@feha It's not actual slavery you know. It's more like they tried to get each other conscripted. They've both yet to do anything truly villainous. At most they're evil by being irresponsible.
@feha No villains are often self centred but you don't have to be a villain even if you're self centred. An example here, is that they don't care enough about the people around them to plot against them. That's just excessive effort and risk, for no real reason.
@feha They wouldn't do that. They aren't truly villainous as much as being extremely self-centred. Destroying the country they want to profit off of and life an easy life in would be counterproductive.
Why does everyone hate Kei though? She not much different that the thousands of other childhood friend characters. Heck most of her antics even happen in real life with close friends like that.
I think the part about 'cherish' was aimed at the MC not the old man saying it to himself. He was basically implying the MC doesn't know how to cherish his things.
I mean why take so much time to badmouth her only for her to give actual good advice? It's like the author is trying to have everyone be useful to the MC but their character setting must still be the group of hated people.
The author definitely foreshadowed too hard for this sort of long game. The clues don't seem to contribute towards any one overall picture and instead each clue branches off into a whole different direction and also away from the main problem of Tsubasa-chan. The heavy foreshadowing of each girl...