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WoodyCyber: No. I've been reading shoujo extensively for fifteen years. Rivals of one sort or another are common in shoujo. This is something above and beyond. I think @
Tcof has the right of it: the male lead of this is set up as a real bastard, that's the whole premise. To make him look good takes someone incredibly annoying and manipulative. Even so, he's so frigging transparent in his obnoxiousness and she keeps going along with it, gah.