@McLXIX
I will certainly agree that they are signs, thus open to interpretations. But you could say that what bothers me with the claims made is how far they are taken in favour of one's boat. I'm aware not everyone is coming in to read a story to analyze it as objectively as possible, nor do I believe my words of attempted objectivity will persuade anyone away from their waifu. But again, it's bothered me when someone thinks one way, presumably disregarding or misinterpreting details to make bold claims that is positive for whoever they cheer for.
I will agree, I had taken your statement of "Fuutarou is attracted to Nino" in the same vein of "Fuutarou is in love with Nino," mostly out of how I've seen people put those two statements as one and the same. I also took it far because of a latter statement of "he prefers Nino liking him while blushing in the process," which felt like a round-about way of saying that he's romantically interested. For overblowing things on my end, I do apologize.
Now to answer your counter-statements:
-False, Fuutarou knows Ichika is also in love with him.
Not false, since I stated "at least two" for the very case of including Ichika. However, I won't deny, at the time of my reply, I had not re-read the chapters, and my recollection of chapters 84-86 were hazy (but even when looking back, I won't deny that I have a few doubts if he truly recognizes Ichika's feelings).
-False, fact is Fuutarou is reading the guide just before meeting Nino. Behaviour has more impact over words and as you can see, he still ends up using the guide towards her interactions with Nino in the chapter.
The very reason why I said he is taking the best approach, which is from a book. Saying it's false with a previous statement is only going to make this part of the argument go in an endless circle. Let's simply say, he doesn't know what to do, tries to use the guide even before reading, and uses what techniques there are in them "to understand the feelings of someone who is in love with him."
-This is based solely from you own interpretation and is it not shown in the manga that Fuutarou is using the guide book like “formulas from a textbook”. Recall from the previous chapter that he says “I want to read some more on [the romance guide book] to find out my own feelings.” This is the reason why he has the guidebook.
I do understand that it may be my interpretation, but so could yours too. Your statement doesn't pose any more reasonable than mine, imo. Just like the statement above, I'll take even, and believe it could be one or the other. I don't doubt it, just don't believe it's the sole reading of him using "lessons" from the guide.
-You can’t simply assume that everyone will react a certain way. The way you or I would react holds no value compared to how the character in the receiving end of the that dialogue would respond. That is up to the author.
Certainly, it's up to the author... but even then, we can hypothesize based on what can be "natural reactions." I don't think you should shut down a point of argument with "it's up to the author" as it can be taken as a statement of escape from talking opinions. I stated my example of "what if" because reasonably, we readers take from our own experience (not just about ourselves, but also about other people in our lives) on understanding characters. And while we may react differently, I was taking into consideration what I (or we) understood of Fuutaro and did assume that he'd be in line with people who'd be shocked if someone suddenly acted cold, especially if they had expressed their love; as mentioned, Fuutaro is trying to learn "what it is to be romantic" and whatnot since he had almost 0 interest in it prior, and now that he's trying to deal with it, Nino throws a hardball by acting all stern (And almost hateful) suddenly. He uses what he read in the guide book instead of asking her because he possibly trusts the material "from experienced people" than make moves on his own; if he's blunt and all, he would have bluntly asked Nino why the harsh act. But he doesn't, since he trying to read what she's even trying to do.
-Once again, this is just an assumption and holds no value since it is not shown in manga(dialogue or drawing). You can’t assume that the way you will react to an event in a work fiction will be how a character in the work of fiction will respond. “It's a nice notion that he at least sees Nino approachable enough”, where did it show in the chapter that Fuutarou “sees Nino approachable enough” as if she’s a last resort?
I won't deny how much it bothers me when you say "it holds no value" (even though I too said statements akin to it, aka "it's null). But readers should assume, just as you did. So if you say my statements are of no value, so are yours; I am not assuming everything will be based on how I react, because I too know, Fuutaro is not me. But I hold value in your opinions as a fellow reader, and would rather discuss than mindlessly believing "my opinions won't matter, it's up to Negi-sensei" because I am not here to convince Negi-sensei on how he should write his materials. I will say, I am confidant to an extent in my ability to read the lines (although with admitted human errors due to my own preferences); back early on, so many people dismissed Yotsuba for being unrelated, but I was in party Yotsuba because "I assumed" that there was more to her. If I am making heartless statements out of nowhere, please do tell me, but in the least, I don't believe that I am being unreasonable with my statements.
-Another assumption here. Your claim that, “he's seeing Nino's love for him out of analysis, nothing personal yet” got any evidence of it? And an evidence is not an interpretation or assumtion, it is a dialogue or drawing. When did Negi show in the manga that Fuutarou is "traumatized" by Nino's past actions.
Read above. I don't need to repeat my statement against your answers of "another assumption" as it isn't posing an opinion, but a shut-down of a rebuttal.
-I don’t why you come to the conclusion that I have a binary mindset when I’m commenting about signs-which by the way is the complete opposite of binary since signs are clues and can be interpreted in a number different ways.
As you may have noticed, I did mistakenly read your prior statement as "Fuutarou loves Nino," not as your intended "Fuutarou is attracted to Nino." So I do hold to my mistake of claiming that your thought tracks were binary. I will confess, there have been other more unreasonable people who do think in such a binary way, disregarding my statements for being "malicious," and sadly, they've mostly been Nino/Ichika fans.
Although let's not forget, a lot of eager shippers will take a "sign" as fact, because they can be unreasonable like that. Because you did not outright state it to be an open-ended clue, I will admit to not holding good faith, believing you were being binary for that reason too.
Otherwise, I apologize for my assumption.
-False, Fuutarou has been receiving affection from the Quints for a very long time since the very early chapters and plenty of it. Remember Miku affectionately saying that Fuutarou “needs to take responsibility” from chapter 3? and then cooking for him the next chapter? It should be harder for him to blush since he’s been receiving all kinds of affection from the Quints. The fact that he blushes is a big deal.
Yes, he's been receiving such affection, but has he been taking it whole-heartedly in a romantic sense? I would assume that it didn't mean as much in ch3 as it may have later on. This is a difference of "receiving affection" to "the Quints being affectionate"; Fuutaro receiving the affection is different from what the Quints have offered to him (or else we'd have to say, he's been receiving it since chapter 1 from Yotsuba, for example). Truly, he was flustered back in chapter 3, but I see it that he didn't start seeing the Quints affection as affection until later chapters.
But I will agree that I may have gone too far, saying he may not be used to it, especially with the 80 or so chapters of being with the Quints, and the 20, if not more, chapters of him realizing the affections of those such as Miku and Nino. For that I apologize.
I'm glad you are apologizing in the end, but it doesn't sound as genuine when you still went on to say "it's all false" or "all assumption" because as said above, that statement is nothing more than a means to stop all arguments or discussion. I know you do not mean to earnestly say "You are wrong" to me, but it does not change that you are shutting down the discussion by saying them. If you do not have anything better to say, or do not have a comprehensive statement to counter my arguments, then I would have appreciated it better if you simply stayed to the topmost statement of "It's all up to interpretation." Using "false" or "up to interpretation" as points of argument aren't at all satisfying, nor are they firm. If we drew 100% from the source material... then no one should be making guesses as I had. As you had. No one should be taking this anymore than a typical romcom that could go south "because the author willed it." As someone else said in an earlier chapter's comment section, the fun of the discussion is to debate what is the "what if," even if someone like myself is trying to amount an "objective argument."
If your next answer to my statement isn't an attempt to forward a discussion, I will leave you be. As mentioned, you have your opinions of Fuutaro having an attraction to Nino, which may be undeniable, but I too have my reserved thoughts of what had occurred in this chapter. Have a good day.