As far as I'm concerned....
1) Breakdown of communication (as in absolute ZERO) after Ko's confession
2) After a few episodes, Ko sent a message to Ohana
3) Then after a few more episodes, Ohana finally sends her reply
4) Now they're actually talking over the phone!
Yeah, progress! It might be slow, but the series IS 24 episodes long. And as far as I'm concerned, Ohana has Ko in the forefront of her mind. I mean, he is the boy named when she denies she doesn't have a boyfriend a few episodes beforehand, or that when thinking of boy's smell she thinks of Ko and not Tooru even when its Tooru's helmet in this episode. And when they show Ohana how much she relies on Ko? That was just "d'awww" worthy XD
And now, it seems that everything is setup up like an obstacle to that pairing, from Ohana having to move into her grandma's place, to Tooru seeming to start liking Ohana, to Grandma's illness indirectly making him go back because he'd be a nuisance rather than a help in the inn, even to the new pretty girl revealed at the end of the episode. I dunno, but it looks very suspicious when they keep on stacking hurdle after hurdle for KoXOhana, don't you think?
In any case, whether or not Ko will end up with Ohana, it's pretty darn obvious we will not get the answer till the end of the series. Pretty sure Okada is going to string this out till the very end, and I would have it no other way... because Ko will need as much time as possible to come out ahead.
