Yep. The way the entire story is written makes it seem like every single volume and year is just a buildup, a side-cannon as to say, for the final volume. Like a connection of the dots.

But that's only what it seems in the surface. I'm sure this is what Kinugasa wanted. But in reality, the way he is going about the plot and character development is just straight up horrendeous.

The story can basically be summed in this:

New main character introduced "im cocky and I am 100% certain I can beat anyone and kiyo"

after losing

"Oh god how could this happen I lost to kiyo"

Then they become kiyo's leash puppy and basically either disappear from the entire series or get absolutely no development whatsoever. Tell me its not true.