I generally dislike love rivals completely because they either end up being annoying as hell or they make them really good characters and then I just get sad reading the chapters leading up to them getting turned down because I feel bad for them even though I totally want the main couple to get together. So in Rumiko's case it was really painful for me because they made her such a likable character.
Kawai on the other hand just annoyed me, if they made her Komi's rival in any other way it would have been a great way to introduce a new character with this school rivalry storyline. But instead they opted for a sudden love rival with an a**pull reason to be in love and even worse, used the absolutely insane "I challenge you, and if you lose you have to break up" trope, and as always with this trope one of the people has no actual romantic connection to the love interest at all, and said love interest gets side lined for the story.
It's a damn school trip story, why the hell would you not use it for actual good progress for the couple, and if not progress at least for a whole bunch of fluffy romance scenes...
