I wonder if the author ever anticipated just how much people would end up liking Snek girl and how popular she would become. It’s clear Hebikawa was never meant to be purely evil from the start (which is a refreshing change compared to more generic manga), but something tells me her level of popularity might have taken the creator by surprise.
there was a twitter poll put out a couple chapters' worth of time ago by the author on "best girl", and Hebikawa got #1, Otobe got #2, and Kusunoki got #3 - and the author expressed surprise at that result.
so yes, I think they were surprised. But I'm surprised that they didn't see it coming, when Hebikawa--even as the "villain" of this story--is the only reason it's not just another generic rom-com.
Usually her "role" is filled by a short-term playboy douchebag character who comes in, tries to woo the heroine, and the main male character has to either thwart those efforts or stumble into some sort of solution to keep the heroine from being "taken".
Instead, we have a female antagonist character who is connected to the
male character's backstory,
and is much more fleshed-out and nuanced in her own character history and has ties to the two main leads by way of her own arc and 'story goal' (she was the cause of Keisuke's original trauma point; and she wants to make Kusunoki 'fall' because she thinks all perfect people are secretly fake and hiding dark secrets, because of Hebikawa's
own backstory).
That right there makes Hebikawa an interesting character and, on her own, sets this apart from most other school-age romcom manga titles.
People here on MD especially seem to hate on her, and accuse anyone who doesn't join their circlejerk as "loving the Snake Bitch", when the general sentiment seems to instead be "she makes this interesting to read because otherwise, Kusunoki would never end up with Keisuke by virtue of her own backstory and character motivation".
Remember - Kusunoki doesn't care one iota about romance. She wanted a successful high school debut to "undo" her past trauma making her awkward and unsociable. And she's accomplished that, while also being
literally perfect in terms of academics, athletics, and being the "school beauty" that everyone fawns over.
Keisuke, by contrast, wanted his own debut to go well, ended up getting associated with Kusunoki and offered to help her with hers. But Kusunoki, who historically has problems with boys falling for her because she doesn't "gauge distance well" in her relationships, pulled the exact same stunt, and Keisuke fell for her as a result.
So the "romance plot" is entirely on Keisuke misreading signals and developing feelings on his own. Kusunoki wants nothing to do with that, and
now that
her friend Otobe likes Keisuke, she wants to distance herself from Keisuke entirely, to try and prevent her past from repeating (see the flashback a couple chapters ago).
But if Kusunoki had her way, Keisuke wouldn't get with her. And that leaves Keisuke hanging out to dry. Best case there, he ends up with Otobe, or nobody, and they all lose their friendships over the fallout.
Hebikawa, then, serves as the foil to Kusunoki, and is the "novel element" that shakes things up and serves as the potential impetus to push Kusunoki into actually confronting her feelings and whether she wants to actually give romance, and Keisuke, a shot--because Hebikawa is trying to use Keisuke to get to Kusunoki, which creates the tension and the forward momentum of the story that otherwise just couldn't exist in any organic/reasonable fashion.
