The Tairazuma situation

There needs to be stakes involved!
After watching the latest episode for the second time I realised (as an anime only) that there needs to be a catalyst for their relationship.

And simply introducing a girl who takes interest in Taira therefore Azuma having a kind of urgency to get more actively involved would be cheap and I hope the author didn't do that. So what could it be?

The manga people gave me a kind of spoiler that their relationship does not develop to the point of dating in the manga and is left more ambiguous but me and most people think there could be an anime original ending for them