LOL ujiie from the top rope... i love him. he reminds me of yugami from Yugami Doesn't Have Any Friends.
this chapter was so good - i love how the author balances the takeaways here. it's true that shima is in a hard place balancing how to act around others because he didn't grow up with the love mitsumi did, but as her BF he still should've taken some responsibility. it isn't about telling those girls off so much as assuring mitsumi in some way. even if they weren't secretly dating, he should've spoken up as a friend!
honestly it was such a good development to have shima and mitsumi date early like this. so much more interesting to see the missteps firsthand instead of leaving it for the end as a 'happily ever after'. i would honestly be ok with mitsumi and shima breaking up and seeing mitsumi date others as she grows older (like a coming-of-age version of Yumi's Cells).