Bend to her grandfathers will despite telling her own father 'no' when she was 10 years old? Nope, has nothing to do with her grandfather. He has a plan and she is completely complicit with it. At no point did her force her to do anything. This marriage is probably not even a requirement, probably something she thinks she ought to do in order to be more successful.
Evidently she isn't doing any of these things because she wants to, and I said that she herself probably feels like she must accept the responsibilities as an Aihara family member since her father left. In a way, sure, she's completely complicit with it in that she's doing everything without really complaining about it or voicing her concerns, but it looks to me like she's only doing it because this is the only world that she knows - these are the expectations she grew up with. As dumb as it may sound, she probably thought she had no other options anyway, and it's made more convenient because she herself wouldn't even know what she would want to do even if she objected to inheriting the school. When Yuzu came along, she essentially taught Mei to make her own decisions and to just do the things that she wants to do.
Or of course, tried to. We can clearly see how well that lesson stuck with Mei.
Again, her father asked to come with him and she said no. Nothing was ever shown that she was pressured into staying. The responsibility wasnt forced on her. She chose to accept it all on her own despite her father giving her an easy way out of she ever wanted it.
I'd just chalk it up to self-imposed expectations. We don't see enough of gramps to know just how much he wants from Mei though. Perhaps she accepted everything because she didn't want to disappoint anyone, and again, she probably didn't have anything else she wanted to do anyway--- Actually, thinking about it now, we don't really see much of Mei's thoughts, so who knows what that girl is thinking.
Except she isnt sheltered. She lived by herself since she was a child, she is smart, has a lot of friends, everyone as school adores her, is able to run the school by herself, was engaged and making out with her teacher behind the school, groping Yuzu in front of everyone, making out with her the next day, and easily outplays Matsuri. She is smarter and more experienced than most people in their late 20s.
I don't see how living by herself makes her less sheltered. She seems like the type that just goes to school, buys what she needs, comes home, studies - rinse and repeat for several years. She is academically intelligent (=/= socially intelligence), her "friends" seem to be just girls that follow her around because she's admirable (cool beauty, smart, daughter of the chairman) so I'm not so sure if they're her actual friends, her making out with the teacher was probably just her doormat personality slipping through again, I have zero excuses for her assaulting Yuzu x4 times or outplaying Matsuri. Although, none of those qualities make her more experienced than people in their late 20s, lol.
Honestly, that aside, I don't think Mei's a well-written character, nor do I think Citrus is a well-written story. I'm not trying to argue that Mei is a good character, but I don't think her struggles (such as feeling pressured by trying to live up to other peoples' expectations, wanting to be praised by other people, and feeling like there isn't anything else that she wants to do in particular) are unrealistic for a girl at this age--- save for the part where she assaults her step-sister.
She is a pretty questionable character though, because OoOoOo DraMa, and she could've saved us like 30 chapters had she just communicated with Yuzu... about like... anything... Why Yuzu likes Mei is way beyond me.
