Every new chapter reinforces my belief that all conflicts would be immediately solved if the author gave Madoromi her own supportive Fujoshi girlfriend (can't call Ai a "lowborn woman" if your gf is on the consumers' side as well), but apparently she'll be forced to third-wheel for the next decades.
I'm glad that Misumi (kind of) addressed the issue with Madoromi and Ai's mentality, they are both so obsessed with ranking and classifying people that it gets in the way of their interactions with others, so seeing Misumi outright tell them to their faces that they are "all the same" was very satisfying.
Anyway, the swamp metaphor was too relatable, this manga always does a great job of capturing the essence behind being a shipper.