I humbly request japanese authors to have at least one -proper- (i.e. not ldr/mmo crap) relationship before writing romance, or at least read some of the classics of the genre.
It is quite grating when authors write about subjects without the knowledge, you see sometimes in their extra pages talking how they started to read about those things after many chapters were written.
Tom Clancy used to read declassified military documents to make his books more credible and accurate.
Reminds me of the late trend of people getting married from the start but they act like embarassed middle schooler for a good chunk of the story, or when something "ecchi" happens right away and that remains the peak of their relationship.
I think this one started well:
1) MC is not easily flustered because he has lived a whole life already, OK 2) He is the mature one compared to his two female friends who make the typical game of teasing while trying to call out the MC for something "pervy" that he doesn't do 3) He told them explicitly enough that he doesn't sees them that way.
So why change course here? This reminds me of "I want to end this love game", where the two leads block each other for no reason.