I totally see the split ending happening, with each girl getting their own version, akin to Bokuben.
Especially now that we're starting to see more and more romantic events (I mean ahead of what's been translated), and it's been painfully clear that the mangaka is aiming for both of them hard.
Something interesting:
Ichiji was on the cover of Volume 4, but a lot of events in it were Amane-centric, including how Amane and Ichiji came to be friends from Amane's perspective mostly. And now, what's going to be part of Volume 5, coming out today, with Amane on the cover, will have a lot of events focused around Ichiji.
So it's clear that the mangaka is trying to throw off people's assumptions of who will win, especially because the events that the girl shares with the MC together keep being a very strong part of the manga.
I want to hope for some kind of compromise ending where we don't have to have one of the girls get hurt, but it also feels like naive fan hopes where we just want the nice ending and the author will be all "but life doesn't work that way" to make the actual ending more emotional.
If I had to rank what I think the outcome will be on probability (most to least) it'd likely be something like:
1) One girl wins, the other loses. I have a feeling that if the author's going to pick one to win it'll be Amane. If for no other reason than Ijichi is a good big sister and will recognize that she and Seo don't have a ton in common while for Amane he is a unique opportunity of someone who's gotten past her prickly exterior and with whom she can be honest about her tastes and personality.
Pros: None except that it's the most realistic.
Cons: Someone loses and that will suck because this isn't an audience who's picked sides and we all love both of them.
2) "And the adventure continues..." ending where there are either no final confessions or no final resolution with the promise that the days of the 3 of them together will continue until Seo or the two girls come to some sort of resolution in a far-off future not depicted in the series.
Pros: Nobody loses. Is the most reasonable/realistic dodge of the issue of someone losing that happens in manga stories.
Cons: Nobody wins in what feels like the biggest cop-out ending possible. It still basically promses that someone will lose eventually, we just don't have to watch it happen.
3) Everyone stays friends. Confessions are explicitly turned down or tossed aside because the 3 realize that they don't want to damage the special friendship they have together by creating "battle lines" or focusing Seo's attention more heavily to one side.
Pros: Nobody loses. The current setup of them being friends is enjoyable. Has a positive message about the ability to be platonic friends across lines of sexual attraction.
Cons: Feels like almost as much of a cop-out as making no choice because it's a choice to specifically not make a choice.
4) The "Life With Archie" ending, aka the split ending. The penultimate arc ends with both girls having confessed and Seo mulling over what he will do. This leads into the final arc where half of each chapter (full chapter, not segment) is devoted to him accepting Ijichi's confession and the other half to an alternate version of events where he accepts Amane's. The final arc plays out like this across several chapters to show each relationship evolving and probably to deal with the drama fallout with the girl that isn't chosen in each version of events. Possibly end with a singular flash-forward wedding chapter that plays out mostly in a way that avoids showing which girl is the bride with only a brief flash of it being either/both so that it's like the story ends on a unified note with the girl of each reader's choice in the bride position.
Pros: The closest I think we realistically come to a "nobody loses" storyline that doesn't just dodge the potential to lose. Would be an interesting storytelling exercise and would allow the audience to glom onto whichever version of events they want or experience both.
Cons: Would be more work having to plot 2 entirely distinct storylines for the final arc. Could be viewed as a cheat because it still dodges an actual resolution and does so in a way that actually dodges the ramifications of that avoidance within the story.
5) the Harem/Throuple ending. Seo can't choose and the girls decide to share, staying together while still both showing romantic interest in him. Wouldn't really be a love triangle because it's clear that Ijichi and and Amane are friends and don't have sexual attraction to one another. Would just be like an open-ended arc shape with Seo at the point and the girls on either end.
Pros: Nobody loses in the most "nobody actually loses" sort of way.
Cons: not realistic in the slightest aside from porn or fantasy world logic. Could be viewed as an even bigger cop-out than #2 if handled poorly because while that is "we avoid the problem and don't deal with it" this is "we choose the most ridiculous possible answer and ask people to accept it in spite of its obvious flaws"
I need to brush up on my Chinese, so that I can read like 20 chapters more of this because it’s too good