No no, of course I remember that, it’s basically the basis of Aria’s whole attitude towards him from that point onwards; but Aria is the only one who actually is truly taking it seriously at this point.
They’re not in a “relationship” other than basically super close family right now (because dense harem protagonist, he’s not her boyfriend, she’s not his girlfriend, he doesn’t actually know what she is, etc etc). Yes there is extreme romantic tension between them (Akira’s chest hurting after seeing her with another man in the dream, her clinging to him on the balcony, etc.) but Akira himself doesn’t think oh, I can’t do this with another woman, because I have Aria back home. She isn’t his reason. He doesn’t see her as his significant other, girlfriend, partner, or fiancé (yet). It takes two people to recognize a romantic relationship; between the two of them, Aria is the only one that is acting on it. Yes, he says he wants to protect her when they are on the balcony before the Oder trip, but in a previous panel, he listed her and his family as the reasons to protect Stromheim. He also said to Medis after the Oder battle, when he renewed his resolve to her, that she was someone he treasured more than anything. But even after that, Medis and him are not in a relationship either.
They are VERY close, and ending up with Aria is probably his destiny, but they are NOT in an actual official relationship at this moment, because Akira himself, when he grew up did not take the proposal seriously, he never brings it up again. That’s the reason I said irregardless of their relationship, he didn’t say that he was promised to a girl back home because of Aria, but because his mom told him that’s the strategy. And so, it was a lie. Once again, I’m not saying that they are not extremely close to one another, but that they are not in an official relationship.
Anyways, that’s way too much typing for a throwaway comment, my b. Aria is best girl fr though. Whatever, if you disagree then that’s fine too. Relationships are defined in different ways by different people.
And I really hope this manga goes for a long time, but the latest chapters have felt so oddly dragged on.