One thing I was quite disappointed....
Had that thing been in, I don't think you'd be calling him a coward. You'd call him a broken person, just as much as all the others.
And yes, Rika is pure awesomeness, distilled into a single character. Even though I lean towards Sena, a Rika victory in my view would be well deserved.
Now that I've seen the scene animated, I must admit, Kodaka comes off as quite cruel here - in contrast to how it was like when I read in on text.