Am I the ony one here who doesn't outright hate Mari? Even though I wouldn't say she's my favorite, quite far from it, at least I get it where she's coming from. Now if only she could get out of being under her sorry-excuse-of-a-mother's influence though...
By the way, nice chapter. I guess we're getting into the reasons why Kon is essentially a hikki, at lest partially. From what I get, she was basically kind of a class clown, a role in which you try to please everyone, except it was taken in a different way due to her being a girl and her looks, and ended up alienating everyone, at least from her viewpoint. Maybe I'm taking it the wrong way though.