Although this is not a criticism at all, I find it very amusing that the fact that this world has a magic system is not even remotely alluded to in the first chapter and just suddenly comes in the middle of chapter 2 (lol). Of course Claire has the fire attribute while Rei has the water attribute. I would expect nothing less of such opposite "rivals" pfff~
Rodd saw Rei purposely messing up and is interested to see why. Despite deviating from the Otome game's plot, it seems Rei still attracts attention from the "love interests" on her own merits. I always like narrative irony like that.
Claire without the drills is just... gorgeous. I like her with the drills too of course, but Rei's swooning during that ettiquette test was justified for sure. She may be overdoing it a bit with the physical affection though. I know she likes getting punished for it, but freaking out Claire too much will lead to a bad end.