I lost it at Ogami. Wanko-chan has some strong medicine indeed. XD

That last strip has probably the single highest concentration of smirking Umiko thus far, it's great.

Even if I don't really understand why Naru gives her the idea of placing special effects into a mace. Random building would be hard enough for Nene already at her current level.

She didn't, really. She was more just generally noting "uh sure, SFX are nice to have" in response to Nene's rather out-of-left-field comment about breathing fire - and the latter, true to form, took that line of thought and ran away with it.

It's kinda interesting how the mere idea got Nene fired up all over again though, and while the poorly-thought jumble of fancy additional features of course didn't result in much - small wonder already given she'd only poked at them for a few days - she apparently managed to untangle the remaining bugs ("FWOOM!") in the base game on the side.

...
...Nene's going to turn into one of those programmers who leave all kinds of unused assets and unfinished features in the files for modders to scratch their heads over won't she?

the struggles of idiottsundere couples

My Poi Can't Be This Lewd

Shizuku already steering poor Hajime down the dark path of Feature Creep lel

ONEECHAN IS BORED AND NEEDS ATTENTION

scold my ass baby ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Naru's (presumable) reasons for being irked are psychologically understandable enough, but no less petty for that tbh. It's kind of an universally established truth that prior (positive) association with a potential employer substantially improves your chances as you're no longer just another generic applicant but someone whose qualities they already know personally - doubly important if you lack formal credentials in the relevant field and need to get by on demonstrated ability and/or potential. (Having proven able to get along with the other employees generally doesn't hurt either.)

I'd hazard it's more Naru being vaguely frustrated and bitter in the classic "what the Hell did I spend a decade learning this crap for then?!" sense; it can be quite galling to run into someone who basically taught themselves the essentials in a fraction of the time you sat in school for.

Starts with some remarkably well-researched period detail and classic swashbuckling hijinks...
...then suddenly Waterworld and kooky steampunk warships.

GLORIOUS (◕ω◕)

A full broadside?

Kou's sufficiently dense she probably creates a minor gravitational singularity. Pretty much the classic "nerd" who seriously doesn't get a lot of social cues. (In all fairness Rin should by now have picked up that "subtle" just doesn't work with that girl, and adjusted her approach accordingly...)

Bluebloods being bluebloods, and moreover clans being clans, their sprawling family trees would no doubt have crossed occasionally over the centuries.
Well.
Far as I understand the Taira one was severely pruned in the bit of unpleasantness known as the Genpei War (as killing off the entire male line of (at least the main branch of) the losing clan was pretty SOP in such struggles at the time; the Taira had done much the same to the Minamoto only a few decades earlier), but any survivors would have passed on the name as usual and eight hundred years is ample time to spawn a tangle of cadet branches and whatnots...

I like the jaded & snarky black-haired maid already.

Kuuko probably got fired from godhood for being too much of a troll even by the standards of that lot.
or she was in a chuuni phase and the others got tired of that nonsense

I'm way late at realising this, but... Minamoto Ryuuko and Taira Azumi? No way in Hell that's accidental.

inb4 there's some absurd telenovela drama going on with their respective families ( ͡¬ ͜ʖ ͡¬)

Hifumi and Momo being socially awkward at each other is surprisingly dawwwww

Conversely Naru and Nene going from "getting along well" to "minor Cold War rivalry" in about two pages flat came quite out of the left field (Umiko is confused!), though it also showcases the latter's unflappable never-say-die streak.

[idolhell intensifies]

Standard NicoMaki foreplay tbh
( ͡¬ ͜ʖ ͡¬)

I find it hard to believe Lisa wasn't deliberately screwing with Gorilla-sensei but apparently that really was unintentional.

The girl's a natural.

???
Iku has no relation to Saki tho?

lol, Iku

Jeez, can't think "straight"? Well she sure is straightforward about it at least!

Rainbows think straighter than Momo? ( ͡¬ ͜ʖ ͡¬)

See Nico, even you can top if you try hard enough

...how the Hell have these derplords kept up the Masquerade this long...? (;‾ʖ̫‾)

"Highly Sociable" Nene is in fine form today as well.