... wait, so the sex didn't happen? Also that's all he cares about?
Poor man. His character was murdered and buried.
After 30 chapters of this relationship, his wanting to be intimate with her isn't about sex being
all he cares about. It's about vulnerability and connection at a moment when he feels mortal. He's an erotica writer who's genuinely in love. The scene isn't diminished by desire; desire
is part of intimacy. That's different from the character being reduced to lust.
Let me put it another way: this erotica fiction writer has been pinning for this beautiful, mysterious woman, feeling he's not enough, too old and too foolish for the whole series, just now a couple chapters ago that same woman also came to terms with her feelings for him, and KINDA reciprocated them but not fully. Now he's sick in bed with the deadly japanese cold and feels like shit, can you blame him for wanting to burn himself out with one last flame of love and desire before expiring? does that make him a lesser character in your eyes?