Is Ichika done going after Fuutarou?

In the recent chapter of The Quintessential Quintuplets, something interesting came up that is at least worth discussion.

The chapter was big for Ichika reinforcing how she feels about Fuutarou but also about how she might have to move on and how she might not think Fuutarou can trust her anymore after after what she pulled. The chapter presents a crossroads for Ichika. Will she move on or will she try even harder to win Fuutarou? 

Ichika has been portrayed as the big sister character that always wants her sisters to be happy, even if she has to be less happy herself as a result. This is seen when they moved out of their house and Ichika took on more work than she could take just to keep up with the bills. So to see her resort to underhanded tactics to get Fuutarou for herself at the expense of her sisters, mainly Miku, was super out of character for her. Experiencing romantic love like that for the first time did that to her, but it appears she is back to trying to be her old self again.

Given her personality, it is possible that she gives up on trying to get with Fuutarou because she thinks it’d make her sisters better off. She might also feel guilt over what she did and will think bowing out is the best solution. She might think she doesn’t deserve Fuutarou after that as well.

However, there’s many reasons to think she won’t give up as well. The main one being because she was one of the Rena’s that met Fuutarou in the past and was the one that played cards with him. He was the first person she liked that way and didn’t realize it was Fuutarou until the camping trip. That’s when she tried almost anything to have him for herself. 

Because of this, it’d be hard to see her bowing out now since she actually might like Fuutarou more than any other quintuplet at this point. 

So here’s where the conflict is, a conflict that has hit the story throughout. Ichika now has to choose whether the love for her sisters or the love for a guy is stronger. She also has to decide whether she wants to focus on her career or a love interest more at this point. These concepts have come up over and over in this series. 

I personally don’t think Ichika is going to bow out of this race for Fuutarou because of her huge love for him. But it wouldn’t be totally out of character for her to for the sake of her sisters.