[Mairsile]

I wouldn't be so quick to judge this arc in regards to pacing. Again, its focusing on Rihoko's belief that her unrequited love for Junichi may never materialize into anything more but she is willing to wait and maintain hope that it one day will.

I believe we'll see three possible endings, the first two being the least likely to happen and the last being the most probable.

First we have an ending which has Junichi confessing to Rihoko in the final scene before the epilogue.

Next is the "only friends" ending which involves them still being just friends even in the epilogue.

Lastly, we're led to believe that they will remain friends at the end of the arc. However, in the epilogue, we see them together as a couple with Rihoko talking about how she waited patiently for Junichi until he became aware of her feelings and began to think of her in a romantic way.