no idea, aside from niceP saying that he recruited ibuki bc he had potential as a solo idol, the game hasn't really hinted at any potential direction on how they plan to be handling the new kids. it was pretty surprising to see the game introduce them completely separately; it makes it even more unpredictable what the plans gonna be!

personally. i dont think there's any reason they have to be "fleshed out properly as a group" since they can be fleshed out through different interactions too. (though i would adore for them to get to interact eventually, with a future as a unit or not...) essentially, its so open-ended to me i'm just gonna sit back and wait til somethings announced. aka 11/9, but if nothing's revealed there i don't expect any huge changes until 10th anni ...

we do have the esupuri theory (which lines up with the theory debuting as a solo idol) but that's really just all speculation. and i don't really think there's much i can glean from the situation so i won't talk about it much lol