Yamaguchi Maho & Tano Ayaka will miss upcoming NGT48 event … sooo yeah

Ever since Yamaguchi Maho came forward to tell her story of being assaulted by two men and that a fellow NGT48 member was involved, speculation has run wild online about the identity of the member(s) involved.

I’ve largely stayed out of this because speculation can (and has in this case as well) shift wildly as people hunt for the culprit based on questionable evidence. That said, in management’s statement on the assault made yesterday, they did admit at least one member was involved. And now it’s been revealed that Maho and member Tano Ayaka will miss tomorrow’s event for the group.

There is an event tomorrow to commemorate Niigata port’s 150th anniversary and NGT48’s 3rd anniversary.

NGT just announced two members that will not be performing tomorrow: Yamaguchi Maho and Tano Ayaka. pic.twitter.com/N06vLbOC9d

— なるど (@beru_narudo) January 11, 2019

She also left the concert halfway yesterday after crying on stage

— べる・なるど⊿?️⌨️ (@76do__) January 11, 2019

So yeah, I was trying to avoid covering stuff like this, but NGT48 don’t even seem to be requiring any reading between the lines here. The news basically just serves as confirmation for those who were already speculating because she was indeed one of their prime suspects.

As always though, nothing has been officially admitted, and I doubt we’ll get that in the end either. Unfortunately, that method of dealing with things leaves the door wide open for fans to speculate endlessly on exactly who is involved and how far reaching it is, and from what I’ve seen they are definitely running with that shit.