One conceptualization of love is that love is admiration. You admire something in the other person, and that other person admires something in you. During the relationship, both individuals continually strive to attain that which they admire in the other. Each person in the relationship is simultaneously the teacher and the student: the teacher when showing the other how to attain what they possess, and the student when receiving knowledge. Through the relationship, each person continually finds something they admire in the other and elevates each other, making each person a little closer to absolute perfection, ontologically closer to God.
Kuromiya admires Hiruno’s ability to “no matter how beat up you get, you always do your best for the sake of your friends.” As she admits, “That’s something that I couldn’t do. You have something that I don’t.” Hiruno admires Kuromiya, “who’s always doing amazing things, showing me your resolve, your conviction.” Kuromiya admires Hiruno’s silent resolve and selflessness, while Hiruno admires Kuromiya’s explicit success and ability to outwardly voice her resolve.
Taking into account the prior conceptualization of love, Kuromiya’s statement, “When you get better, let’s admire each other,” is a confession of the deepest magnitude. It is not merely stating “I love you” or “I have deep affection for you”; no, this statement is a lifelong declaration of commitment to mutual betterment—done together.
Obviously, the author may not be aware of this conceptualization of love or may not subscribe to it. Personally, however, this is how I interpret it, since I find it more romantic this way, and there are enough context clues to support this interpretation without needing to contort the facts. I find it more romantic when love elevates, rather than settles for mediocrity, which is what the notion of "I love you the way you are" subscribes to.
