I think Honoka x Eri
is a legit pairing, judging from reading the contents in the manga. I prefer Eri x Nozomi
over this pairing which is why this one-shot was so good. I also liked Nico's role in this.
Honoka x Eri
is a legit pairing,(in fact i believe it was pretty popular in the early days).
One of the reasoning's for this is that in the anime Honoka's relationship with Eri is one of which that has progressed the most throughout the 2 seasons. They started out as adversaries, then become friends, then predecessor/successor.
On a side note, if its any comfort for those of you, it's usually Honoka that gets this treatment from the fandom seeing that she is the least popular character among µ's.