Yup! The guy with Ume and Mahara are the same person--Harumi. They appeared all together in the same panel once at chapter 2, p.6 (being identified as the three guys Sonoki's always with, i.e. his only friends). But it's been pretty much established that the Sonoki, Harumi, Mahara trio is a different circle to the Sonoki, Harumi and Ume group. The former seemed to be the older group since they've been friends prior to high school, while the latter circle I surmise was formed in their club. That's probably why we never saw all of them together since Ume almost exclusively appeared in scenes related to club, which Mahara isn't a member of.
Harumi did talk about Mahara while they were with Ume in the sequel, though!
In my case, I got confused with Harumi and Sonoki's classmate, the one who was really kind and we never really got to see again after graduation.
I actually thought that was Harumi at first. But then he never really exuded the "kind" vibe since-- hence the confusion of Harumi being a different person in each circle if that makes sense
Nice read. I'm always happy to see Ran and her googly eyes. She was the target audience lmao!
PS: I was quite bothered when the other eyes has a different shade. I just read a manga before this with a blind left eye MC, and whenever I see the different shade, it always took me off to this lol??
PSS: Aaaaand I was sooo confused with the guy with Ume and the guy with Mahara? (long-haired guy with glasses always asked Sonoki what his grade/standing was). Like, he never appeared with both Ume and Mahara? together so I was kind of confused if he's a different or same person lmao. And I did not really focused on the other's names. There was a lot of extras haha! But I think, by the end, he was actually the same guy?? Please enlighten me. Lmao.