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Originally Posted by bin1127
I always felt Kirino's love for her brother was mostly due to sibling admiration and ep13 and other flashbacks thrown in showing kyousuke growing out of taking baths together and kyousuke hanging out with his own friends without Kirino seemed to help justify that perspective for me. That gave me a very strong impression that Kirino has all along been trying really hard to win back her brother. Their holidate can therefore be seen as proof that is sufficient for Kirino to safely acknowledge that her brother once gain holds her as dearly as when they were small. At this point then Kirino doesn't have to run away anymore and the necessity to push the two into more serious relationship subsides.
[...] It's not that I try to downplay how serious KxX takes their love for each other but the ending really gives strong undertone that "here are two siblings that were able to find their old best friend again" instead of "two lovers finally opening up to each other".
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I think the issue is that you have to consider the story from both perspectives.
From Kirino's perspective, she's had many years to come to grips with the fact that her "childish crush" basically has no hope of ever working out, so even after she accepts Kyousuke's proposal, she keeps thinking of the practicalities. Even to the point where he rejects Manami, she still has a hard time understanding why Kyousuke keeps shutting every other door. In her mind at that point, their romance really was going to end after graduation (even though she wasn't going to move away or anything) because she didn't want to hold Kyousuke down for a relationship that could never work out (and she already realized that there were other girls in love with him, even though he's the only one she ever loved). So,
to her, it really was about getting her beloved brother back, and finally resolving their long-time conflict. Episode 13 was told from her perspective after all. So, although Kirino has been in love with Kyousuke all this time, her perspective at the end is: siblings.
Kyousuke's perspective on all this is a little bit different though. Although his sister was important to him in the past, he had never considered himself "in love" with her, and thus had spent absolutely zero time and effort figuring out how to make things work. It's only over the course of the story, as other potential romantic interests start entering his life, that he's forced to come to terms with his attraction to and feelings for Kirino and what he wants to do about it (and he only finally figures it out right near the end). Obviously resolving the long-time conflict with Kirino is a good thing, but to him that issue was not about unrequited romance, just a sibling fight. Kyousuke's romantic feelings for Kirino have basically nothing to do with Kirino's reasons (they didn't start in the past, but rather since life counselling started), and although he agrees that they'll stop acting out at the end of the three months (realizing the constraints of reality), he doesn't show any signs of seeing this as the end (and this is why he closes all the other doors). While this may be closing a chapter in Kirino's life, to Kyousuke a new chapter has just begun. Although Kyousuke has seen Kirino as a sister all this time, his perspective at the end is: lovers.
And that's why the very ending features the clash of these two perspectives: siblings and lovers. The truth is that each of them have both perspectives about each other, because they can neither stop being siblings nor deny what happened beyond that. If you ask me, I think that even after all the signs Kyousuke gave her, Kirino still underestimated just how serious Kyousuke was about choosing her and only her as his partner (because the idea that it couldn't happen was so engrained in her mind over the years).
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