ousuke wasnt totally faultless in all that tho, he lead himself to misunderstand what was going on because he was making crazy assumptions about their relationship based on a pretty narrow understanding of a hikaru he hadnt seen in years, leading him to also be assumptive of shinobu and taking what hed say the worst way until he was set straight
I'm not saying he was completely right--but his assumptions weren't THAT far-fetched; Hikaru has the same personality as 5 years ago, and Shinobu is a terrible communicator, which made Ousuke concerned because he was worried Hikaru was in a bad relationship. Even if Ousuke never went on that trip, he'd still have the same understanding of their relationship (they even said that everyone at work thinks Hikaru and Shinobu don't get along), and the guys have shown a history of having poor communication. If a friend told me "Oh, the person I'm with doesn't like to send messages unless it's necessary and I don't know if we're actually in a relationship," that would make me concerned, too.
While I think the mentor was being a bit over-involved, his concerns were 100% valid, and they weren't really disproved afterwards. I'm surprised he even wanted to encourage their relationship! Like I said, even now they're still on the same BS. But at least we can get another male character in the story who isn't trying to sabotage them; that happens A LOT in BLs.
Shinobu is terrible at being honest with hikaru but that wouldnt make it ousukes business to step in. His issue with their relationship laid mostly in him thinking hikaru was some sweet summer child that could do no wrong. He didnt particularly know hikaru as a full person, just as some work mentee he got one-sidedly over-involved in, and id personally think that's why he let himself believe in the worst in shinobu. His main point of thinking something might be weird between them was the text messaging, but he still had no idea how else they communicate with each other on a regular basis, because ultimately, ousuke and hikaru are not really friends
IDK about that take on Ousuke and Hikaru, since Hikaru does look up to him and talks openly about his personal life--that does seem friendship-ish. The mentor/mentee relationship does seem to have become a friendship between colleagues. The author seems to be making him akin to the "helper" figure you see in BLs that assists the relationship.
And THAT'S the irony; while it wasn't Ousuke's business to step in, he ironically helped the relationship--albeit in the worst way possible. Hikaru, being an overthinker and emotional guy, did have his own axiety about the situation, and it wasn't until Ousuke voiced his disapproval that suddenly the couple became stronger. Honestly I hate that because it's one of those "we have issues, but you tried to break us up and now we're stronger than ever" type deals.
But Ousuke's involvement isn't the point of my post; my issue is that the couple is still having the same issue they've been having for the past 3 volumes with no sign of changing. I can't really get invested in their romance when they're not really matching each other's wavelengths; Hikaru is too much while Shinobu is too little.
There's this whole important job choice that the uke is considering, meaning he'd get to live with the seme, but they'd stop working together. The uke, as usual, is being romantic and thinking a lot about it, but hasn't communicated ot yet, while the seme notices he's stressed but jumps to sex instead of talking it out.
This couple can be very exhausting since every volume it's a recurring issue between the emotional one and the less social one. THIS is why the mentor got that "misunderstanding"--you know, the one that led him to sitting both of them down and they stand their ground on their relationship even though they DID have obvious issues?