It's sad what a Frankenstein's monster Masaki became. The way she's leveraging her superficial qualities to get Michi's interest. Those qualities Honda brought out of her, got jealous of her over, which now Masaki is using to hurt Honda in return. Masaki's still crossing some red lines but in my book Honda's the one who came away most negatively this chapter.
Honda seems afraid of turning her back on Michi like she did Masaki yet she's doing exactly that right now. She knows Masaki is going to take advantage of Michi but is too cowardly to be there to stop it. At the same time, we've known Honda long enough to respect she's better than this. She clearly feels guilty over what happened to Masaki and appreciates Michi to the point of being uncomfortable getting any closer. Both Honda and Masaki are truly bound by that thread of self-loathing.
Speaking of self-loathing, nothing drives a ghost to action like her girlfriend getting girled on. Aizawa must feel horrible for what she's doing to Kasumi but either her human side is overwhelmed with jealousy or her ghost side is taking control post-possession. Like her subconscious switching with her consciousness? It's not really clear what Aizawa's eyes going black means yet, if anything, but there's clearly an involuntary aspect to her powers.
Dorothy lamented recently how Aizawa-san limits her ability to draw yuri scenarios, between the plot focus, ghost rules, and Michi's denial. But now that limiter's taking a beating. Michi turned to this whole Honda x Masaki x Michi throuple hoping to justify her feelings as platonic and is now confronted with Masaki being gay for her, Masaki making a strong argument Michi's gay, and Aizawa's feelings for Michi being anything but accidental. This might hit the status quo harder than the concert. There's no way out of this without making a bigger mess.
Even if there's nothing supernatural about Masaki(?), the horror she represents is still the same as that "jumpscare" spread in her intro chapter: she's the absolute denial of Michi's friendzone. The biggest threat to Michi's comfy school life, and by extension Aizawa's stability.
I think it's important to note both Honda and Masaki are completely wrong about each other.
Honda's projecting her own self-loathing on Masaki. Masaki might be bitter but what she hates most about Honda is the way she denies herself. I used to think this could be Masaki gloating over Honda's defeatism but it sure looks like the opposite now. And Masaki's demand, "You can't talk to Reona or anybody else," gives away this isn't just about hurting Honda. I think her attraction to Michi is genuine. She wants Michi, but all to herself. That's Masaki's trust issues showing, fearing Michi would abandon her like Honda did.
As for where things are going next, here's my fanfic/speculation:
We know there's consequences to Aizawa's repeat possessions of Kasumi. Made very clear lately. Aizawa is having a harder time fighting it as well. And it's high time Aizawa got out of her corner. So what if she's unable to depossess Kasumi now that Kasumi is more hole than human? What if this mess spills over into forcing Michi and Sayaka to acknowledge Aizawa a little more? I doubt it can be fixed without Karasuma getting involved, but she's busy dating Tear. Either way, with 2 chapters before the end of the volume it's going to get worse before it gets better.
other thoughts:
- I can't stop marveling at how well this manga shifts tones to de-escalate (or inverse). The moment Kasumizawa grabbed the stool you knew what was coming. But even while it detonates more than defuses, it's still one of the funniest moments so far.
- Next chapter's the test of whether I belong in an asylum for thinking Masaki has some kind of ghostvision. It's weird she brought up Honda and Aizawa right before Aizawa shows up, and weirder that it's plain Aizawa we see and not Kasumi at first. We know Michi can't see that, though she'll know in an instant it's not really Kasumi. So maybe if Masaki can see star auras she'd also immediately tell something's wrong? Not the worst power to have when the 2 main ghosts are idols. But that's guesses upon guesses.
- We still haven't seen DeLphi's past this volume like Dorothy promised in last volume's extras. So expect a chapter catching up on what happened to them.
- When Masaki gets serious at the end, she reverts to "Michi-chan" instead of Micchy.
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