@donm527 Most certainly not trying to start a war here. I just have a great aversion for words being twisted or vague situations being over-read to one side.
I look at the situation and the original Japanese, and don't feel it is made that vague. Of course, it's vague enough that if the author wished to, Negi could pull a "she did kiss him at the bell." But, even in English, it's present-tense. Even if she is trying to play word games, I don't think she would have used the wording she had in JP or in EN (EN is less sure because the scanlators don't know Negi's intentions). She even explains prior "how it (kissing) is different between with a girl and a boy" as if suggesting she hadn't been able to tell the difference until she had kissed Fuutaro right now, for she's always been kissing actresses (due to the taboo of kissing actors atm).
Of course, I may be going opposite to what you are doing, and my ulterior motive is to denounce any sway towards the Ichika ship. But as I stated, she did kiss, and anyone trying to turn a blind eye to that two-page spread is in real denial. I'm just here wanting to be on the fence until things are more concrete.