pg 12 Rurigaki says "leaving gender aside and all that I simply like you as a person" in addition to calling Aki feminine and beautiful. I am thinking that Aki took that as a confession.
Seems a bit forced to take that as a confession since Ruri says 'as a person' and didn't really give any hint she was downplaying it, but japs like their passive/indirect approaches so maybe it felt like that for a native reader.
This author basically playing god with this story and I'm all for it lol (as long as we also get Himegasaki stuff, because otherwise I'll get girlfailure withdrawals)