And then the scene is ruined because he can't accept literary morals (got no good idea on what to call it, but morals that fit the story and the "emotional reunion", to give it a good ending), and has to boneheadedly persist on rejecting the romance subplot "because of age-difference" (might make sense irl, but bruh, you are living in a literary work. Read the flow!).
I can imagine it already, he greets her and then asks her if she will leave before or after dinner. If she suddenly gets bold (for the endings sake) enough to say she hoped to stay for breakfast, or even more bold with "I want to eat your dinner... for the rest of my life" (thats how the JP confession trope went right?), he will just laugh and dismiss it without even making it a clear rejection.
I still dont get
why the author decided to make the love interest young. Only ends up as an obstacle to the romance subplot that is clearly being pushed, and not one actually used as a literary tool (such as how After the Rain used it). At the moment it feels as if its only there so it can delay things and be able to milk it out as long as possible, just like the "dense protagonist" trope. Which annoys me, although I doubt
anyone could tell from this comment