Thats the big thing with Mao, she caused this whole problem herself. She never told Kouichi she loved him, pushed him together with Yuumi, gave Yuumi the OK to date Kouichi, helped out Kouichi with Yuumi, latched onto Kai to replace Kouichi, and now shes torn apart emotionally with love for Kouichi.
I think that shes always loved him, I can remember mentioning on AOD that I got that vibe from the first episode that they'd try something. There have been so many Mao x Kouichi hints from the early episodes that part of me wonders if they're deliberately hinting at a Mao x Kouichi relationship or if they're just running a smoke screen. With this happening in 17,
and
something is going to have to happen in 20-24 between them. Part of me thinks they're building up to the big movie kiss where
. Since we have the groundwork for 18 and 19 the episode title for 20 and or 21 is killing me. With 18 airing this week at least I'll get the episode preview to work off of.