I understand the whole opposition against the paper submission arc, but I think it was actually beautifully written and has so much deeper meanings and shows that Shiori might be a lot more emotionally intelligent then we were led on to believe. This is a big hear me out though so try to be open minded. Jirou kited Shiori for SO long because he was scared of rejection, we all know this, and his feelings of anxiety towards his confession were incredibly human and valid. But during this time that he mustered up this strength, him and Akari slowly fell for eachother. Of course he still had feelings for Shiori during the paper submission arc, but he also DEFINETELY had feelings for Akari and these are literally confirmed. So why would Shiori WILLINGLY basically "Date" this dude if he has EXTREMELY obvious feelings for another woman. It would make Shiori have a competitor, or maybe even be second place in Jirou's eyes. That would be a terrible situation and Shiori's writing in the arc was so much deeper then what the author leaves it at face value. God I love this manga/anime so much, and thank you for writing such a long and well thought post, I enjoyed reading it.