[Boukenxha]

In defense of Tomari...

Spoiler:

We should cut Tomari some slack here, I think what's holding her back all this time is her sensitivity and self-consciouness at being boyish, that much I can sum up from her performance in episode 10 and others from before. She's mindful that people are calling her a tomboy, yet she admits and don't (or rather she can't) fervently deny that she is what they claim, such is the convoluted nature of the conflict that troubles her when facing Hazumu.

In ep 10, she explained that she felt Yasuna is more suitable for Hazumu since she is every bit the embodiment of a sweet gentle girl and she acknowledges that she couldn't match in that aspect. Don't we hear a tinge of low confidence and helplessness in those words? Not exactly the Tomari we are familiar with here. We can also marginally infer from those words that when boy Hazumu first expressed his interest in Yasuna, she could have assumed Hazumu to prefer Yasuna-type girls as oppposed to girls like herself; which altogether would then explain why she chose to be a supporter before. Only till the riverside scene when Hazumu let her actions do the talking did Tomari really understood her chances.

As Ayuki put it, Tomari chose not to step on the stage, not because her feelings were only half-hearted and activated like fire sprinklers when there's heat, but because her feelings are really more delicate then her outward boyish manners suggest. She tried to act nonchalant after when she saw them kissed didn't she? Only that the more she tried to hide it, the more she gave herself away.