To the haters out there who aren't seeming to understand how this reads and how the author portrays things in the narrative, listen up. Yes we "can't go 5 pages" without BG characters pointing out how cute rental girlfriend/ temporary girlfriend/ trainee girlfriend "x" is. The reason for this is because this is just the author giving us the mental image Kazuya has of himself every time he is with one of these girls. We all see him as such a spineless looser, or POS because this is how he sees himself. I've seen people ragging on his lack of character development pointing out his crappy up skirt mentality in this chapter. Really no one else had a problem with this, but it's used to point out that even still Kazuya sees himself as a sex crazed ass hat. And honestly this all stems to the fact that throughout this series he hasn't had the confidence that he is worthy of any of these girls, even though they have all in one way or another found themselves falling for him. If we take a step back for a minute and think about Kazuya not through the filter of his own insecurities, but through his actions we can see a character who was somewhat selfish but going through a hard time in the beginning. There was probably nothing wrong With him, he just had a bad bit of luck that his first girlfriend was Mami, she messed him up good. Since then he has been getting back on his feet, and during this long period of time he has developed into a kind, caring, and impassioned guy. Currently he's at a fork, he doesn't understand how to help Chizuhara because his one truth among truths, that the two of them really do have something real, has been crowded out by his overwhelming insecurities, the biggest of which is that he is completely unworthy of a genuine girlfriend, or that someone as cute as these girls who have been with him would actually want to be with him. We see a character like Sumi,—OMG Sumi BTW—for what she is, true, genuine, and thoughtful, and we all know she has a thing for Kazuya, even though she knows it will never happen. She sees that Chizuhara has a thing for him as well and knows that if the two of them could get out of their own heads, they'd be happy. As a friend all she ca do for Kazuya is give him that confidence that he needs to finally clean up the clutter of all the lies he keeps telling himself. The best way she can do that, take him to the beach, set the mood by taking him to a romantic couples spot, and shout at the top of her little voice her confession of how he feels. No clue if this will work for Kazuya, but I'm willing to bet that after this he gives some serious thought to the situation and realizes that if a girl like Sumi like shim then maybe he isn't as hopeless as he thought he was. I would start watching out for less scenes where guys in the background are whispering about the girl that is being taken out after this point. Since this actually isn't happening.... at all. Once Kazuya get's out of his own head space and declutters the lies that have buried his one truth about Chizuhara, he will be able to confront her, do what's right, and in time confess his own fealings. Probably after he has sets Ruka free, and he and Chizuhara end up facing Mami and grandma as a tag team "final boss". For those that think the movie arc meant nothing to their relationship, hay is in the barn fam, if her grandma hadn't died, then yeah there would have been some immediate movement. But now she has this eternal gratitude for Kazuya, that because of him and his efforts, his feelings for her, she was just able to make her personal dream come true, that will dawn on her once the shock and grief goes away, and probably as soon as Kazuya get's his crap figured out a la Sumi. Nothing feels drawn out for me, nor has the series lost steam, it's reached its climax as far as I'm concerned, it did when her grandma and she had their final conversation just before her death. The rest of this series will be a whirlwind of resolution and it all starts with Sumi fulfilling her role as best support character, hang on, happy good times ahead.