In chapter 4, Haruo shows Akira (whom he at this point still regards as an annoyance) a fair amount of concern after she beats the crap out of a belligerent couple that rage quits and tries to give her trouble. He drags her away by hand from the scene they started in the arcade, and thankfully the ill tempered couple get reprimanded for the collateral damage. Safe out of view, Haruo scolds Akira asking what would happen if they both faced yet another ban from another arcade. This, coming from the guy who initially bitched and moaned about her invading his sanctuary. Akira also doesn't seem to mind the scolding, nor their realization that Haruo is still holding on to Akira's hand.
Despite what her actions toward Akira would suggest, Gouda-Sensei does care for her well-being in her own way. When seeing her off at the airport in Volume 1 she reminds Akira to use her Kempo training in case anyone in Los Angeles tries to start trouble with her.
After her eventualHeel–Face Turn halfway through the series Gouda starts giving Akira the benefit of the doubt more often and even chooses to look the other way whenever she needs the night or weekend out, all while still maintaining the scary stern attitude she's known for.
When Haruo learns that Oono ran away from home at the end of Round 11, he goes all around Tokyo to find her. He eventually finds her in an arcade in Kawasaki and when she hears his voice, her eyes light up and when he offers to get her dinner, she immediately follows and they spend Round 12 together.
Haruo manages to cheer her up a bunch and does what he can to be supportive when she doesn't want to go home that night. They even spend a night together in a hotel platonically playing video games, even if Haruo misses some obvious hints from Oono.
When he falls asleep before her, she puts the blankets over him and watches him sleep for a bit and then falls asleep and wakes up watching him. She has a big smile on her face the entire time, clearly happy to just spend time with him.
Oono's Family Quest: the SNES JRPG designed especially for Akira. It is designed by Haruo through RPG Maker's design suite, and under Makoto's supervision while Akira is effectively under house arrest by Gouda-Sensei. The poor girl can't help but grin and blush while she commands her in game avatar to collect sweets, desserts and meat, conquer her daily studies (and her older sister) in the form of dungeon monsters, save her progress through her butler's NPC, and receive teasers on upcoming games from Haruo's messages the further she progresses into the game.
It eventually becomes clear that the reason Oono prefers big, slow, difficult characters in arcade games is because no one else likes them. She actually imagines them being sad other players hate playing with them, so she chooses them to prove their worth and imagine them feeling joy from it.
The finale: After losing in the tournament against Akira, Haruo has apparently given up on his relationship with Akira, but learns that she is once again leaving for the U.S. This time, however, he actually does make it to the airport, and as he races to the airport on the scooter, every video game character ends up stopping the traffic and Guile forces Akira's plane to make an emergency landing. Haruo and Akira reunite, with Haruo finally confessing his feelings and proposing to her.
An epilogue chapter sees Akira on Cloud Nine during her flight to Los Angeles, fresh from accepting Haruo's marriage proposal in the airport. The poor kid alternates between cackling giddily and hyperventilating as she replays Haruo's words in her head.
sees Akira on Cloud Nine during her flight to Los Angeles, fresh from accepting Haruo's marriage proposal in the airport. The poor kid alternates between cackling giddily and hyperventilating as she replays Haruo's words in her head.