天下制覇

As if the OP didn't make it clear that's where we were going.

Impressions:

The end of the episode was exactly the kind of cathartic conversation that Ayumu desperately needs. Communicating his feelings and that he's struggling with it, but trying to improve, and her being understanding and responsive to it. That's what I want to see from all romance shows. Actual communication and attempts to have and develop relationships. Not just blushing and getting flustered over every little flirtation or interaction. Some actual substance and development for the characters, even slightly.

All that said, I'm a lot more lukewarm on the new character and all the rest of the episode. Well, not so much her, but how Nazuna and Kou treat her. Most of it is just generic teenage angst. I'm disillusioned with school, so I gave up on it. If you really cared about him, you would've tried harder to stay in touch with him. These are really superficial and honestly fairly jerkish and immature ways ot thinking to me that it throws out and doesn't confront or engage with, and undermines the previous point a little bit. He's not communicating with her, nor did he put in that effort to stay in touch that she's being chastised for. Which isn't to say that her seeming stance of "suck it up and do what's expected" is meritous either, but it's something worth confronting where instead we got an emo 14 year old's philosophy on how school sucks left as the final word.