream Kaoru had once where Mask admits she always liked Kaoru and was just being cold to her on a whim.
We have to choose between Mask's character making a 180 turn, or Kaoru having yet another dream about Mask. And the former one doesn't seem Kishi's style at all.

Wrongness: the manga!

This could be a conversation between Maron and Makino in the final chapter of this manga (the one where the author drops the moral message).

Anyway I still kinda think the track team is going to remain a heavy focus going forward but we'll see. Hopefully some fluff first.

Takashima Hiromi says: "My child, your wish will be granted!"

Science babies arc??? Though I know Futaribeya is too grounded for that... probably.

Pretty sure Sakurako has already mentioned this possibility a long time ago.

We all believed she was going to study genetics to make her dream come true. She disappointed us. :(

straight sugar into my veins.

As straight as a wet noodle