I've been wondering, do you think Haida sees Retsuko the same way she saw the Space Cadet when she was in love with him? Or was that Retsuko only being in love with the idea of being in love?
I don’t think so, Haida has known Retsuko for a while (even if he doesn’t know ALL of her yet), and during that time he didn’t even realize that he’d been developing feelings for her, until Fenneko pointed it out. And even then, when he finally gathered the courage to ask her out, he admitted that maybe he doesn’t know her as well as he thinks, and would like to know her better. So I think he’s a guy that knows where he stands.
As for Retsuko and Resasuke, I feel like there were several factors that influenced her feelings for him: She WAS looking for a boyfriend at the time, Gori and Washimi had told her that she could fall in love under the correct circumstances, and honestly? She met him during a time in which she was out of her comfort zone, and so was he. They had both been dragged into something that isn’t really their thing (the mixer) and found comfort in each other. But in the end, Retsuko didn’t fall in love with him. She fell in love with the idea of him. She fell in love with the quirky prince with the bishonen face, not with the spaced out, clumsy, socially awkward and plant-lover guy from Sales. Like you say, she fell in love with the idea of being in love, and, well, crude reality crashed sooner than later.
So yeah, I don’t think Haida idolizes the idea of Retsuko. He likes what he knows about her so far and therefor is looking forward to knowing the rest of her, and that, imo, is potentially true love uwud