Is "crush" meant to be that "stan" usage the series has done before?
This chapter was kind of confusing to read.

Geez what a dumb arc.

@jaunelric, the second season was pretty terrible unfortunately. I don't really know the source material, but it felt like they tried to rush through a volume or four to get to better stories and wound up just making a jumbled mess.

On the one hand I'm impressed that they resolved the flirty coworker so succinctly, but on the other I guess that makes sense if the series is nearing its conclusion.
I'd be fine with them resolving this as "we don't need to put labels on our relationship," that'd be pretty on-brand for the series at least.

If Kase was a real prankster she'd respond, "But we're both girls!"

And if she was sensible she'd respond, "The bet is off, I'm leaving right now."

Being serious, that's exactly right.

And while I don't want to victim-blame Yamada, but rather than her emphasizing her jealousy, I would have much preferred for her to have said, "You put our long-term future at risk to appease your fucking roommate! I wanted that apartment!"

Yeah, I'd much prefer if this was not a jealousy issue and more about Kase not taking things seriously.

Bilibili's android reader was atrocious, but I tolerated up until they removed the ability to wait out paywalls.

I think setting up Fukami as a one-sided crush on Kase is fine, but the drama between Kase and Yamada could have been more clearly about prioritizing a roommate over her girlfriend since the series hasn't given an indication that Kase is wavering on the relationship. Instead the last panels of this chapter make it seem like we're going into the romantic rivals space - with this being about Yamada staking a claim to Kase. On top of that Yamada is apparently fine with the classmates not wanting Kase to leave, but asks specifically about Fukami in the last panels - it should have been definitely one or the other pressuring her to stay, not both.

If the author wanted to go the rivals route I think you need to make Kase more secretive about messaging specifically Fukami, and maybe have another situation or two where she prioritizes what Fukami wants to do over Yamada. Then at least Kase's role in the situation can be having potentially led the girl on by being flirtatious with her rather than just being spineless when told to race by a senior. It's interesting that it's not even specifically Fukami's challenge that Kase winds up accepting - she was turning that down until pressured by others. So you end up with a situation where I think the author wanted Kase to have to pick between Yamada and Fukami, but really got her picking between Yamada and the classmates? And ultimately this all boils down to Kase being spineless and not just committing to moving out.

I suspect the hickey title will be Yamada giving Kase one to "mark her territory," but the way it's been written that shouldn't have been the drama - the drama should have been squarely on Kase being at fault.