Yeah I remember I said "I'm fine if they are besties" but Ruri has a massive crush on the mangaka, doesn't she? I am getting some strong gay vibes from her, I can't deny it anymore.
Shipper mode: ON
Here's my hot take:
The current arc is focusing on the side characters and I think that's pretty great tbh. The first main conflict of
"living with a former idol younger than you who is your landlord and falling in love" was solved beautifully and now if the story only focused on their daily life it would either get too monotonous, or the author would have to come up with some unnecessary drama which doesn't quite fit either of their personalities.
Now the main couple is taking the backseat and being the supporting characters and the author is trying to expand the rest of the "cast" dealing with the issue that never disappeared: these young girls are celebrities. Even if Miyako is no longer an idol, she's still famous (the hardship of being recognized and how it can take a toll on your personal life
has been dealt with a bit on Chapter 18).
Along the "main plot (?) "we got to meet these group of amazing girls who care so much about Miyako, and I think it's only fair that we get to see a bit of their reality and dilemmas because at the end of the day they are the ones "who decided to stay/stick around" while MIyako left the industry and the idol life.
Miyako's reasons were clear: they were micromanaging her and destroying her self-expression
even in her private life for the sake of a made-for-media persona. Now, with Ruri's (the new leader) arc we're seeing someone who saw what happened to her and wanted to keep being an idol now micromanaging herself and pushing her limits because it's hard to deal with the media, and the tabloids, and you have to keep an image, and on top of all that
the fact that having a member of the group who left is going to stay within ELM's history forever and some people are not going to move on from that easily (for example, the manager obsessing over the possibility the girls are still in touch with Miyako, which is true and something she found out at the
end of Chapter 18). Getting to see that is, in a way, getting to know more of one of the protagonist's backgrounds. Miyako's past is ELM, but the ELM girls are their own selves and the group is still going.
I do hope they go through a bit of the other idols. Ruri is now getting the spotlight because she's the new leader and was a great supporter of Miyako's decision to leave, but it would be nice getting to know more about the young member's (who is still a high schooler) struggles, for example.
In my opinion focusing on other characters and have each of them explored with their own arcs is not so bad, but it can be a hit or miss.
As to what is going on with Ruri, if it wasn't clear:
She's pushing herself too hard and trying to shoulder the responsibility of keeping the group and their idol lives going all by herself. She's the leader now, we might not know if she was just like that in the past but I bet that after taking this new position she's putting too much pressure on herself. There might also be a concern of being compared to Miyako as a leader, and even if Ruri doesn't do that herself, hearing from others might be uncomfortable. And now she's got a safe space with the mangaka idol otaku, who lives an ordinary life (as ordinary as her job allows) and who's not involved with all that. Miyako got someone like that in her life, a relationship that allows her to be "normal" while she's with that person, now it's Ruri's turn, basically. Now, if there's a romance building up we don't know, they might just end up as good friends and not taking the same direction the main couple did.