This doesn't seem like a denial of romance, to me. "I don't intend to define my work as yuri" is quite different from "these girls ain't in love with each other what's the matter with you idiots lol". "I don't intend to define my work as yuri" sounds to me like she means this isn't a story explicitly about two girls falling in love and focusing on all the tropes of yuri genre works. This is a story about these girls, and their lives, and their school times, and their friends, and their clubs, and their families, and how they relate to each other and the people around them and how they grow as a result, and maybe about how they fall in love with each other. Yuri isn't the sole focus of the series, but that doesn't mean there may not be some.
In other news, I do miss Konatsu lately. I'd like to see her and Koyuki spending time together and expressing their feelings properly.
girls＋friendship=girls ship
"friendship"
