Man, I remember this person being introduced in the anime. They do give off a rather uncomfortable vibe. If I recall,
they're her manager.
Also, the wiki explicitly says their gender is ambiguous, so don't go assuming they're a guy.
Hm... looks like we got one last image, on Page 18, for that apparent overnight stay during a presumed 'trip' that's been in recent extras. Such a cute moment, that presumably happens near the end of summer in-manga, based on prior context.
tbh if Ichikawa acted early and confessed early on. this part of accepting her "other face" in the adult world of stardom wont really be an obstacle anymore.
guess yamada realized he somehow changed his mind and was seriously gonna look her way in her ambition. She seems to want to do the same too.
The problem is that Ichikawa hasn't had the self-esteem or self-confidence to quite believe he is worthy of being by Yamada's side, which is part of the point of the story in the first place. Obviously, that's been changing of late, but it's still a bit of a struggle to let his desire overcome his self-worth issues.
It's so much harder to feel you deserve the love of others if you can't even love yourself. Long and short, there was no way he was going to confess any sooner than he actually will.
I guess he means that he likes the Yamada that tries her best to shine in that difficult world.
Yeah, I remember this coming up at least once before, during chapter 67, "I Can't Look Directly at Her" ... Norio seems to be hammering home that he wants to be with the Yamada filled with passion. For her career, for sure, but likely other things, as well.