So... at the ending of this episode: Tohru bribed Shouta. Shouta took a bribe & threw a contest. And Tohru deceived Kobayashi.

I'm disappointed in Tohru for sinking to such devious behavior and exploiting the insecurity that she knew was Lucoa's vulnerability. What's a dishonest win when you know you'd have lost if it was honest? Heck, there wasn't even a shiny trophy to take home.

I'm also disappointed in Shouta for participating in Tohru's trickery. It seems beneath the dignity of the kind of mage he hopes to become. It's also a cruel thing to do to Lucoa, knowing how much he means to her. Did he think he was "getting even" with her for all her pranks? Maybe. Still, it was stabbing at her through the only real chink in her armor. Tsk.

Finally, Tohru was deceiving Kobayashi with the whole outing, in a way that makes one think she learned nothing from the love-potion chocolates episode & Kobayashi's warning about trust. Even Kanna, the prankster dragon, shouted "that's not fair!"

What do you all think? Fair judgement that the episode didn't reflect well on some main characters?