Shishunki-chan no Shitsukekata Vol 8 - Wait Konoka is ok with this?

Today I read volume 8 of Shishunki no Shitsukekata and I had to come here to write something immediately because it activated all my yuri sensors at once. There was a very interesting scene between the main heroine Shiratori Kanon and the (technically rival) heroine Konoka Sasahara that I just have to talk about.

The story continues from the previous volume with the Culture Festival and Konoka having a date with Kousuke as promised. Kanon is, of course, extremely jealous and tries to follow them, eventually getting invited to go around the festival together with them.

Kanon is always cute!

Yes, you!

There, they enter a "Seer" booth. You know, the typical kind where students try to predict love affinity and other unscientific things. The issue is that Konoka asks to calculate the love affinity between herself and not just the protagonist, but also Kanon herself!

After the student says that the affinity between the three is "top tier," Konoka jokingly says, "Hey, we can go out all three then if our affinity is this high!" I laughed a bit and moved on, assuming it was just a gag. But just one scene later, she went to Kanon and the protagonist's house wanting to play with them, acting like "we are lovers now, right?"

Again, it must be just a joke, right? They ended up playing the card game "Concentration" with the prize being an extra piece of sweets (she bought 4 pieces for the three of them). But secretly, she suggests to Kanon that the winner would get a kiss from the person they love.

Kanon victory!

Totally mood Kanon!

Both girls getting serious!

Kanon gets fired up and they fight (while Kousuke tries to survive as the girls were being very "defenseless" around him). Kanon wins the first round, Konoka wins the second, and... Konoka wins the third round too. Just as Kanon was about to despair, Konoka grabs her and goes for a DEEP kiss that lasts for quite a few seconds.

You can imagine my reaction to this! It was so impactful that the other events of the volume went kind of sideways in my brain just thinking of the possibilities. By the way, Kanon actually tied with Konoka in the third round so she would be a winner too, which causes her to be awkward around Kousuke for a while after.

That's my face when unwanted visitors arrive at my house.

Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!

The rest of the volume focused on two different events. One was a bit of cosplaying, with Kanon looking quite cute in the role of an in-series character (with lots of padding to make her chest look the right size!). They even went to a convention where they took a lot of photos, and it was generally a fun small event.

The other part focused on Takashima Sayuki, the gal friend of Kanon, and her approaches to get closer to the person she likes. Her gal appearance and way of speaking really hide how cute she can be when motivated. I am curious to see if they give her more appearances in the coming volumes.

Either way, I am looking forward to reading some more to see where this will lead. I feel like the Kanon ending is the most likely (she is the titular main heroine after all), but a 3P ending with Konoka would actually be funny if they actually deliver it...