Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun plays with both gender tropes and shoujo cliches. When combined together, the series can dabble into Ho Yay territory.
- Mikoshiba x Mayu is unavoidable as the author has admitted that Mayu was intended to be a girl, and a female Mayu would have been paired with Mikoshiba. The gender change certainly hasn't stopped the duo from being shippable.
- Whenever there's official art or merchandise of the main cast and the canon couples are paired off, Mikoshiba is typically drawn with Mayu so he's not left out. Cemented by an official poll asking if Mikoshiba should be paired with a girl, where the second most popular answer (after "He's better off alone") was "He's got Mayu! (for merchandise)".
- Mayu is seen with Mikoshiba the most out of the main cast, to the point it's rare to have him appear when Mikoshiba isn't present. Mikoshiba in return feels close to Mayu, to the point he'll stick to him or message him if he feels awkward with other people.
- In Chapter 59, Mikoshiba is shown to be a fan of Mayu's art blog called Mayumayu whom he thinks is run by a girl. He leaves a comment on the blog using Mamiko as his username, leading Mayu and his friends to assume Mikoshiba is also a girl. Mayu is made by his friends to start messaging "her" to improve his texting (and get a girlfriend), and Mikoshiba develops a crush on her while exchanging these texts with "her". The two become super invested in texting each other to the point of (both physical and phone battery) exhaustion. The two have been seen texting each other as Mamiko and Mayumayu at least once since this chapter, still thinking the other is a girl.
- In Chapter 76, a series of misunderstandings during a mixer ends up making Mayu look like he's into guys (he was interested in their judo skills) and seem like he's possessive of Mikoshiba (he was advised by his brother to say "He's mine" if it looked like Mikoshiba was in trouble).
- Mikoshiba in general is very easy Ho Yay material with the guys due to his Tsundere personality (which, in-story, inspired the Let's Love heroine Mamiko).
- His reaction to Nozaki's bento lunch made it clear why he's the model for Mamiko. Also of note is that Nozaki gets no satisfaction when Sakura and Seo eat his lunch but is thrilled when Mikoshiba eats his.note
- During Nozaki's and Sakura's For Science! date in a cafe, Mikoshiba (as Sakura''s guardian spirit), suggests that Sakura share her cakes with Nozaki as a couple, but she quickly rejects the idea since she wants to have the cakes to herself. As a result, Nozaki shares his cakes with Mikoshiba instead, and even starts calling him Mikoto-chan.
- Sakura calls him a cheater when she thinks Kashima is a boy. Since Mikoshiba is the model for Mamiko, him getting chummy with another boy is the same as "cheating" on Suzuki, to the point that even when Kashima's Unsettling Gender-Reveal is made, the first thing Sakura says is, "Thank god [Mikoshiba] isn't cheating with another boy."
- Hori cheers for Mikoshiba (who is supposed to be the villain) during his play-fight with Kashima (who's playing Prince Charming) for a drama club rehearsal. This is enough to make Kashima jealous, thinking Hori's favouring Mikoshiba over her (in reality he was just distracted by Mikoshiba's similarities to Mamiko, compelling him to root for "her").
- For Valentine's Day 2019 (Mikoshiba's birthday) on twitter, Tsubaki uploaded a comic strip titled "Mikoto x Boyfriend" where Mikoshiba (in tsundere style) takes a bite from the "boyfriend's" chocolate.
- Nozaki's admiration to Miyamae can be excessive, to the point where it seems like he's having a crush on him. Sakura simply writes "Ken-san" when noting down Nozaki's ideal type, and the fanbook even states that he's her greatest love rival. A couple of examples include:
- Nozaki talks about Miyamae as if he were "the person that healed his broken heart". His texting language with Miyamae also makes him sound like a female highschooler, complete with heart emoticons.
- Nozaki also gets extremely jealous when he learns that another mangaka went shopping with Miyamae for reference materials, and goes as far as to conjure an extremely elaborate beach date with him as well (to which Mikoshiba objects, saying that it will be an Old Shame for him in the future).
- Nozaki once initiates idle highschooler talk with Miyamae by talking about stationery, and when Miyamae is actually interested, Nozaki gets all giddy and happy just like a girl whose crush noticed her.
- Nozaki and Hori are apparently too close for Kashima's liking as she's sometimes competitive towards Nozaki for Hori's attention. Nozaki is aware of this and once attempts to make her jealous (for acting reasons) by telling her to imagine Hori and himself dating - and it convinces Sakura enough to drive her to tears. Mikoshiba also notes that unlike Sakura, whose beta job Nozaki could do himself, the backgrounds assistant (Hori) is the one person Nozaki will chase after no matter what, to her anguish.
- Due to her Prince Charming status at school as well as her Bifauxnen and Ambiguously Bi nature, Kashima is very shippable with basically any female character.
- Sakura, who is only attracted to Nozaki, doesn't notice Kashima until the latter is introduced by Mikoshiba — and she blushes when Kashima gets up close in her face, noticing how good-looking she is.
- Wakamatsu mistakes Kashima (who's in her casual clothes) for Seo's boyfriend in the Festival Episode when he sees them together, and continues to think so throughout Chapter 45 (until the end). At one point during the misunderstanding, he sees how close Kashima is to Sakura and concludes that those two are also dating.
- In a manga omake, Kashima realizes the reason she's very comfortable with Seo is because she reminds her of Hori due to their nearly identical heights.
- Nozaki once shows Yumeko a photo of Kashima and Mikoshiba, asking who she prefers, and she points to Kashima. Nozaki explains that Kashima is actually a girl, much to Yumeko's disbelief. Then she points to Kashima again, saying, "Still this one!"
- Seo and Sakura can have shades of Les Yay, as the latter highly admires the former (while being oblivious to her bad points) and the two are close enough to be on a First-Name Basis. Some official art of them borders on Pseudo-Romantic Friendship, and the umbrella scene and tie scene in Nozaki's manga that becomes a hit with readers... is actually based on Seo and Sakura. They're also the most popular female pairing, ranking in the top 10 in both pairing polls.
- At Ken's suggestion, Nozaki uses his hashiranote to talk about his assistants, but describes Mikoshiba, Hori and Wakamatsu in such a way that it sounds like they're his boyfriends, and that he's secretly two-timing them. It doesn't help that he's pretending to be a female author.
- Due to various misunderstandings, in Chapter 91 Ryousuke assumes Nozaki is dating not only Miyako but also Miyamae, and that he's ex-boyfriends with Maeno (and he then concludes that natural development will lead to himself dating both Miyako and Miyamae to complete the love pentagon). Ryousuke also has a flirty moment at the end of the chapter where he runs into Miyamae and dramatically holds his hand (while applauding his efforts as a "dance girl").
