Now, now. Taichi doesn't ask Chihaya out as a point of honor--just as Arata never responds to Chihaya's many texts and emails, so too Taichi holds back. As he puts it, "Somehow, / somewhere along the way, / we began to think that Chihaya 'belongs to both of us'" (#14, p. 7). For Taichi, he and Arata share Chihaya through karuta, through the important memory of their grade-school team--and that precludes either one of them from making a confession, and taking Chihaya exclusively for himself.
I appreciate Taichi's sense of honor, but not his presumption that Chihaya "belongs" to anyone. Perhaps the negative connotations I am getting are due to the translation? Really I think Taichi must be trying to say that he and Arata share a special relationship with Chihaya (which is true, especially since Chihaya feels the same way toward the two of them) and that he doesn't feel free to allow his personal feelings to interfere with that shared, special relationship.
PS The anime gives the same wording: Taichi says, in Crunchyroll translation, "We both feel that Chihaya... / belongs to both of us" (Episode 10, around 3:20).
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Originally Posted by orion
A girl can have a hobby/profession and a boyfriend.
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Actually, this is an interesting question, at least as it applies to karuta and Suetsugu's description of the karuta world. On the one hand, the mangaka has a predilection for giving Chihaya sympathetic older female opponents with families, where karuta, children, and a profession are all bound up together. Back in season 1 there was Sakura, with her two kids, and readers of the manga past the events of seaon 1 will remember other similar contestants. So the combined life you envisage is very much an end-game option for Chihaya. On the other hand, Suetsugu's characterization of the current queen and meijin really suggests that their principal relationship is with the karuta cards themselves, and that this special feeling of connection with the cards is an important reason for their dominance of the sport. So, if Chihaya is going to be queen, that may mean the the end-game for her really will be Chihaya x karuta.
FWIW, Arata is probably the most logical match for Chihaya as far as the karuta family option goes. Taichi, with his wealth and family great expectations, doesn't really fit as well for a karuta future. And since Chihaya doesn't really have any evident future outside of karuta, I think Taichi's realistic long-term prospects are probably dim.