@zz It doesn't feel that romance-y when it's this one-sided honestly. Aqua has literally admitted to just using some of them/seeing them as tools on a number of occasions too, unlike typical romance in manga where even if the MC's a blockhead with 0 romantic feelings they still usually have nothing but positive feelings and relationships for the established romantic interests. All this is to say I think the "romance" actually services the plot quite well in that it's also dark since it's just abuse and control by Aqua at the moment, it fits the theme of lies are love and such, romance is kinda' inevitable when that's one of the core themes of your show you know.