You see I kind of skimmed through the manga and I know how it ends but I tried not to read everything in the manga so I can still enjoy nice surprises like this in the anime
I actually think I liked the look afterwords even more than the kiss. It was so perfect. I just love when Chiaki initiates things with Nodame. He doesn't do it often but when he does it's so perfectly sweet.
The Tanya/Kuroki moments in this episode were quite lovely too ♥
And as much as I love the romantic parts of Nodame Cantabile I don't really mind that they are second to the musical development parts. It's these music parts that make Nodame Cantabile unique in comparison to other romantic comedies.
However that being said, I am still hoping for a proposal at the end of Ninomiya's new side manga. They are old enough that I don't think this is asking for too much. ;)