One thing I don't understand is...

Its bc the author knows she's catering to a bunch of fujoshi that don't care what kind of lines get crossed as long as they see some fucc. Honestly, I'm getting a little sick of stories in these types of genre losing depth just to excuse any reason for sex. It had a little more depth in the beginning, started to get a little overwhelming for fans, and then started becoming more and more cliche as the author clearly realized that people were going to ship shit no matter how fucked up she tried to make it lol. I think she gave up a little bit in some plot directions it could have branched off to in the beginning.

I think that in Japan the first years of school are assigned depending on where you live and you can't change schools unless you have serious problems or a really good reason to do so, like moving far away or bullying, so if they are still in middle school probably they can't change schools

"people were going to ship shit no matter how fucked up she tried to make it"
I was thinking about that a while ago, like this is the ultimate limit of BL, there's no way for an author to make an actual psycological thriller that ends with the MC really taking revenge and moving on.
I hate that extreme fangirling is getting in the way of creativity.

But then again Chise said herself that this would have a "happy ending" (very early on) and that she'd come to terms with the fact that she is an erotica artist, so, it might have always been just about the smut and the miserable uke falling for his bigger then life persecutor...

Yeah, it sucks man. Fans have boxed her in and made an artist feel like catering to them is more important than her telling a story she wants to tell how she wants to tell it. Its sad. I think this happens to a lot of manga artists when compared to comic artists in the US. Comic artists in the US tend to have the mentality that they're making a thing and that other people can like it for what it is or move on whereas in Japan manga authors are kind of forced to do what sells and ultimately have to compromise on their artistic integrity and vision. This could have been a really interesting and dark manga, but its clear in recent chapters that she is trying to soften up the relationship between Azusa and Karino to make it "okay" for them to end up together. Theres been a clear shift in how their relationship in how their relationship is being portrayed in the manga.

Its also became a lot more sexual, believe it or not, but in a really...erotica kind of way, so it makes sense considering that she said she's come to terms with this. I mean, its like losing plot to porn mentality, so like stupid things are happening just to open up a sex/ smut scene. Its sad. I never liked her stories as porn or erotica, but as stories about dark and negative emotions and flawed characters and about how sex plays a big role in toxicity in the abusive kinds of relationships she likes to depict. If its just going to become porn I really won't be able to keep following her work.