If we were about to forget who is gay and who is not for a moment it would go like this: before 2005 Ayu had hardly any sexy concepts in her concerts or pvs, the My Story Tour and My Name's Women PV were one of the first times when she allowed her dancers to make bold moves.
In My Name's Women PV each of them does 'something', one is touching her leg, she is touching someone's chest, she's almost kissing Shuya, etc At the same time she choses Mitsu and Naoto to have the lead roles and / or solo dances.
After that Mitsu is very close to Ayu in Fairyland PV and A-Nation 2005.
End of 2005 during Kouhaku Fairyland performance Mitsu kinda lost his energy and during CDL 05-06 he somehow can't concentrate.
Arena Tour 2006, no Mitsu. Generally no dancer has a lead role except for the guy during Rainy Day, Ayu calls him Naoto but he looks totally different with braids, beard and moustache and cannot convince myself that it is really him.... At the same time in Blue Bird PV Shuya is the one with closest contact with Ayu, he holds her, rides waterscooter with her, etc.
A-Nation 2006, no leading dancer AFAIR.
Part of me PV - Shuya again
A-Nation 2007 - Shuya
Asia Tour 2007 - Shuya all the damn time
CDL 07-08 - Shuya drives Ayu fans crazy with his repetitive "up, right, left, down, up" dance moves.
Asia Tour 2008 - Now there was a moment when I told a friend of mine that Shuya has a nice body and he told me to shut up and look at Maro's back during Decision or My name's woman. That was the light in the tunnel. I started to observe him a little. Unfortunately, the dance ends with Shuya leading again. Hanabi - Shuya....
A-Nation 2008 - guess ...there he goes again, ..."up, right, left, sad face, down, up" Shuya (I like him as a guy, but I hate him dancing his ill-considered dances)
CDL 08-09 OMG, YES, the show starts with Maro, Green continues with Maro, finally, one hour later, god NO!, ._____. "up, right, left, sad face, down, up" comes back. However, this time Shuya shares Ayu with Maro, I'd say it's about 60-40. Even though Ayu introduces Zin several times and gives him a lot of freedom during MC's there's no chemistry between them. During some concert, AT 08 I guess, Ayu hugs crying Shuya and then gives a slight hug to Zin but it's loveless.
In general I think Mitsu didn't sexually herass Ayu but I can see in his eyes that he had some feelings for her and maybe she just decided to cut it before it would turn into sth bigger. Maybe not, maybe he simply wanted to change the lifestyle but I honestly think the way he looked at her was sth more than just an admiration and definitely has some meaning.
As for Shuya, well, everyone claims he is gay and he really seems like that, so it may be true that Ayu gives him lead role because she knows he won't fell for her. It's obvious she likes him at least as a friend and feels comfortable with him. I always thought how is it that other dancers aren't angry about him having the most solo dances. Besides he is handsome and girls love him on stage (except for AHS members
).
I don't think Maro is gay, I also never heard about him being married. I have a long interview with him but don't understnd much from it. For quite some time I thought Ayu likes him a lot, there were many photos of them together from the rehersals and they were having lots of fun. Then, during PCDL she started to treat him similar to Shuya, more solos, very bold moves, etc. I'm not sure what to think, great friends probably. Maro is experienced, as far as I know he worked for Koda Kumi before and some other famous people (quoting: 島谷ひとみ、melody、倖田來未、Pierrot) so he problably wouldn't risk his carrier easily.
Right now I would only say Gomi is 100% gay, Shuya - 90%? It's easy to call a Japanese guy gay, they dress totally different from boys in other countries.
Forgive me, I can talk about Ayu's dancers for HOURS
As long as it's a discussion and not bashing.