Mayama himself doesn’t return Yamada’s feelings but consider her to be a close friend and guards her from Nomiya. Eventually, however, Nomiya genuinely falls in love with Yamada, and there is a possibility that Yamada also loves him in return, but the series left this ending up to the viewer’s speculation.
A beautiful picture! The Honey and Clover series is quite adorable, and it even had a live action movie. No, they’re not the actors from the film, they’re cosplayers; Nomiya is 莫旋 "Dees" and Yamada is Rina. Photography was done by Zelda, and you can view the entire Honey and Clover album in Dees’ blog. Thanks for sharing this!