KyoAni allows just enough yuri to bait those who like that, only to bail before it becomes canon. They even pulled the same crap in the Violet Evergarden movie with the whole development between Violet and Amy. Annoying, but I don't think they will change this habit anytime soon.
@Throbelisk
@W rock
Not quite, she should be just the illustrator for the LN in this case. Pixiv source has link to the book as well.
Which is also why the Doujin: Original tag doesn't really seem correct for this one.
Apparently this is the cover illustration for a light novel that came out last week with illustrations by Nakatani-sensei.
The name is "このぬくもりを君と呼ぶんだ" which means "This warmth I call with you" (Approximately? I'm not that good at reading Japanese). According to the content summary, it's about this 16-year-old girl Lenny who lives in an underground city and a delinquent she meets named Toka.
Back when the kids were just beginning to be interested in and infatuated with Bakarina, Anne had already sworn herself to Bakarina. Not only is she a part of the Bakarina harem, her member card reads 0001.
Apparently the official translation of the title is "I'll Call You This Warmth." Seeing as it came out in Japanese last week, there's obviously no announcement of a translation.