JUST ADMIT THAT YOU LIKE EACH OTHER ALREADY!
And it's not just him. If she'd stop dancing around everything and say "I like you" this would ALL be solved. I get that it's not "moe" and traditional Japanese manners for people to be direct about their feelings if they can help it. This is the culture, after all, that decided a book having a character say "I love you" was so improper that it was rendered as "the moon is beautiful tonight" in translation.
She says she wants to make her feelings clear then she doesn't actually say the thing at the core of her feelings. And he's worried that she might leave if she doesn't have a reason to stay with him, but he won't say the biggest reason he has to want her to stay.
I know it's standard manga plotting, but ye gods it's no wonder this ends in 10 chapters because in spite of the author writing all sorts of situations to move the plot along, they steadfastly refuse to actually allow it to move.
And on the flip side: oh my god, there's actually still 10 chapters of this glacial pace to go before they invariably wait until the last few pages of the final chapter to have them spit their damn feelings out and progress things.
I don't understand how emotionally stunted the expected audience is supposed to be to find this level of idiocy endearing.