yeah i kinda wanted more of a chasing arch too and then i kinda understood something. I don't think Shirato is settling cause i think it was never Ran himself that he loved but like the fact that Ran was his first relationship and like he mentioned he gets upset when he "can't say the things he wants to say" so i would even go as far as to saying he would be okay with ran breaking up with him as long as he was able to get closure by saying the things he wanted to say (like maybe say he was wrong for cheating), and that's why he was upset that he didn't get to meet up with ran for the key and stuff. IDK that's just what im telling myself tho to cope cause Kuroda truly does deserve everything TT
All throughout the story I was wondering why this was an 8.8 cause it was moving toward the 9+ direction for me but I think the ending was a bit underwhelming. I think it just wasn’t enough to convince me that Shirato was truly over Ran. I kinda wanted that feeling that Shirato would still be in love with Kuroda even if Ran wasn’t a cheating prick. Maybe a bit of a chase should have happened? Like a realization that even if Ran wanted him, Shirato still wanted to be with Kuroda. The whole thing just made me feel like he was settling and it rubbed me the wrong way. Everything leading up to that was great anyways.