i think hijiri is one big red herring. the actual rival is someone else

by the way, the mangaka is fond of using 'dont judge a book by its cover' and behind the scenes tactics to give false impressions. she might be using it on us readers as well

I might be reading too much into this but....

I don't think Jouran Hijiri is the rival. If anything, the author has been pairing him with Sayuri (even though she has unrequited feelings for him, I get the feeling that the Jouran/Sayuri couple is supposed to be like a counterpart to the Kanoko/Tsubaki couple, as they are in similar situations).

I think the rival is actually the president, whom we haven't seen much of so far, but who I think will be making more and more appearances soon. And since he has also shown that he is on the same mental level as Kanoko.....

Totally, dude!!! You know how I think sooo well!!! I mean Kanoko & president were hugging and blushing in the latest chapter... He also knows the truth about her, too. He's gotta be the rival! 😃

"There is no such thing as living well in this world and it doesn't matter if you're strong or weak. Just do whatever you want." -Saitama

Ah that's going to make things so much harder for Tsubaki... at least Hijiri is an idiot. Since the president's so intelligent, he might actually be serious competition hahaha! 😁

Yep, my predictions from the start of the manga didn't pan out at all. [spoiler]

hAAAHAHAHA reading this now after I finished the manga!
Gosh so glad this

didn't happen.

This is why this is one of my few favorite manga, such a gem! So realistic!

You know guys, I really kind of wanted her to end up with

the president, and Tsubaki would move on from his love

I'm always seeing people say that she should've just stayed friends with Tsubaki. But Tsubaki was literally never her friend. He's always loved her so "staying friends" doesn't work, because their relationship was never comprised of friendship. Kanako is friends with the Tsubaki that is in love with her, not Tsubaki. And Tsubaki has never been friends, but always in unrequited love, and whose actions are dictated by how to advance said love.