@EaterOfBooks 100% agree about basically everything you said. Considering the author also does rape doujins I was wincing at the idea of it being played for titillation, but the fact the entire thing was (at least to me), just portrayed as being horrible and mostly skipped over with us only seeing how mentally destroyed Ichika (and frankly Narumi, most likely, given how appalled he seemed about the entire thing once he really understood the gravity of the situation) made it feel less exploitative.
I sort of hope Kanae manages to survive, not for her, but just because poor Hiroshi seems like the only entirely decent person in this story and he really doesn't need to have his career ruined/possibly get traumatized over killing her. Not that we know WHY he does it yet, but considering what we've now seen of Kanae, I can't help but think there's a defensible reason.
I think the person I feel most overall sorry for at the moment is Narumi. Ichika in no way deserved what happened to her, at all, but considering how vitriolic she has been ever since her first appearance (IE, bullying the hell out of two girls for literally zero reason) it's harder to be fully sympathetic. Narumi actually participated in raping her, but the read I've gotten on him is a basically decent kid who's gotten in with a bad crowd, who hadn't thought out the actual consequences of what he was asking for when he tried to help Kanae. Not that he doesn't deserve any of the blame, but the guy seems to genuinely care about Kanae, who for one reason or another, just doesn't appreciate it. I dunno, the whole story so far is just tragic.
And yeah; If you've ever heard the phrase "Can't you read the room?" in manga/anime, one of the ways it's used is to blame bictims of bullying for fighting back, because they're the ones who are disturbing the order of things by fighting back. Instead, they're supposed to just show that Japanese spirit and endure it.