Imasara desu ga, Osananajimi o Suki ni Natte Shimaimashita - Ch. 43 - The Pride of the Lecturing Girls

[GennArc]

He said he didn't want to hurt their friendship & that he didn't think she liked him

He didn't say he had thought she didn't like him.

Hikari also doesn't know what Yuu would interpret as mixed signals so she wouldn't know if he was only referring to the last year.

This is just an argument for the sake of argument. Hikari knows she was the same with him since their childhood, and that only changed one year ago, so obviously he could only be talking about the last year.

He'd have managed to skill up fast enough to get in via exam to a school she got into based on her very long record of being amazing (recommendation).

If he has to try his best to achieve what she gets almost effortlessly, it hardly counts as beating/reaching her level in my book. But even then it's not even a competition, like where is the competition from her side when she isn't even doing anything beyond what's normal for her? You wouldn't call it a competition vs a pro swimmer if a 5 yo child manages to swim 100m, whereas for the former it's just a small part of daily exercise.

The reason the exam is a victory & not a confession is b/c it's primarily Yuu thinking he has to/trying to level up to her league so that he has a shot with her.

If being in her league/having a shot with her is the same as enrolling in the same school as her, shouldn't he have been extra worried about all the boys who are able to enter the same school as her?

That's a stalemate in my books?

Yup.