[GoldenLand]

The situation with Chihaya, Taichi and Arata is interesting. At this point it's hard to say if two of them will end up together at the end of the series, given that it's so far away. But I think the series is definitely trying to give the impression that Chihaya has some level of subconscious romantic interest in Arata. Whether it's actually romance or friendship+idolisation, or a bit of both, there's a lot of space for development or for things to change between them. With Chihaya being so dense about romance, it's hard to know where she really stands on this issue, and it may well be that she doesn't love anyone romantically right now. (Although she often sounds suspiciously into Shinobu, but maybe that's my imagination. )

Chihaya doesn't really seem to understand Taichi very well, or - well, many people, for that matter. In that match where she held out her towel, she looked confused for a moment at his reaction, didn't she? And she's begun to be more aware and considerate of the people around her, like with the band and storage space. As long as she's going through character growth like that, and if Taichi ever manages to get the guts to talk to her, you never know, something might come of it over the long term. But that would have to be much later on in the series.

Like Gohan78 pointed out earlier, Arata is the one who's away and whom Chihaya would naturally miss. We don't even know how she would react if Taichi was away for a long time and Arata was around. Plus, Arata is like a god of karuta to her, given their history. Come to think of it...can Arata and Chihaya really work as a couple if they only interact with each other this little, and with Chihaya putting him on a pedestal? Arata would need more time with her before they could work together well.

I had been thinking that Taichi and Sumire could make a good couple, but once I saw someone on an earlier page say something to the contrary, I think they were right...Sumire is a more interesting character with more scope for personal growth when Taichi isn't around, although her interaction with Taichi is hardly boring. Sumire was someone who used to hang around with people she wasn't really interested in as friends and vice versa, but the karuta club people are so nice that she could get some great friendship development there. It would be a shame for her to get swept up in some romance before she's got herself some real friends and greater happiness. She's also showing tactical promise, what with being the only one to have scoped out the opposition at the team matches.

Originally Posted by orion

It would be an enlightening experience for you to know why they are actually doing it.

That's rather harsh on half the species. Sorry to hear you've only met scummy guys, but really, there are plenty of guys out there who aren't so shallow that they can only ever bear to talk to women (and men, I suppose?) they're attracted to...