It is real as it gets. Very evident is not all ships are in together at this point. IRL, most people don't end up together since they are afraid to confess. It takes a lot of courage from whatever point of view if you are serious about what is inside you. That anxiety/agony of knowing what is the unknown is too much for some people. Take the case of Moe and Hikari, Hikari's wide open arms in the hotspring is an invitation for Moe to be part of her life. She is just a simple girl who's contented to have somebody by her side(married men is also outside what is generally accepted to be with). By the mere fact that Moe didn't move forward and give an excuse to come late at night, gave Hikari the impression of "can't be" or a "stigma of unaccepted relationships". Moe is precious enough to Hikari, so, by not losing her, she made it easier for Moe the following day of not remembering the night. So, people IRL must take relationships without labeling. Love is just everything that it is competely nothing.
This analysis is very interesting. Especially the part about the married men. I was always interested in Hikari's character regarding that, because I felt like it showed an information about her in a less visible way, but I didn't look into it much.
I remember two other moments after the hot spring situation that can support this angle.
One when Moe was talking to that guy from the gym about going on a mixer and she was trying to hide it from Hikari, Hikari came behind them and the way her expression was drawn when she said "what are you guys talking about?" seemed extra nice and sweet and it was a bit suspicious. Like when you're being all too nice etc because you're trying to hide something.
The second was when Hikari started swooning over that older man who came to work, and when she was talking about him with Moe she also added "Besides, I don't want to keep causing trouble for you" which was most certainly referring to how Moe struggled after almost kissing her and then was gone for a full night.
I liked this pairing because of how they started. Moe was genuinely supportive of Hikari in trying to get over the manager without any other hidden motive, and I found it very refreshing, since a love interest would just be all angsty in that type of situation, thinking "why can't they love me instead"
All in all, it's funny because it turns out Hikari was the one who knew more about Moe's feelings than vice versa, since she was always the one portrayed as the less bright.
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