Judging by the amount of people shipping Harumin and Matsuri (me included) I would say they have enough chemestry to gather a significant following.
When has in-series chemistry ever been a requirement for shippers to go nuts?
lol, for a certain subset it often seems like the opposite is true, the less canon foundation it has the harder they go for it, even the converse. Some of them are obviously just crack-shipping in a fun self-aware way, but some of them are weirdly serious about it - actively rejecting canon support of other ships as "service" for deluded fans that don't understand that their OTP is the only true way.
When people seem personally offended by a character's choices, I can't help wondering if there is some over-identification/projection going on (eg there seems to be an entire subculture in yuri fans who feel it always has to be the best friend).
The behavior of a certain character makes me think Saburouta is pretty familiar with the antics of shippers.