Fucking tsunderes, ltrs drop this
I feel ya, these girls are so selfish and thirsty that they don't seem to care how difficult, and at times miserable, they are making the MC's life. Well, Kaede probably does (considering the 180 she performs personaity-wise when meeting him disguised as her alter ego), yet she still finds it necessary to berate, belittle, deceive, and gaslight him rather than act civil/neutral. I'm sure it's probably because of "muh forbidden love", "muh family position", and/or "I just don't know how to express muh feelings, baka", but I don't think that justifies this level of deceit and manipulation. Her usual ice-queen/alpha-bitch demeanor is already off-putting enough, but add in the rest, and she looks like an untrustworthy sociopath who gets off on toying with the MC's emotions and life. I would want nothing to do with her if I were in his shoes.
Sakura, meanwhile, seems to have no qualms about deliberately torching his already shaky reputation and isolating him from his peers. Like, whose fault is it that he’s getting all those cold stares and having apparitions born of jealously and malice attacking him, huh? Possibly the self-centered bitch who got up on stage and called him out in front of the whole damn school? Really gets the old noggin a joggin’ now don’t it? Then, to add injury to insult, she’s verbally and physically abusive to him, throwing his genuine concern and (brotherly) affection back in his face. I don’t care how much she “wuvs her onii-chan” and is big mad because "I want him to see me as a woman", this behavior is toxic as fuck. It makes me suspect she is a yandere, which would explain Souya’s terrified expression.
I do agree with the TL, though: Souya seems to be the least shitty member of the harem. Despite initially blackmailing the MC into pairing up with her, she is civil to him, was likely humbled by the fact that he is producing the most results of the three of them (despite arguably having the biggest handicap), and she has enough decency to feel guilt and remorse after he is injured and hospitalized while neutralizing an extremely dangerous threat (protecting her and many others in the process).
