Adachi always has to do this stuff, just like he's GOING to force Touma to pair up with Otomi. I almost just mentally block out any sort of relationship nonsense in his works because its so horribly predictable. The baseball drama and the stuff involving teammates is what makes his works good.
The "romance" stuff of his aside for in Cross Game (which was actually good, although also horribly predictable) has been mediocre ever since Touch itself. There almost always has to be someone who died, even in Q & A.