It’s highly unlikely to be at the request of the magazine since they have another explicitly GL series, « Elf to Hitotsu Yane no Shita » running in it currently. And Shojo/Josei magazines aren’t as opposed to GL as you might think these days, as magazines like Ciao, Hana to Yume, Melody, Ribon, Asuka, Wings, Kiss, Cocohana, and For Mrs all either currently have or very recently published multi-chapter GL manga. They may not be as common, but they’re definitely around and it doesn’t seem like the magazines are opposed to publishing GL (at least many of them).The series apparently does not have the yuri tag on Young Champion, and I kind of get it why. The intent is clear; I'm not sure if anyone could be fooled into thinking this is an innocent friendship (given that the leads act as if they were aware of their relationship being inappropriate) but it still remains implicit because there is no mention of dating, no "I like you", and no kiss. I can only wonder if this was due to the author's taste or the magazine's request (Mystery Bonita is targeted at girls, and shoujo magazines are not known for being friendly to yuri series these days).
It’s highly unlikely to be at the request of the magazine since they have another explicitly GL series, « Elf to Hitotsu Yane no Shita » running in it currently. And Shojo/Josei magazines aren’t as opposed to GL as you might think these days, as magazines like Ciao, Hana to Yume, Melody, Ribon, Asuka, Wings, Kiss, Cocohana, and For Mrs all either currently have or very recently published multi-chapter GL manga. They may not be as common, but they’re definitely around and it doesn’t seem like the magazines are opposed to publishing GL (at least many of them).