And that's why him feeling pressured by his background and watching Yotsuba as a shining beacon of hope sounds like a copout. If he really felt that cornered, he is a hell of an actor, because I barely felt in the whole story, even figuring out who Rena was seemed to be more important in his eyes. Yotsuba being the winner feels less the result of an organic development and more like Negi choosing the option that would cause the least backlash. Ichika, Nino and Miku had very passionate fans well ready to go at each others' throats, while an Itsuki ending would have enraged the whole fanbase.
If 5toubun was a VN this honestly felt like jumping to Yotsuba's ending from the freaking common route. There's a narrative that could have been applied to all the quints, but all of them were woefully lacking, as if we needed an actual route instead of vague hints that honestly could have meant anything. Technically Miku was the first one to truly side with him, Nino was the first one to fall for him, Ichika taught him to act a little more selfish and Itsuki's support with the Rena thing "let him go of his past". Every quint had excuses to win, and that's what made it so hard to pinpoint a winner from the get go until the last chapters, as this whole discussion here, in reddit and in the incessant 4chan threads you have pulled that screenshot from showed, with people claiming left and right until the very last moment that their quint had this on the bag.