Senpai-kun is "sentimental" by his own admission, and he'll take his feelings too seriously, work himself up, then eventually crash and burn. The only way Shino temporarily dates him will be if she's distracting herself from something big.

Means-to-an-End-kun's plot didn't come out of nowhere considering his changing awkwardness and hyper-awareness of 'Taishi's little sister'. It was always there. It bugged me more that the chapter felt detached from the narrative - it didn't immediately tie the new definite issue to either of main character's own agency, and we don't have a major conflict established for this arc for it to tie into.

The main tension relaxed a lot, and we have so much angst, friends, buildup, and multiple conflicts already pre-assembled and waiting for Shino and Nozomi... and no idea what is going to start winding up or even what will have payoffs later.