Comment by RimewindPhoenix on Tune In to the Midnight Heart - Chapter 86

@RimewindPhoenix Apollo is surely Rikka, there is so much hints in the serie about it

@Heiwa can you run me through some of the mainhints please? Been awhile since I reread

@Orion

. In Chapter 3 (“Liar”), Yamabuki explicitly compares Rikka to Apollo, and Rikka echoes Apollo’s on-air phrasing/apology about being off-key—an authorial nudge that she and Apollo share a voice and habits. 

Rikka is repeatedly tied to heartbeat and moon/celestial imagery (chapters “Celestial” #30). This tracks neatly with the “Apollo” (celestial) motif.  There were more hints and she even referenced Apollo during summer break. 

Apollo’s show restarts only after Yamabuki joins the broadcasting club—i.e., when Rikka gains proximity to him again. Of all the candidates, Rikka’s role best explains this trigger without requiring extra contrivances (she was the first to make contact with him for seemingly no reason after the school suddenly became co-ed and girls were not sure about interacting with guys). 

If Rikka turns out to be Apollo, she will simply have everyone say "oh yeah, that makes sense". The other one, which is a sideliner and not main, is Shinobu only on account we really don't know much

@Jakub Podgajniak thanks, it prolly is her, but I hope he ends up with shinobu

@Orion same Shinobu is my favorite but all the girls are pretty good in their own way

@Orion unlike in so many series that uses this gimmick, we can assume starting from chapter 10 that Apollo =/= final girl. Nisekoi had the stupid locker thing, Love Hina had the childhood promise thing. Here Apollo is actually..no longer important, as Yamabuki said - he had a chance to see who Apollo is very early in the manga and said "Nah, helping all those girls equally well is more important, no playing favourites" (I am paraphrasing obviously).

@RimewindPhoenix my problem is..they are all great, but are their great for Yamabuki ? And I am not saying they are not on his level, but none of them contribute to his happiness - he is responsible for his own happiness and their happiness. I am not even sure you can call them friends with Yamabuki.

@Jakub Podgajniak you make a good point but I doubt the author is going to pull a "and he remained single" ending. That tends to damage future series getting enough attention to not be dropped

@RimewindPhoenix we know from future glimps he married one of them. I really hope at some point, we will have an actual Yamabuki arc. So far we just jump from each girl arc but we have no Yamabuki arc.