Honestly? This was a better way to salvage the arc than I expected. He doesn't hate Lanka, he even sees a couple of things he likes in her, but it isn't full blown I am falling for you shit.
I have to say though, the quality of the manga has been a bit inconsistent ever since the pages per chapter got limited to like 10~. Still has plenty of little fun moments, but a lot more meh mixed with them.
At least it seems the author has wrote himself some room for the stupid subplots that were tied to the romance.
Now Hitomi doesn't HAVE to shove Jin at Lanka to maintain her friendships with the club, and Lanka doesn't need to maintain author induced stupidity that Jin is head over heels for only her.
Which means we COULD have some more of the fluff that made this series fun, plus a few tolerable 'contests for Jin's love' subplots.
Or I am completely wrong and the axe is gonna smash down in the next 5 chapters leaving no one happy.