Gne? Why would a deadlock make the Qin look bad? Do you have to steamroll your opponent all the time to preserve your dignity now?
Ouhon having a prolonged fight with Bananji hypes up Bananji and makes Ouhon look good to his father and Akou for keeping the strongest enemy busy for the duration of the battle
Akou can just kill Gakuei and force Chougaryu into action who'd then be able to prevent Zhao from getting pushed back, if we then get a pretty even and intense fight I don't see how anyone here looks bad (besides Gakuei but he has never looked good anyway)