Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4698889-20170224092621/@comment-67.66.92.202-20170324173510

(I'm also going to point out the use of aishiteru in Michaela's song in reference to Clarith, which, from what I recall, is almost exclusively romantic, so there's no way to argue them as platonic just based on that before that's used as fodder to deny a canonly lesbian couple.)

- Signed, one of the lesbians in fandom

OKAY SO. I asked a friend who is a professional translator on her input, since I know this might continue to be a debate otherwise. Word for word:

Ai is some heavy shit, man. You definitely don't say "ai suru" about a platonic friend. Like, you might describe a very dear friend with words like taisetsu or nakama or aibou. But "ai suru" is [A] romantic and [B] pretty damn serious. Even married couples in Japan get bashful about using it, and there's a reason why teenagers favor the lighter, cuter "suki desu". It is a word loaded with embarrassing levels of Emotion.

So chances are basically REALLY high that, yes, these are romantic feelings.