@MrF0x
Maybe you misunderstand me. I’m not saying Umi will blackmail Chizuru. I believe next chapter will cover dinner with him, right? Could a confession will take place here? Maybe, maybe not.
1. If there’s a confession, I don’t think Chizuru will answer immediately and it’s probably Umi asking time to her to think about it, with the idea of give him an answer maybe after the movie is done.
2. If there’s no confession at all, what will take place I think is Umi trying to gain her heart somehow, trying to approach her with ulterior motives. And having a confession afterwards.
However, no matter the outcome, I think Umi will continue being somehow a “satellite” in this arc. Having a confession or not in the next chapter, I think he will be going the next days to the film stage, chatting with Chizuru, arriving with actor friends, whatever situation that could put MMC again overthinking the situation of feeling himself inferior and not seeing the reality. Chizuru, in the other hand, won’t have to put Umi away, because since he’s not a bad guy, he is a friend, trying to help. Eventually, for obvious reasons, Chizuru, as you said will be self conscious about what she feels toward Kasuya, (finally making her desire movie, working his ass off in production, organizing everything, etc) but even if Kasuya is feeling uneasy by the presence of Umi, he will endure to success in the production.
This will generate this scenario:
1. Umi will be waiting to a confession or an answer. Hypothetically, he will organize something with a director to just present Chizuru, maybe she’s gonna finally get the offer to participate in another movie. Whatever happens, he will have an opportunity to confess or to hear the answer of Chizuru. Kasuya maybe won’t know about this meeting with Umi.
2. Chizuru will convey her feelings. She will be fully aware that she’s in love with Kasuya. She will go to this meeting with Umi for settle things down and obviously to reject him.
3. Kasuya, as we see in this chapter, will have a more grasp of what he can do, he overcome the insecurity of having Umi around (maybe some chapters developing this) just as he overcome to continue working with the flyers in this chapter. And... well... finally he will be decided to confess his feelings.
I think this development will cover... 10 or 15 chapters? With all the events, maybe some funny situation with the personal belongings (imagine Umi buying the Chinese dress that I think he give it to her in the first place), maybe some other situation with the fundings, payments, etc... but at the end everything will be settled to wait to Kasuya’s confession.
When we, as readers, see that everything is working to finally see those two together... a BOMB... Mami... i don’t think Mami will collaborate in the funding. She wouldn’t have to, maybe she would want a failure, instead. But I think she will come to extort Chizuru. She will have proofs of all of their “boyfriends”, she will have pictures, and she will threat her to reveal everything... to the grandmas, and to the media, she will even have pictures of Chizuru and Umi in the meeting or date where she reject him, the menace will be so disruptive to her acting career, personal and academic life... that she’ll be broken.
Then the confession... then future scenarios.