Thank you, I'm glad to hear you enjoy my rambles ;w;

Honestly, I don't think after OHE (and especially after WL1 & WL2 tripled and quadrupled down on this) I saw Rui's mindset on the matter being anything but "I now have an answer to give (no) if he actually does ask me again" either.

And ditto I'm with you that it's actually hilariously in character for Rui to find his own answer inside his own mind on a subject, and just failing to update other parties involved while he REALLY should, and the hilarity and frustration that causes too, rather than meant to be a retcon. (especially in the sense of this is something lacking forethought)

I'm curious if we will even get back to him for sure next events (especially knowing they love to play the long game with planting ideas years before they get back to them with WxS), as the angle right now seems to be now that the training portion of this arc over, and they had an entire mini arc on what standards they have to be up to as actors and director to be commissioned on places like Arc Land, WxS trying to establish a name for themselves as an independent freelance troupe (Emu even lampshades this in the current event), which can easily continue into next events without Asahi being mentioned still.

And even if/when he does get addressed, I think Protagonista especially conveyed he's starting to understand what drew him to WxS and why it wasn't as simple as sweeping Rui (or for that matter Tsukasa or Nene, per his reactions to them in Nenekasa's 6th banners) off his feet to replace the bonds that allows them to shine like this, which seems to be why WL2 even existed: to get across that Asahi can't remain a static character either, if he's going to continue foiling four of them in getting across to the audience why their personal bonds with each other nourishes their craft.

(Which is something WxS events and event songs, including things like their unit concept songs repeatedly keep underlining being the case, with Tetrad especially having declared they will spread that happiness they give to each other to others too/encourage them to bond like they did with shows, which is also part of what Asahi talks about recognizing in Protagonista stinger on how if anything he's behind them)

So, I don't think by now the offer is very likely to come up, at least not in the ways we thought back then in CC, simply because worlds of everyone has been widening compared to back then.

Rui had only really time younger with Nene and whoever stuck around a bit until WxS, and even with them only shows related to Phoenix Wonderland, and entire framing of what their options has been shaped by what has been the reality for Nene's own idol that of course his experiences and view of how things could work was limited at the time vs things he knows now/will know in the future, including every event since CC up to when WL2 happened, and things like his bloomfes by the time he said he "turned down that offer" in Rui 5.

Of course, after knowing how much happier they are now when he didn't take that offer vs the hypothetical personal torment nexus his brain cooked up, he's going to be feeling firmer on what his response would be and not treat it as even a question, even compared to earlier post OHE days.

While Asahi (at least going by roles he gets and what that says about him + what Protagonista shows us) seems to be well connected and knows about people like Sakurako, Reki, and Kijima, people like him and he's regarded highly, but ultimately he was always positioned as someone who (especially if WL2 dream was accurate at all on how easily he might have left TCT + how Protagonista had him leave TCT after realizing he feels his bonds with his cast is, for lack of better words, too shallow in his eyes compared to what he was looking for) similarly never felt quite rooted/at home, even when he's supposed to be founding member of TCT, and how there has been that imbalance in his dynamics that he is truly starting to realize right now.

And all of this comes back to (as ensekai kind of completely butchered this overlap) how, similar to Rui in a sense, Asahi sees shows he makes as both a way to search for someone he will feel at home with himself, while also said shows "help people who, like him back when he saw Tom's show, might be able to survive but not live", to help others connect too, because shows as a lifeline has been a major part of how he seems to feel about all this, including even acknowledging in Rui 5 that he chose to be actor than a director specifically in hopes of maybe one day he'd get to act for Tom.

(And ditto how that then feeds into him latching onto the idea of him and Rui together being able to 'make Tom's words come true', as a director his age and someone who can, for lack of better words, 'keep up with him' per how his introduction was framed in CC).

So, ultimately either it was going to be Asahi, given he's a side character, would have remained more static and no change in mindset that we would get the bookend that CC him promised, or he would be eventually challenged on this, specifically when in his case, this is framed as something that doesn't allow him to really connect with people around himself/that just like he had said he has the feeling that 'Rui's answer lies somewhere else' (with WxS), his answer has to be lie at a different place too.

And given WxS's framing since start has been to help others to reconnect through shows (including Ruinene themselves, and WMS for Emu's own family), just as much as inspiring others to not give up on their dreams and ideals, and we do have things like him likely having been the one to invite Sakurako to TCT before too (with her being mentioned in Emu's bloomfes as looking for chances to widen her horizons as an actor, even if unlike Asahi, she had a place dear to her she stayed true to by continuing to work as diva of Phoenix Stage, in the Phoenix Wonderland so dear to her), and again first name basis with people like Reki seemingly...

I'm giving them benefit of the doubt and assuming they are building up to 'WxS helps Asahi to find his own direction, given how without Asahi's own awareness of Rui's feelings towards Emunenekasa and essentially giving him that nudge he needed to take action, OHE would not have happened, a return of that gesture at some point with the crisis Asahi is facing right now'.

Hence why I say I feel like the way they are currently going about it doesn't feel a retcon to me (yet), specifically because they are actually accounting for the way both Rui and Asahi would be primed to think back in CC, and how things are changing in a way that makes sense if that doesn't end up happening/if angle for it is different for what kind of convo they will have if Asahi shows up around when Ruikasa will graduate eventually, at least not in a way I'm going to be doomposting just yet.

I hope this rambly mess of a response makes sense for where my head is on what they seem to be doing with the tortoise right now :''D