Ah, I'm purified by this visit to the shrine of Miku. I love her quiet but intense passion. Fuutarou, dude, open your eyes & see what the gods have placed before you!
Honestly, Ichika, Nino, & even Yotsuba, to an extent, have all revealed real interest in Fuutarou, & I can grudgingly accept any of them winning the race. But Itsuki - nada, nil, norway, zilch! Curse the 1st girl always wins cliche! As far as I can see, all Itsuki has displayed is a half-assed 'I'll prove I'm a hard-working student' air, but she's hardly shown anything like interest in Fuutarou, her chumming it up with imouto-chan notwithstanding. Like others have said, if she wins, it's a case of the author choosing to scam us with crappy formulaic story-telling.