I didn't even know NicoMaki was a thing when I was watching the anime, they barely ever had any scenes or any type of closeness that would be deemed ship worthy imo. Tsun x tsun couples just never appealed to me no matter how many times I try to give them a chance.
Most people point to one scene in the second season where they're shown standing near each other in street clothes in the evening, and people were all like "THEY'RE ON A DATE!" And then...barely acknowledged each others' existence the rest of the time. NicoPana gets more support, given their common interest/obsession.
I've talked about that before, I'm all about contrast. in art as in writing, you want complementary types. You see it all the time in manga: tall/short, dark hair/blonde, sporty/brainy, active/passive, and so on. Putting tsun and tsun together, and all you get is a headbutting contest. One of them has to break character and let the defenses down, or it's hard to get anywhere. I'd rather see tsun/oblivious (MakiRin), tsun/sweet (MakiPana), or tsun/open (MakiHono) as a result.
I know shippers can be really really stupid, but them in a park barely acknowledging each other doesn't even qualify as a friendly outing. It's like they have to blow things outta proportion to try and make it seem that there's something there.
I love Maki with Honk, Pana and Rin because it's not always tsun!Maki we're dealing with. Opposite type couples are my fav, another reason why is because I love the idea of NozoUmi and those two could not be any more different. Plus they're my favorite girls so I'm being biased.