This manga is very special both in its quality and how it's personal to me. I've read it about three times by now, each time worried that I might not enjoy it as much as before, but for somehow, it always manages to speak to me in different ways, with so many of them reminding me of things I've forgotten or don't want to forget. I personally feel that the lack of (explicit) romance isn't a flaw. In fact, I find it to be a very endearing thing. They don't need to declare anything. Nobody can say what they are.
It's very difficult to talk about this manga. It manages to connect with a very specific kind of person, and I think that is the highest praise any art can really have. Not everybody needs to 'understand' it (whatever that may mean), but those who do are unmistakably the ones who would appreciate it in their own ways. In my latest read, I did not come close to crying like I did before, but nonetheless I still felt like reading it brought me the same feelings I had. It's just a lot more than the GL. I've only really noticed later, but this was definitely an influential manga in my life, and I'm glad for it.
Here's to another reread sometime in the future.