BTW, there's plenty of story after this due to the shockwave through their social circles after this event (assuming the author &writing team keeps producing this work). There's a lot of personal development that can come from actually getting rejected versus thinking about rejection. A few story ideas come to mind:
- Ishigami finally experienced real romantic rejection and will grow up and deal with something that a lot of boys and young men go through at that age.
- Shirogane and Kaguya will take up the challenge of taking care of not only Ishigami but also Iino, due to social responsibility in the senpai-kouhai relationship as well as due to genuine friendship.
- Tsubasa, with some character development, can come around and see Ishigami as a viable romantic partner in the future. People change in real life, no reason they can't change in the fictional world as well. It won't happen in a school setting, though, since they're 2 years apart, and a lot happens in a young person's life in 2 years, including the 2 years she would have graduated college and he would (hopefully) still be enrolled.
Breakups aren't fun, but I'm always happy when *something* happens that removes uncertainty. This is just me, but I cheer for announcements of dating, marriage, and breakups and divorce. The latter two are tough, but new doors to happiness become available, and a shitty situation that gets resolved cleanly is better than it persisting any longer than necessary.