Thanks for the chapter, Silas.
I disagree--it's fine as it is in that regard, it just needs less focus on everyone but Haru. Didn't everyone (or at least Carol, the designated intelligence specialist of the group) confirm that their presence in the harem is fine as long as Haru remains at the top? Yet she spent a ton of time (an entire arc, and then a large portion of the following) pushed out of focus for everyone else; she was even depicted longing wistfully for Ichinojo in one of the more recent chapters, while that was happening. That last part is how you know it's forced--it doesn't even agree with the author's own writing, but many people won't notice because the forced inclusions suit their fetishes (or, in the case of the Japanese, they're programmed to avoid criticizing anything), and the author won't acknowledge it because the editor probably demands those fetishes be indulged (if it's not the author's own inclinations as well).
The author's spending way too much time pandering to paraphiles--like every other mangaka out there that has a female lead that looks and acts like Haru in his story; it happens almost without fail.
This chapter was a breath of fresh air--it was reminiscent of the times the story focused on Ichinojou and Haru traveling together (and everything they did together) without a bunch of characters mostly included to change what the male reader finds attractive in the opposite sex. All of it was great, from the fighting to the two acting on the affection they have for each other--something Ichinojou always had more of for Haru than any of the others (e.g., he had to be emotionally manipulated into regarding Carol as anything other than the little girl she looked like and into even
liking Mareeeeeena).