User blog comment:Hielmiez/The New Queen Idol Reveal! Hype for S2!/@comment-5885873-20170128190408/@comment-3487190-20170129125640

Well, I'm personally a fan of Koharu, but seriously, as she lacks of character development ever since her absence so far, anything about her possibility of becoming top idol in Italy is still only prediction now. I believe in her comeback, but it might just be that she manages to deal with her Italy stuff in the end

Anyway, as she's not in the promotion ad in the opening of second year, presumably she's not yet related to Elza at this point.